Maryland Terrapins football under Jim Tatum
During his tenure at Maryland, Tatum became one of the most successful head football coaches in school history. In nine seasons, he led the Terrapins to two national championships, three conference championships, and five bowl game appearances. His teams compiled a 73–15–4 record without a single losing season. To date, he remains the winningest Maryland football coach of the modern era with a winning percentage of 0.819.
1954 Orange Bowl
Maryland was helmed by seventh-year head coach Jim Tatum. To that point, he had compiled a record of 56–11–3. Before that, he spent one year as the Oklahoma head coach in 1946, where Bud Wilkinson had served as his assistant coach. The team was ranked first in the nation in the final rankings of both the Associated Press (AP) Poll and the United Press Coaches' Poll. Maryland had finished the regular season with a perfect 10–0 record with the narrowest win being a 20–6 victory over Don Faurot's Missouri. They also recorded wins over 11th-ranked Mississippi, 38–0, and 11th-ranked Alabama, 21–0. Tatum said, "this is the greatest team I ever coached."