1950 Maryland Terrapins football team
Maryland was led by fourth-year head coach Jim Tatum, who "Time" magazine called "the most successful major college coach in the game" during his nine-year tenure at College Park. To date, Tatum remains the winningest Maryland football coach of the modern era, with a winning percentage of 0.819. The team was led on the field by sophomore quarterback and future Heisman Trophy runner-up Jack Scarbath who made his first career start in the season-opener.
2008 Maryland Terrapins football team
In December 2007, Maryland hired Kansas State offensive coordinator James Franklin to serve in that same role for the Terrapins. From 2000 to 2004, he was the Maryland wide receivers coach. In 2003 and 2004, he also served as the recruiting coordinator, and Rivals.com ranked Franklin as one of the nation's top-25 recruiters both years. Because of the arrival of Franklin, 2008 was the first since 2005 that head coach Ralph Friedgen did not call the offensive plays himself. At Maryland, Franklin installed a West Coast offense, which was well suited to quarterback Chris Turner's playing style and an experienced wide receiver corps that included play-maker Darrius Heyward-Bey and sure-handed Danny Oquendo.