page_title: Maryland Terrapins football
section_title: Jerry Claiborne era (1972–1981)
hierarchical_section_title: Maryland Terrapins football / History / Jerry Claiborne era (1972–1981)
caption_attribution_description: English: Coach Jerry Claiborne, head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies from 1961 until 1970.
context_page_description: The Maryland Terrapins football team represents the University of Maryland, College Park in the sport of American football. The Terrapins compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. The Terrapins joined the Big Ten Conference on July 1, 2014, following 62 years in the Atlantic Coast Conference as a founding member. Mike Locksley is the head coach.
  Since 1950, the Terrapins have played their home games at Maryland Stadium in College Park, Maryland with occasional home games from time to time in Baltimore, making them one of two FBS football teams in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area and the closest Football Bowl Subdivision team to Washington, D.C. The team's official colors of red, white, black, and gold have been in use in some combination since the 1920s and are taken from Maryland's state flag, and the Terrapins nickname — often abbreviated as "Terps" — was adopted in 1933 after a turtle species native to the state. Maryland shares storied rivalries with Virginia and West Virginia.
context_section_description: In 1972, Jerry Claiborne took over as head coach of the Terrapins, which had only nine wins in the past five years. In his first season, Maryland improved to 5–5–1, and the following year, they reached their first bowl game in almost two decades. The team steadily improved until his fifth season, 1976, when they finished the regular season with an 11–0 record, their first perfect mark since Tatum's 1955 squad. Boomer Esiason later described Claiborne's coaching style as "vanilla", and said his strategy was "run right, run left, run up the middle, punt, and play good defense." He went on to say, "But, there's no question he made me a tougher player . . . We'd do drills where the quarterback had to take on a linebacker. It was like he had a sign on our back, 'Hit us, we're stupid'. It made you a tougher player."
  In 1974, Maryland had a pre-season rank of 14th and later beat 17th-ranked NC State to win the ACC championship. The Terrapins were defeated by 20th-ranked Tennessee in the Liberty Bowl and finished the season ranked 13th. In 1975, Maryland again won the ACC and defeated 13th-ranked Florida in the Gator Bowl to finish 13th in the nation. That season, the Terrapins led the ACC in total offense with 375.2 yards per game. Maryland started 1976 ranked 12th, and quarterback Mark Manges led them to 11 consecutive wins to secure their third straight ACC championship. Maryland's loss to sixth-ranked Houston in the Cotton Bowl, 30–21, ended any hopes for a national championship.
  In 1978, Maryland beat 20th-ranked NC State and finished with a ranking of 20th. The game that pitted 11th-ranked Maryland against 12th-ranked Clemson has been described as one of the most exciting games of the era. The "big-play caravan" ultimately saw Clemson triumph, 28–24. From 1974 to 1978, Claiborne and the Terrapins secured five consecutive bowl game berths and three consecutive ACC championships. Maryland made it to a sixth bowl game in 1980. After the 1981 season, Claiborne left the program for his alma mater, Kentucky, and was replaced by Bobby Ross, an assistant coach for the Kansas City Chiefs.
caption: Jerry Claiborne engineered a turnaround of Maryland's fortunes beginning in 1972.
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