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Inside The Huskies

Kickoff Set for UW's First Big Ten Road Trip to Maryland

The Big Ten Network will televise the Huskies' first game against the Terrapins in 43 years.
Dan Raley|
The Maryland Terrapins will host the UW on October 4 for a 12:30 p.m. PT kickoff.
The Maryland Terrapins will host the UW on October 4 for a 12:30 p.m. PT kickoff. | Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images

Going coast to coast for its first Big Ten road game this season, the University of Washington football team will kick off at 12:30 p.m. PT against the Maryland Terrapins on October 4 at SECU Stadium in College Park, which is 30 miles out of Baltimore.

This will mark just the second meeting ever between these programs and first in 43 seasons -- the Huskies took a 21-20 victory over Maryland in the 1982 Aloha Bowl in Hawaii.

The Terrapins, who are coached by Mike Locksley and have a bye week, are 4-0 after beating FAU 39-7, Northern Illinois 20-9, Towson 44-17 and Wisconsin 27-10,. The first three wins came at home and the Big Ten victory over the Badgers took place on the road.

The UW (3-0), of course, will be coming off its home showdown with No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Ohio State that will be played this weekend in Seattle.

The Huskies and Maryland previously met under disappointing circumstances four decades ago.

Don James' team was denied a third consecutive Rose Bowl appearance following a 24-20 Apple Cup loss to Washington State in Pullman.

Its consolation prize was a trip to Honolulu and the opportunity to play Maryland and its high-profile quarterback Boomer Esiason.

The Terrapins were leading 20-14 and had a chance to salt the bowl game away but missed a chip-shot field goal with under three minutes remaining.

Husky quarterback Tim Cowan stepped up and moved his team 85 yards in 17 plays, twice converting fourth-down plays. He threw an 11-yard touchdown pass with six seconds left and the UW pulled off s stunning comeback.

Cowan and Allen hooked up for all three Husky TDs that day, earlier connecting on scoring passes of 27 and 71 yards.

The passing numbers from a heady QB match-up: Cowan completed 33 of 53 passing attempts for 350 yards and those 3 Allen TDs, with no interceptions; Esiason was good on 19 of 32 throws for 251 yards and 2 scores, and 1 pass theft.

Cowan received the Aloha Bowl Offensive Player of the Game trophy when it appeared all along to be headed to Esiason.

Two and a half decades later, these two quarterbacks ran into each other again and the game, of course, came up.

Accompanying his wife on one of her business trips to New York City in 2008, Cowan was wandering through a downtown plaza when he spotted the set of CBS' NFL Today, which employed Esiason as one of its always entertaining analysts.

Cowan asked someone affiliated with the show if he could say hello to his long-ago adversary. Hearing this Esiason hustled right over on a break, eager to see his opposite Aloha Bowl quarterback. They exchanged pleasantries, took a photo together and Boomer had to get back to work.

They didn't get more than a couple of steps apart when the former Maryland quarterback called out for Cowan. He had a lighthearted request, typical of him.

"Hey Tim, do you still have my trophy?" Esiason asked impishly. 

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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