MIAMI (AP) -Keon Lattimore ran for 111 yards and two early touchdowns, and Maryland held off pesky Florida International 26-10 on Saturday night.
Jordan Steffy completed 18 of 25 passes for 135 yards and Lance Ball had a 1-yard scoring run with 53 seconds left to seal the win for Maryland, now 2-0 for the fourth time in Ralph Friedgen's seven seasons. The Terrapins host No. 3 West Virginia Thursday night.
Moses Hinton caught a 49-yard TD pass from Wayne Younger for Florida International (0-2), losers of 14 straight games - the second-longest current drought in major college football behind Duke, which saw its winless skein extend to 22 with a 24-13 defeat at Virginia earlier Saturday.
FIU put a major scare into Maryland last season, losing 14-10 when the Terrapins intercepted a pass near the goal line on the game's final play.
This one wasn't easy for the Terps, either - who scored 10 fourth-quarter points off a pair of FIU turnovers.
Lattimore is the brother of Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, who starred at Miami before entering the NFL. Lattimore has fond memories of seeing Lewis play at the Orange Bowl, the Hurricanes' home field that FIU is using this season while its own stadium is remodeled.
Now, he's got memories of his own.
Lattimore had a 42-yard run on Maryland's first play, and he scored from 1 yard out to make it 9-0. The scoring started with a safety on a botched FIU punt 26 seconds into the game.
FIU went three-and-out on its next possession and Lattimore came through again, this time with a 14-yard TD to make it 16-0 with 8:13 left in the quarter.
A big play helped FIU get back into the game.
Off play-action, Younger found Hinton down the left sideline for the first score in Mario Cristobal's era as FIU coach. Cristobal - in dress pants, white shirt and tie - thrust his fists into the air and slapped whomever was within reach in celebration.
FIU got within 16-10 early in the fourth on Chris Abed's 42-yard field goal. But Lionell Singleton fumbled a punt return away deep in FIU territory with 12:27 left, setting up Obi Egekeze's 36-yard field goal that restored Maryland's nine-point lead.
Younger - who was 8-for-22 for 81 yards - was intercepted by Maryland's Kevin Barnes with 3 minutes left, essentially ending the upset bid.
FIU plays Miami next Saturday, a rematch of last year's game that was marred by a bench-clearing brawl and led to 31 players getting either suspended or dismissed from their respective teams.
FIU Head Coach Mario Cristobal
On starting slowly...
"We came out and started slow against a team that is physical and strong and if you give them the opportunity to finish you, they will. Give credit to them for coming out the way they did. Certainly as a staff and a team we have to be more prepared to start faster. But we're encouraged by the way we did come back and bounce back and made it a one score game and have the opportunity to take the lead with the football being down by six. But this game is and always will be a game of perfectionists. We certainly were a couple plays short today, a couple mistakes short. But we got better. It was certainly progress"
On the problem with the snap that led to a safety...
"(Long snapper Michael Davies is) a young guy. A guy, that five months ago, was over at prom. He's working hard. It's technical. When you're trying to snap the football you really want to focus on keeping that butt down. You've got to continually try to make that young man focus on such a particular thing. As he's running out to the field, as he's taking himself over the football to keep your butt down and to make sure when that ball comes out the trajectory isn't too high for the punter to reach. It's something that Michael (Davies) takes very seriously. He works extremely hard at it."
On improving from last week...
"Last week, as much as the score board indicates that it was out of reach, there really was a lot of positive stuff in it. You hate to use that cliché, a man short, a play short, a step short, an inch short. But it really was that. It was the first time these young men got to see themselves on actual game footage, real, real live tape. It was, 'My Lord, I could have been there. I could have stepped up and made that play. I could have been in position or in a better position. I should have recognized this particular formation, this set, this split.' And we learned a lot from it. We used some of that tonight, but we have to, as a coaching staff, as a football team, as a program, continue to prepare and practice and just play better."
On the team hurting itself....
"We gave two right away and then made a couple mistakes on third down again. We fumbled one late. If you get yourself in a position where you've already got to use those bullets or have those bullets used against you by turning the ball over, you certainly can't get caught by any more than we did. And it's a shame. Again, we're not going to ease up and we're certainly not going to go and pat each other on the back and say what a good a job we did. It's not good enough and it never will be good enough."
On who will be the punt returner...
"It's always subject to change. Lionell (Singleton) works extremely hard on securing the football. We did every imaginable drill...It was certainly a technical flaw in the end by him. Not by an effort standpoint. Not by an want-to standpoint. But it comes down to a little bit of focus. You could have that happen a million times over and he'd probably catch it a million times. But the one that he didn't hurt us. It's back to the drawing board at that position. He was consistent for most of the game but the one got us. So we'll continue to evaluate the position."
On the play of A'mod Ned...
"He did a nice job. He got tempo quick. And certainly when you perform like that in a game you earn yourself some time."
On his personality rubbing off on the team...
"Ever since I've been here the focus has been on me, me, me. And it's really our staff and our young men. I'd really like to commend them for the fact that regardless of what's going on, we are pushing through and driving through and coaching through the process all the way through the end. Even last week when we were down by a ton of points, and that's going to be the way we do things here regardless. A couple guys were teasing us at Penn State because we were down a little bit and our staff chanting 'Defense! Defense!' like you would in high school. That means that sideline's into it and they want to see things happen. They believe in the process and they know we're going to win championships here. We've just got to go to work."
On the passing game...
"Wayne (Younger) was doing a nice job with his feet as well. I though a couple of his passes were on the money and we dropped them...The interception ball popped right out of the tight end's hands. You hate to penalize him for that. I thought he was playing well. I thought he managed the game relatively well and certainly improved the way he did it."
On kicker Chris Abed...
"Well, he put it through, right? Results are results. We aren't going to sugarcoat stuff. We aren't going to hide stuff, play mental games. We talked about it before, guys that perform and do the right things in the classroom are the ones that are going to get their shot. He went in there and put it through. That was nice. It was nice to get those three points. It certainly put us back in the ballgame. Abed will be our starter next week."
On coming back...
"I think our defense finally just made the adjustment. Not schematically but to their size and their strength. Because when you run a defense like you do it's so important to fit your gaps and fit in that full speed. All of the sudden that guy in front of you is a little bit different than the scout team guy we have over on campus. The guy over here is 6-foot-6, 330 pounds. He looks like something you'd find out on a safari."
