AT LAST, SHOWTIME

The Terrapins football team has literally been counting the days to its season-opening matchup with Miami on Monday. Across the campus and inside the Terps' locker room, clocks have displayed a to-the-minute countdown to kickoff, a reminder of the looming start to the Randy Edsall era in College Park.

They've known Miami would be their opponent for more than six months. But after a whirlwind offseason that had already seen coaching changes at both schools intensified in recent weeks with the investigation into Miami's football program, what they actually know about the Hurricanes just three days before they debut in front of a prime-time audience is limited.

Miami, of course, finds itself in a similar situation, scrambling to anticipate Edsall's schemes while dealing with the suspension of eight players, including starting quarterback Jacory Harris and more than half of their defensive front seven.

"You can prepare so much, but I feel like we're not really going to know what's going on until the first snap," quarterback Danny O'Brien said. "But this game, especially being the first game with no tape on them this year, there might be a lot of in-game adjustments … until we actually see what's going on."

Several Terps said yesterday that they're ready for Miami's expected schemes, especially those on defense. New Miami defensive coordinator Mark D'Onofrio, who coach Al Golden brought with him from his former team, Temple, is expected to have the Hurricanes' defense set in a more passive zone coverage, as compared to the more physical man-to-man defense they ran last season.

But accounting for Miami's talent while studying Temple's schemes is no easy task.

"You got to keep reminding yourself that's Temple [on film]. Miami has a front seven and secondary that's really athletic, really aggressive," O'Brien said. "The tools that that defensive coordinator has are a little different, but like I said, we'll see come Monday night. We're prepared for the fronts that we'll be getting and the looks and we'll adjust accordingly."

For all of the difficulties their lack of knowledge has made in planning for Monday's game, though, the Terps know their opponents are in a similar situation.

"[Miami] is in the same boat. They're probably obviously watching UConn film from Coach Edsall and we're watching Temple film and stuff like that," defensive tackle Joe Vellano said. "It's the same players but different coaches and different styles. But we still played them last year, lost last second down there. We could've come out on top."

What the Terps can control, though, is what they know.

They must contain quarterback Stephen Morris, who shredded them for 286 yards and a last-minute touchdown in last season's 26-20 Miami victory. They must also limit the backfield tandem of Lamar Miller and Mike James, who combined for 1044 yards and nine rushing touchdowns last season.

And although Miami's defense is depleted with its recent suspensions, O'Brien and Co. must find a way to move the ball against a still-athletic corps. And they'll have to do it without last year's two top wide receivers, Torrey Smith and Adrian Cannon, and D.J. Adams, who was suspended for this week.

All the Terps can do, Edsall said, is prepare as best they can and adjust to what Miami throws at them.

"The biggest thing is that our kids just have to be prepared for anything," Edsall said. "If you have the fundamentals and all the techniques you've worked on, if they can just fall back to those when something new arises, then we'll be OK."

TERPS NOTE: With all the buzz surrounding the Terps' new uniforms, which they will don for the first time against the Hurricanes, Edsall said the team's season-opening threads will remain a secret until they emerge from the Byrd Stadium tunnel Monday.

"I've been sworn to secrecy in terms of what we're going to wear," Edsall joked. "But let me tell you this: You'll be very, very impressed."