ATLANTA, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Quarterback Scott McBrien rushed for a pair of touchdowns Tuesday night as the 18th-ranked Maryland Terrapins completed a tremendous season with a 30-3 smashing of Tennessee in the Peach Bowl.
Maryland (11-3) won 10 of its final 11 games after a 1-2 start and recorded its first bowl victory since beating Syracuse, 35-18, in the 1985 Cherry Bowl. The only loss for the Terrapins during that stretch was a 48-13 setback to Virginia that snapped an eight-game winning streak.
Last season, coach Ralph Friedgen led Maryland to its first Atlantic Coast Conference title in 17 years, but the Terrapins were drubbed by Florida State, 56-23, in the Orange Bowl.
A year later, Maryland reached 11 wins for only the second time in the 110-year history of the program. The Terrapins' only other 11-win campaign came in 1976, when they went 11-0 in the regular season before losing to Houston in the Cotton Bowl and ended the season ranked eighth in the country.
The defeat ended a disappointing campaign for Tennessee (8-5), which suffered its first five-loss season during Phillip Fulmer's 12-year tenure as coach.
Maryland appeared better prepared for the contest, holding the the Volunteers to a season-low 45 yards rushing. Tennessee's previous low was 59 yards against Alabama.
The Terrapins repeatedly pressured Casey Clausen, who was sacked six times. He completed 23 of 37 passes for 242 yards.
Linebacker E.J. Henderson, the Butkus and Bednarik award winner, spearheaded Maryland's defensive effort with 12 tackles, including four for losses.
The Volunteers were held without a touchdown in a bowl game for the first time since the 1957 Gator Bowl, when they lost to Texas A&M, 3-0. Tennessee reached the Maryland 16 with nine minutes left but turned the ball over on downs.
McBrien scored the only touchdown the Terrapins needed on a one-yard keeper with six minutes left in the first quarter and scored on a six-yard run just over two minutes into the fourth period to make it 27-3.
McBrien was 11 of 19 for 120 yards and rushed seven times for 36 yards.
Steve Suter's Peach Bowl-record 79-yard punt return set up Nick Novak's third field goal of the game, a 25-yarder with four minutes to go. Novak also converted field goals of 44 and 48 yards.
Cornerback Curome Cox returned an interception 55 yards to give Maryland a 14-0 lead 3:28 into the second quarter.
