BALTIMORE – Randy Edsall, who diligently worked to build the Connecticut football program into a winner, has been hired to pull off a similar feat at Maryland.

Edsall was picked Sunday to replace Ralph Friedgen, who was fired after a 10-year run at his alma mater.

Edsall spent 12 years at Connecticut. He guided the Huskies out of Division I-AA (now FCS) and into the Big East, where he won a pair of conference titles and earned postseason appearances in each of the last four years.

Connecticut lost to Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday night.

The 52-year-old Edsall emerged as a surprise candidate for the job over the weekend. He beat out former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, who was considered the favorite when the search began on Dec. 20.

Edsall, the 2010 Big East coach of the year, led the Huskies to eight or more wins in each of the last four seasons. He finished with a 74-70 record at UConn.

FIESTA BOWL

(9) OKLAHOMA 48, UCONN 20: Landry Jones threw for a school bowl-record 429 yards and three touchdowns, and the Sooners (12-2) ended a five-game BCS bowl losing streak with a win over the Huskies (8-5) in Glendale, Ariz., on Saturday night.

Oklahoma carried plenty of BCS baggage after losing three straight title games and two Fiesta Bowls.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

(1) DUKE 74, MIAMI 63: Nolan Smith scored a season-high 28 points to help host Duke (13-0) beat Miami (11-4) in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.

Reserve guard Andre Dawkins added 16 points for the Blue Devils, who have won 23 straight games dating to last season’s run to the ACC and NCAA tournament championships. Smith had a run of 13 straight points in the first half that gave Duke its double-digit lead, though the Hurricanes played the reigning national champions basically even the rest of the way.

(3) KANSAS 83, MIAMI OF OHIO 56: Markieff Morris had 20 points and twin brother Marcus added 18 to help Kansas cruise past Miami of Ohio (5-9). Kansas (13-0) extended the nation’s longest homecourt winning streak to 67 games.

(8) VILLANOVA 81, RUTGERS 65: Corey Stokes scored 23 points, Corey Fisher had 19 and host Villanova (12-1) beat Rutgers (9-4) in a Big East opener.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

(5) TENNESSEE 73, LSU 65: Kelley Cain and Glory Johnson scored 19 points each to lead the visiting Vols (13-2) to a win over the Tigers (10-5).