CBS analyzes bowl chances for Maryland football, Athlon previews 2025

Ahmed Ghafir
Jun 19
2 min read

Sportsbooks point to Maryland football on the outside-looking-in of bowl contention in 2025 with a young roster featuring just eight seniors or grad transfers on the roster. With the over/under still at 4.5 on both FanDuel and DraftKings, ESPN projected Maryland finishing on the cusp of six wins with the FPI odds at 5.9 wins, and on Thursday, CBS Sports placed the Terps among six teams in the ‘uphill battle’ category for a bowl game in 2025.

CBS: Maryland was uncharacteristically non-competitive in 2024 after three straight bowl appearances under Mike Locksley. Looking at an overhauled roster, it's unclear where progress will come from in 2025. But it helps that the Terrapins miss Penn State, Ohio State and Oregon.

Wisconsin and UCLA joined Maryland in the same category while Michigan State and second-year head coach Jonathan Smith found themselves in the ‘flip a coin’ category.

Maryland will look to move to 18 consecutive non-conference wins when they open against Florida Atlantic, Northern Illinois and Towson before heading to Wisconsin to kick off conference play. While Maryland will also look to outperform preseason projections and make a bowl game for the fourth time in five seasons, marking the first time the program did so since the end of the Ralph Friedgen era, Athlon Sports also placed the Terps in familiar territory in their offseason predictions with a projected second-to-last finish.

Athlon: Maryland’s streak of consecutive bowl trips and winning seasons ended at three with a 4-8 mark last year. The Terrapins posted one victory (USC) in Big Ten play and seven out of the eight conference losses came by 14 or more points.

If coach Mike Locksley is going to get this program back on track, it starts with finding answers to several preseason question marks on offense. UCLA transfer quarterback Justyn Martin has the edge in experience, but it will be tough to keep touted true freshman Malik Washington on the sidelines. Major improvement is needed up front to repair a struggling offensive line. Even though the Terrapins lost their top three statistical receiving options and leading rusher, Locksley and new coordinator Pep Hamilton still have talent to work with at the skill spots.

New coordinator Ted Monachino inherits a defense that allowed 36.1 points in Big Ten play last fall and returns only one starter. In addition to generating more stops in ‘25, Monachino must find ways to spark a lackluster pass rush and clean up some of the mistakes in the secondary (41 plays of 20-plus yards allowed).

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