Malik Washington, defense secure validating road win for Maryland football

Chase King
Sep 20
5 min read

Fans expected an undefeated start ahead of Big Ten play, but after a four-win season wrapped up year six for Mike Locksley, Saturday’s conference opener marked a chance at national validation for a revamped Maryland football program.

With a chance at stamping a strong start in their first matchup against a Power Four team in 2025, prized true freshman Malik Washington led the offense in what marked his biggest test in his young career and Big Ten debut.

What was once expected to be a spring quarterback competition, Saturday’s matchup gradually built up into a Billy Edwards Jr. vs. Malik Washington storyline in the first of three conference games against familiar faces.

“It won't be strange between the lines, like until that clock says zero in the fourth quarter,” senior WR Octavian Smith Jr said about Edwards, who threw for nearly 2,900 yards and 15 TDs last season. “After the game, he knows it's all love, that's forever going to be my brother.”

Edwards was a game-time decision for the Badgers as he battled a knee injury that continued to linger throughout the game, ultimately sidelining him in the first half and forcing sophomore Danny O’Neil to play the bulk of the final 45 minutes.

On the Maryland side, Malik Washington took on the challenge of a Big Ten defense and proved that he isn’t an ordinary true freshman.

“I’ve done it so many times in my life to where that no matter what that stage is, the moment, it’s not bigger than me,” Washington said ahead of his first Big Ten game.

On Saturday, he looked anything but a freshman after finishing the game passing 18-for-34 for 265 yards with two touchdowns, along with a rushing score to open the game’s scoring.

Washington arguably looked more impressive than his numbers showed as he operated a pass-heavy game plan and really set the tone of the entire game, and seemed unaffected by the hostile environment.

“It was really fun. The atmosphere was great, it was amazing, but the team, we stayed together, had some things that we wanted to clean up, but overall, it was a fun experience,” Washington said postgame.

One of Washington’s traits that he showed off heavily against the Badgers is being able to stay in the structure of the offense and make smart decisions. There were many times in the game where he would move up in the pocket and read the field while waiting for the routes to develop, rather than bailing on the play too early, which is all too common among young QBs.

But that doesn’t mean he didn’t air it out. He had arguably his best pass of the season on a 62-yard bomb to Shaleak Knotts to cap off a very impressive 99-yard drive.

He also had another deep ball right before half to Octavian Smith Jr., this one for 48 yards.

Looking back at the play, Washington said, “We came out of [the huddle], I saw a good leverage, and I knew 5 is a guy that can fly, so I put the ball out there and let him make the play.”

Smith finished the game with 6 receptions for 113 yards, his second straight week with 100 receiving yards, and his second week setting a new career high. Knotts finished the game with 3 receptions for 80 yards and 2 TDs. Knotts has 5 TDs on the season.

Not everything went as planned in the passing game, however, as six different Terps’ receivers ended the game with a drop.

“Today wasn't our best day as a receiver unit because we had those untimely drops on third down, which are like turnovers for us,” head coach Mike Locksley said. “We're fortunate to get out of here and be able to learn from them.”

On the other side of the ball, Edwards only finished one drive, where he threw a 45-yard slant pass to Trech Kekahuna, but came out with no points due to a blocked field goal attempt. He would take an additional snap on the next drive before ultimately being sat out.

Maryland’s defense was able to take advantage of Wisconsin’s move to QB Danny O’Neil. The Terps' defense played a near-flawless first half of football, where they kept Wisconsin scoreless in the first half and controlled the line of scrimmage.

Despite a couple of big runs at the start of the game for Wisconsin, Maryland's defense went into the half allowing 57 yards on 22 rush attempts for only 2.6 yards per carry.

In the second half, the Badgers had to rely more on the pass game and were only able to add 27 rushing yards. The Terps' defense finished the game, limiting the Badgers to 84 yards on 41 runs, not including a 23-yard loss on a fumble.

This was the first time since Locksley was hired that the Terps allowed less than 100 yards on the ground in a Big Ten opener.

The pass defense also had an impressive showing, limiting the Badgers to 235 yards, 70 of which came in the last drive, only after the game had long been over. The Terps limited Danny O’Neil, the QB who played all but the first and last drives of the game, to 120 yards on 14-of-22 passing.

Senior safety Jalen Huskey was also able to get an interception for the Terps on a deep ball with too much air under it from O’Neil. Huskey returned that interception to the four-yard line, which would allow for the Terps' first touchdown.

“The quarterback just looked to his one, and he never took his eyes off it,” Huskey said of the takeaway. “So I trusted what I saw. Saw the ball in the air, when the ball's in the air, it's my ball, so I went and got it.”

The pass rush was another big story for the Terps. With two of the main pieces of the Terps' defense being true freshman edge rushers Sidney Stewart and Zahir Mathis, there was speculation about whether they could produce against Big Ten offensive lines.

Both of them were able to shine in their Big Ten debuts. Stewart, for one, continued his non-conference dominance with a sack in the first quarter. Stewart was mainly working against a good offensive tackle in Riley Mahlman and more than held his own. On a winning rep later in the game, Stewart was also able to record a QB hit, which took out Danny O’Neil for the last drive of the game. Stewart has had a sack in every game of the season.

Mathis also had six tackles and a tackle for loss. He also came up huge on special teams as he got his hand up and blocked a field goal on the Badgers’ opening drive and made a big play on 3rd-and-3 in the third quarter, where he was able to defend both ends of the read option and caused a 3rd-down stop.

“They've had tremendous impact in our ability to play coverage behind it where they win one-on-one battles. We're going to need to continue to have it,” Locksley said of his young edge rushers. “But what a hell of a start for both those young guys.”

The Terps ended the game with six sacks coming from six different linemen, as defensive coordinator Ted Monachino dialed up a lot of heat on the Wisconsin team. That is the most sacks the Terps have had in a game this season.

Monachino has gotten a lot of praise from the players and the coaching staff, and he showed why against Wisconsin. Maryland hasn’t had a defensive performance in Big Ten play since they limited Nebraska to ten points in 2023.

With momentum fueling the program into the bye week, Maryland now returns back to College Park for consecutive home games with Washington up first on October 4th.

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