Maryland football drops sixth straight game, falls to Illinois 24-6

jmcconn3
6 days ago
3 min read

Different week, same outcome for the Maryland football team. The Terps drop their sixth straight game, this time against the Illinois Fighting Illini, with a score of 24-6, as they fall to 4-6 overall (1-6 BIG 10).

Just a week ago, quarterback Malik Washington in the postgame press conference talked about the light at the end of the tunnel, and how some may feel that the tunnel is “pitch black.” At this rate, the lights may be turned off.

“We’re looking forward to next week,” Washington said. “Nobody’s excited about this energy, and dudes are willing to work and put in whatever work we have to make it to the place where we’re going.”

A team that is desperate for any sort of win, just has not gotten any opportunity for a sliver of momentum, all of which being self-inflicted week after week. While Maryland had a brief lead with the first points of the game being a field goal from Kicker Sean O’Haire in the first quarter, it all slipped away in a flash.

Maryland had a moment of great field position inside the 50-yard line after a rough punt for the Illini in the second quarter, a chance to get near the redzone at least. After just three plays, they settled for a field goal again from O’Haire. It’s hard to win a game by just kicking the ball.

The Terps' offense early in the fourth quarter was inside the five-yard line, leading to hopeful scoring opportunity to make it a one-possession game. A 17-play drive would prove to still be an empty drive after Shaleak Knotts and AJ Szymanski dropped passes on third and fourth down.

“It’s disappointing when you don’t finish, if you focus on the outcome which is, they key is to end in drives and touchdowns,” Locksley said. “I just know when we get down that far, we got to end in a touchdown.”

After having their strongest performance on the ground game last game with over 300-yards, the offense reverted to normal after finishing with just 55 yards on the ground, an area that could've drastically reshaped the offense on Saturday. On the other end, Maryland's run defense continued to prove to be a weakness after allowing 200 yards on the ground for the third consecutive week and 190 yards for the fifth consecutive week. Maryland's near-200 yards allowed on the ground in conference play ranked 115th nationally heading into Saturday.

Third downs were an issue for the Terps trying to get any offense pushing, while they converted three out of their twelve opportunities, one of the reasons why the Terps trailed Illinois by a little over ten minutes for total time of possession.

“We just got to stay ahead of the sticks,” Washington said. “Instead of being third and seven, and third and ten, being third and two, third and three makes the situation more manageable.”

Locksley with under four minutes to play, declined a penalty to make the drive a fourth and five, ended up punting the ball away. Locksley talked about how he thought their offense would wound up in a better position if they pinned them deep in the field.

“I though the way we played defense the last drive, if we could just get a stop to change the field position, it shortens our drive there for the quarterback, fast score, onside kick, go for it again, so decided how that’s how we want to play out that last drive,” Locksley said.

Two games remain for Maryland football in what head coach Mike Locksley referred to as 'playoff football' with bowl eligibility technically within reach. Maryland will prepare for their last home game against the current 18th-ranked Michigan Wolverines for Senior Day. Wins in each of the final two games are now needed to reach bowl eligibility.

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