After securing what could’ve been a season-saving win at home, Maryland saw all momentum halted on the road vs. Minnesota after falling back to .500 overall after a 48-23 loss.
“It's definitely disappointing when you put in this work – I put in so much work – and we come out flat,” WR Tai Felton said. “We're out there making mistakes. So like Quashon Fuller said, just like on defense, on [the] offensive side, just like the consistency. So that's something we have to do better on going to the bye week, just make sure we're consistent and focus on the small details and fundamentals.”
Maryland stood no test to Minnesota on Saturday after falling into a 21-0 hole just ten minutes into the game made possible by a pair of early interceptions by QB Billy Edwards. Maryland turned to MJ Morris in the fourth quarter for his third appearance of the season, wasting no time as he drove the offense on two scoring drives to make the score more respectable. But still, for a program that has consistently fought to gain more respect outside of College Park, while working to move the needle with its fanbase against the conference’s elite, Saturday’s game marked the latest string of plaguing results as the Terps look for some form of “consistency” during its second and final bye week.
“Whatever you're doing off the field is what's going to show up on the field,” Felton added. “So just making sure we're doing all the consistent things. I mean doing things right, watching film, going to class, doing the little things right. When you do the little things right off the field, the consistent part comes on the field. You do the little things right on the field too. So just us doing a little things right, no matter if it's on the field, off the field, and stuff of that nature.”
“I feel like a lot of times mistakes always happen because you always have your eyes where they're not supposed to be,” defensive lineman Quashon Fuller added.
The road doesn’t get any easier for Maryland with a pair of road games against top-five teams still left on the schedule, while ESPN game predictor points to Maryland as the favorite in just one of their final four games to end the 2024 season. After entering the season with hopes of securing bowl eligibility for the fourth consecutive season, marking the first time in program history, Maryland will now have to reverse course on Mike Locksley’s vision with the program on track for its worst record since his first year as head coach.
“I want it now and they know it and this team wants it, man,” Locksley said postgame. “The patience is the toughest thing for me. I know it's tough for my bosses, it's tough for me, it's tough for everybody that loves us, because you have the success and see it a week ago, then the consistency of not being [able] to show up and build on it. And that's to me, I’m probably more disappointed that we didn't build off of what we accomplished a week ago. And it started with just how we started the game. Because if we don't put ourselves, I mean, get the game to the fourth quarter on the road, give yourself a chance and we didn't give ourselves a chance from the first quarter where we got down the way we did.”
Maryland will return to action vs. Oregon on Nov. 9.
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