Maryland football program reaches new rock bottom during Mike Locksley era in 35-20 loss vs. Rutgers

Chase King
5 hours ago
5 min read

In a had to have it game, Maryland football left Piscataway without it: a win.

Maryland’s losing streak continued on Saturday in a 35-20 loss at Rutgers, extending the slide to five games with head coach Mike Locksley’s team now winless since Sept. 20 and moving Maryland to 4-5 (1-5) with bowl aspirations all but washed away.

The game against Rutgers was the best chance to end the skid and get their momentum in the right direction. Rutgers was the Terps' weakest opponent since their first game of conference play against Wisconsin.

Once again, the Terps failed to find success, specifically in the fourth quarter, which has been a consistent problem for the Terps. This time, they needed points in the fourth quarter but weren’t able to march down the field on offense and allowed Rutgers’ run game to drain the clock.

After multiple weeks of the offense not converting and putting the defense in a bad spot, the opposite came true against Rutgers.

The Maryland defense has suffered a lot of injuries, some very visible against Rutgers. Freshman edge rusher duo Sidney Stewart and Zahir Mathis were both playing through injuries and revolving in and out of the game.

“See [Sidney Stewart] coming out, coming in. Zahir Mathis the last three, four weeks has had a toe issue. We’re limited,” head coach Mike Locksley said. “We got to get some guys healthy air as quickly as we can,” said head coach Mike Locksley, seemingly unaware that every college football team also battles injuries through the course of a season.

After the Terps offense would get a 7-0 lead, the Terps defense would let Rutgers score on their second drive of the game. That would be the start of four straight touchdown scoring drives for the Scarlet Knights, excluding a failed Hail Mary that was picked off by sophomore DB La'khi Roland.

All four of the touchdowns came through the air, three of which went to Rutgers junior WR Ian Strong.

Redshirt junior DB Jamare Glasker had the tough matchup against Rutgers' leading WR and was good at stopping anything underneath, but was getting beat consistently down the field.

His first touchdown of the game gave Rutgers its first lead of the game, 14-10, after a busted coverage left Glasker 10 yards behind a wide-open Strong.

Strong would end the game with 88 yards for 3 touchdowns despite only getting five receptions.

The one throwing him the ball, Rutgers senior QB Athan Kaliakmanis, ended the game throwing 13-for-19 for 229 passing yards, 4 TDs, and 2 INTs.

But on the ground is where the Rutgers offense moved down the field most consistently. Sophomore RB Antwan Raymond carried the load for an offense that ended with 256 rushing yards. Raymond would bring Rutgers down the field and get in the endzone to make the score 35-20 with four minutes left, which would conceal the win for Rutgers.

Raymond would end the game with 240 rushing yards on 41 attempts and one rushing touchdown.

In a must-win game for the Terps, the defense had one of its weakest games of the season. Despite playing statistically better offenses, they let up the second-most points in a game this season to Rutgers, only behind Indiana, and none of the points came from offensive turnovers.

“Our defense has carried us for seven games and have played their butts off… but the last two games haven’t been good enough on the defensive side,” said Locksley

On the offensive side for the Terps, despite being at the bottom of the Big Ten with 93.3 rushing yards a game and allowing over 200 yards on the ground to Rutgers, the Maryland offense actually outran the Scarlet Knights.

Freshman QB Malik Washington took over the game on the ground for the first time this year. On the second play of the game, he took a read option 73 yards for a touchdown. He would follow that up in the second quarter with a 54-yard run on 3rd-and-8, where the middle of the field opened up for him.

“We found growth, and then the ability to be able to run the football. Me adding myself into that just helped our offense even more,” said Washington.

He would have another big run on a 54-yard scramble on a 3rd-and-8, which would set the Terps up for a field goal in the second quarter.

“He made some guys miss early on, had some big runs, some of the runs came off of drop-back passes, which is progress, if you watch how he's developed over the course of this season,” said Locksley.

Behind that, the Terps' rushing offense would open up for the first time all year. The Terps were at the bottom of the Big Ten with 93.3 rushing yards per game.

The Terps would have a season high in rushing yards with 8 minutes left in the second quarter and would end the first half with 232 rushing yards.

Redshirt sophomore RB Nolan Ray had a career-long 53-yard rush in the second quarter, which would be followed by a 21-yard touchdown grab by redshirt junior WR Kaleb Webb.

But once again, as it has been all year, offensive balance killed the Terps today. Despite being able to rush for 305 yards, they found little to no success in the pass game.

Washington ended the game throwing 15-for-28 for 98 passing yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT. That was the worst game of his collegiate career and the first time that he finished with less than 200 passing yards.

“If you watch the tape, they play zone coverage… so you got to check it down. Short passes, make a guy miss, run for the extra yards. That’s typically what you like to see. We didn’t do a great job with run after contact or run after catch in some of these situations,” said Locksley.

The lack of success through the air would tank the Terps' offense in the second half after they got down 28-17, as they shifted away from the run game.

The final blow would come when the Terps were down 35-20 in need of a quick score with 2:32 to go in the fourth quarter on a 4th-and-16, when Malik Washington would have pressure and escape the pocket but would get broken up in the secondary while trying to target senior WR Octavian Smith Jr.

The Terps now fall to 1-5 in Big Ten play and 4-5 in total. They will have to win 2-of-3 games against Illinois on the road, Michigan at home, and Michigan State on the road. They will be expected to be underdogs against Illinois and Michigan.

The goal in the last three games will be to “finish strong, play for pride for the older guys, whose this is some of their last opportunities to play in a Maryland jersey, so just playing for them really,” said Washington.

For now, the Terps have a week to get ready for the Illinois game at 3:30 p.m. next Saturday.

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