Maryland Football Stock Report: latest demoralizing road loss leaves more questions than answers ahead of bye week

rwelchie3
Oct 20
6 min read

The last three weeks have been a new journey for the Maryland football team despite it feeling like more of the same. The Terrapins blew yet again another 4th quarter lead as they fell to UCLA 20-17 on Saturday night. Maryland has now dropped three in a row and it feels like more of the same from the Mike Locksley era. However, the 4th quarter blown leads have been a somewhat new development under this regime. On the same note, the inability to win close games has been coming back like a revolving door for Terrapins football, specifically in the last few weeks. Maryland was unable to close again and not able to prove themselves. More questions have arisen during this stretch and the chatter has never been louder for a change at the top. Through all of that it was Maryland who tied the game with 40 seconds left in a change of pace. However, UCLA stormed down the field with ease to put a bow on their victory. In these puzzling times for the program, we look at the stock report

Stock Up

Secondary

The entire defense played their best game of the year and for most of the game it was easily one of the better defensive performances from a Maryland defense in recent memory. The catalyst for this was the secondary. For a majority of the year the secondary has come up in the clutch to keep the Terrapins in games and swing momentum. Jamare Glasker had his best game so far that was highlighted by a pick-six two plays after Maryland failed a 4th and goal. This gave Maryland the lead and was a ginormous momentum shift as the Maryland offense was struggling to leak a drop. Elsewhere Jalen Huskey was flying all over the field. Husky notched an interception in the red zone to end the first half and halt UCLA momentum. Huskey also made a massive play over the middle of the field on arguably the best pass breakup of the year on what was sure to be a big completion for the Bruins. Dontay Joyner was also solid for most of the night. Unfortunately, Huskey was disqualified on a 4th down targeting late in the fourth quarter and Joyner left shortly after with an injury. The secondary could not close the deal at the end of the day and leave the game with some injury and availability concerns, but nonetheless the secondary is a massive improvement from last year’s squad. Overall, the secondary was fantastic and kept Maryland in the game with turnovers in key moments.

The Front Seven

It is no secret that this was the defense’s game to shine. Maryland’s offensive attack was in hell all day and the defense was in charge of keeping them in the game. For 95% of the game this was the case. Early on UCLA had their way on the ground with massive chunk plays gained on the ground. Following a jail break 55-yard touchdown for the Bruins, the Terps shut down UCLA until the fourth. Players such as Daniel Wingate, CJ Smith, Sidney Stewart, and Nahsir Taylor shined for the Terps. With Zahir Mathis sidelined and Trey Reddick disqualified in the first half, depth stepped up. Taylor and Smith stepped up in a huge way to fill out a solid Maryland front seven. Through most of the game the pass rush was not stellar; however, Stewart gained momentum through the game and came up with a huge strip sack in the second half. The defense did falter late in the game, but another solid effort from the front seven that were asked too much of in this one.

P Bryce McPherson

Bryce McPherson has been a great asset for Maryland the past two years and he had a great game on Saturday. McPherson was looked to a lot as the offense struggled. McPherson punted 8 times for an average of 46 yards. Maryland was also able to stay a float in the field position game despite numerous three and outs as McPherson had 5 punts land inside the 20 yard line. McPherson was also able to show off his leg with 3 punts exceeding 50 yards in field position. It is never a great sign for the punter to be on the stock up list but McPherson deserved it and was a key cog in the defense’s success in this one.

Stock Down

The Coaching Regime

VIP update heading into the bye week

The chatter has never been louder for a change at the helm for Maryland football. The fanbase is seemingly split on a decision of the future of the program with a certain side gaining more voices and becoming louder. The facts are that Maryland is 17-43 in Big Ten play with countless seasons spiraling once the calendar flips to October. Similar themes include undisciplined penalties, suspect offensive play calling, and defenses losing steam as the game rolls on. In the early Locksley era it seemed like blowouts to conference opponents were the name of the game, specifically on the road. This season it is the inability to close games. In between has been a few wins in mixed and plenty of what if’s against the likes of Ohio State and Michigan. With three straight weeks of blown 4th quarter leads it is a different kind of loss that has not come up often under this regime. With three weeks of sample size of the inability to close games mixed in with themes seen during the past 6 years it has begun to stir up more of a conversation than ever before. Specifically in this game it was questionable play calling and more penalties that led to the team being short-handed down the stretch.

The expectations this year were not high with many projecting a three-to-four win team. Through 4 weeks the expectations skyrocketed and what is left after three consecutive losses is more questions than answers. With a young team you have to be patient, but on the flip side in year seven patience has already been had. It is a catch twenty-two for the program with many wondering if the breakthrough will occur with this regime. The talent and future seems promising with a plethora of freshmen breaking out and more help on the way. Painful losses seem to arise in new ways and many are asking when will it turn around? There is not much more to be said that has not already been said, but the remainder of the season will be indicative of the future of the program.

Skill Players

There is an underlying issue with the skill position players as conference play has began. The talent is seemingly there with Shaleek Knotts breaking out early in the year and Fleming and Farooq bringing in promising upside in the offseason. On the running back side the returning Nolan Ray and the breakout of Dejuan Williams brought promise. These assets along with a quarterback who showed his worth early in the year was a recipe for sustained success. As the season has progressed the reliableness of the skill players has weakened. Receiver drops continue to creep back in, separation is not occurring frequently, and playmaking ability in the open field is rare. Play calling and scheme may be part to blame but the execution has been lacking. Jalil Farooq dropped a wide open third down play in the fourth quarter which would have put the Terps in great position to seal the deal. This play was the most memorable but there were plenty of instances of lack of separation, drops, and lack of pop.

Overall, the offense did not give the team a chance to win. Through the last three games the offense has had a chance to put the game on ice with drives and continually come up short. Two trips to inside the 10 led to 3 total points until the final drive. The second trip was capped off with an interesting third down play call and decision by Washington to throw to Fleming short of the endzone followed by a tight end fade on fourth down. The first trip included a sweep play on 2nd down with the running back running 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage at the two yard line. The creativity, lack of pop in the run game, inability to create explosive plays, and the lack of the killer instinct put this offense as one of the worst in the conference at this point in the season.

Conclusion

A lot of questions have arisen over the past three weeks as yet another season has lost momentum in October. The same old song and dance seems to be rearing its ugly head again for Maryland and with yet another bye week on the way the talk will be loud. Despite minimal expectations and a young team it will be interesting if a flip can be switched in conference play to change the narrative around the program before the end of year 7 under Mike Locksley. The first step to this a challenging one with #2 Indiana Hoosiers coming to College Park following the bye with some familiar faces returning to The Shell.

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