Preview: Maryland football enters a must-win game vs. Rutgers

Chase King
23 hours ago
3 min read

Maryland (4-4, 1-4 B1G) at Rutgers (4-5, 1-5 B1G)

When: Saturday, November 8 | 2:30 p.m. ET

Where: SHI Stadium

Watch: FS1 Noah Reed, Robert Smith

Listen: 105.7 FM (Balt) / 980 AM (DC) - Johnny Holliday, Steve Suter

The Maryland Terrapins will take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in a near must-win game for the Terps' chances at a bowl game.

The 4-4 Terps are on a four-game skid before their battle on the road with the 4-5 Scarlet Knights, who have lost five of the last 6.

Maryland’s bowl game chances are still alive at 4-4, and with two very winnable games on the schedule against the Scarlet Knights, who are 1-5 in conference, and Michigan State to end the year, who is currently sitting at 0-6 in the conference.

The Terps would still have a chance to make it to a bowl game with a loss at Rutgers, but they would have to win two of three against Illinois, Michigan, and Michigan State.

The key for the Terps to win at Rutgers will be to find some offensive success. While the Terps won four straight to start the season, they found a semblance of balance on the offense, averaging 103 rushing yards per game and passing yards per game.

During the Terps' current four-game losing streak, they have averaged 83 rushing yards per game and 233 passing yards per game.

“When you're one-dimensional, it makes it easy to defend, and I think that's the piece for us as we embark on trying to be balanced on offense, which allows you to run and pass efficiently,” Head Coach Mike Locksley said.

For the Terps to find success on offense, they will have to find some success in the run game, which has been a primary point of emphasis for the Terps.

Against No. 2 Indiana, the Terps only ran for 37 yards on 2.2 yards per carry, which led to third-and-longs and caused the offense to stall at many points in the game.

“The efficiency on first and second down will be really important to get fixed against Rutgers.”, Locksley said, “I can tell you it starts with how we can run the ball. Because if you can take pressure off of the young quarterback, the inexperienced quarterback feels like he has to do everything himself, and sometimes that's the extra yardage.”

Maryland will have a chance for their run game to break through against Rutgers, a team that gives up 184.4 rushing yards per game on defense.

Another problem that showed up vs Indiana and will need to be fixed against Rutgers was the turnovers on the offensive end. The Terps committed four turnovers, including two straight interceptions from freshman QB Malik Washington.

“For a team that's number one in the country in turnover margin. We had three straight turnovers, a turnover on down there in the third quarter, and then the wheels kind of fell off,” said Locksley.

On the defensive side, the Terps will probably be tested once again in the run game. Rutgers RB Antwan Raymond is third in the Big Ten in rushing yards, and Rutgers will likely try and take advantage of a Maryland run defense that just allowed 367 rushing yards against Indiana.

“If you look at the game a week ago, where I think they had 180 yards of explosive runs, and they usually happen from not being in the right gap or a missed tackle. We had 17 missed tackles again last week after cleaning it up the week before,” said Locksley.

They won't be the only ones with WRs KJ Duff and Ian Strong among the Big Ten's leaders in catches and receiving yards in 2025 while QB Athan Kaliakmanis has put consecutive games together without a turnover. But can Maryland take advantage of the Scarlet Knights' historically bad defense?

The Terps are 2.5 underdogs going into their near must-win game vs Rutgers, which will be available on FS1 at 2:30 p.m.

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