Preview: Maryland football looks to bounce back at home vs. Nebraska
- diggsreport
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
Maryland (4-1, 1-1 B1G) vs Nebraska (4-1, 1-1 B1G)
When: Saturday, October 11 | 3:30 PM EST
Where: SECU Stadium
Watch: BTN - Guy Haberman, Jake Butt, Brooke Fletcher
Listen: 105.7 FM (Balt) | 980 AM (DC) - Johnny Holliday, Steve Suter, LaMont Jordan
Betting: Maryland -6.5 | O/U: 46.5 (DraftKings)
After suffering its loss of the season to Washington, Maryland football returns to SECU Stadium to host Nebraska in a matchup of 4-1 (1-1) teams.
Nebraska holds a 2-1 edge in the all-time series as Saturday marks the first matchup between the two since 2023 when Maryland converted a last-second field goal for their first win ever against the Cornhuskers.
Maryland will now look for its first win against Nebraska in College Park while starting 5-1 for the sixth time since 1980.
Maryland will also do so with a key piece back in true freshman edge Sidney Stewart after he was ejected from last week’s game due to a targeting call. He and Zahir Mathis were named to the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year award this week. Both will have their hands full against Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola. He’s third in the Big Ten in completion percentage at 74.2%, behind only Ohio State’s Julian Sayin and Oregon’s Dante Moore, while the Huskers enter the week rank eighth nationally in passing yards per game with five players recording at least 16 catches in 2025.
A big piece of the passing attack sits with RB Emmett Johnson, who ranks second on the team in catches while also averaging nearly 95 rushing yards per game. After slowing down Washington’s Jonah Coleman last week, the run defense gets another test with Emmett Johnson. He ranks in the top-20 nationally in both rushing yards per game and yards from scrimmage. The defensive line, led by Cam Rice and Eyan Thomas, will have to live in that backfield to keep him in check.
As for the offense, Maryland quarterback Malik Washington is preparing for his biggest challenge in his young college career, as Nebraska’s defense leads the nation in passing yards given up per game. They have accomplished this without senior Malcolm Hartzog, who hasn’t played since week one. The senior defensive back could see a return to the field this week, which would strengthen this already strong pass defense. Fellow senior Deshon Singleton has two of the team’s three interceptions on the year, with the other coming from Hartzog. Linebacker Dasan McCullough is the team leader in sacks with two.
While the passing defense has excelled, the run defense has been a different story. Nebraska is second-to-last in the Big Ten in rushing given up per game with 155.6, only ahead of UCLA. This might be the perfect time for Maryland to get their stagnant running game going, which still does not have a gain of over 20 yards. Running backs Nolan Ray and Dejuan Williams need to get going at some point, and this might be the game that does it. The offensive line will need to be aware of where linebacker Javin Wright, who leads the Cornhuskers in tackles, and 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri are at all times on Saturday.
After giving up a 20-0 lead against Washington last week, Maryland will look to bounce back for a statement win as home underdogs once again.
“Obviously, none of us are happy about the outcome from Saturday. It's an adage where you got to play the game for four quarters and we played it for three. And as I dive into last week, it wasn't the first game that we didn't win the fourth quarter. And that's a standard for us in our system. Anyone that's ever coached in the Nick Saban family tree, winning the fourth quarter is a really important stat. And going into that game, we were tied in the fourth quarter, meaning we hadn’t finished many games the way I'd like to see us finish even when we did win, and because of it, there's an old adage, it gets us when it gets us and it got us on Saturday with us not finishing and winning the fourth quarter, which is paramount of championship teams. Winning the fourth quarter represents finishing strong, head butting the finish,” said Locks in his weekly press conference.
Malik Washington understands the assignment and is ready to show everyone why this Maryland team is different from past years.
“I think we just take it, watch the tape back, get mistakes corrected, and move on to the next week. That's the only way to deal with it. Just come out next week even harder, because we know we're going to have to finish games,” Washington said.
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