Terrapins fans can start planning their fall schedules a little early after kickoffs were announced Wednesday for Maryland’s first four games of the 2023 season, along with potential start times for two others.
Maryland opens the season with three consecutive home games, and all will have late afternoon or evening starts. The Sept. 2 season opener against Towson — coach Mike Locksley’s alma mater — will kick off at 3:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.
The following week’s Sept. 9 game against Charlotte starts at 7:30 p.m. on NBC. It will mark Maryland’s first game on the network since 2011, thanks to the “Big Ten Saturday Night” weekly package of games as part of the conference’s new media rights deal.
Maryland’s Week 3 game hosting Virginia which had been previously moved from Saturday, Sept. 16 to Friday, Sept. 15, will begin at 7 p.m. on FS1. The Terrapins will face the Cavaliers for the first time in a decade after Maryland left the ACC for the Big Ten in 2014.
Week 4 is both Maryland’s first road game and first conference game, visiting Big Ten East Division foe Michigan State on Sept. 23. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m., with broadcast information for the game to be determined later.
Two other games will have early or late afternoon starts. Maryland’s Sept. 7 trip to Ohio State and Oct. 14 homecoming against Illinois will begin either at noon, 3:30 p.m. or 4 p.m.
With the announcements, six of Maryland’s first seven games now have a determined or potential kickoff time. Part of that is a byproduct of the aforementioned new Big Ten rights deal, which will place the conference’s games across three broadcast networks — CBS, FOX, and NBC — along with the Big Ten Network and FS1 on cable and NBC’s Peacock streaming service.
Maryland is coming off an 8-5 season in 2022, capped off with a defeat of No. 23 N.C. State in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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