After blowing win against Washington, Maryland’s season faces inflection point against Nebraska

There’s a thin margin of error between a season that slides into a tail spin and one that stabilizes after encountering a major speed bump.

Maryland is confronting that edge this week against Nebraska. 

“We’ll be defined by what we do now … so last week’s game should not and will not have any impact on this week’s game and how we prepare,” Maryland coach Mike Locksley said Tuesday. 

Locksley knows all too well the accusations against him and his team. After blowing a 20-0 third-quarter lead in a 24-20 loss to Washington last Saturday, the Terrapins are now 0-10 following a bye under the seventh-year coach and missed the opportunity to capitalize on their first sell-out crowd in two seasons.

“We were all pretty high on being 4-0. There was a lot of buzz around here. We were all happy about it,” said defensive tackle Cam Rice. “But at the end of the day, you can lose any given Saturday.”

“You gotta play the game for four quarters, and we played it for three,” Locksley said.

Losses in similar spots have been season-shifting for Maryland (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten). In 2021, a 4-0 start ended on a Friday night at home against Iowa, the first of six losses in the Terrapins’ next seven games. 

In 2023, an early October defeat at Ohio State was the first in a four-game slide. And last season, a walk-off comeback win by Michigan State in Week 2 was the bellwether for a Big Ten schedule that only produced one win. 

The Terrapins had leads in all three instances, including second-half leads against the Buckeyes and Spartans. That history has no bearing on Maryland’s future, Locksley insists.

Last week’s loss will have no bearing on what we do this week,” Locksley said. “I know that you guys like to loop things together, but last week is over … I thought we prepared well a week ago, we just didn’t finish.”

He’s not willing to blame the finish — Maryland had three punts and turned the ball over on downs on its final four drives of the game, while Washington kicked a field goal and scored three straight touchdowns — on the youth of a team that features four freshmen starting and nearly a dozen seeing regular action.

“We’re no longer an inexperienced team. I can’t stand up here and keep using the word inexperience with some of these guys, because they’ve played starter reps for almost a half a season,” Locksley said. “And so our expectation rises with them, with each and every game.”

Win, and 5-1 with the possibility of a bowl appears pretty good after a four-win result in 2024. Lose, and a cross-country trip against a revived UCLA squad looks all the more difficult before a November slate against three ranked teams.

Enter Nebraska (4-1, 1-1), playing its first road game of the season and averaging 42.4 points per game behind the arm of Dylan Raiola, who’s in the league’s top five in every major passing category.

“They’ve got a lot of pride in their quarterback. The offense kind of runs through him,” Rice said. “Pass rush is going to be really important affecting him, get him off his game.”

Maryland leads the conference in sacks (19) and interceptions (9), and will have defensive end Sidney Stewart back after the standout freshman missed the second half against Washington due to a targeting penalty. Raiola’s been sacked 15 times, third-most in the Big Ten.

“Losing a guy like Sid that’s tough, tough to replace,” Rice said of the targeting call last week, “but us as a defense, we’ve gotta step up and make up for that. We can’t hang our hats on that and blame that situation for the loss.”

Reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week DeShon Singleton recorded two interceptions last week for the Cornhuskers in a come-from-behind win against Michigan State and leads a league-best passing defense that allows less than 100 yards a game.

“I think it’s their front,” said Maryland quarterback Malik Washington. “Their front gets after the quarterback a decent amount, and I think that makes it harder for teams to pass on them.”