Thursday June 25 Links and Banter
We're all waiting for the 10:00 ET kickoff
And Atlantic Week continues apace! We've assembled a crack team of experts with insider analysis and film room breakdowns our usual dudes to scan the Maryland schedule and make wildly and baseless predictions. Should the Terp faithful look forward to a bowl, or maybe even a win after September 30th?
Schedule
9/5: v Hampton Pirates.
9/12: at UConn Huskies.
9/19: v Virginia Tech Hokies.
9/26: v UCLA Bruins.
10/3: at Nebraska Cornhuskers.
10/10: at Ohio State Buckeyes.
10/17: v Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
10/31: v Illinois Fighting Illini.
11/7: at Purdue Boilermakers.
11/14: v Wisconsin Badgers.
11/21: at USC Trojans.
11/28: v Penn State Nittany Lions.
Predictions
Kind of...: Terps are really tempting the "September Maryland" gods by scheduling @UConn and vs. Virginia Tech. Fortunately for Maryland, Jim Mora, Jr., moved on and Jason Candle pretty much turned over the entire roster, so there should be a 2-0 start. However, we all know how poorly the Terps have fared vs. PSU, and Franklin brought enough PSU transfers down to Blacksburg, that there's every reason to think the Hokies will take that one. So, 2-1 headed to conference play.
How quickly will Chesney get UCLA going? How will Nebraska look w/0 Raiola? That's a pretty high variance way for Maryland to start the conference season. Let's call it 3-3/1-2 after the aut0-loss to Ohio State.
The season will be made (or unmade) in the next four games: vs. Rutgers, vs. Illinois, @Purdue, vs. Wisconsin. None of those are unwinnable. All are lose-able. 4-0 seems unlikely. So does 0-4. If we say 2-2, then the Terps are 5-6/3-4. Don't see them winning @USC so bowl eligibility would hang on beating...Penn State. Sure, that doesn't seem as daunting when it's Iowa State East, but Matt Campbell will have had all season to put the pieces together, so 5-7 really feels like Maryland's fate. That said, there's a reasonable chance this could all go south in a hurry and we're looking at 3-9/1-8 or something. Malik Washington is a really talented QB prospects, but the overall roster leaves plenty to be desired.
BoilerUp89: 4-8 (1-7). Maryland wins September and then loses out. Tradition is important.
If it wasn't for the tradition unlike any other, then I would say Franklin's Virginia Tech, a revamped UConn, and a rebuilding UCLA will challenge Maryland in their opening month. Later games against Rutgers, Purdue, and Wisconsin appear more gettable on paper.
Transient Buckeye: I have to respectfully disagree with Kind of... on one point. It's UConn and Virginia Tech who are tempting the college football gods by scheduling September Maryland.
Malik Washington was the Big Ten's best true freshman quarterback last season, and Maryland usually has some decent weapons at running back and wide receiver. A 4-0 September might just be doable. After that, things get a lot trickier. The Big Ten schedule actually looks pretty manageable. The Terps miss Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Oregon, all teams against whom they'd be heavy underdogs this season. As for the games they will play...
Nebraska had their best team in several years last season. Yes, that's damning with faint praise, but it's still true. I think the Huskers should be slightly better this year, and the game is in Lincoln, so this feels like the first likely loss of the season for the Terps. Maryland will get murderdeathkilled by Ohio State (the 20-point loss they took to OSU in 2023 was the closest Maryland has come to beating OSU in Columbus since joining the Big Ten). The Rutgers-Illinois-Purdue-Wisconsin stretch is going to make or break their season. On paper, they should have a shot against all four of those teams--with Illinois being least likely and Purdue or Rutgers being most likely, IMO. They need two wins out of that stretch to have a reasonable path to 6-6.
Ordinarily, I'd say that a lower-mid-tier Big Ten team should be able to get to 6-6 with this schedule. The only thing holding me back is that it's Maryland we're talking about, and the post-September regression has been going on for long enough that it's not a coincidence, it's a pattern.
Fuck it. Maryland defies tradition and goes 6-6, winning at least two games in October/November. Though if they go from 4-0 to 4-8 again this season, it would be absolutely hilarious.
AlmaOtter: It's actually not a terrible schedule. Only Ohio State is really at the top-tier level. Avoiding Indiana is always a good thing (god, what a phrase) and the only long-haul flight is late-season to USC. VA Tech, UCLA, and Penn State are all working in new coaches and Fickell might even be fired by the time the Badgers get around to coming out to College Park in November.
The new AD at UMD very publicly gave Locksley a vote of confidence last year with the promise of a big ol' bag of NIL money. We shall see if that changes the on-field results post-September. I think they'll get two of the three competitive September games, then maybe wins over Rutgers and Purdue to get to 5-7. That'll be just enough to avoid having to buy out Locksley's contract as he heads into his final season.
