After starting the season off hot with a five-game winning streak, Maryland football now faces an uphill climb to bowl eligibility.
The Terps have lost their last three games, including one-score affairs to Illinois and Northwestern around a bye week. The road does not get any easier with Maryland (5-3) welcoming No. 9 Penn State (7-1) on Nov. 4 at 3:30 p.m. to College Park.
“We are a team that talked about being ready to compete for championships but obviously we’re just not there yet,” head coach Michael Locksley said. “But that won’t stop us from continuing to do the necessary work to get us to that point.”
Maryland has won the turnover battle and generated more explosive plays than the opposition during its wins but struggled to do that during its losses in October.
The Terps only posted one takeaway in October while turning the ball over five times. Teams scored 17 points off those turnovers, helping decide the outcomes of the past three games. On the explosive play side, Maryland only averaged 4.9 yards per play last month while its opponents averaged 5.64 yards a play.
During their five-game winning streak, the Terps averaged 6.81 yards per play and generated 10 takeaways. Maryland turned those 10 turnovers into 56 points as the Terps took advantage of those extra possessions.
“In practice we haven’t seen a lot of takeaways,” safety Beau Brade said. “So we’ve got to make sure we get focused on getting those turnovers in practice first.”
The time of possession between Maryland and its opponents has been nearly even the past three games, but the Terps have stalled on offense and not taken advantage of the stops the defense has created for them.
Maryland has struggled in the red zone as well, even though it scored on four of five red-zone possessions against Northwestern. The Terps had to settle for two field goals and failed to score a touchdown from the Wildcats’ 1-yard line, as the drive ended on a fourth-down stop.
“It’s all about execution,” running back Roman Hemby said. “… It just boils down to little details and coaching points on each play that plays a big factor in the outcome.”
Northwestern scored on each of its six trips into the red zone for a total of 30 points. During the three-game losing streak, Maryland’s opponents have scored points on each of their trips to the red zone. The Wildcats also managed to go on a 10-play, 97-yard drive culminating in a touchdown. The defense also missed several tackles in Northwestern’s upset victory.
“We’ve got to be able to learn how to play when you are the favorite, when you are expected to win and those expectations are ones we’re not going to shy away from,” Locksley said.
But the Terps are still the same team from August, when Locksley said Maryland is ready to compete for a Big Ten championship. The Terps are now looking to put together an upset of their own against the Nittany Lions on Nov. 4 and clinch bowl eligibility.
“We’ll definitely have an amped-up crowd and we’re going to bring a lot of juice on the sidelines as well as trying to stay amped and happy about what our situation is moving forward,” Hemby said.
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