A trip to Rutgers gives Maryland one of its better chances to stop the slide, and maybe start clawing its way out of a season that has gone sideways fast.
The Terps come in off a fourth straight loss after facing their first ranked opponent, and the timing is brutal: Saturday’s matchup is one of the shrinking number of games left that could actually build some momentum. Rutgers is having its own rough year at 1-4, and like Maryland, it is still searching for its first Big Ten win. It’s also the only league opponent with a worse record than the Terps, who are 2-4.
With the pressure building around Michael Locksley, getting that first conference win feels especially urgent.
“They’re all must-win,” Locksley said. “This landscape, every game for a coach is a must-win. Every decision you make as a coach is a must-win.”
Locksley and quarterback Malik Washington are preaching the same thing about how to handle the rest of the schedule: don’t start stacking games in your head, just attack the next one.
“You want to go into every game 1-0,” Malik Washington added. “You don’t want to try to lump any games together … just go about it as best as you can.”
Rutgers is a beatable team, but it does have one glaring threat Maryland has to account for. Receiver KJ Duff has been one of the most productive wideouts in college football so far, with seven touchdowns and 628 yards on 33 catches. His 125.6 receiving yards per game rank third, and he has already been responsible for six of Rutgers’ seven touchdowns to begin the 2026 season.
Locksley drew a comparison to Ohio State star Jeremiah Smith, who gave Maryland trouble on Oct. 10.
Smith finished with four catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns, both game highs. Duff, Locksley said, can hurt a defense in more than one way.
“[Duff] is super talented. Makes a lot of contested catches, has the ability, vertically, to get down the field.
But also, he’s one of those guys that, third down, can work the intermediate area,” Locksley said. “He’ll have our attention.
We’ve got to do a better job this week in making sure we take him out of the gameplan. If we can do that, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”
Maryland also needs more from its run game, which has been inconsistent even after the return of redshirt sophomore DeJuan Williams. He came back Oct. 3 against Nebraska after missing three games, and while he showed burst on a 56-yard run and finished with 10 carries for 79 yards and a touchdown, the ground attack still hasn’t fully taken off.
That was clear against Ohio State, which held the Terps to 82 rushing yards on 28 attempts, a 2.93-yard average.
Locksley thinks there are signs the group can still move forward.
“Having DeJuan back and healthy, as we’ve seen on some of those long runs, he’s made an unblocked guy or maybe a guy falling off of a block, he’s made it right,” Locksley said. “I saw signs of life with the backside cut-offs, and backside B-blocks.”
Maryland may also get another body into the backfield mix this weekend. Locksley said graduate running back Terrez Worthy, a Temple transfer, has a chance to make his Terps debut.
On defense, freshman edge rusher Zion Elee has flashed the kind of talent Maryland has been waiting to see, even if the results haven’t come cleanly. Against Ohio State, he had three tackles, two TFLs and a strip-sack of Julian Sayin, arguably his best outing in a Maryland uniform.
But one of his best moments was wiped out by a costly mistake. After one of his tackles for loss, Elee stood up, barked at running back Bo Jackson, walked away, then turned back and re-engaged with Jackson. The result was a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that erased the previous play’s impact.
Locksley said Elee is likely to see more snaps going forward, which means more teaching on the sideline and in the meeting room.
“I’ve been really pleased with the production. Haven’t been pleased with the post-snap things that have happened,” Locksley said. “Every one of those moments are teachable moments.”
Sidney Stewart, who lines up with Elee on the pass rush, said the learning curve is part of the process.
“Sometimes certain individuals need a longer time to grow, mentally,” Stewart said. “That’s just a learning moment. He’s learned from it, and he’s going to continue to learn from other things.”
In Other News...
Maryland May Have Found A Defensive Difference Maker In Sidney Stewart
Maryland came out of its Week 6 loss to Ohio State with a few reasons to keep looking for positives, and Sidney Stewart gave the Terps one of the clearest ones. The defender was Marylands highest-graded player on that side of the ball, and his growing body of work through the first six games has started to look less like a one-week spike and more like a season-long pattern.
Against a Buckeyes offense that usually makes life hard on everyone, Stewart was active in all the ways Maryland needs from a frontline disruptor. He kept finding the backfield, helped generate pressure and made a noticeable impact even as the result went against the Terps, which is exactly why his presence is becoming harder to ignore as Maryland moves deeper into the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Marylands Offense Has Reached A Troubling Point With Malik Washington
Marylands slide has started to expose just how fragile the offense has become, and quarterback Malik Washington is right in the middle of it. The Terrapins have dropped four straight and stretched their conference skid to 10 games, with Washingtons recent league play marked by erratic passing, almost no run-game burst, and an attack that has too often stalled before it can threaten an opposing defense.
The bigger concern is how the entire unit has faded after halftime in conference games, where conservative playcalling and a lack of production have left Maryland searching for answers it hasnt found. Washingtons struggles are part of the picture, but so is the way the offense has repeatedly gone quiet when games tighten, leaving the Terrapins stuck in a loop of empty possessions and mounting frustration. [Read more 🡒]
Oakdale Just Gave Maryland Fans A New Class 3A Debate
Oakdales latest win over Linganore did more than settle one of Frederick Countys familiar football grudge matches. It also nudged the discussion around Class 3As pecking order, with Oakdale adding another emphatic result to a rivalry that has grown into one of the states most dependable measuring sticks for high school football quality. Since Oakdale started varsity play in 2011, these two programs have been intertwined, trading high-level games and helping shape the championship picture in Maryland.
For Maryland fans, the broader intrigue is how quickly Oakdale has become a program that belongs in the same breath as Linganore when the playoff conversations begin. Both schools have spent years as legitimate contenders, with multiple state title appearances between them, and this rivalry has repeatedly carried stakes beyond bragging rights. As the season moves along, the latest result gives Oakdale a stronger claim in the Class 3A debate while leaving the larger balance of power between these two programs very much in play. [Read more 🡒]