Maryland’s offense has reached a rough patch, and Malik Washington is right in the middle of it.
After Saturday’s 45-16 loss to Ohio State, the Terrapins have now dropped four in a row and run their conference losing streak to 10. The score got away from them gradually, but the bigger concern is how little resistance Maryland has offered once games move into the second half. Washington, the sophomore quarterback, finished with 64 passing yards and completed 48% of his throws, a continuation of the regression that has followed him through conference play.
The clearest warning sign is what Maryland’s offense has done after halftime. It has not scored a single second-half point in conference games.
While the defense has faded as games have worn on, the offense has also failed to give the team any lift when it has needed it most. Maryland’s longest second-half drive in conference play has gone just 39 yards, and the longest drive has taken 3:34.
Over the last three weeks, the Terrapins have punted on 11 of 18 second-half possessions. With Maryland repeatedly playing from behind, Washington-led drives have gone nowhere.
The numbers around Washington’s passing are just as troubling. Over his last three conference games, he is completing 49.5% of his passes and has a TD/INT ratio of 1:6.
He was not intercepted against Ohio State, but the damage from earlier games has already pushed the approach toward caution. Maryland called only 25 passes on Saturday even though it trailed for most of the day, and after halftime the offense punted every time it had the ball.
The conservative game plan has stripped away much of the risk, but it has not produced much efficiency either.
There have also been signs that Washington is pressing in the pocket. He has looked rushed, missed throws, and appeared uncomfortable even when the protection has held up.
On Maryland’s first drive, he fired a pass that was nowhere close to the receiver despite having a relatively clean pocket. The first pick-six against UCLA still hangs over this stretch, too, and the result has been a quarterback who looks short on confidence while the playcalling remains limited under Clint Trickett.
Washington’s running game has not provided the lift Maryland hoped for either. He is averaging 1.57 yards per carry in conference play, and even when sacks are removed he is still sitting at 3.11 yards per carry.
He has not had a carry longer than 15 yards. There have been moments that hinted at more, including the long touchdown run against Rutgers this season, but those flashes have mostly disappeared against conference opponents.
Against Ohio State, Washington was tied for the team lead in rush attempts last week and finished with 16 total yards, including designed runs that never got past the line. This week, he scored Maryland’s only offensive touchdown on a zone read, but outside of that run he managed only 14 rushing yards on 3.5 yards per carry. The ground game has not found much help from him, and the lack of explosiveness has made Maryland’s offense even easier to contain.
With half the season still to go, Maryland needs answers quickly. The offense has stalled, the passing game has lost efficiency, and the quarterback play has become the center of the problem. If the Terrapins are going to salvage anything from the year, Washington’s production has to change fast.
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