Purdue gets Maryland in just over 24 hours, and the Terps are arriving with plenty of baggage. No conference wins.
A midseason coaching change. A six-game losing streak.
That’s the backdrop as the Boilermakers prepare for a team that, by all accounts, has been stuck in a rough slide for a while.
Dylan Schmidt of Testudo Times painted a blunt picture when asked whether Purdue needed any help to get the job done.
“Honestly, I think Purdue is going to take care of business without any outside help. After losing to Rutgers, I don’t expect Maryland to win another game this season. The Terps have had chances to snap their six-game losing streak and secure their first Big Ten win in over a year, but they’ve consistently blown leads.”
That has been the story of Maryland’s recent losses. Against Rutgers, a 10-point halftime advantage vanished.
Against Illinois, a 14-10 lead disappeared after the Terps allowed 10 fourth-quarter points. Over Maryland’s Big Ten games, the second half has turned into a disaster: the Terps have been outscored 105-23 after halftime and own a minus-35 point differential in fourth quarters this season.
The coaching change was not exactly a bolt from the blue. Schmidt said it had been building since last season, when Maryland dropped its final eight games.
The Terps opened this year with wins over Hampton and UConn, but the pressure was already there. Michael Locksley, Schmidt said, needed a big win to keep his job, and he never got it.
That led to his firing during the bye week.
The losses that pushed things over the edge were ugly. Maryland trailed Virginia Tech by 21 before scoring late to make the final score look a little more respectable.
Then came three straight defeats by an average of 35 points, including the 51-point loss to UCLA. Rutgers, Schmidt said, was the tipping point.
There have been a few signs of life lately, even if the results still haven’t changed. Schmidt pointed to the defense, especially in the Illinois game, as the biggest area of improvement. Maryland had been giving up 43.8 points per game over the final five weeks of Locksley’s tenure, but that group looked better on Saturday before the late collapse.
The Terps have also been cleaner with the ball. They won the turnover battle against Ohio State and Rutgers without committing one themselves, and they were only flagged once on Saturday.
The offense looked better against Rutgers too, though Schmidt was quick to note that came against a defense allowing nearly 33 points per game. The run game, he said, has been a little better over the last four contests.
At quarterback, Malik Washington has had a mixed year after what Schmidt called an impressive freshman season. Washington has 9 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, and there have been bright spots - including 18 straight completions against UConn. But against power-conference opponents, the rough edges have shown up.
Schmidt pointed to the four-interception game against UCLA, the two turnovers against Nebraska, and a career-low 64 passing yards against Ohio State. He said Washington’s decision-making and reads have been shaky, with too many throws into tight coverage. Washington has shown off his scrambling ability and made some strong throws on the move, but he has also panicked at times, including rolling out of clean pockets and leading to his lone interception on Saturday.
The passing game has carried more of the load than the ground attack, but Schmidt said the run game has been a problem too. Maryland has 1,903 passing yards and just 1,029 rushing yards, and while playing from behind has played a part, it’s not the whole story. The Terps were last in the Big Ten in rushing yards last season, started this year well on the ground in their first two games, and then stalled once conference play began.
Injuries have hurt the running back room, but Schmidt said the offensive line has not done its part either. Malik Washington has even been Maryland’s leading rusher in multiple games. DeJuan Williams, the top running back, has shown burst, but he has also been tackled behind the line too often.
On defense, Purdue will need to know the names up front. Zion Elee is the headline act, and Schmidt said the freshman has lived up to the hype.
Elee leads the team with 3.5 sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss, and he has forced fumbles in back-to-back games. Even with limited snaps, he has been able to create problems off the edge.
Sidney Stewart is another key piece, and at just a sophomore he’s already one of the leaders of the unit. He has 24 total pressures and 28 tackles, though only two sacks. Schmidt noted that his numbers are a bit down from last season, but that Maryland has asked him to do plenty, including dropping into coverage at times this year.
In Other News...
Purdue Needs A Much Cleaner Response After That Opening Loss
Purdues season opened with a reminder that even a veteran program can be forced to reset in a hurry. Matt Painters team dropped its opener to No. 15 Gonzaga, only the second time in his 22 seasons in West Lafayette that the Boilermakers have started with a loss, and the performance left plenty of room for a cleaner showing as the schedule moves on.
There were still some encouraging individual signs in the loss, with center Daniel Jacobsen giving Purdue a scoring presence inside and newcomer Caden Pierce making an immediate impact in his debut. The next chance to settle things down comes against Valparaiso, which arrives with some momentum after opening its own season with a win over Western Illinois, and Purdue will be looking for a more polished response. [Read more 🡒]
Purdue Faces A Progress Test It Cant Afford To Fail
Purdue enters this matchup with a chance to show the progress that has been building in recent weeks, and the timing matters. Maryland has been going the other way, with a six-game losing streak and a coaching change adding even more uncertainty to a program already searching for answers. For the Boilermakers, this is the kind of game that can either validate the improvement people have been pointing to or remind everyone how fragile momentum can be in November.
The conversation around this one keeps circling back to whether Purdue can control the parts of the game it should control. The Boilermakers will need steadiness on offense and a clean overall performance to avoid letting a struggling opponent hang around, and the details in this matchup figure to matter more than the records suggest. It is the sort of test that can say a lot about where Purdue really is, even before the final score tells the rest of the story. [Read more 🡒]
Purdue Already Has One Early Concern Fans Cant Ignore
Purdues season opener against No. 15 Gonzaga offered an early snapshot of what looks promising and what still needs work. Daniel Jacobsen was the bright spot, giving the Boilermakers a strong interior presence and showing up in the kind of ways that matter in a tough nonconference game, while the rest of the roster worked through the usual opening-night issues that can surface when the competition ramps up quickly.
The bigger concern, though, was how the offense handled the perimeter and what the frontcourt looks like behind Jacobsen. Purdues three-point shooting was shaky, and the staff also had reason to recheck the depth chart at center after Enzo Shahrvins rough outing and a limited look for Burgess. For a team that wants to avoid early-season growing pains, those are the kinds of questions that tend to linger until the next game. [Read more 🡒]