Maryland Terrapins

Maryland opened 2026 with a 62-0 home rout of Hampton, piling up 646 yards while holding the Pirates to 85. DeJuan Williams broke a 94-yard touchdown run, the second-longest in program history, and the Terps scored six times on the ground. The defense added five sacks and three interceptions. A week later the Terps won 38-14 at UConn behind Malik Washington's 34-of-41, 347-yard, two-touchdown day; he completed 18 straight passes at one point and hit eight different receivers, with Chris Durr Jr. (10 catches, 103 yards) and Na'eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding (8 for 130) both producing. Those two wins extended Maryland's nonconference winning streak to 20 games, the longest active run in the FBS.

Virginia Tech ended the nonconference streak with a 35-26 win in College Park, scoring on five of its first six possessions and leading 35-14 into the fourth quarter. UCLA then hammered Maryland 54-3 at home, and Nebraska won 48-23 in Lincoln after Dwayne McDougle III returned an interception 81 yards for a touchdown. Ohio State followed with a 45-16 win in Columbus. Maryland has now dropped four straight and been outscored 147-42 over its last three games, falling to 0-3 in Big Ten play and 2-4 overall. The Terps are 18-20 in their last 38 Big Ten games, and the pressure on eighth-year coach Mike Locksley keeps building.

The 646-yard rushing outburst against Hampton was an FCS mirage. Against UConn the Terps managed just 48 rushing yards from Harry Dalton III, and DeJuan Williams' 94-yard run in Week 1 remains the outlier rather than the norm. Last season Maryland averaged 104.3 rushing yards per game, near the bottom of the Big Ten, and the offensive line anchored by center Michael Hershey and tackles Rahtrel Perry and Isaiah Wright has not opened holes against power-conference fronts. The result is an offense that leans almost entirely on Malik Washington's arm. He has been productive (359 yards and three touchdowns against Virginia Tech, 254 yards and a score at Nebraska), but he has also thrown six interceptions over the last two games, including three pick-sixes in four quarters, and the Terps were 1 of 14 on third downs at Nebraska and a combined 2 of 30 over the last two games.

The preseason hype around a unit with eight returning starters, ends Sidney Stewart and Zahir Mathis, elite recruit Zion Elee, tackles Lavon Johnson and Eyan Thomas, and corners Dontay Joyner and Jamare Glasker has not held up. The five sacks and three interceptions against Hampton and the 67-yard rushing day against UConn were artifacts of inferior competition. Virginia Tech put 35 on the Terps at home, UCLA hung 54 in College Park, and Nebraska rolled up 48 in Lincoln. There have been flashes: Daniel Wingate returned an interception 51 yards for a touchdown at Ohio State to briefly pull Maryland within 31-16. But the front has not pressured power-conference quarterbacks, and the secondary has been picked apart. Until that changes, the Terps will struggle to get off the field.

Maryland hosts Rutgers next, a 1-4 team with a power rating well below the Terps, and the market has installed Maryland as a six-point favorite with a 68 percent win probability. That is the most winnable game left on the schedule and a chance to stop the four-game slide. Beyond that, the questions are bigger than one result. Can Washington cut down on the interceptions that have defined the last two games? Can the run game find any traction against a Big Ten front? Can the defense generate pressure without blitzing? And can Locksley, now 38-48 in his eighth season, steady a team that has been outscored by 105 points over its last three games? The special teams pairing of kicker Sean O'Haire (first-team All-Big Ten, 87.5 percent on field goals) and punter Bryce McFerson (44.2-yard average, second in the conference) remains a genuine edge, but it cannot cover for the gaps that have shown up everywhere else.