Never mind the final score of Maryland’s loss to UCLA. Never mind 54-3.
Expect the 2-2 Terrapins to come to Memorial Stadium Saturday with something to prove against Nebraska football. “I don’t believe last week carries over to this week,” Coach Matt Rhule said Monday.
Maybe not on the field. But it has carried over off it. There has been increasing talk of the status of Maryland’s head coach, Michael Locksley. No surprise, the internet has been abuzz.
Locksley’s record with the Terrapins is 39-51.
“I understand the frustration the fans have,” he said during his Tuesday news conference. His weekly Monday meeting with athletic director Jim Smith was “typical.” It “went just as usual.”
The UCLA game didn’t go as usual, of course. Maryland hadn’t turned the ball over in the first three games. Against the Bruins, it had five turnovers, including four interceptions from quarterback Malik Washington, two of which were returned for touchdowns — 39 and 35 yards.
Even so, Rhule praised Washington, a 6-foot-5, 223-pound sophomore. “He’s elite getting outside the pocket,” said Rhule. “He can pick the ball up and run for a first down. He is pretty elite getting outside the pocket and throwing first then running, so you have to make sure everyone is covered. That’s something that showed up a little bit in every game so far.”
However, Maryland averaged a net of just 29 yards rushing against UCLA.
Iverson Howard is the Terrapins leading rusher, with 177 yards and four touchdowns on 49 carries.
Washington, who hadn’t thrown an interception before last Saturday, has completed 65.5% of his passes for 1,054 yards and six touchdowns.
His favorite target is wide receiver Chris Durr Jr., who leads the Big Ten in receptions with 35, for 312 yards and three touchdowns. Durr and “all of the big guys they have outside” will be a challenge for Husker cornerback Andrew Marshall and the rest of the secondary, according to Rhule.
Tight end Dorian Fleming, who has 13 catches for 146 yards and a touchdown, is 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds.
Maryland has size up front defensively as well. And the Cornhuskers aren’t taking the Terrapin defense lightly despite giving up 54 points, Nebraska offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen said Tuesday.
Defensive ends Derrick LeBlanc and Lavon Johnson are 6-foot-5, 318 pounds and 6-foot-3, 320 pounds, respectively. Nose tackle Eyan Thomas is 6-3, 337. Outside linebackers Sidney Stewart and Nahsir Taylor are 6-2, 247 and 6-3, 262, respectively. Outside linebacker DD Holmes, who leads the team with 2.5 sacks, is 6-7 and 257.
The Terrapins have 12 sacks, including 11 in the first three games, victories against Hampton (62-0) and at Connecticut (38-14), followed by a loss to Virginia Tech (35-26).
“This is the same team that had five sacks against us last season,” Rhule said.
The Huskers defeated Maryland in College Park 34-31, on a Dylan Raiola 3-yard pass to Dane Key for a touchdown (Raiola’s fourth of the game) with 1:08 remaining.
Nebraska will likely have to find a way to beat this year’s Terrapins without freshman running back Jamal Rule, who Nebraska listed as doubtful on Wednesday’s availability report after he left the Michigan State game with an injury and did not return.
Whether or not Locksley should be fired might be the dominant storyline this week, such is the nature of internet-driven discussions. A Sports Illustrated-posted story Sunday had the headline: “Why Mike Locksley has run out of time with Maryland.” And so it goes.
But, Locksley said during his Tuesday news conference he’s 56 years old and knows what to do.
“What do you do when you face tough losses? You get up,” he said.
As for this week, “we play one-game seasons,” said Locksley.
Rhule, who has known Locksley for some time, has the same approach. So never mind, they’re both saying, the score of the UCLA game. That was “last season.”
