So Purdue really is that bad, huh?
After the Maryland football team defeated an FCS opponent and two mediocre FBS foes, it welcomed back this university’s alumni with a 50-7 shellacking of Purdue on Oct. 1 for homecoming. The Terps rushed for 400 yards while the Boilermakers totaled 205 yards in an outcome that moved the team to 4-0 in coach DJ Durkin’s first season.
The hype surrounding the program resulted in the Terps receiving votes in the AP and USA Today Coaches Polls, but those advocates vanished after consecutive blowouts losses to Penn State and Minnesota. Maryland was bad in those games, so bad that fans have been left wondering when it will win again, especially entering the heart of a grueling Big Ten schedule.
One of their best opportunities comes when the Terps host a Michigan State team that’s lost four straight games. But if the Spartans manage a win, the Maryland faithful shouldn’t expect a victory until the Terps play Rutgers in their season finale.
“We’re still a good team, a really good team,” left tackle Michael Dunn said Tuesday, three days after the Terps’ 21-point loss. “We’re 4-2. That’s not awful. That’s not the end of the world.”
Dunn is right. Halfway through the season, Maryland (4-2, 1-2 Big Ten) has time to fix their recent struggles. It starts with Michigan State (2-4, 0-3), which ranked as high as No. 8 in the AP Poll before their season unraveled. Northwestern and BYU have blown out the Spartans in East Lansing, Michigan, in recent weeks.
If quarterback Perry Hills returns — he missed the Minnesota game after injuring his right shoulder against Penn State on Oct. 1 — the Terps will have back a signal caller that’s done a solid job managing the offense in his redshirt senior season. Durkin said Tuesday he’d have updates on Hills and cornerback Will Likely (knee) before Saturday’s game.
Should freshman quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome run out with the first-team offense, he’ll have the experience of starting against a Big Ten defense.
“In anything in life, there’s no substitution for repetition,” offensive coordinator Walt Bell said. “If you want to be a great kite-flyer, you have to fly kites. You want to be a great weight lifter, lift weights. You want to be a great quarterback, you have to play quarterback.”
Either way, the starting quarterback will play a role in the Big Ten’s third-best rushing offense (250 yards per game). The unit will look to rebound against the conference’s seventh-best rushing defense after combining for 300 yards on the ground in its past two losses.
Michigan State’s running game, which is last in the Big Ten in yards, shouldn’t pose much of a threat to the Terps, who put together an improved performance against Minnesota. Aside from running back Rodney Smith’s 70-yard touchdown, defensive coordinator Andy Buh’s bunch held the Golden Gophers to 3.6 yards per carry.
The Spartans’ quarterback situation is also in limbo. Senior Tyler O’Connor and redshirt freshman Brian Lewerke split time in the team’s 54-40 loss to Northwestern last weekend, and they’re listed as co-starters on Michigan State’s depth chart for this week.
Still, Durkin knows not to overlook a program that’s won at least 11 games five of the past six years and made the College Football Playoff a year ago.
“For whatever reason, they’ve had a couple losses,” Durkin said. “But when you watch tape, you know what you’re getting yourselves into. They’re a tough team.”
That’s not the case, though, when comparing Michigan State to Maryland’s remaining opponents. The Terps follow their matchup against the Spartans with a trip to Indiana, an unranked yet formidable opponent, especially in Bloomington. Then they travel to No. 3 Michigan and No. 8 Nebraska, with a game against No. 2 Ohio State wedged between. Those just aren’t games Maryland is built to compete in.
While Maryland has also struggled to hang with Michigan State, which has outscored the Terps, 61-22, the past two meetings, the Spartans’ performance has been unusually poor since starting the season 2-0.
Maryland has been equally as terrible, if not worse, in its past two losses, but none of that should matter to fans if the Terps can earn a win.
After all, it might be their last for a while.
