Maryland football released its future Big Ten opponents for the next five seasons Thursday.
The conference will expand to 18 teams starting in 2024 with Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA joining from the PAC-12. The Big Ten has scrubbed divisions and instead ensured that all 18 schools will play one another at least twice in a five-year cycle.
“I’ve always been a proponent of getting rid of the divisions,” coach Michael Locksley said. “From the day I got in this league I just thought it was a little lopsided and it didn’t allow us as a conference to put our best foot forward or have our best teams always represented.”
The Terps will travel out west only once per year, another primary objective of the Big Ten’s Flex Protect XVIII Model.
“Just glad to see we didn’t have all four of the new teams and three trips out west, which kinda has typically been how the new kids on the block have been treated since we’ve joined the league,” Locksley said.
Maryland’s first home game against one of the quartet of new members will be next year when it hosts USC, along with Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern and Rutgers. Its first trip out west will also be in 2024, when it travels to Eugene to face Oregon. Locksley’s squad will also take on Indiana, Minnesota and Penn State away from College Park.
The Terps are set to square off against UCLA and Washington for the first time as conference foes in 2025. They’ll host the meeting with the Huskies but will travel to the Rose Bowl to face the Bruins.
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“As far as the new teams in the league, I’m never a big guy when it comes to scheduling,” Locksley said. “Imma play who shows up when they show up and where they show up.”
After hosting USC in 2024 and traveling to UCLA in 2025, Locksley’s squad is set for a road meeting against the Trojans and a home matchup versus the Bruins in 2026. Included in that campaign will be a road trip to Columbus to take on Ohio State, which will be the first time the Terps take on the Buckeyes in the regular season after Saturday’s matchup.
Maryland will host two of the new members in the same year for the first time in 2027 when Oregon and USC come to College Park. It’ll travel to Seattle for the first time in program history to face Washington that season.
Arguably the Terps’ toughest slate of Big Ten opponents based on their current strength will be in 2028. They’ll host Ohio State and Washington and take on Michigan and UCLA on the road.
Maryland’s lone matchup on its yearly schedule that won’t change is against Rutgers. The schools will face one another each season as part of one of the conferences’ 12 protected annual matchups.
