Maryland football entered its first of two bye weeks coming off a loss to Indiana. Coach Michael Locksley said sitting in the loss for nearly two weeks before their matchup against Northwestern has been a “pretty crappy” feeling.
The situation is similar to last year — the Terps fell before the bye and faced Northwestern two weeks later as a two-score favorite. They lost that game, a continuation of Maryland’s post-bye struggles under Locksley.
“We’ve had some seasons around here where we’ve been a little further ahead at this point,” Locksley said. “And then what I call the middle eight of our season, which is the middle part, we’ve struggled. So what I’ve told our team is that our past doesn’t dictate our future.”
The Terps are 0-6 following a bye week since Locksley took over in 2019, losing those games by an average of 26.5 points.
Junior linebacker Kellan Wyatt said the loss to Northwestern last year stuck with Maryland for a bit — the Terps lost 51-15 to Penn State the following week. While the Terps enter the weekend off just one loss, they’re 0-2 in Big Ten play.
“Bye week came at a perfect time,” Wyatt said.
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Redshirt junior quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. said the team focused on the controllables — penalties, turnovers and explosive plays — during the bye week.
Maryland has been penalized at least five times in every game this season and has lost the penalty battle in each of the past three contests. Many of these penalties have been self-inflicted.
Against Michigan State, junior defensive back Jalen Huskey jumped offside on a missed field goal at the end of the first half. The Spartans made the second try in a game they eventually won by three points. Huskey was also penalized for pass interference on the game-winning drive.
Maryland’s offensive line had a stretch of three straight penalties in the second quarter against Indiana. Aliou Bah was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, Josh Kaltenberger had an illegal snap and Kyle Long grabbed the face mask of a Hoosier.
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Maryland has lost the turnover battle in all six of its games following a bye since 2019, but look to change that this year. The Terps have been one of the best teams in the nation at taking care of the ball, with over three turnovers through five games.
In each of its defeats this season, Maryland has allowed more big plays — runs of at least 10 yards or passes of at least 15 — than its opponent. Locksley said it needs improvement in explosives on both sides of the ball.
“The big plays, on offense we hadn’t generated them in the games that we lost, and then on defense we gave them up,” Locksley said.
As the Terps enter the post-Tagovailoa era, they hope to leave behind their post-bye week struggles, and that starts this week against the Wildcats.
“It’s hard, obviously, going into a bye week having two weeks to sit on a loss,” Edwards said. “But I think that just pushes us even more.”
