Maryland football coach Michael Locksley’s cause for optimism after a dreadful season is the incoming additions — especially four-star quarterback recruit Malik Washington. But it’s hard to imagine much change will occur if the Terps’ offensive and defensive line struggles aren’t significantly addressed in the offseason.
The trenches have been a weak point of Maryland’s program for years, a big reason why it hasn’t upset a ranked conference team in Locksley’s tenure. Top teams in the Big Ten have routinely dominated Maryland at the line of scrimmage. That continued on the road on Saturday, a 44-7 win for No. 4 Penn State in the Terps’ season finale.
“Disappointing end to a long, long season,” Locksley said. “This season didn’t meet the standards that we set out.”
The Nittany Lions collected six sacks and ran for 219 yards. All five of Maryland’s starting offensive lineman were beaten multiple times. Redshirt sophomore quarterback MJ Morris was hit on nearly every drop back.
The struggles for the Terps’ front five were a problem all season and is a cause of concern going forward. Maryland (4-8, 1-8 Big Ten) has produced plenty of strong skill position players throughout Locksley’s tenure and has a bright future at quarterback, but repairing the offensive line won’t be easy.
“Obviously, six sacks caused some issues,” Locksley said. “’We’ve got to be able to run the ball efficiently to help take some of the pressure off of the protection stuff.”
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High quality lineman are difficult additions in the transfer portal — Maryland’s transfers from last offseason have struggled. No matter who’s starting at quarterback next year, the Terps will likely struggle again with the same offensive line play they had this season.
That was incredibly apparent on Saturday. No. 2 Ohio State’s stunning loss to Michigan earlier in the day meant that Penn State (11-1, 8-1 Big Ten) would secure a spot in the Big Ten championship with a win.
Despite the stakes, the Nittany Lions’ start on was a disaster.
Junior running back Nick Singleton fumbled on the first snap of the game and Maryland took advantage. Morris tossed a perfect 25-yard slot fade touchdown pass to senior receiver Kaden Prather on the Terps’ first offensive snap of the game.
Morris started in place of redshirt junior Billy Edwards Jr., who didn’t play due to a thumb injury that he’s battled late in the season — he played but wore a glove on his throwing hand last weekend. Maryland played strong football for the first quarter, leading 7-3 at the end of the first quarter.
Inspired play can only last so long, though. Penn State’s offensive and defensive line destroyed the Terps’ respective units.
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No play exemplified the disparity between the two teams more than Maryland’s fourth-down try in the second quarter from its own 30-yard line. On a run up the middle on fourth-and-inches, redshirt junior running back Roman Hemby was stonewalled. The Nittany Lions took a 17-7 lead three plays later and continued to dominate.
Penn State limited the Terps to 72 rushing yards, an average of 2.33 yards per carry. They were sacked three times on third down. Meanwhile, Singleton surpassed that mark of his own and scored twice.
The Terps’ poor season ended on Saturday, concluding a significant step back under Locksley. Maryland’s average margin of defeat this season was over 19 points and suffered only one loss by less than 14 points.
“I feel like my past three years, we were definitely elevating, going up, and this season we kind of hit a dip,” senior receiver Tai Felton said.
It’ll be a long eight months before Maryland takes the field again. Plenty of work will need to happen before August for the program to avoid another disappointing year.
