Maryland’s final home game of the 2021 season Saturday presents another opportunity to reach the elusive sixth win needed for bowl eligibility. Standing in the way is another ranked opponent — Michigan.
“Our goal and our mission that we’ve put on ourselves as a program,” Maryland coach Mike Locksley told reporters, “is to find a way to get this done and extend the season of some of these kids that have been through an awful, awful lot here during their tenure.”
Ahead of the contest with the No. 8 Wolverines, Maryland (5-5, 2-5 Big Ten) will honor 25 seniors, all of whom are still looking to get the Terrapins bowl eligible for the first time in five seasons.
“This time of year, as I told our team, becomes kind of sentimental because it starts bringing closure to some things,” Locksley said. “And for these players, these guys have never experienced a postseason game.”
The challenge won’t be easy as Michigan (9-1, 6-1) comes to College Park looking to keep alive hopes for a Big Ten East division title and a berth in the conference championship game.
“We’ll have our hands full with this team,” Locksley said.
Whereas Maryland did a good enough job containing Michigan State junior running back Kenneth Walker III last Saturday — he carried the ball a career-high 30 times but was held to only 4.8 yards-per-carry, his third-lowest this season — Michigan’s offense is decidedly more run-oriented. Walker carried the ball a
“They’re a run-first team,” Locksley said. “They’ve kind of adapted that personality out of [Michigan coach Jim] Harbaugh’s time out at Stanford.”
Senior running back Hassan Haskins leads that element of the Wolverines’ game, spearheading an attack that has the most rushing touchdowns in the Big Ten this season (26) and averages 225.1 yards per game, second only to Wisconsin in the conference. Haskins himself has scored 11 of those touchdowns and stands only 15 yards from 1,000 on the season.
Maryland has put together better defensive efforts as the conference schedule has progressed, including two takeaways against the Spartans, but is still hampered weekly by penalties (including a season-high 13 against the Spartans) and other correctible mistakes.
“For our defense the biggest thing that jumps out to me are our lapses in focus,” Locksley said. “We had 18 missed tackles that we charted, and for me, that’s fundamentals.”
“When you hear the word execution, a lot of times it sounds like coach jargon,” Locksley continued, “but there’s a lot of things on tape that really show that we’re probably not as far away as it seems but definitely not as close as it seems when it comes to competing.”
The coach noted the progression of quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, who turned in his sixth 300-plus yards passing performance of the season against Michigan State. He continues his climb up Maryland’s record books, standing 394 yards and six touchdowns from the single-season program bests in both categories.
Tagovailoa, for his part, was unaware of his performance when asked and instead is focused more on limiting mistakes and continuing to grow into his role.
“I think the more I continue to play, the more comfortable I’ll get,” Tagovailoa said. “Every week, I’m learning new things.”
Locksley underscored his quarterback’s comments.
“Instead of letting one bad play lead to another, lead to another, he’s starting to understand the importance of getting by it, learning from it, and then trying to do better and not let it happen again,” Locksley said.
“To me we’ll be able to win with this kid around here because he’s progressing the way he needs to.”
Notes: Freshman wide receiver Marcus Fleming who left the Michigan State game with an unspecified injury, will have surgery and is out for the remainder of the season. … In addition to the 25 seniors being honored, Maryland will also honor the late Jordan McNair. A Baltimore native, McNair collapsed due to heat exhaustion during an offseason practice as a freshman on May 29, 2018, and died 15 days later.
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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