Maryland tries to build to a crescendo as it completes the regular season at Rutgers and awaits a postseason destination. Here’s this week’s Terps Top Three notebook for Saturday’s finale with the Scarlet Knights:
Holiday adjustments: This is the final game for these schools as division partners (3:30 p.m., Big Ten Network), but the two will continue to meet every year going forward as “protected rivals,” the term the Big Ten devised to keep close regional games intact as the conference expands to 18 next year.
It’s also likely the game will remain at this time of year going forward, with the short travel distance between New Jersey and Maryland beneficial during a rearranged game week due to Thanksgiving.
“Yeah, you still get the work done,” Maryland coach Mike Locksley said this week “Like right now, the thing we’ve done is we’re moving practices up a little bit because they don’t have school now. And so that allows us to do more recovery on the back end.”
This year, the university changed its class schedule to extend Thanksgiving break, a way for students to “rest and recharge” school president Darryll Pines said in a statement. Classes were moved online only for Monday this week and cancelled on Tuesday.
“So now, we’re doing a little extra work in the evenings, which, it is what it is,” Locksley said. “We’ve had to do it, and we’ve got a really good schedule of how to navigate Thanksgiving, and our players are used to it.”
Postseason pick: Most prognostications surrounding Maryland’s bowl game destination have coalesced around two southwestern options.
ESPN, The Athletic and 247 Sports all peg the Terrapins for the Las Vegas Bowl Dec. 23 against Pac-12 opponents Utah or Southern California. The game has the 5th selection among this year’s Big Ten bowl tie-ins, and has a parameter to feature at least two different league teams across a three-year agreement, which makes Maryland an easy target.
The other trip out west the Terrapins may take is to Phoenix. CBS Sports, Fox Sports and Athlon Sports all like Maryland as a selection for the Guaranteed Rate Bowl at Chase Field, home of baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Their Big 12 opponent from those outlets is projected to be either Kansas or West Virginia, who’s played in the game twice in the last seven years, most recently in 2021.
A seventh win would likely secure a trip to Vegas, though Maryland may have an outside shot at Nashville’s Music City Bowl with a Wisconsin loss to Minnesota.
Setting the table: Locksley, like many coaches and athletes this Thanksgiving week, is typically asked about what his menu will look like for holiday. Last year, the coach stated he was incorporating some healthier options like almonds and ka’chava smoothies into his gathering, but for this holiday, he’s taken a definitive position on the great turkey debate of our time.
“Fried turkey for sure. Baked turkeys are dry as hell,” Locksley declared. “I’m not into the baked turkey deal.”
While some would contest that assertion (an injectable marinade goes a long way for keeping those oven-bound birds moist, coach), there is one Locksley turkey accompaniment Marylanders of all stripes can get on board with.
“You know, I love my crab stuffing,” Locksley said. “I haven’t had it this year, so maybe we get into some of the crab stuffing.”
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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