Terrapins try to keep once-promising season from spiraling out of control

“October Maryland” reared its head in its ugliest form, and the Terrapins are reeling without any respite in sight.

Maryland let a 5-0 September start and a chance to bury notions about how the program fades once it reaches the heart of autumn slip away again under coach Mike Locksley. Add to that the Oct. 21 DUI arrest of co-offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin and the naming of current offensive coordinator Josh Gattis in a report surrounding the Michigan sign-stealing scandal, and a season with high expectations has unraveled as quickly as it got started.

“Losing back-to-back games by one score is disappointing. We’re a team that, you know, we talked about being ready to compete for championships, but obviously, we’re just not there yet,” Locksley said Tuesday.

The path to a third-straight bowl game for the Terrapins (5-3, 2-3 Big Ten) is now considerably foggier after a third-straight loss. The first of two top-10 home opponents in November arrives Saturday as No. 9 Penn State comes to College Park.

“It’s my responsibility to have us ready to play. I didn’t think the last couple of games we came out with the mentality that we need to,” Locksley said.

It’s not just losses, but the caliber of the losses. After losing to No. 3 Ohio State, Maryland was a two-touchdown favorite against both Illinois and Northwestern, two of the worst-scoring offenses in America (20.4 and 21.8 points-per-game, respectively). The Illini stifled Maryland and won on a walk-off field goal, and the Terrapins fell to 0-5 after a bye under Locksley after an embarrassing 33-27 defeat to the Wildcats. Maryland is now a combined 9-22 in October and November since Locksley’s return to College Park in 2019.

“After the game Saturday, I met Sunday with a bunch of our leaders. Had a leadership meeting yesterday before practice to gauge where we are. And I can tell you the same way that we felt as coaches after that game is the same way our players felt, that again, we let another game slip away,” Locksley said. “We’ve got to do us better. We’ve got to do the things we do better and more consistent.”

The Nittany Lions (7-1, 4-1) come in with a 20-12 loss at the Buckeyes Oct. 21 as the only blemish on their schedule. Even though they’ve been less impressive than some would have expected, highly-touted sophomore quarterback Drew Allar has only thrown 1 interception to his 16 touchdowns, and fellow sophomore Nick Singleton has rushed for seven scores after tallying 10 in his freshman campaign, including two in a 30-0 rout of the Terrapins last year.

Penn State coach James Franklin and Locksley are certainly familiar, if not overly friendly, with each other. The two were on Ralph Friedgen’s Maryland staff in the early 2000s before Franklin left for the NFL, returned to Maryland, then left again for Vanderbilt in 2011 after not receiving an opportunity at the Terrapins’ top job.

“We have a great working relationship, and we see each other when we see each other,” Locksley said. “No, we don’t text ‘Merry Christmas’ to each other. He’s a head coach in the Big Ten. We see each other when we do Big Ten things.”

Since the series began in 1917, Maryland has only won three times across 46 meetings, with one tie. Two of those have been on the road against Franklin-led teams, with the caveats of one coming in his first season in Happy Valley (2014) and the other the pandemic-truncated season of 2020.

“We’ve got to keep these guys together because we definitely have the power to rewrite the script, but we have to all believe and we have to all keep working to get it done,” said running back Roman Hemby.

Although this script might seem similar to past Maryland seasons — impress early against inferior competition, then wilt in colder temperatures against better foes — Locksley insisted that his program is now one that is “hunted,” and teams are raising their level when they face the Terrapins.

“Before, we’d show up, and people say, ‘Oh, it’s Maryland.’ And maybe they approached the game with the mentality of, ’It’s just Maryland.’ But right now, I don’t think very many people, when we show up say, ‘It’s just Maryland,’” Locksley said. “We’ve got to be able to learn how to play when you are the favorite, when you are expected to win.”

That’s not the case this weekend against the Nittany Lions, nor potentially in any of Maryland’s remaining games: at Nebraska, which has won three of its last four; vs. No. 2 and undefeated Michigan; and at Rutgers, which leaped Maryland in the Big Ten East standings and is already bowl eligible.

NOTE: Receiver Tyrese Chambers is no longer with the Maryland program. Locksley said Chambers is still enrolled at the university and working towards his degree, but that “he has a few things going on in his life that he felt he needs to take care of.” The Baltimore native transferred this past spring from Florida International, where he set single-season program records for receiving yards and touchdowns in 2021. In six games as a Terrapin, he only caught 7 passes for 51 yards and a touchdown.