November gauntlet begins again for Maryland with trip to No. 1 Oregon

Last season marked the first time Maryland posted a .500 or better mark in the month of November under coach Mike Locksley. College football’s final month has always been a gauntlet for Locksley’s teams, a trend that continues Saturday at No. 1 Oregon.

“This league has had a lot of No. 1 teams in the country over the course of the season. It’s a good league. The number in front doesn’t — I mean, we don’t emphasize that,” the Maryland coach said Tuesday.

The Terrapins and Ducks will meet for the first time, with the trip to Eugene being Maryland’s first regular season game on the West Coast in 15 years.

“I feel it will be a stage, just like USC, to prove ourselves,” linebacker DJ Samuels said. “East Coast versus West Coast … the ranking is the ranking, but it won’t change how we play.”

Following their second and final bye week, though, a lot of history conspires against Maryland. The Terrapins are 5-13 in November since Locksley returned to College Park in 2019, with all but one of those victories coming against Rutgers. 

Maryland (4-4, 1-4 Big Ten) also has not won following a bye since 2016 and is 2-5 all time against top-ranked teams, with the last such win coming in 1955. Locksley admits his squad has faults, but realizes they can pull out surprising performances when they’re least expected.

“This team is immature at times, and, as I like to say, just dumb enough to show up and play up to the opponent,” he said. “And Oregon is one of those teams that, as I’ve seen this team do the last few years, they have a tendency to play up.”

Maryland will return many of the 12 players that were listed on the injury report two weeks ago following a 48-23 loss at Minnesota Oct. 26. After a flat performance in a loss to Northwestern following their first open week a month ago, Locksley said he made adjustments to the Terrapins’ post-bye schedule, installing everything earlier than normal and tweaking as needed after Oregon’s win at Michigan last Saturday.

“We put every phase of our game plan in [last week]. We came back in Sunday, added the Michigan data to our game plan analysis, and confirmed whether or not these things we worked on a week ago,” he said. “So basically, we had two go runs of our four-day cycle to prepare.”

Any amount of preparation may not be enough to counter Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel. Now playing in his sixth collegiate season — “Seems like I’ve heard his name for 10 years,” Locksley said — the Heisman Trophy contender leads the Big Ten in yards passing (2,665), touchdowns (19) and completion percentage (74.8).

“He manipulates the pocket,” Locksley said. “If you want to watch tape of how you manage a pocket, because he doesn’t need a lot of space to throw. And so they do do a good job of protecting him. But he also is really crafty inside the pocket area, which allows them to extend plays.”

Besides Gabriel, who trails only Case Keenum for the all-time NCAA FBS passing yards record, the Ducks (9-0, 6-0) also boast a top 11 scoring and total defense, making Maryland’s task abundantly clear.

“Everyone in the facility, from the top down, whether it’s the coaches or the players, kind of knows what a good opportunity we have in front of us,” Maryland QB Billy Edwards Jr. said. “We’re in here in November. The season’s gone as it has up until this point. Right now, we have a great opportunity in front of us. So why not?”