The Maryland Terrapins are used to hoeing a difficult road during the football season. They’ve been a Big Ten program for a decade, and it’s not anything they’re not used to.
In 2024, however, the difference is a team that has not only failed to reach rather mild expectations, but one that is severely underperforming at 0-3 in the Big Ten and 3-3 overall.
“I think for us, we’re always used to starting the season about 5-0,” said defensive lineman Donnell Brown, “so it’s a little rocky right now. Like, especially because, you know, just because of expectations.”
Coach Mike Locksley has not wavered, promising that “we’ve got a really good football team.” Maryland players now must go out and prove it, and they’re still confident they can.
“I mean, we’re all disappointed, especially given the expectations that we had. Our record doesn’t necessarily reflect our team,” Brown said. “I think it just reflects our decisions.”
Some of those decisions include two botched kickoff returns early in last week’s loss to Northwestern, where taking the ball at the 25 yard line would have resulted in better field position, and a season-high four turnovers for a team that entered the game with a best-in-the nation plus-11 turnover margin.
“I think for us, it’s just about finding the right continuity and consistency, and then getting the confidence that we could actually, you know, go out and execute,” Brown said. “Because sometimes when we lack confidence, then it’s kind of hard to actually be that team that we say we are.”
Modern college football has become striking a balance between “trying to go 1-0 each week” while schedule watching and looking ahead, even if players say they don’t. Brown was honest that the Terrapins know the work they have cut out for them.
“We’re not, like, in a panic mode. But I would say that the sense of urgency is definitely, it’s been rising,” he said, “especially since we lost to Indiana. And honestly, since we lost to Michigan State, because we kind of left food out there on the table in pretty much every loss that we had.”
To a man, the Maryland locker room remains calm — “it’s about a zero or one, if 10 is the worst,” Brown said about any shakiness — but the Terrapins’ top players know they need to find another gear before the season officially slips away.
“Adversity is going to happen, even in life. There’s stuff that happens in life that, for me, won’t go your way. But due to chaos, you have to stay calm, receiver Tai Felton said. “You have to kind of control the pressure and kind of control everything around you.”
Felton, who broke out with four-straight 100-yard receiving performances to start the season, has been held to just 115 combined in his last two games. His task will remain tough on homecoming Saturday against Southern California, which boasts the nation’s sixth-best third down defense.
“I have more attention coming on to me throughout the season, but it’s just me making the most out of opportunities that I have,” Felton said.
“If I’m the dominant player I say I am, I have to show up in certain times when the team needs me.”
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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