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Know Your Opponent: Maryland Terrapins - GopherHole.com
Before every game, I ask a reporter who covers the Gophers upcoming opponent to give us a view from the opponent’s perspective. This week, I asked Matt Germack who covers Maryland for the Testudo Times six questions about the Terrapins The Gophers host Maryland for Homecoming this Saturday. This...
Before every game, I ask a reporter who covers the Gophers upcoming opponent to give us a view from the opponent’s perspective.
This week, I asked Matt Germack who covers Maryland for the Testudo Times six questions about the Terrapins
The Gophers host Maryland for Homecoming this Saturday.
This is the ninth meeting between the two programs. The home team has won the last four meetings. Maryland is coming off a victory over USC while the Gophers were idle last week.
Huge thanks to Matt for giving us his thoughts!
1. The last three years for Maryland under Mike Locksley have been pretty good. They are 23-16 overall and enter this season after going 8-5 in back-to-back years. They capped off the 2023 season with a victory over Auburn in the Music City Bowl. The 2024 season is Locksley’s 6th year at Maryland. What were the expectations of this team entering the season? In your opinion, have they met those expectations so far?
Expectations were mixed going into this season. The roster as a whole looked solid, but there were a lot of questions about how the offense would operate without the Big Ten's all-time leading passer in Taulia Tagovailoa at the helm. Ironically, it's been quite the opposite this year. Tagovailoa's replacement, redshirt junior Billy Edwards Jr., has consistently been one of the bright spots on the team. While the skill guys have all performed well, the defense has been gashed repeatedly by teams that should not have gashed them. The offense has struggled at times, though, and Locksley took over play calling from offensive coordinator Josh Gattis two weeks ago. If you had asked me after the blowout loss to Northwestern at home if Maryland had met expectations, I would have said they hadn't come close. Losses to Northwestern and Michigan State at home cemented that. But the USC win sparks a lot of hope for Maryland fans. The team, especially defensively, looked a lot more sound.
2. Maryland enters the game this Saturday with a 4-3 record. They are coming off a big victory over USC at home. Their other wins this season have come against Connecticut, Virginia, and Villanova. They have lost to Michigan State, Indiana, and Northwestern. What has gone right for the Terrapins this season that has led them to victories? Are there any patterns that have shown in their losses?
A theme for the Terps' defense all season — especially but not exclusively in their three losses — was a bad vulnerability to the deep ball. Last week against USC was honestly the first time they didn't look completely helpless against it — multiple guys made nice plays on balls downfield. If the secondary has figured something out, Maryland suddenly becomes a much more daunting opponent.
Penalties have also haunted the Terps this season. They're fifth in the Big Ten in penalties per game, which isn't awful in and of itself, but those penalties have come at really inopportune times in nearly every game.
3. It would be irresponsible of me if I didn’t ask about senior wideout Tai Felton. He leads the Big Ten in catches with 64 and yards with 803. His six touchdowns are tied for fifth as well. Can you give Minnesota fans a quick scouting report on him? What makes him such a dangerous receiver?
Felton put in a ton of work this offseason (read about it here wink wink) and it shows on the field. He's a great athlete, but what makes him stand out is the nuance to his game. He runs a diverse route tree, can make contested catches, is excellent at finding soft spots in zone coverage and is a legitimate threat after the catch. Maryland runs a ton of screen passes and Felton's a benefactor of a lot of them.
His numbers have slightly dipped since his insane four-game stretch to start the year, but that's more a testament to the defensive attention he's garnering. Maryland still tries to get him the ball a lot, but the down-field attempts haven't been there as much. He also got his first punt return reps of the season against USC, so he could affect the game there as well.
4. Maryland currently has the best passing attack in the Big Ten; they enter the game against Minnesota averaging 313 yards per game. Outside of Tai Felton, what other players should Gophers fans know about when Minnesota is on defense?
Kaden Prather is another really solid receiver, and he's gotten a lot more looks because of the attention Felton gets. Prather had season-highs in both receptions (nine) and receiving yards (111) last week. Look for him to affect the game alongside Felton.
Maryland's running back duo of redshirt junior Roman Hemby and redshirt freshman Nolan Ray is lethal when both players are on their game. Both are explosive and possess serious big-play ability, in the sense of both long plays and the ability to break tackles and pick up crucial gains. That latter part is crucial because the Terps' offensive line has really struggled to open up lanes in the run games
As I mentioned before, Edwards is a phenomenal facilitator and has been really successful getting his weapons the ball where they can make plays. He's also a threat with his legs, especially in short-yardage situations with his 6-foot-3, 222-pound stature.
5. The Terrapins defense is 16th in the Big Ten, allowing 372 yards per game. On paper, it seems like they are decent against the run but struggle against the pass. Which tells me that their front seven is strong but their secondary needs improvement. Would you say that to be true? What players should Minnesota fans know about when the Gophers have the ball?
Yes, this is very true. The deep ball has been the repeated killer — that can't be mentioned enough — but red-zone and third down coverage have both been issues as well. There's very little experience at corner, with redshirt sophomore Perry Fisher leading the group and true freshman Kevyn Humes getting a lot of run on the other side. Humes has gotten better as the year's gone on, but he's still far from perfect. Jalen Huskey came in as a transfer from Bowling Green and was expected to lead the corner room, but he's ended up playing a lot more safety(and not meeting expectations at either position). 6-foot-2 redshirt senior Glen Miller plays all over the secondary and is a legitimate playmaker at his best. He's had his ups and downs, but he was a gamebreaker early in the year. He's a physical presence and can make plays in both the pass and run game. No one on the defensive line stands out in particular, but linebacker is an emerging strength for Maryland. Redshirt senior Ruben Hyppolite II is a proven leader and is involved in a ton of plays, but look for Donnell Brown and Caleb Wheatland to affect the pass rush in particular.
6. Saturday’s game will be the ninth meeting between the two programs. The home team has won the last four meetings. Maryland is coming off a victory at home against USC, while Minnesota was idle last week. The Gophers are currently four-point favorites. What does Maryland need to know to pull off a victory in Minneapolis? What is your prediction for the game?
Truthfully I haven't watched a ton of Minnesota football this year, but I can say confidently Maryland is more talented than the record indicates. Its problem has been undisciplined football. The Terps are really hard to stop when they're disciplined.
Offensive play calling has also been an issue this season that's led to losses. Locksley's play calling looked a lot better in his second week in the role last week, and as he continues to get comfortable I expect it won't be as much of an issue. Whether it's the quick screen game or the run game, Maryland needs to control the pace of play against a physical Minnesota team
I expect Maryland to win this game — I don't think Minnesota -4 is a good line — but it could absolutely go either way if the Terps let themselves get punched in the mouth.