Maryland’s Final Five Games Should Reveal Plenty About Terps’ Psyche and Future

Maryland’s football program is coming off its bye week after three dreadful and preventable losses. Now what? Turtle up, so to speak? Fight?

The answer to those questions will determine how the Terps finish the season but also take a glimpse into the future. The remaining five games will provide a good read on the program, the players and coach Mike Locksley, who has a 37-44 career record in his ninth year at Maryland.

The Terps are 4-3 and on a three-game losing streak. In all three losses, the Terps led in the fourth quarter. Such losses can be devastating, and not just in the win-loss column. Such losses can take their toll and they probably should.

If teams learn lessons from such hardship and trauma, the Terps are on the dean’s list.

There definitely is a good news/bad news vibe in the Terps’ season.

Good news: The Terps were good enough to win the first four games of the season, even though only one was a Big Ten game — 27-10 at Wisconsin.

Bad news: It’s probably difficult to lose three games after leading in the fourth quarter, especially three consecutive ones.

Good news: The Terps likely have their franchise quarterback in Malik Washington. He has provided stability to the current team and for the next two years. Down the road, he could help recruit his successor.

Bad news: Freshman quarterbacks can be inconsistent. That includes Washington, too.

Good news: The Terps’ rush defense (44th in the country going into the weekend) and scoring defense (20th in the country). Several players have been outstanding — freshman defensive lineman Sidney Steward and sophomore defensive back La’khi Roland.

Bad news: During the three-game losing streak, Maryland has scored 7 points in the fourth quarter while giving up 44 points.

Back at Big Ten Media Days in July, with the Terps coming off a 4-8 season, Locksley made this startling confession:

“I’ll tell you, a year ago Coach Locks lost his locker room.

“For me to stand in front of a group of media and tell you that I lost my locker room, and it wasn’t because I wasn’t a good coach, it wasn’t because they weren’t good players because we were better than a four-win team.

“What we had to do was we had haves and have-nots for the first time in our locker room, and the landscape of college football taught me a valuable lesson.

“That valuable lesson is it’s important for me, even in the midst of this change, to continue to educate our players on the importance of what playing for something bigger than yourself is all about, and I can tell you that if I’ve got to put my desk in the locker room this year, I will.

“I expect our team to show up, play hard, and probably one of the most exciting things is if you ask me what kind of team we have, I don’t know yet. That’s a good thing. That’s a good thing because as a coach, sometimes we feel like we have to have that answer.”

Locksley challenged his team back in July and he challenged himself. The Terps have played hard and have been competitive in every game.

Locksley knows what didn’t work and he knows what has to improve. College football’s landscape changed dramatically during Locksley’s tenure at Maryland and it’s up to him to adjust and thrive.

New rules and norms dictate life in the sport. Coaches learn as they go, and adjust to a new world.

NIL money rules. Kids transfer and transfer again, making it difficult for team cohesion. Kids have long careers now, given the extra year granted for the Covid year.

“Last year was tough on me as a coach because for the first time those really strong relationships were questioned because I had to decide whether to pay a freshman coming in or take care of a veteran player that helped me go to three bowl games and have success and do something that hadn’t been done in 130 years in the history of Maryland football,” Locksley said at B1G Media Days.

“It was hard to do both, and so what I’ve decided now is if you come to Maryland and you look outside of our locker room, there’s a sign. That sign reads, ‘You can leave your Louis belts, your car keys, and your financial statements outside of this locker room,’ because when you enter those doors, we’ll all pay the same price for success or failure.

“That’s really important for me. That’s what last year was about for me, but that’s also why I’m excited about this year because I don’t know what kind of team I have just yet, but I know that they’re really talented.

“It’s a matter of them playing for something bigger than themselves, which we’re in the process of developing that type of culture.”

Developing culture and making adjustments are what Locksley has emphasized. It’s also something to monitor as the Terps’ season continues. Has Locksley lost the locker room? Is that noticeable in players’ interviews, especially after games? Will anyone in the program say it? Doubtful.

Two of Maryland’s remaining games are against ranked teams, starting Saturday at home against No. 2-ranked Indiana. Also on the docket is No. 21 Michigan on Nov. 22 at home.

The other three games are at Rutgers on Nov. 8, at Illinois on Nov. 15, and the season finale at Michigan State on Nov. 29.

Maryland needs two wins for bowl eligibility. When the Terps were sitting at 4-0, bowl eligibility might have been an afterthought. Reaching six wins was a given, right?

Obviously, the Indiana game will be tough sledding for the Terps. The road game against Illinois might be a tough one to win.

Maryland should do well against Rutgers and Michigan State. Michigan, in College Park, could be close to a tossup.

A tossup. That’s not a bad way to describe the Terps’ season so far.

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