By Danny Chung-A-Fung
It’s not been pretty for Maryland football this year, but if you ask the players, the energy has not changed from the beginning of the season.
“It’s a little crazy, but the vibes has not changed at all,” said defensive back Lavain Scruggs. “We’re still the same team… since camp…. and since all these guys came in.”
However high the vibes may be, the team performance has produced less than positive vibes.
The Terps (4-5, 1-5 B1G) come into Saturday’s matchup against Illinois (6-3, 3-3 Big Ten) enter Saturday’s contest in Champaign on a five-game losing streak. They need to win their remaining two games this season to be bowl eligible for the first time in three years.
The last time the Terps played the Illini in Champaign was in 2021, when Maryland won on a last second field goal to win 20-17.
Quarterback Malik Washington, coming off a 73 yard touchdown run in the loss against Rutgers,
knows the Illini defense will be a tough task.
“They’re a really strong sound defense… they stick to their rules,” Washington said. “So we have to, you know, find a way to counter that.”
And that counter may come from the Terps’ pass rush- their 24 sacks on the season is fourth best in the B1G and is tied for 18th-best nationally. Their 17 team interceptions lead the Big Ten and is the second-best mark in the country.
On the flip side, the offensive line has done a fairly good job protecting their freshman quarterback- they’ve only allowed three sacks this season, trailing only Cincinnati for the best mark in the nation.
But despite these positives, the Terps haven’t given up more than 20 points since their September win against Wisconsin, which is the team’s only conference win this season.
Scruggs, who had a career best 10 tackles against Rutgers, said the recipe for success this week is pretty simple.
“It first starts with stopping the run,” Scruggs said. “And I think once we stop the run, the secondary will handle the passing game very well.”
While the players are aware of the calls from fans to fire their head coach- they remain unphased.
“We all love Coach Locks,” Scruggs said. “So whatever the chants are, whatever the media’s saying, it don’t bother us.”
Returning to Champaign is also a homecoming of sorts, not just for Locksley, but for the Locksley family also.
“You ask my two younger kids where they’re from, they say they’re from Champaign, Illinois,” Locksley said this week. “So obviously a place that is near and dear to my family.”
Locksley worked as the offensive coordinator at Illinois from 2005-2008, one of his 10 different teams he’s coached for. Could an 11th be in his future?
For now, Locksley chooses to remain grateful for the role he is in right now- coaching the Terps the rest of the season.
“They know I’m going to coach them up until the day I’m not allowed to, and they’re going to play hard for me until the day they are done playing for me,” Locksley said.
Kickoff vs. Illinois is at 3:30 PM ET from Gies Memorial Stadium. Our Ryan Martin and Daniel Stein are already in Illinois, and you can listen to their call live on WMUC Sports.
