A dominant start to the season. A sold-out crowd. Maryland football’s first big test of the season.
Maryland hosts Virginia Tech on Saturday, but the setup is nearly identical to its Week 5 matchup against Washington in 2025.
This season, Maryland enters Week 3 with a 2-0 record, sporting an +86 point differential after playing FCS opponent Hampton and UConn. The Terps have looked formidable, but the opponents they have played against make it hard to assess how good they are.
In 2025, Maryland entered the Washington game 4-0, with dominant wins over Florida Atlantic, Towson, and Wisconsin, plus a 20-9 win over NIU. Their scoring differential was +87, and there were talks about a potential AP Top 25 appearance with a victory.
The Terps didn’t win again after the Washington choke, going 0-8 to end the season, and all of their metrics at the start of the year plummeted.
Heading into Saturday, the Maryland defense is top-ten in points per game allowed, pass yards per game allowed, rush yards per game allowed, total yards per game allowed and pressures.
The offense is top-15 in both yards per game and points per game, and the team looks great. After what head coach Michael Locksley described as an “audit” against UConn, the date with the Hokies looks like it could set the tone for the rest of the season.
“This week will be the first test, and great opportunity for us at home,” Locksley said. “I expect it to be a packed house. I expect it, hopefully, for it to sell out. I know our players are excited about this opportunity against a really good team.”
Against Washington, the Terps looked great. They held a 20-0 lead in the third quarter, but gave up 24 unanswered to lose the game.
A major point of emphasis this offseason was the lessons Maryland learned last season and how big of an impact that experience will have for the team. The team is older, yes, but Virginia Tech is the first power-conference opponent of the season, and Maryland was down by only one possession against UConn before outscoring them 38-7 for the rest of the game.
All in all, the Terps have not faced adversity on the field this season. They still might not, but the way the Hokies have looked, with a 93-point differential over opponents and the nation’s leading sack total, is a sign that this team is not the 3-9 pushover from 2025.
“[Virginia Tech’s] front seven is the strength, and I think, as I said, not just an upgrade in opponent. This will be an upgrade for us up front for our first test against a really talented front four,” Locksley said.
The circumstances don’t seem to matter much to the team. The mantra this week was “nameless, faceless opponents,” which Locksley mentioned multiple times, as did quarterback Malik Washington and senior linebacker Daniel Wingate.
Faceless opponents is a tough sentiment to bring to the team when the last time Locksley faced Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin, Maryland lost to Penn State by 37 points, and Locksley confronted Franklin postgame.
Locksley said on Tuesday that the game will be about the players, not the history between himself and Franklin.
Virginia Tech cornerback Jaquez White made comments about Washington’s play at Virginia Tech’s press conference on Monday.
“He’s a pretty good quarterback. He has a decent arm. I don’t really think he’s that accurate,” White said on Monday. “I mean, he’s pretty good. He’s not a runner. He’s looking to throw the ball every time.”
In response, Washington said that he’s simply “ready to play football.”
The stadium will be full; the pressure is absolutely on, but everything coming from Maryland projects poise and readiness. In what could be the make-or-break game of Maryland’s 2026 season, all that’s left to do now is play it.
