We are officially 24 hours out from the start of the 2023 season as the Terps are set to host the in-state Towson Tigers for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.
The Tigers are led by first-year head coach Pete Shinnick, who has had a lot of success at the DII level, but basically has zero experience as a D1 coach, with the exception of a couple years as a grad assistant decades ago.
As for the roster, they don't return much from a team that finished just 6-5 a season ago. QB Ty Pigrome is gone and the expected starter has just one game under his belt before he got injured last season. They do return a LB who was a finalist for FCS freshman of the year last season as well as a wideout who was CAA rookie of the week multiple times. But the Big Ten is an entirely different level.
The one area where they could be a problem is in the punt return game, where they have D'Ago Hunter, who is a preseason All-American PR.
But I don't expect any of that to be enough for Towson to hang with the Terps. Maryland wins in a cake walk.
Terps - 45
Tigers - 10
The Tigers are led by first-year head coach Pete Shinnick, who has had a lot of success at the DII level, but basically has zero experience as a D1 coach, with the exception of a couple years as a grad assistant decades ago.
As for the roster, they don't return much from a team that finished just 6-5 a season ago. QB Ty Pigrome is gone and the expected starter has just one game under his belt before he got injured last season. They do return a LB who was a finalist for FCS freshman of the year last season as well as a wideout who was CAA rookie of the week multiple times. But the Big Ten is an entirely different level.
The one area where they could be a problem is in the punt return game, where they have D'Ago Hunter, who is a preseason All-American PR.
But I don't expect any of that to be enough for Towson to hang with the Terps. Maryland wins in a cake walk.
Terps - 45
Tigers - 10
