National analyst Clint Cosgrove take a look at recruiting in the Big Ten, including the biggest battle between the Terps and PSU (as well as USC) for local Rivals250 edge rusher Jaylen Harvey.

I have confirmed that he is expected to be in College Park Friday night for the UVA game. And as mentioned, he is likely to take in a game at PSU later this month before making a decision. But the Terps are right there with a very real shot at landing a commitment from Harvey. Obviously a big showing Friday night would likely help the cause.

More at the link below.

LINK

I caught up with Illinois publisher Doug Bucshon to get his take on what to expect when the Terps and Illini square off Saturday afternoon.

One observation that I would be doing a disservice to not point out: Illinois is yet to cover a spread this season. More at the link below.

STORY

Will be integral to winning this game. A bit of weather. I think our defense is scarier than theirs. Locks made it a point for his team to practice in weather this year. He remembers last years weather games.

Don’t get yourself in a hissy fit to respond Mr Midwesterner! Yeehaw, you maroon! Let’s go Terps!

After the announcement of the 9th OL commitment for 2024, it got me to thinking.

I wanted to look into the OL recruiting under Locksley.

To my amazement, I discovered that we have had 25 OL recruits over the past 5 years. Of those, Rivals shows only 1 player rated above 3*. In fact, we had 3 times as many 2* as we did 4*.

So, I went over the past 5 years of Rivals' recruiting data to see how many 4* and above OL there were available for the Master Recruiter to entice.

By my reckoning, I found the following:

2020 - 37 OT, 13 OG, 5 C = 55
2021 - 33 OT 13 OG, 5 C = 50
2022 - 30 OT, 17 OG 1 C = 48
2023 - 37 OT, 24 OG, 4 C = 65
2024 - 41 OT, 14 OG, 2 C = 57

So, when you add it all up, there were 275 4* and above OL over the past 5 recruiting classes.

Locksley landed 1.



That is a success rate of, when you round that, you get



Any wonder we have never finished higher than 4th in the Lox regime?

Hey DWeeB-1, that objective enough for you?

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All 14 publishers decided to do mid-season power rankings and awards with most teams at the halfway point. The Terps came in 4th in the power rankings behind Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State, in that order. Those were my top four and the order I had them, also.

Offensive player of the year is Michigan QB JJ McCarthy who beat out Tagovailoa and Marvin Harrison Jr. Full disclosure, I had McCarthy as my OPOY. Honestly, before Saturday's games I was probably leaning towards Lia and after I feel like Harrison was right there, also. But McCarthy has been the most efficient, consistent QB on a very balanced, high-scoring offense.

Defensive player of the year I voted for Curtis Jacobs. Simply, he's the leading tackler on the nation's leading defense. I'm honestly shocked at how little love the McDonogh product gets all things considered.

I voted James Franklin for coach of the year. Harbaugh was a non-starter and again, I was ready to pick Locks before Saturday's loss but instead went with Franklin, although it was really close.

Purdue freshman safety Dillon Thieneman was my freshman of the year and honestly, an argument can be made he is the overall defensive player of the year thus far. Kid is having just an absolutely unreal season.

But the fact other Big Ten publishers are picking the Terps 4th, Lia as OPOY and Locks as COTY should tell you just how far this program has come and how good of a season others around the nation think this team is having so far. If they can knock off one of the remaining top-10 teams left on the schedule, you are going to see Terps winning some postseason awards.

STORY

Watch Kevin Willard discuss this year's team, how athletic they are and how good he expects them to be in the video below.

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Looks like we opened up as a 14.5 favorite for Homecoming, however that has dropped to 13.5

O/U opened at 53.5 and is now 50.5.

Saturday's forecast isn't looking too good; Periods of Rain, High of 64. Winds out of the ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near half an inch.

OSU did a good job of keeping us from making explosive plays and making those plays themselves.

On the pick six, the receiver is supposed to turn inside and it the receiver turned outside. We have to get those things cleaned up and we'll do that this week.

It wasn't scheme or anything like that, they were just better. We were able to generate a couple of explosive plays today, but not enough.

Says Lia's growth goes beyond just one game. Have still seen tremendous growth from him. And he's not happy, he's in the locker room right now upset just like everyone else.

On the defensive breakdowns in the secondary, a lot of it came off of double moves and wheels which are long developing plays and we have to keep the ball in front of us and we have to get that corrected. But anyone can tell you, Marvin Harrison Jr is a great player and we have to do a better job of not letting a player of his caliber make plays.

Says the Terps are a rhythm team and they deferred on the toss because you hope to get a score at the end of the half and then the first score to open the second half. We wanted to take a shot down the field but we check it down and aren't able to get the field goal. But we didn't execute that the right way.

With regards to the secondary, says injuries happen and that's why they try to play as many guys as they can every week. But some of the plays they got burned on where plays they have been burned on in the past and they need to work on those things.

Where do Terp fans usually stay when attending games at Rutgers. Yep, you heard me right. The wife had agreed to attend one away game per year. This wouldn't be my choice but its drivable, and with a chance to finish 9-3 it could be fun.

I'm holding out for the Music City Bowl myself, and with many former family Terp fans now living in Tennessee we could have a really good tail gate.

That's Maryland's rank per something called the CBS Sports 133.

Terps need to run the football more. They run well at times. Littleton is becoming a force. Hemby has moments and so does Colby. I worked with a former LB prospect of FSU during the game yesterday, a Miami dude. He opined that we should run the ball more. I agree. The OL is a good pass-blocking unit. I’d have to imagine they get more pass pro reps in practice given the nature of the O. Flip the script a bit sometimes, but not when you’re down 10 with 8 minutes left. Also, to sell Billy in a situation, let him throw some or everyone will sit on it.

D looked good for 3 quarters. O didn’t help them in the 2nd half. Still high on the D.

Lia needs to master details.

Team needs to be on the same page in end of half scenarios. That’s on the coaches and 2 weeks in a row.

In the commentary from OSU fans that I’ve read, they are far more complimentary of yesterdays effort than a scant few here who don’t like the HC for whatever reason.

Might as well be call the Ohio State Sports Network!! I know we are huge underdogs but according to these assholes it’s pretty already a done deal. They could at least have some kind of appearance of impartiality!!!

boo. Ohio State moved up 1 spot.

Not surprisingly, the o-line and linebackers graded out decently. Andre Roye had a couple of breakdowns when he came in to replace Bullock, but I thought he looked decent otherwise. That's good news for the future. Full snap counts and grades at the link below.

STORY

The Terps have been picked to finish third in the Big Ten this season ahead of tomorrow's media day. More at the link.

STORY

We're about 2 hours away from kickoff and the injury reports for today's game are in.

Barham and Still are both listed as questionable for the Terps but both are expected to play.

The bigger news comes from the Ohio side, where the Buckeyes have listed starting RB TreVeyon Henderson as OUT for today's game. This is huge news as he's a big, bruising back who just plows over defenders for big chunks of yardage. He averaged 8 yards per carry in the Buckeyes first two home games.

Maryland will be in white uniforms and red pants today.

Weather is about what you would expect in Ohio this time of year, chilly and overcast.

If you hate the stupid Rivals popup getting stuck in your face all the time.