Maryland football has scored more than 20 points just once since the month of September ended.
Saturday’s road matchup with Illinois was the most the Terps have been stuck in mud all season — a high bar
to eclipse. Just three of their 10 offensive drives made it to the red zone; those three resulted in just six points.
Maryland continued to spiral with a 24-6 loss to the Fighting Illini in a game just as unspectacular as the Terps’ season has turned out to be. They haven’t won a game in 56 days.
Maryland’s run game, which put up 305 yards against Rutgers, regressed to its season-long mean sharply. The Terps had 31 rushing yards on their first drive of the game, and just 23 for the rest of the game, averaging 3.1 yards per carry. Nolan Ray was a virtual non-factor, with six yards on five carries.
The Terps were 3-of-12 on third down and 0 for 2 on fourth.
The closest Maryland came to a touchdown was on the back of a 17-play, 95-yard drive down 21-6. Its defense set up that opportunity with a goal-line stand to keep the game alive.
But Illinois put together its own stand. First-and-goal from the 3-yard line led to two incompletions and two rushes for zero yards. Maryland’s deficit stayed two scores large — an insurmountable figure, given it has been outscored in the fourth quarter in each of its last six games.
After a week where Malik Washington’s biggest impact was on the ground, he was asked to air it out repeatedly against Illinois. The freshman threw the ball 25 times, and while his accuracy issues weren’t as much of a problem as they’ve been in previous weeks, there was still plenty to be desired. Washington finished with 238 yards and a hail-mary interception.
Starting off hot hasn’t been an issue for Maryland this year. That continued against Illinois, with a strong opening drive resulting in a field goal and a defensive stop getting Washington the ball back with a chance to go up by two scores.
Then the Terps’ real issue showed up: capitalizing on those opportunities. Ray was stuffed on fourth-and-1 — seven plays later, Luke Altmyer found a wide-open Hudson Clement for a 22-yard lead-taking touchdown.
Once Illinois had the lead, its rushing attack took over the game. The Terps injury-riddled front seven was blown off the line of scrimmage repeatedly — the Fighting Illini had just one run over 20 yards, but they picked up short chunks with ease. Six-foot-3 and 250-pound back Kaden Faegin, Ca’Lil Valentine and Altmyer combined for 207 yards on an efficient 4.6 yards per carry.
The Fighting Illini moved the ball with ease when they needed to, and drained clock efficiently when they needed to. Their second and third touchdown drives — late in the second quarter and early in the third — took up just 4:34 and 4:00, respectively. Once it led by two scores, Illinois stacked 12- and 13-play drives that swallowed a combined 13:35 of game time.
Maryland has now lost six games in a row for just the third time since it joined the Big Ten in 2014.
Three things to know
1. Injury bug stays prominent. An already-depleted defense suffered even more bad luck Saturday. Daniel Wingate and Zahir Mathis, who have both been playing banged up, didn’t make it out of the first half. Wingate’s backup at linebacker, freshman C.J. Smith, also left the game. Defensive tackle Eyan Thomas and cornerback Jamare Glasker both sustained injuries, but were able to return to action.
2. DeJuan Williams impressed. The one clear bright spot for Maryland against Illinois was Williams. The redshirt freshman has strung together five consecutive games with at least 70 total yards, recording 43 rushing yards and a team-high 50 receiving yards against the Fighting Illini.
3. Postseason hopes seem dashed. It would take wins in each of Maryland’s last two games to clinch a bowl. It takes on No. 18 Michigan at home next week — and the Terps have never beaten a ranked Big Ten team as a member of the conference. It’s going to require making history for Maryland to make a bowl game — 2025 has been anything but a history-making year for head coach Michael Locksley.
