The Purdue Boilermakers take on the Maryland Terrapins in just over 24 hours. Well, I reached out to the kind folks over at the Testudo Times to get to know who Purdue will be facing. Maryland has had their problems this season, no conference wins, firing their coach, losing to Rutgers and so I don’t expect them to be in a great mood but let’s see! Dylan Schmidt from the Testudo Times answered my questions this week.
Cards on the table, I lived in Maryland for over a decade, how much Old Bay and Natty
Boh do I need to slip you to guarantee a Purdue victory?
Honestly, I think Purdue is going to take care of business without any outside help. After losing to Rutgers, I don’t expect Maryland to win another game this season. The Terps have had chances to snap their six-game losing streak and secure their first Big Ten win in over a year, but they’ve consistently blown leads.
Maryland collapsed in the second half against Rutgers, with a 10-point halftime lead disappearing. The Terps allowed Illinois to score 10 points in their fourth quarter, quickly erasing a 14-10 lead. Maryland has been outscored 105-23 in the second half of its Big Ten games and have a negative 35-point differential in fourth quarters this season.
Things are not going great for Maryland football right now with the firing of their head coach mid season. How did things fall apart?
The head coach firing was something that had been coming since last season after Maryland lost the final eight games. While the Terps beat Hampton and UConn to start the year, it felt like Michael Locksley needed to win a big game to save his job. He didn’t do that, and that resulted in his firing during the bye week.
Those losses were mainly in blowout fashion. Maryland trailed Virginia Tech by 21 in front of a sold-out crowd, but scored a couple late touchdowns to make the scoreline appear closer. The Terps lost their next three games by an average of 35 points, including the UCLA 51-point beatdown. The defeat against Rutgers was the tipping point, sparking a coaching change.
Maryland hasn’t won a game since September 12th against UConn though they’ve come close against Rutgers (lost by 7) and Illinois (lost by 3). Have you seen improvement these past two weeks and if so where?
I think the biggest improvement I’ve seen, particularly against Illinois, is from the defense. Maryland was allowing 43.8 points per game over the final five weeks of Locksley’s tenure. That unit looked significantly better on Saturday, before the fourth-quarter collapse.
The Terps also have been playing cleaner football — albeit they had two costly turnovers last week. Maryland won the turnover battle against Ohio State and Rutgers, without committing any itself. The Terps were also only flagged once on Saturday.
Even though the offense looked significantly better against Rutgers, that’s a defense giving up nearly 33 points per game. But the run game has looked slightly better over the last four contests.
Maryland QB Malik Washington has 9 touchdowns compared to 7 interceptions. We know that not every interception is the QBs fault, so how would you rate his performance this year?
After an impressive freshman campaign, Malik Washington has regressed this season. The sophomore quarterback has had his moments, including 18 consecutive completions against UConn.
But against power conference opponents, Washington has looked shaky. His four-interception performance against UCLA was followed up by two turnovers against Nebraska. Washington also had a career-low 64 passing yards against Ohio State. His decision-making and reads have been questionable this year, often throwing it to heavily-contested receivers.
Washington has flashed his scrambling ability and made some impressive throws on the run. But he sometimes panics in the pocket, rolling out of clean pockets and resulting in his lone interception on Saturday.
Continuing with the offense, Maryland has 1,903 yards passing compared with just 1,029 yards rushing. Is this big disparity because they’ve been down and had to play from behind or are they truly a pass first team?
While Maryland has been playing from behind for the majority of the season, the run game has been a recurring problem. After finishing with the lowest rushing yards in the Big Ten last season, the Terps were dominant in their first two games. But they haven’t had much success during Big Ten play.
Even with injuries ravaging the running back room, the offensive line hasn’t done their job. Malik Washington has been the leading rusher for multiple games this season. DeJuan Williams, Maryland’s top running back, has had explosive runs, but has also been frequently tackled behind the line of scrimmage.
Who are the players on defense that Purdue needs to look out for?
The headliner of the defense is Zion Elee. The highly-touted recruit has lived up to the hype as a freshman. Elee has a team-high 3.5 sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss, forcing fumbles in consecutive games. His ability to wreck the game off the edge, even with limited snaps, has helped generate pressure on quarterbacks.
As just a sophomore, Sidney Stewart is one of the leaders of the unit. He has produced 24 total pressures and has 28 tackles, with only two sacks. While his numbers are slightly down from last season, Stewart has been asked to do a lot — he’s even dropped into coverage at points this year.
What’s your prediction for Saturday’s game?
Purdue wins 34-30
I think this will be a high-scoring game, and I don’t trust Maryland enough in the fourth quarter to make the necessary winning plays.
