What Maryland's Michael Locksley said about Michigan before 'play-on' game

Eight-win Michigan Wolverines football needs two more wins for a chance to make the College Football Playoff, while four-win Maryland is looking to finish off the season with two-straight victories to make a bowl game for the first time since 2023. The Terrapins have lost six in a row following a 4-0 start.

It’ll be “playoff” vs. “play-on” going at it Saturday afternoon in College Park, kickoff set for 4 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network.

“Tremendous opportunity for us this week, as we welcome Michigan — [head] Coach [Sherrone] Moore and his team — here to ‘The Shell’ this Saturday,” Maryland head man Michael Locksley said at his Tuesday press conference.

“As I told our players yesterday, the next two weeks we’re in what I call a ‘play-on’ situation, where, for us to play on, this first game is a really important game, because it gives us a chance to extend our season into December, which is a needed, needed, needed opportunity for a team like ours.

“We need everyone on our roster to play for the guys next to them. We’ve got a senior group that I have a lot of respect for that made the decision to come here, some of them five years ago.”

Locksley just received a vote of confidence from athletic director Jim Smith, who released a statement saying that he will return as head coach in 2026 and benefit from an increased commitment of resources to the program.

Michigan is 11-1 all time against the Terrapins, but the last two meetings have been close games, even in years when the Wolverines went undefeated in the regular season. The Wolverines won 34-27 in Ann Arbor in 2022 and 31-24 in College Park in 2023.

However, with so many new players and coaches for each program, Locksley isn’t looking much at those past matchups.

“It’s a new team, new slate,” he said. “The landscape we’re in, this is where you’re at. They have Wink Martindale as their D-coordinator, who was the coordinator with the New York Giants, so nothing that we played against them matters on that end. They’ve got Chip Lindsey as their offensive coordinator. There’s nothing from the last two games we’ve played them that operate from how they played then to now. The head coach is similar, so there are some similarities there, but the landscape we’re in, every year is going to be about this game.

“Usually for us, it’s not about our opponent, because when you go back and look at where we are, it’s typically things that we can control, that we have to do better. I understand that, and continue to coach and work through.”

Stopping Michigan’s ground-and-pound offense

Michigan threw for 280 yards last week, but its offensive identity is to run the football effectively. The Wolverines rank 12th nationally with 223 rushing yards per game, even with injuries at running back. Sophomore Jordan Marshall has carried the bulk of the load lately, rushing for 100-plus yards in four-consecutive games, but was injured at the end of the Northwestern game, leaving his status for this weekend in doubt.

“It’s up front,” Locksley said. “Their head coach is a former O-line guy. They’re a run-first team. Now, their coordinator, Chip Lindsey. … They’ve added a huge RPO element with Chip to the run game. They’ve already been one of those teams that likes to establish the run because of the philosophy of their head coach.

“There’s no doubt they’ve got talented backs, but the guys up front are the guys that really make them go. If you look at the way those receivers block the perimeter, that shows you the character of this team.”

Maryland has allowed opponents to rush for 180-plus yards in six of 10 games and checks in tied 105th in the country with 171.8 rushing yards allowed per contest. Illinois ran for 225 yards total, 4.7 per carry, in a 24-6 win over Maryland last week.

“I thought last week we did a really good job through three quarters, and this is where the complementary-ness of how we’ve got to play on offense, to help our defense … our defense played the run better last week because we had better players back — 57, I can’t talk about [6-foot-6, 350-pound freshman defensive tackle] Bryce Jenkins enough, about the size, power and strength he has. He hasn’t played a lot — he’s had some injuries and is coming off the concussion — but to play the run, you’ve got to have big bodies in this league.

“Up front, it doesn’t matter who their running back is, because Michigan has a big front five, and they have some tight ends that do a really good job.”

The battle of freshman quarterbacks

Michigan and Maryland each start freshman quarterbacks in Bryce Underwood and Malik Washington, respectively. Both have had ups and downs this season with bright futures overall.

“It’s funny, because [former Auburn and NFL standout] Cam Newton had his quarterback camp here on campus a couple summers ago, and Bryce happened to be here,” Locksley said. “I know the guy that trains him really, really well up there in Michigan, that does a tremendous job. So, he came down for that camp, and Malik happened to be here for that camp. Both of those guys are super, uber talented, and this league [has] two young quarterbacks with the futures that they have.”

The 6-foot-4, 228-pound Underwood has completed 155 of his 252 pass attempts (61.5 percent) for 1,951 yards and 7 touchdowns with 5 interceptions. He’s also rushed 60 times for 302 yards and 5 scores, taking 14 sacks.

“I think the thing that really makes Bryce go is not only the live arm but his ability to extend plays with his feet as a football player, as a quarterback,” the Maryland coach explained. “A guy that can hurt you, both arms and legs.

“He’s learning as he goes, as well, and for them to be two games, I think, out of possibly the College Football Playoff, they’ve got a lot to play for. 

“They’ve put a lot on him, a lot like what we’ve asked of our freshman quarterback. The run game for them has really kind of helped him, so we’ve got to figure out how to get our run game going this week. This will be a battle of two really young, talented quarterbacks, that I think you’ll see for years to come in this league.”

Michigan’s DMV EDGE duo

Michigan’s two starting edge rushers, seniors Derrick Moore and Jaishawn Barham, hail from the DMV, having attended Baltimore St. Frances. Barham, of course, played his first two seasons of college football with the Maryland Terrapins before transferring, while Moore had a scoop and score against the team in the win in 2023.

Maryland has protected the quarterback at a high level this season. The 6-foot-5, 231-pound Washington gets rid of the football in 2.71 seconds on average and has been pressured on only 23 percent of his dropbacks, taking just 3 sacks.

Moore, meanwhile, checks in second in the Big Ten with 8.5 sacks, while Barham has gotten to the quarterback 3 times.

“Derrick is one of those players from right up the road there, St. Frances. Played for [Michigan associate head] Coach [Biff] Poggi, who I know very well,” Locksley said. “My son played for Biff over at Gilman. 

“Derrick Moore is one of those talented guys, a lot like 17, a lot like a bunch of the guys we’ve faced in this league. Every league has one. On the other side of him, you’ve got a former Terp, Jaishawn Barham, who plays linebacker but also they walk him down to the boundary as a D-end.

“They will be a tremendous challenge for our tackles. Both [left tackle] Rahtrel [Perry] and [right tackle] Alan [Herron] have done a tremendous job from a fundamental standpoint of protecting our quarterback, so they’ll have that challenge this week against two talented pass rushers that we know a lot about.”