Chris Durr Jr. caught a 65-yard touchdown and DeJuan Williams ran in a 3-yarder, and with 2:41 left in the second quarter Saturday at Nebraska, Maryland led 23-14. Then Malik Washington threw toward a slant and Dwayne McDougle III ran the interception back 81 yards for a touchdown. A Nebraska touchdown pass with five seconds left in the half made it 28-23 at the break. Maryland never scored again, lost 48-23, and flew home 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the Big Ten.
That first half mattered more than the final margin suggests, because it was the first time all season Maryland got to answer the question that sank last fall. Through the first four games, the Terps never faced it. In the UConn win they entered the fourth quarter with a three-possession cushion and tacked on another touchdown, which tells you nothing about closing. At Nebraska they had a real lead against a real Big Ten team, and they coughed it up before the bands came out.
The box score explains how. Maryland converted 1 of 14 third downs. Nebraska converted 6 of 13. Washington finished 23 of 44 for 254 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions, ending a three-game run of 300-yard-caliber production, and Locksley pointed at the scheme as much as the quarterback. The defense was "doubling the slant," he said, when the ball should have gone to "the other side where we have more advantageous matchups," and on one of the picks, he said, Washington made the correct read. On the other side, the defense gave up 447 yards and let Nebraska convert 6 of 13 third downs, with Maryland leaning on young pieces since losing Zahir Mathis to a season-ending camp injury and cornerback Dontay Joyner, who did not return to the program.
Locksley's own summary of it was unsparing. The third-down problems "come with execution" on both sides of the ball, and "we've got to coach better starting with me."
That line is why this week feels different from a normal 2-3 week. Coverage of Maryland has stopped being about the offense's identity and become about whether Locksley keeps the job. 247Sports noted he has lost 15 of his last 16 Big Ten games, and Sports Illustrated has described him as squarely on the hot seat, reporting he would owe the school roughly $9.2 million if fired during this season. Nobody has said a decision is coming, and the buyout number is a real reason it might not. But the conversation is now the season's main one.
Saturday in Columbus
Maryland plays at fifth-ranked Ohio State on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 4:15 p.m. ET on BTN. Our model gives the Terps a 0.8% chance to win, the lowest number on their schedule, lower than the trip to USC. Oddsmakers set Ohio State as roughly a 35.5-point favorite, and one public model projected something like 45-10. Ohio State has won all nine meetings, scoring at least 37 points every time. This is the 10th meeting and the first in three years.
Third down is where Maryland's afternoon in Columbus gets decided. Locksley named the fix himself, play-calling, blocking, playmakers finishing on the perimeter, and a 1-for-14 day against Nebraska's front is not something a team repairs with a speech. If Maryland can stay on the field for six or seven drives in Columbus, that is a real sign; if the offense goes three-and-out all afternoon while the defense surrenders another 440-plus yards, the week's loudest storyline gets louder.
The one tangible thing to build on is the ground game. Williams, back in the lineup, carried the load with 78 yards and a touchdown. That production arrived with his return rather than with any change in approach, which is both the encouraging part and the worry. Watch his carry count early. A healthy Williams getting 18 touches is the most plausible way Maryland keeps a game in Columbus from turning into the UCLA tape.
And watch how Washington handles pressure in his first start after a three-interception day. Ohio State's defense is not the 2025 version. The Buckeyes returned only three starters from a unit that led the country in points and yards allowed per game, and the rebuilt group gave up 462 yards to Illinois. That is not an invitation. It is the difference between a quarterback having somewhere to go with the ball and a quarterback forcing slants into doubled coverage again.
The simulations project 1.4 conference wins, which is another way of saying Maryland is not favored in anything left on the schedule except a coin-flip home game against Rutgers. The games that will decide whether this fall turns around are Rutgers at home next week and the stretch after it. Maryland led by nine in Lincoln and then never scored again; the Terps need more than one and a half good quarters out of four before Rutgers comes to College Park.
The full breakdown is at the interactive guide for Week 6, and the forecasting details are in our methodology.