The Terps’ secondary has struggled in Big Ten losses. They want to change the narrative.

Members of Maryland football’s defense might have forgiven, but they haven’t forgotten.

On Oct. 28 last year, Northwestern stunned the Terps, 33-27. Wildcats quarterback Brendan Sullivan enjoyed a career day in passing yards (265) and threw two touchdown passes to hand Maryland its third of four straight losses and added stress to a potential bid for a bowl game appearance.

That game continues to resonate with players such as junior linebacker Kellan Wyatt. The Terps (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten) don’t want a repeat of 2023 when they welcome the Wildcats (2-3, 0-2) to SECU Stadium in College Park on Friday at 8 p.m.

“We’re just going to prepare a little better — a lot better actually,” the Glen Burnie native and Archbishop Spalding graduate said. “This one, it’s kind of stuck with us a little bit, and the team’s looking forward to playing them. We’ve done some things throughout the week so far and last week during the bye. We’re looking forward to playing them.”

Friday night’s game is a prime-time opportunity for the defense to cast away some ghosts from nearly two weeks ago. In a 42-28 loss at No. 18 Indiana on Sept. 28, Maryland was gashed by the Hoosiers for 14 points each of the last three quarters and 510 yards. Redshirt senior quarterback Kurtis Rourke threw for 359 yards and three touchdowns.

A defense that ranks in the bottom five of the Big Ten in both points and yards per game wasn’t supposed to be exposed like this. The Terps returned seven starters from a group that had surrendered their second-fewest points per game (18.2) since 2010.

But the unit has struggled this fall, especially in losses to Michigan State and Indiana. Maryland has allowed an average of 34.5 points and 497 yards and a 55.6% conversion rate on third downs in those two games.

Still, Wyatt dismissed the notion that the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/terps-secondary-struggled-big-ten-103000838.html

Author : Baltimore Sun

Publish date : 2024-10-10 10:30:00

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