Michigan's calling card in the last few seasons is to always call the next game one against a 'nameless and faceless opponent.' To not underestimate any opponent and never take the next game on the schedule lightly.

As the Wolverines open Big Ten play on Saturday, it'll do so with a Maryland program desperate to make some news within the conference this season.

Off to an undefeated start to the season themselves, the Terrapins enter the game without a target on its back, unlike U-M.

Head coach Mike Locksley hopes to play the spoiler.

"We now shift our attention to conference play and we open up against the reigning conference champion on the road," Locksley told reporters this week. "An unbelievable opportunity for us as a program. I talked to our team a little bit about going up to Michigan and going up to Ann Arbor. We have nothing to lose. We're going to face the reigning champ and we know we'll get a really good team.

"It's a great opportunity for us against the reigning Big Ten champ. To go on the road, like I said, leave caution to the wind and go up and try to play to the best of our ability and keep the game really tight and get it to the fourth quarter, then you never know what can happen. Like I said, our team is excited to go up there and have this opportunity so early in the season against a really good team against Michigan."

Locksley understands the challenge isn't going to be easy. He knows that in order to remain competitive, the Terrapins will need to clean up the penalty issues that have plagued the program all season.

Conversely, he understands he's not going to get much help from the Wolverines in that regard, either.

"They're well-coached," Locksley said. "They are one of the least penalized teams, opposite of us. They're one of the least penalized teams. They play a physical brand of football. They've got playmakers across the board on the offensive side of the ball, defensively, I know they lost a bunch of guys but when you watch them in the first three games, they played very physical.

"They've got an exotic third-down package, which tells us that we've got to be really good on first and second down in terms of trying to keep that blitz package off the field. They've got a lot of new players coming in that are really playing hard. I think they've taken on the personality of their coaches there."