Staff Predictions: Michigan Wolverines Football at Maryland
Maryland joined the Big Ten a number of years ago now, and other than a couple of wins over Texas, there hasn’t been much buzz about the Terrapins when it comes to football.
They made a splash, though, when they hired Mike Locksley, whose 6-35 record includes a 4-10 showing so far at Maryland (it appears he was interim coach in 2015 when one of the previous guys got fired. Or something).
It might not have been the same folks who came up with the idea for putting the ugliest flag in the history of state flags to the uniform, but it was still someone’s bad idea to pose the two disasters together before the season.
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It could be that we’re being too hard on Locksley, though 2-26 (which he … uh, accomplished) at one of the New Mexico schools is hard to do even if you’re trying to lose. It’s easy to rub it in, however, given how he handled questions about former Alabama co-coordinator Josh Gattis, now at Michigan.
“Josh? Josh? Josh who?” he said at Big Ten Media Day, before making it known that he called all the plays when the two were at ‘Bama while Gattis looked on.
Gattis responded, of course, and he’ll get his chance to prove a point Saturday. If the Terrapins are as bad as we think they are, it could get ugly in the fourth quarter.
Congratulations to last week’s loser, Doug Skene, whose 28-20 Notre Dame over Michigan prediction ranks as one of the worst in staff picks history. This week’s loser gets sent to East Lansing for next week’s Illinois at Michigan State toss-up, just for the hell of it.
The picks:
Chris Balas: These are two teams headed in opposite directions. The portion of the Michigan fan base calling for the Maryland offense has gone oddly quiet since Week Two … which, by chance, coincides with Maryland playing a team with a pulse. Michigan 38, Maryland 10
John Borton: Maryland head coach Mike Locksley wanted to make sure everyone knew who was REALLY throwing the switches at Alabama last year, in his pre-season dust-up with Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis. Locksley might not be as assertive in that regard after his team drops to 1-5 in the Big Ten.Michigan 45, Maryland 10
Austin Fox: This is finally starting to look like the Michigan team we thought we’d see coming into the year, evidenced by what it did to Notre Dame last weekend. The Wolverines are dialed in and clicking on both sides of the ball, and won’t let a road trip to Maryland serve as any kind of stumbling block on their way to once again setting up a massive season-ending showdown with Ohio State. Michigan 42, Maryland 14
EJ Holland: Michigan is coming off a huge win and shouldn’t be in line for a letdown against a subpar Maryland team. Expect the Wolverines to build on their best performance of the year and keep the momentum going.Michigan 45, Maryland 12
Clayton Sayfie: Two good games is a trend, three is a habit, as the Wolverines’ head man says. U-M seems to have turned a corner, and is playing with the edge we thought it would coming into the year. Everything now builds toward the last game of the regular season, and the Wolverines look like they know there’s still a lot to play for. They’ll be ready for this one against a reeling Terrapins squad. Michigan 55, Maryland 7
Doug Skene: I look for more the more of the smash your face offense instead of the speed in space clunkiness we watched in the first half of this season. Jim Harbaugh’s offense is back with power schemes and old school gap and trap plays that are producing a real running game. We know the defense is ascending toward their hate match against turncoat Mattison and OSU. Michigan 42, Maryland 13
Doug Karsch: Maryland always starts the season hot and promptly drops off a cliff. This year is no different. The Maryland defense is the worst in the B1G (other than Rutgers, but at the time of publishing Rutgers league membership was in question). Although I expect a bit of a letdown, Michigan should score plenty to win. Michigan 35, Maryland 17
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