2028 Week Six Preview: Rutgers Scarlet Knights (2-3) @ Maryland Terrapins (3-1)
Marcus Washington // Terpsville • Published: October 6th, 2028
Maryland may have dropped a potential second-straight AP-ranked upset when they gave up 14 4th-quarter points to the Washington Huskies in the eventual 24-20 loss, but have a great opportunity to get back on track against rival Rutgers in Week 6. The Scarlet Knights haven't won a game since conference play started and while they have some talent on the roster, the reality is they haven't scored more than 19 points in their three-game losing streak.
After the stat graphic we'll get to the next edition of "Inside the Shell" with Coach Leon as he addresses the unfortunate 4th quarter against Washington, the state of the offense, and what the team needs to do to get back on track.
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Maryland Terrapins (3-1) | Description | Rutgers Scarlet Knights (2-3) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 81 Overall // 81 Offense // 81 Defense | Team Rating | 74 Overall // 74 Offense // 74 Defense Armando Leon (3-1) | Head Coach | Mike Ramsay (8-9) Spread | Offensive Scheme | Spread 3-3-5 | Defensive Scheme | 3-3-5 37.0 (26th) | Offensive Points Per Game | 26.2 (98th) 18.8 (21st) | Defensive Points Per Game | 27.6 (79th) 414.8 (55th) | Offensive Yards Per Game | 404.0 (79th) 308.3 (12th) | Defensive Yards Per Game | 333.8 (30th)
Maryland Terrapins | Description | Rutgers Scarlet Knights --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 35-16 | Combined Record | 31-19 Towson (FCS) W 63-17 | Week One | Kent State (1-4) W 44-19 Virginia Tech (3-2) W 37-14 | Week Two | FCS W 45-7 @ Michigan (3-1) W 28-20 | Week Three | Illinois (4-1) L 41-10 BYE | Week Four | Minnesota (4-0) L 38-13 Washington (4-1) L 24-20 | Week Five | @ Oregon (4-0) L 33-19
Maryland Terrapins Rutgers Scarlet Knights --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HB Zymear Smith (89) Broken Fibula (26 Weeks) | Injuries | WR Hourdin Houston (80) Ruptured Disk (2 Weeks) N/A | Injuries | HB Terrell Mitchell (87) Upper Arm Fracture (1 Week)
Maryland Terrapins Rutgers Scarlett Knights --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SR Malik Washington (87) 71/111 (63%), 945 Yds, 10 TD, 0 INT | QB | SR(RS) Ajani Sheppard (88) 103/175 (58%), 1,240 Yds, 9 TD, 7 INT JR(RS) Iverson Howard (81) 54 Att, 294 Yds, 3 TD | HB | JR(RS) Terrell Mitchell (87) 51 Att, 248 Yds, 2 TD SR(RS) Emanuel Ross (87) 13 Rec, 283 Yds, 3 TD | WR | SR Jourdin Houston (80) 31 Rec, 391 Yds, 5 TD SR(RS) Za'Ron Collins (82) 13 Rec, 128 Yds, 2 TD | WR | JR Melvin Fry (78) 24 Rec, 296 Yds, 2 TD SR(RS) MLB Keyshawn Flowers 27 Tkl, 6 TFL, 1 Sack | DEF | SO(RS) CB Tony Sterk (76) 32 Tkl, TFL, INT SR FS Byron Baldwin Jr (81) 22 Tkl, 5 TFL, INT | DEF | JR DT Tyrell Terrell (80) 12 Tkl, 6 TFL, Sack FR MLB Gordon Paul 13 Tkl, 4 TFL, 2.5 Sacks | DEF | JR DT Dennis Rourke (80) 11 Tkl, 5 TFL, Sack SR(RS) CB Braydon Lee 19 Tkl, TFL, 2 INT | DEF | SR(RS) CB Nehemiah Chandler (79) 23 Tkl, TFL, INT
Big Ten Week Six Schedule
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Inside the Shell
MW: "Welcome back to another edition of "Inside the Shell" with Coach Leon. Coach, after a tough loss against Washington, what is the team's mindset going into a rivalry game against Rutgers?"
AL: "We're keeping a practical mindset, Marcus. We prepare for each week with the expectation to win, so when you come up short of your goal it is disappointing. However, it's also important to keep things in perspective. Going into this season, Washington was penciled in as a loss by most talking heads. With that mindset, we led a team ranked 21st-nationally until late in the 4th-quarter, that was supposed to beat us anyways, it's an encouraging win. But we can't rest on our laurels; Rutgers has talent and it's a rivalry game to boot. We'll need to be at our best to keep the losses from snowballing."
MW: "The offense stagnated in the second half against Washington, and you've taken full ownership of that. What do you want to see from the offense to make sure they don't fall into the same pattern against Rutgers?"
AL: "Absolutely, Marcus. I gave the directive to kill the clock and run the ball, try to get manageable 3rd downs, and limit the possessions. Instead, the Huskies stacked the line and forced us into a pair of third-and-longs that we did not convert, gifting them great field position, thus putting our defense in a tight spot too. Coach Shanahan and I talked extensively this week and we both agreed: going forward we're going to play our game regardless of the score. If that means we get into "unsportsmanlike' territory, so be it. We aren't going to get caught flat-footed again."
MW: "Transitioning to the defense with the final question, Brian Pennel sliced up the secondary in the 4th quarter. What adjustments do you plan to make to ensure that doesn't happen again?"
AL: "We have to get home, period. This system is predicated on generating consistent pressure and as soon as that stops, it puts our secondary in a rough spot on islands. We're going to move some things around to try and generate pressure, disguise some coverages to confuse the quarterback, but at the end of the day we have to hit the quarterback, period."
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Rivalry games are always tricky, but I'll open with this statistic. Since Coach Leon has become a coordinator at the collegiate level, he's only lost back-to-back games once—with the Montana State Bobcats. Never lost back-to-back with Oregon State and I don't expect that trend to change.
As I said in the opener, Rutgers has talent. We have more. Unless Ajani Sheppard does his best Cam Newton impersonation, the Terps get back on track in this one.
Maryland 35, Rutgers 14. #FearTheTurtle.
