Southern California’s visit to College Park, Md., to face the Maryland Terrapins on Saturday marks the first meeting between the programs — and both come in trying to snap skids.
USC (3-3, 1-3 Big Ten) is coming off back-to-back conference losses after a 33-30 overtime defeat against Penn State last week. All three of the Trojans’ setbacks in their inaugural Big Ten season have been decided in either the final minutes of regulation or overtime, with both Michigan and Minnesota scoring late touchdowns in USC’s previous conference road trips.
Against Penn State, USC squandered a two-score lead in the second half. Miller Moss threw an interception on the Trojans’ final drive of regulation after they crossing into Nittany Lions territory, and Michael Lantz missed his overtime field-goal attempt after USC failed to move the ball.
Moss’ late pick against Penn State and a loss-sealing interception thrown on the final drive against the Golden Gophers prompted questions about the quarterback position during coach Lincoln Riley’s Tuesday media availability.
The coach was firmly committed to Moss over Jayden Maiava.
“I’m very confident that if the situation arose that Jayden was going to play, that he would play well. But Miller’s our starter,” Riley said. “He’s played some really good ball and put us in position to win some games.”
Maryland (3-3, 0-3) continued its trying start to the Big Ten season on Oct. 11, surrendering 20 fourth-quarter points in a 37-10 loss to visiting Northwestern. The arc of that game followed that of the Terrapins’ previous defeat against Indiana, in which Maryland saw a 21-21 tie become a 42-21 disadvantage in a little more than 11 minutes of the late third into the fourth quarter.
Both losses otherwise looked quite different in that the Terrapins enjoyed a plus-4 turnover margin against Indiana but were minus-4 in takeaways with three lost fumbles and an interception thrown against Northwestern.
Maryland running back Roman Hemby, who had 117 yards rushing and 48 receiving against Indiana, finished with 43 total yards against Northwestern.
“On offense, we’ve had explosive plays and moments, but if you want to play complementary football, you can’t have your defense play (too many) plays,” Maryland coach Mike Locksley said during his Tuesday news conference. “Now what we’ve got to do is figure out how to score points in the red area, …Typically, red-zone offense starts with being able to run the football.”
The Terrapins rank No. 93 nationally in rushing offense at 132 yards per game, and they average only 3.8 yards per carry. USC is No. 80 against the run, allowing 151.8 yards per game and 4.8 yards per carry.
A Trojans run defense already hindered due to absences, with linebacker Eric Gentry sidelined indefinitely with a neck injury and lineman Bear Alexander opting to redshirt, also will be without end Anthony Lucas for the rest of the year. Lucas, who has 16 tackles and a pass breakup, underwent a medical procedure on Tuesday to address lower-body injury, according to Riley.
