Maryland football vs. Charlotte preview

Maryland football handled Towson with ease in its season-opening 38-6 victory.  But the FCS opponent still gave the Terps a reminder of some weaknesses they must work on.

“I thought the energy and effort was where we would want it to be,” coach Michael Locksley said. “But obviously, there’s still some things to get cleaned up, which we expected. It’s always great to be able to clean things up with a win.”

Maryland struggled in pass protection. Redshirt senior quarterback Taulia Tagovalioa was pressured on many of his dropbacks and several of his passes were dropped, which resulted in drives stalling out. 

Towson had some success running the football, specifically with its quarterback scrambling outside the pocket. Redshirt junior quarterback Nathan Kent made defenders miss and was able to move the chains on third down using his legs.

Still, there were plenty of positives, one of which lies in the Terps’ secondary. Towson recorded just 128 yards through the air and only 4.1 yards per attempt. Senior transfer Ja’Quan Sheppard was targeted five times and only gave up one completion for five yards, per PFF. 

Maryland hasn’t allowed a touchdown in three consecutive games as a defense dating back to last season. The Terps have also won nine straight games against non-conference opponents.

This weekend, the Terps welcome a familiar opponent to College Park in a primetime matchup: Charlotte. 

The two teams squared off in Charlotte a season ago. The Terps rolled their way to a 56-21 win. But the 49ers underwent significant turnover in the offseason, and some of their new faces may be familiar to Maryland.

One of those familiar faces is first-year coach Biff Poggi. A native of Baltimore, Poggi is regarded as one of the best high school football coaches in the DMV area. 

He was previously the coach at Gilman School from 1996-2015 and led the Greyhounds to 13 conference titles. In 2017, he took over the football program at St. Frances Academy and elevated the Panthers to the national level in just three years. 

“Biff is one of those guys that’s similar to myself,” Locksley said. “He’s not just about developing them as football players, but the development as people and I know he develops really strong relationships and through that, he and I have become great friends as well as … competitors.”

Another coach for Charlotte that Locksley and Terps fans are familiar with is offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Miller. He worked alongside Locksley for the last four seasons as the Terps’ tight ends coach and later added pass game coordinator and co-offensive coordinator to his duties.

Charlotte also rosters six transfers from Maryland and 28 players from St. Frances Academy in Baltimore.  

“That is a team that has a lot of ties to this area,” Roman Hemby said. “I actually have a lot of people on the team that I know, former teammates and things like that but we’re going to do what coach Locks says and you know, respect the game.” 

The 49ers enter the matchup coming off a 24-3 win against South Carolina State. Senior quarterback Jalon Jones threw two interceptions but made up for that by averaging nearly five yards per carry and scoring a rushing touchdown. 

“The quarterback, he’s a runner … he wants to run the ball a lot,” senior cornerback Ja’Quan Sheppard said. “He wants to drop back, RPO and he wants to just run the ball and make plays with his legs. So I think that’s still gonna be the biggest problem.”

The majority of Charlotte’s production came on the ground. It rushed for 220 yards, freshman running back Durell Robinson leading the way with 71 yards and a score. 

Defensively, the 49ers only allowed three plays of more than 10 yards and held SC State to just six completions on 17 attempts. They didn’t fold in the run game and held the Bulldogs to under three yards per carry. 

Kickoff on Saturday is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at SECU Stadium.