Preview: Maryland football looks to capture first win streak versus Villanova

Photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics

Maryland football (2-1, 0-1 Big Ten) returns home to host Villanova (3-1, 1-0 Colonial Athletic) on Saturday following a bounce-back win against Virginia.

Mike Locksley’s defense was elite in the second half of last week’s 27-13 win. The Terps allowed 82 second-half yards as a unit and forced four turnovers on the night. A Billy Edwards Jr. touchdown run with seven minutes left sealed the victory.

Edwards continued his strong start to the season, completing 28-of-43 passes for 263 yards and two passing touchdowns.

Wide receiver Tai Felton caught nine passes for 117 yards and a touchdown, securing his third straight game with over 100 yards and a touchdown. The senior ranks third in Division I in receiving yards with 447 and became the first player in school history with 100 or more receiving yards in each of the first three games of a season.

However, it was not all smooth for the Terps. Penalties plagued the Terps in the first half – they committed seven penalties for 51 yards and faced a six-point deficit at halftime. The offense saw three third downs moved backward after penalties including two false starts.

“We’re going to make mistakes throughout the season,” Locksley said, “But I’m really really excited [about] the way our team grew from week two to week three. We faced a tough Virginia team that came in with a lot of momentum.”

Villanova – the No. 5 FCS ranked team – is coming off a win of its own against Towson 14-13. The Tigers had two opportunities for a field goal with under two minutes but kicker Keegan Vaughan pushed both kicks wide right. The win marked Villanova’s first conference win and first 3-0 start since 2021.

Running back Isaiah Ragland carried the load offensively in the win. The redshirt freshman had 141 rushing yards with 8.3 yards per carry. On the season Ragland averages 88 yards per game and 7.3 yards per carry.

The Wildcats are led by dual-threat quarterback Connor Watkins who had two passing touchdowns in the win. In three games Watkins has 453 yards with 4 touchdowns and a 54% completion percentage in the air. On the ground, the senior has three touchdowns and averages 63.3 rushing yards per game.

“They have a really extensive RPO package, quarterback run package, [and] zone read stuff,” Locksley said, “[Watkins] is the guy that makes them go and he’s a competitive guy. He’s got some traits like you see toughness, you see competitiveness.”

Possibly the brightest spot on this team is its defense. The unit is allowing just 11 points per game and three touchdowns in three games. This is helped by the offense not turning the ball over as Watkins is yet to throw an interception.

“They do some similar stuff to what UConn showed us in week one. It’s not a traditional defense but they’re very sound in what they do,” Edwards said. “The biggest thing for us is to go out and execute… if they give us confusing looks in boxes, we just gotta cover people up, block them and get the run game going early.”

The Villanova defense allows 138 rushing yards per game which the Terps will try to exploit. If they can do that, Maryland has a chance to earn its first win streak of the season on Saturday at noon.