Maryland Terrapins coach Mike Locksley said Saturday night’s matchup against Virginia Tech will be a test for his squad.
“We opened up with an FCS opponent. We played a formidable [Group of Six-style] opponent in UConn on the road. Answered the test really well,” Locksley said Tuesday following Maryland’s 38-14 Week 2 win at Connecticut. “This will be our first Power Four opponent, which is our first test. I think that’s what it’ll be about.”
Granted, the Hokies are not the most historic rivals to the Terrapins. That designation probably belongs more appropriately to fellow ACC originators Virginia, North Carolina State and North Carolina.
Maryland and Virginia Tech first played in1919, but the border state schools have only played eight times in the last 76 years, and none in the regular season since the Terrapins’ final ACC campaign in 2013. In the interim, Maryland notably routed Tech 54-10 in the 2021 Pinstripe Bowl.
“I think for us, the more we keep it about the work on the field, the more we keep it about the upgrade and who we play, that’s the only thing that’s really going to be important for us,” Locksley again demurred.
He and his players may be channeling the “nameless, faceless” nature of the Hokies as best they can, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t see the value in the matchup.
“I think they’re really important because our fan bases enjoy those games,” Locksley said. “With the nine conference games that we’ve played since we’ve joined the Big Ten, to play these regional rivalries definitely help us. I like to play where we recruit because it gives us opportunities to to put our product in their backyard.
Originally scheduled in 2016 as a four game series from 2026-29, both sides opted out of the middle two games, leaving a trip to Blacksburg in three years Maryland’s only game against a regional Power Four program on the calendar for the foreseeable future. Something Locksley didn’t foresee is who would be holding a playsheet across the sideline: James Franklin, in his first season with the Hokies (2-0) after being fired at Penn State nearly a year ago.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for James. He’s won everywhere he’s been. But this won’t be about James and Locks,” Locksley said of Franklin, who he’s known dating back to their time together as assistant coaches at Maryland in the early 2000s “This will be about the players that he has and the players I have that know a lot about each other.”
Franklin always recruited well in the D.C. region while at Penn State, and his VT teams also bear that resemblance. Defensive lineman Cortez Harris followed Franklin from State College after starring at Riverdale Baptist, while linebacker Noah Chambers (DeMatha) and center Kyle Altuner (Good Counsel) are just some of the other DMV talent on the roster.
“We all kind of played each other in the same area. We’re all familiar with each other’s games, with who we are, So it’s not nothing too different,” Maryland linebacker Daniel Wingate said. “It’s just like playing each other when we was in high school.”
Maryland officials are expecting a sellout for the primetime matchup (7:30 p.m., FS1), one that Franklin and his team have amplified even if Locksley hasn’t. Franklin issued an open call on social media for Virginia Tech’s 35,000 alumni in the region to wear white, while Hokies defensive back Jaquez White said of Maryland quarterback Malik Washington, “I don’t really think he’s that accurate.”
“I mean, he’s pretty good. He’s not a runner. He’s looking to throw the ball every time,” White said Monday.
Washington, like his coach, wasn’t moved by the remarks.
“No, just ready to play football,” the quarterback said. “That’s all I got.”
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