A dreary day in the sky and on the the field for Maryland may prove to be a potential macabre end, at least in spirit, to the Mike Locksley era in College Park.
UCLA’s Big Ten-leading run game scored touchdowns on three-straight second quarter drives, and Maryland quarterback Malik Washington threw four interceptions, including back-to-back pick sixes in the third quarter, in the most embarrassing loss of Locksley’s eight-year tenure, 54-3, Saturday afternoon.
The loss is Maryland’s worst since Locksley’s first season as the full-time coach in 2019, a season that had two 59-point defeats. The embarrassing, listless nature in which it happened should leave Locksley’s tenure on life support, but the coach remained confident in his ability to fix it.
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“We didn’t play well in any of the three facets for us to win. When that happens, the first person you look at is me. We have to take a hard look at where we are, what we need to do to get us back on track,” he said. “Still got a lot of belief in this team. The guys in the locker room, I won’t stop fighting or coaching for them.”
The 56-year-old District native is due approximately $10 million in a buyout if he was to be fired — 65% of his remaining compensation — according to a Washington Times analysis of his contract details provided via a Maryland Public Information Act request.
“I still have a lot of confidence in myself and the staff to get this thing fixed,” Locksley said. Again, that’ll have to be earned. I won’t be able to claim it, and I understand why people will have to sit and sit and question it. I’m going to have to earn it.”
Quarterback Malik Washington played his worst game as a Terrapin, going 18-of-38 for 142 yards and four interceptions. Maryland only had 181 yards of offense and 39 rushing yards compared to UCLA’s 475 total yards.
“What we wanted to do was obviously get him into a little bit of a rhythm. He just, again, didn’t play well,” Locksley said. “We got to help him a little bit by calling things that kind of gets him back into the rhythm.”
Five of Maryland’s first six drives ended in punts, with four of them going three-and-out. Mixed in-between was Washington’s first interception and Maryland’s first turnover of the season, when he threw off his back foot under pressure on a third and 22 late in the first quarter into triple coverage.
“I wouldn’t say it was pressure to feel like I had to carry the offense,” Washington said. “I think we were kind of pressing to make a play. We couldn’t really get to a rhythm of just trying to find ourselves again within the offense, and I think when you’re pressing when you play, that’s where you find yourself falling short.”
UCLA’s Big Ten-leading rushing game came to life in the second quarter, with touchdowns by Wayne Knight on a 45-yard direct snap on fourth down and Anthony Woods. Four of UCLA’s seven touchdowns came on the ground, with Knight’s his FBS-leading ninth of the season.
As the wind and rain picked up due to the impacts of a widespread nor’easter affecting the Mid-Atlantic, the Terrapins first two drives of the second half ended in touchdowns — for the Bruins.
A Washington throw over the middle was intercepted by UCLA defensive back Ta’Shawn James, who weaved 36 yards, including past a diving Washington, to the end zone. Seven plays later, Washington and Kaleb Webb miscommunicated on a route, and Bruins DB Scooter Jackson tracked the QB’s eyes and throw right into his hands, running 65 yards untouched for another UCLA score. Maryland didn’t get into the red zone the entire game.
Locksley says preparation wasn’t the issue.
“If you come watch the work that they put in Monday through Friday, there’s no one that really expected it,” he said.
Locksley and offensive coordinator Clint Trickett tried a variety of personnel swaps to spur the offense. With running backs DeJuan Williams and Harry Dalton III unavailable, backup QB Cardell Williams was used in the backfield on two carries in the first half, cumulatively losing 2 yards on his efforts.
Reserve receivers Jayden Kitchens, Jordan Scott and Damon Hall Jr. also all saw early action, but none had an impact.
“Today was one of those games for us on offense where nothing we called worked, nothing Malik did was right. And what we got to do now is go watch the tape,” Locksley said. “We hopefully can get some guys back healthy this week in the run game. I think DeJuan may have an opportunity this week to be back, and hopefully, once we get a report, we’ll find out a little bit more.”
The outcome was so secured the Bruins took to dancing on the field in front of their sideline in between the third and fourth quarters. That was before they scored 20 more points in the fourth quarter, including an 83-yard catch-and-run TD pass to Aidan Mizell and a 63-yard rushing score by Troy Liegber added to the final tally.
“There’s not a lot of messaging when the score is the way it was today, and that thing snowballed on us,” Locksley said. “The message is the only thing that we can do is look first and foremost at ourselves.”
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