What to know as UConn looks for first power conference win of season against Maryland
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Mike Locksley had a slip of the tongue in his press conference this week.
Maryland’s eighth-year head football coach opened with a statement about how he and his staff reviewed and corrected the details from the tape of their 62-0 season-opening win over Hampton last week before getting a jump start on this week’s opponent, “Toledo,” he said without hesitation.
It was a fair slip up. Exactly half of UConn’s starters, as they were announced on the Rentschler Field public address speakers and the video board, played for coach Jason Candle at Toledo last season. All of the Huskies’ starting skill players on offense – quarterback, running back and receivers – ran the same system in Rockets uniforms last year. And Locksley must’ve spent hours locked in on tape.
“A lot of respect for our opponent this week, UConn,” he said, getting it right 20 seconds later. “I know Jason Candle really well. He did a tremendous job at Toledo, he’s put together a big-time staff up there at UConn. Obviously UConn’s coming off of a big year.”
UConn is coming off of two big years. Since Jim Mora’s Huskies met Locksley’s Terps in College Park to start the 2024 season – a 50-7 drubbing that served as one of Maryland’s four wins that year. The Huskies have gone 18-7 since, with four losses to power conference opponents and two others in overtime, all except the 2025 Fenway Bowl decided by one score or less.
Candle’s been tasked with withstanding the mass exodus of the roster and complete overhaul of the coaching staff, and maintaining the momentum built over the program’s first back-to-back nine-win seasons.
Saturday’s game, another chance at Maryland, is the first opportunity for Candle’s team to make a statement while also displaying just how far the bar has already risen.
After last week’s 56-7 win over Lafayette – in which the team produced a school record 671 yards of offense behind 355 total yards from dual-threat QB Kalieb Osborne – it could also be the first time the UConn football program starts a season 2-0 since 2015, when most of the Huskies’ roster was still in elementary school.
“Obviously this week heading into Maryland, the opponent is a much tougher one and a team that is going to be a really, really stiff challenge for us,” Candle said Monday. “Coach Locksley has done a great job of building a team from the ground up through recruiting and they look like a Big Ten football team.
“They have great size, they’ve got length at every position, they can run, it’s a physical group and we’re gonna have to be at our best and have a great week of practice for this one.”
Candle didn’t have many real opportunities for power conference victories at Toledo, where he never had more than one on a season schedule, and when he did, they were almost always on the road at big-time schools like Ohio State, Miami, Notre Dame. The new Huskies’ coach, set to play three power conference games this year, all at home, is 1-7 in such regular season games over 10 years as a head coach.
But he’s been knocking on the door. In the last five years, Candle’s teams lost at Notre Dame by three points, at Illinois by two, at Kentucky by eight. The Rockets beat Mississippi State, 41-17, two years ago.
Maryland is an 11 1/2-point favorite on Saturday.
“It’s a lot of excitement,” said UConn defensive end Anas Luqman. “There’s a lot of people that maybe might doubt us or things like that, but I honestly think we’re gonna get very well prepared for this and we’ve been preparing for games like this. And just us being an independent team, I feel like this is a very important factor for us because people might say we’re ‘playing up’ or ‘playing down,’ but it’s a blessing.”
“Business,” said receiver Javon Brown, who had 92 yards and a touchdown on six catches in the opener.
Offensive keys
Resist the pressure, extend plays. Maryland’s defense returned 74% of its production from last year, fourth-most nationally, including leading tackler Daniel Wingate and freshman All-American linebacker Sidney Stewart. DD Holmes, another linebacker, and 337-pound defensive tackle Eyan Thomas had two sacks a piece as the team held Hampton to just 85 total yards in their opener, 10 on the ground and 75 through the air. The disruption up front helped on the backend as the Terps’ secondary came away with three interceptions.
UConn’s offensive line, still figuring out what it can offer, was flagged for five holding penalties in the first half against Lafayette. The Huskies have to give Osborne time to create.
“The big thing is staying in your rush lanes up front. We’ve got to do a great job containing the ball,” Locksley told reporters in Maryland. “When you think about what a dual-threat quarterback does to a defense, the back end is going to be important that we do a good job of plastering. When they extend plays, we can’t get caught with our eyes looking at the man, we’ve got to go find people to cover, because that’s where you see the value the dual-threat adds, the ability to extend plays.”
Defensive keys
Pressure Malik Washington. UConn will have to challenge Maryland’s impressive young QB and slow down the run game he benefits from. Just a sophomore, Washington has 3,149 career passing yards and 18 touchdown passes through his first 13 career starts, and he’s only been sacked eight times in 512 career dropbacks – the second-best sack rate in the FBS since the start of last season (one sack per 64.0 dropbacks). The Terrapins showed off a strong running game with DeJuan Williams recording 116 of their 365 rushing yards and two of six rushing touchdowns in the opener. Overall, they return 68% of their offensive production from last year, which ranks 17th nationally.
UConn’s defense made two sacks and didn’t create any turnovers in its opener, and the Huskies’ front seven, led by linebackers K’Von Sherman and John Lista, will look to prove itself as the strength of the team. They could get a boost with the debut of tackle Esean Carter, who is likely to play after being declared eligible for the season at the last minute and missing the opener.
“They look like a team that has the resources to build a Big Ten football team,” Candle said. “They’re big at every position, they’ve got great team speed, they’ve got playmakers at running back and receiver, exceptional quarterback play through this young man’s career so far, he progressively gets better… They’re big, they’re fast and they play really hard. You’ve got to go beat these guys, you can’t just expect them to give you plays… We’ve got to pay attention to what the little things are that are going to allow us to win those fine margins if we’re going to have a chance to win the game.”
What to know
Site: Rentschler Field in East Hartford
Time: 3:30 p.m.
TV: CBSSN – Jordan Kent, Ben DiNucci, Doug Pederson, Brandon Baylor
Friday morning line: Maryland by 11.5
Radio: UConn Sports Network from Learfield, Fox Sports 97.9 – Mike Crispino, Wayne Norman, Adam Giardino
Record (2025): UConn: 1-0 (9-4), Maryland: 1-0 (4-8)
Series: Maryland leads, 3-1.
Last meeting: Aug. 31, 2024 – Maryland 50, UConn 7 at SECU Stadium in College Park, Md.
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