Maryland football returns to SECU Stadium on Saturday to wrap up non-conference play, and they’ll do so as comfortable favorites.
While odds aren’t available across all sportsbooks, ESPN Bet, FanDuel and BetRivers all list Maryland as a 17.5-point favorite vs. Villanova with the over/under listed at 43.5 points on FanDuel. Maryland will look to win its 15th consecutive non-conference game, move to 8-0 vs. FCS teams since joining the Big Ten with a chance to move to 14-2 in September over the last four seasons.
Maryland is 10-2 all-time vs. Villanova with the Terps pulling out wins in the last ten matchups in a streak that began in 1972. That doesn’t mean the Terps are expecting an easy game on Saturday against their final FCS opponent led by a “veteran bunch” as head coach Mike Locksley noted.
“You look at their defense, a bunch of graduates and seniors and guys that have been there six years and five years, and then you look at their quarterback. The quarterback is the guy that makes their offense go. They have a really extensive RPO package, quarterback run package, the zone read stuff. And the guy's been there six years, he's been a three-year starter. He's the guy that makes them go. I mean, he's a competitive guy. You kind of got some traits that, you see toughness, you see competitiveness. So what I'll say is I don't expect Villanova to come in here as an FCS team and be big eyed about playing Maryland because they've got a pretty good team themselves and very well coached. But like I always say, every week is not going to be about Villanova. It's going to be about the Terps. It's going to be about our standard and us taking pride in the way we prepare and the way we do things Monday through Friday. Those things won't change for us. It's going to be about a bunch of players growing this week, continuing to improve with every practice and I really like our team and how they've been able to do that.
Kickoff is set for noon on BTN.
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