Maryland Football Enters The Season With One Of The Easiest Nonconference Schedules
Improvement is what the Maryland football program will look to do starting on August 31, when the 2025-26 season kicks off at College Park against Florida Atlantic. After starting last season 3-1, the Terps lost 7 of their final 8 contests, with all matchups coming against Big Ten opponents. Head coach Mike Locksley knows the pressure is high heading into year seven, manning the Terps. With much of the media speculating he's on the hot seat, Locksley knows the only solution for that is winning.
Easiest nonconference schedules in college football👀
— On3 (@On3sports) July 19, 2025
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One positive heading into the new season for Maryland is the opponents outside of the conference they will face. Their last loss against a non-Big Ten foe was in the 2019 season at Temple, in a close 20-17 finish. At the time, Maryland was ranked #21 heading into the matchup, and the Owls' defense made a red-zone stand to prevent a last-minute comeback. Returning to this season, Maryland will host the aforementioned Florida Atlantic, Northern Illinois, and Towson to open up the first three weeks.
Week one will mark the first-ever matchup between Florida Atlantic and Maryland in program history. The next matchup against Towson will be the fourth meeting between the programs, and Maryland leads (3-0), with the last victory coming in 2023 in a 38-6 blowout. Finally, against Northern Illinois, the Terps head into their fourth meeting as well, carrying a 2-1 head-to-head advantage.
Maryland needs to begin the season on a positive note, using home-field advantage to come out 3-0 before heading into its Big Ten matchups beginning against Wisconsin on September 20. This season will be tricky to predict because Maryland only has four returning offensive starters and a lot of new pieces that will look to fill the holes of departing players. Only time will tell what happens. Media day is approaching this upcoming week, so we will get more answers about the roster outlook heading into August.
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Jaden's sports journalism career began at the College of Southern Maryland from 2022-2023, where he was brought in to cover baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball at CSM. In late 2023, he began interning at the University of Maryland Athletics Department as a contributing writer to help develop feature stories and game recaps. He also creates his own sports media content on professional Washington teams with LegacyMaker Sports Network.