After Shocking Loss, Maryland Focusing on Winning the 4th Quarter vs. Nebraska

This article should be prefaced with the fact that it’s incredibly well known that Nebraska football is one of the most snakebitten programs in the country year after year.

From being the best 3-win team in the country a few years ago to starting a year nationally-ranked after a four-win season the year before, Nebraska’s been through its fair share of heartache and pain when it comes to the football program.

That being said, Maryland will be waking up Saturday morning angry and hungry to make Nebraska regret getting on the plane to come play them.

Washington receiver Denzel Boston celebrates after the Huskies' comeback victory over Maryland. | Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images

The Terrapins lost their first game of the season last week against Washington, but it wasn’t just a hard-fought loss, which it was. It was also a heartbreaking, excruciating and hard-to-explain loss for the previously unbeaten Maryland football team.

After leading 20-3 through three quarters, the Huskies mounted a comeback for the ages, scoring touchdowns at the 14:23 mark, 11:32 mark and 3:21 mark of the 4th quarter to pull off one of the more improbable comebacks of the college football season.

In that final quarter, Maryland had three possessions that combined for only 48 yards of offense, two punts and the eventual loss of the game on downs at the end.

Marylans has focused all week on finishing strong and playing a complete game. | Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images

"You’ve got to play the game for four quarters, and we played it for three,” Maryland coach Mike Locksley said during his weekly press conference this week. “It wasn’t the first game we didn’t win the fourth quarter, and that’s a standard for us in our system. Anyone that’s ever coached in the Nick Saban family tree — winning the fourth quarter is a really important stat.”

It's a stat that ended up costing Maryland its first loss of the season, and it left the players more angry than speechless. That’s carried into the week of practices as well. Both Locksley and his players say the loss was deflating, but they had two roads they could go down.

The first road is what a lot of teams hope to avoid, which is letting a loss like that impact them not only for the game it happened in, but for several games to follow. The other is the path the Terps say they have taken, which is to not necessarily forget the game, but learn from it and move on.

Washington scored 21 unanswered points to stun Maryland 24-20 this past Saturday. | Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images

We just need to learn how to finish, how we handle adversity in times like that,” senior defensive lineman Cam Rice said. “I think what I’ve seen though, we’re staying together, and we’re all focused on fixing the things that we need to fix moving forward.”

Rice admitted he was shocked the team gave away the game last week, mainly because of what’s been drilled into the Maryland football culture since he’s been there.

“In workouts and things we did over the summer, we put a huge emphasis on headbutt the finish,” Rice said. “Whether that’s a workout, a run — whatever we’re doing, we’ve got to headbutt the finish, so that’s what we’re really focusing on moving forward and talking about the fourth quarter. That’s when we need to finish the best.

Opponent	Maryland 4th Qtr Points	Opponent 4th Qtr Points
Washington	0	21
Wisconsin	7	7
Towson	3	10
Northern Illinois	7	0
Florida Atlantic	0	0

Unfortunately, that’s not exactly how you would describe the Terrapins through five games. The only 4th quarter they’ve won is outscoring Northern Illinois 7-0 on September 5. Otherwise, they’ve tied Wisconsin and FAU in the 4th and even lost to Towson 10-3 in the final frame.

However, when your team’s off to a 4-0 start, some of that is a product of getting some guys who normally wouldn’t see the field some game action, which, against Towson, was certainly the case in Maryland’s 44-17 win.

Washington scoring 21 unanswered points in the final quarter to win by four is a sting no college football team wants to endure, but Locksley said this week has been about getting back to the basics.

Maryland is doing its best this week to not let the Washington loss beat them twice with Nebraska coming to town Saturday. | Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images

“Last week is over, we have to make the corrections that we will make,” Locksley said. “We’ll make the coaching corrections that we need to make. We turn the page on last week just like we do every play. We’ve got to get to the next play, (and) we get to the next game. We’re there now.”

Locksley also pointed out that even in games where they’re getting some back-ups reps, the standard remains the same. He along with his players know the standard wasn’t kept this past weekend, but as they prep for a Nebraska team that had its own second half explosion to beat Michigan State last week, they know Saturday will be another test.

The Terrapins will be led back out of the tunnel by true freshman quarterback Malik Washington, who has found plenty of success during his rookie season at Maryland. Although he may be a young leader on the team, he knows the Terps are going to need to shake off whatever bad feelings they have from last week because the Huskers won’t care.

One of the biggest comebacks in ⁦@UW_Football⁩ history, down 20-0, this was the go ahead touchdown by Jonah Coleman, his 10th TD in 5 games. 24-20, UW beats Maryland. pic.twitter.com/kROQ8fjgQ0
— Elise Woodward (@EliseMWoodward) October 4, 2025

“We can’t lose confidence,” Washington said. “That’s something we talked about as a team in the locker room after the game, was just not losing confidence in ourselves. No matter what the outside and external sources are saying, we know what we have in the locker room. It’s all about the people who put the jerseys on Saturday.”

Nebraska’s a betting favorite in the battle of 4-1 teams on Saturday in College Park, MD., as they’re favored by 5.5 points. However, it’s a pretty even match-up across the card, which means how both teams have learned from their lone losses on the season will matter come kickoff.

I think with the perspective that you have, you could walk out of it with a lot of lessons,” senior offensive lineman Isaiah Wright said. “Coach Locks talks a lot about friction and how we witness some adversity and some friction last Saturday, but when you’re working on the sword, that friction kind of refines it and perfects it. We’re just going to use every lesson that we could gain from the last game and try and become a better team.”

Maryland has already moved on from its loss to Washington and centered its sights on 4-1 Nebraska. | Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images

What’s probably the most telling about Maryland this week is their attitude about the loss and how they’re using it in preparation for NU. They’re not making excuses or playing the “what if” game. They’ve accepted the loss, and it appears they’ve more than moved on.

“Their players made plays that were there to be made in critical situations and we didn’t, so that’s where me as a coach,” Locksley said. “My job is to figure out, let’s get the fourth quarter finish fixed. It’s a big part of what we do, and it’s been a big emphasis for us during our prep for Nebraska.”

Kickoff between the Huskers and Terrapins is set for 2:30 p.m. CDT and will be televised nationally on the Big Ten Network.

More From Nebraska On SI

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.