General rules of thumb:

  • Maryland should never be playing in the Big Ten game of the week.
  • The Big Ten game of the week should never be scheduled for Friday night.

Whoopsies.

No one could have anticipated it when the schedule was made (or it would have been made differently), but Friday night’s meeting between No. 5 Iowa (4-0) and Maryland (4-0) at Maryland Stadium is the most tantalizing game on the B1G weekend menu — even if it makes traditionalists blanch.

Chances are you are one of those Big Ten traditionalists, as this site is not called Friday Night New Stuff. But I can promise you, this game has more appeal than Saturday morning’s Michigan-Wisconsin matchup that will combine for 300 yards and 25 points.

You would be hard-pressed to build two football teams from more different molds than the Terrapins and Hawkeyes, and that’s what makes this fun.

Maryland throws the ball 38 times a game, cruising up and down the field to the tune of 37.3 points per game. Iowa’s offense exists to pass the time until the defense comes back on the field and does something cool. The Hawkeyes are stifling opponents, allowing just 11 points per game. They’ve forced 9 turnovers, turning 3 directly into touchdowns and adding another that set up a 6-yard score on the following play.

If that’s not enough to convince you this is the best the B1G has to offer this week, how about this?

Maryland will be the team that remains undefeated come Saturday morning.

Here’s why:

No respect

When you start 4-0 for the first time in 5 years, the hope is people will start paying attention to your program. But with 3 Big Ten unbeatens in the Top 15 (No. 4 Penn State, No. 5 Iowa, No. 14 Michigan), Maryland remains decidedly under the radar.

And then there’s the fact the Terps have already been relegated to the Big Ten’s Friday night showcase for the second time this season, which triggered a jab from coach Mike Locksley this week.

Maryland and Rutgers both joined the conference in 2014, and have battled the (correct) perception that the B1G’s Midwestern fanbases have no use for them whatsoever. It’s been a Dangerfieldian battle for respect, and a win over the Hawkeyes would be the biggest step the Terrapins have taken to earn any in those 7 years.

You can bet Locksley has hammered some version of that message home all week.

Explosive turtles

Unlike their namesakes, the Terps have a knack for moving quickly.

Led by quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa and an explosive receiving corps, Maryland leads the B1G with 23 pass plays of more than 20 yards. Maryland is third with 9 pass plays longer than 30 yards.

Iowa’s defense seems built to withstand such pressure. The Hawkeyes are third in the nation in total defense, allowing just 3.94 yards per play.

But teams have actually shown it’s possible to move the ball through the air against Iowa — they’ve just had a tendency to shoot themselves in the feet with turnovers. When it comes to passing yards allowed, Iowa’s defense is just 42nd in the country.

Furthermore, big plays are possible against the Hawks.

Iowa has allowed 6 completions of 30 or more yards, which rates 10th in the B1G. Opponents have also completed 3 passes over 40 yards, which puts Iowa ninth in the league.

These are minor quibbles for a dominant defense, but it’s hard to ignore that Iowa’s lone Achilles heel on that side of the ball lines up directly with Maryland’s greatest strength.

Maryland has a defense, too

To me, this is ultimately what swings the game in Maryland’s favor. The Terps have a good enough defense to overwhelm Iowa’s butterscotch offense.

Iowa is dead last in the Big Ten in yards per play, averaging just 4.61 yards each snap. Nationally, that places the Hawkeyes 119th overall. Someone is bound to expose them well before the College Football Playoff they aspire to reach — and it might as well be Maryland.

The Terps are so-so by that measure, ranking eighth in the conference with an average of 4.93 yards per play permitted. But where they are better than most is putting opponents behind the chains.

Maryland leads the Big Ten with 16 sacks and is third in the league with 28 tackles for loss. And though we have a perception of Iowa playing behind a burly, cornfed offensive line, the Hawks are actually susceptible up front. Iowa is 11th in the league with 9 sacks allowed and 10th with 29 TFL allowed.

A prediction: Maryland 24, Iowa 16

The Hawkeyes have had no lack of good luck in their 4-0 start.

Two interception return touchdowns — including one on the first defensive possession of the game — inflated their 34-6 season-opening win over Indiana.

A 6-yard fumble return touchdown was crucial to their 27-17 win at Iowa State.

Not-so-mighty Kent State was threatening to make things interesting in the third quarter when linebacker Jack Campbell forced a goal-line fumble.

And it took another big play by Campbell inside the opponent’s 10-yard line for the Hawkeyes to finally turn the tide in the second half against a pretty bad Colorado State team.

On top of all that, there’s the look-ahead factor.

Iowa has already been picked to host Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff for next week’s assumed Top 5 showdown against Penn State. The only Hawkeyes left on the roster who remember playing Maryland shut them out 23-0 in 2018. It may be hard for that locker room to invest in the idea that this game is every bit as important.

And even if they do, there’s this: Maryland is actually good. The rest of the Big Ten is going to figure that out Friday night.