There is a youth movement underway in College Park, Maryland and the kids are not alright. 

The Terrapins surrendered 537 yards and 21 first downs to the traditionally-hapless Northwestern Wildcats’ offense in a 43-3 obliteration on the shores of Lake Michigan. 

Terps head coach Mike Locksley told Inside Maryland Sports, the teams 247 site, that inexperience on the field was a big factor in the poor showing. 

Sports Betting in Big Ten Country

Likely coming in the following months, Maryland sportsbooks are almost here. You heard it right. Maryland is joining many of the other Big Ten states with live and legal online sports betting.

21+ and present in OH. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

“We played some first-time players, 10 freshmen, true freshmen, I think 20 first-year players. So guess what? Minnesota is going to show up here Friday night and whoever we put out there’s got to be prepared and disciplined to play the techniques we teach and go out and execute it.”

Beyond the general inexperience, first-year starter and transfer quarterback, sophomore Tualia Tagovailoa, had an abysmal showing. Despite throwing for only 97-yards while firing three interceptions, Locksley opted to leave his young quarterback in to learn on the job. 

He justified that decision in the same piece.

“It’s more about just executing the things the way he’s coached. We call it not abandoning his training. I thought he started the game out really well in the opening drive and was executing the system the way it should be and obviously made a poor decision on the first interception. And I think from there, he abandoned some of the training, which is a natural reaction with a first-time starter,” Locksley said.

Going forward the head coach believes if his quarterback trusts his training, and takes a game one play at a time as opposed to trying to win it on every play, he will prove to be a worthy quarterback in the long Maryland tradition of successful signal callers.

“What we try to train all of our guys to do is understand, you play that play and then you move on to the next. You can’t let them connect and you can’t play them all together,” Locksley said. “You have to kind of treat them as if they all have a shelf life of themselves and move on when something good happens or bad happens. And so I expect Taulia to bounce back.”

The 0-1 Terrapins will face the 0-1 Minnesota Golden Gophers Friday night at 7:30 pm EST inside Byrd Stadium, College Park, Maryland.