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The UW Dawg Pound staff makes their picks for a Saturday road trip to Maryland.

Saturday, the Dawgs will head to SECU Stadium in College Park to take on the Maryland Terrapins! Let’s get to the picks!

Max Vrooman (4-0 SU, 1-3 ATS)

The Washington Huskies are technically 1-0 on the road this season. So no more road concerns, right? Tom Fornelli put out a piece this week showing that B1G teams outside of Ohio State, Penn State, and Oregon have only won 21% of their games when travelling across the Rockies. And this is right up there for the longest possible road trips at nearly 2,800 miles. If Maryland were looking like the version I expected in the preseason though then I still wouldn’t be worried. But the Terps have been impressive even if they’ve yet to play a top-60 team in SP+. True freshman QB Malik Washington has avoided sacks and turnovers and only a 15% drop rate from his WRs is keeping him from putting up elite numbers. The offense is good enough to score consistently on the Dawgs. It’s the Terps defense though that has been nearly lights out. They aren’t Ohio State good but haven’t given up more than 17 points in a game and have completely shut down the run game of every team they’ve played. There’s still a chance it’s a bit of a mirage given the lack of quality competition they’ve faced but similar to UW’s offense, it seems difficult to imagine them not at least finishing the year as quite good. If the Huskies were fully healthy then I’d still go with Washington in this spot. Potentially getting back Tacario Davis definitely helps but the offense is now down 3 key starters from the opening lineup and the edge rotation is getting really thin without Durfee. I expect this to be a game where UW wins the box score battle but has something semi-fluky go against them (special teams, penalties, etc.) to lose it.

Washington- 24, Maryland- 26

Andrew Berg (4-0 SU, 1-3 ATS)

It’s hard to look at this game and not think about Washington’s ill-fated trip to Rutgers last season. Two cross-country road-trips. Two opponents who are probably a little tougher than they get credit for. Two tough spots on the schedule (a short week last year, the week after Ohio State this year). Two opponents decked out in all red (ok, maybe that one doesn’t matter so much). Last year, everything that could go wrong did. Whether the Huskies can travel to the East Coast and take care of business will say a lot about how much the team has grown in year two under Jedd Fisch. On the field, the Maryland player to watch will be Malik Washington. The Terps have started 4-0 because their freshman QB has acclimated quickly. He has limited mistakes with only one sack and one interception while also totally ten combined pass and rush TDs through four games. On the other hand, he has put up good numbers against bad competition. The only P4 team he has faced is the shambles of Wisconsin. Even against mediocre opposition, the Maryland offense rates only 98th in passing success rate and 105th in rushing success rate. The Husky defense has health questions at every level, but it will be necessary for them to play to their potential to win this game. Maryland is better defensively than offensively. They have made it extremely difficult for opposing QBs to pass on them. Though, again, they have faced an overmatched Wisconsin backup, an FCS team, and two poor G5 teams. Many fans noted that the Husky offense struggled against Ohio St (no kidding?), especially when there were fewer carries for Jonah Coleman or designed runs for Demond Williams. While Maryland’s defense is a strength, it’s not the Buckeye front seven and the Huskies should be able to get more push to create lanes for Coleman. The Huskies will need him to put up the kind of numbers he did against the Dawgs’ own soft non-conference schedule. If they can do so, I believe the Huskies can leave College Park happier than they left East Piscataway last year.

Washington 27 – Maryland 20

Mark Schafer (3-1 SU, 1-2 ATS)

Road trips were the Huskies’ kryptonite last year, with the team being imperfect on the road. Now with a road win already under their belt, they will have to fly 2300 miles to face the Maryland Terrapins, who sit at 4-0. This will be a tough game, and due to the miles covered, there might be a slow start, especially since Maryland is coming off of a bye week. But I think even with that, the Huskies weapons on offense will put up plenty of points, though the absence of Carver Willis is slightly disconcerting. We will see what the rotation process looks like and whether or not somebody steps up. Look for Demond to do what he did through the first 3 weeks, and hopefully Jonah gets back on track! Defensively, I am a little bit worried, as the secondary will have a tough task, going up against the electric QB-receiver duo of Malik Washington and speedster Tai Felton, but they did hold the line somewhat last week. Speaking of the line, I think Zach Durfee’s absence will be felt, but I think that if our young secondary steps up and the linebackers and front 4 hold their ground, and improve on what was a fairly solid performance by the unit last week, the Huskies’ can hold their ground and eke out a win against a sneaky good Maryland team!

Washington-31, Maryland-24