Music City has feel of preview for next season
NASHVILLE — Maryland football coach Michael Locksley sees bowl games like a movie trailer for coming attractions, now even more true with the NCAA transfer portal, the early signing period and players opting out for the NFL draft.
Locksley gets his preview Saturday in the Music City Bowl against Auburn, and he’s especially eager to see how his Terrapins might replace recordsetting quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa.
“We’re excited to see what these young players have to offer as well as the quarterback situation we have,” Locksley said Friday. “But to me the biggest thing is to come out and build momentum into the ’24 season.”
Big Ten member Maryland (7-5) also has a chance at program history while checking out a new starter at quarterback. A victory would be the Terrapins’ third straight bowl win, something they’ve never done before.
Meanwhile, Auburn (6-6) can cap coach Hugh Freeze’s first year back in the Southeastern Conference with a winning record. The Tigers might have already secured that, but they finished the regular season by dropping two straight games at their Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The first was an ugly 31-10 loss to New Mexico State, a Conference USA program. The second was a stunner that denied them an Iron Bowl upset of rival Alabama, which scored the winning touchdown on fourth-and-31 in the final minute.
Saturday’s 2 p.m. Eastern matchup at Nissan Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, will be shown on ABC.
Freeze also sees this bowl as a big step toward 2024, when Oklahoma and Texas will join the SEC as it expands to 16 members. Freeze, whose first turn as an SEC head coach came with Ole Miss from 2012-16, continues heavily recruiting high school players as he gets acclimated to using the portal to replace players who leave Auburn.
“I’m not doing real well in the speed-dating portal,” Freeze said.
Auburn has the edge in experience at quarterback with Payton Thorne, who threw for 6,494 yards in three seasons at Michigan State and threw for 1,671 yards and 15 touchdowns this season while running for 524 yards.
Freeze did sign California quarterback Sam Jackson out of the portal and plans to use him at wide receiver, considering he played one high school season in Illinois with Thorne as his quarterback.
“There’s some chemistry there,” Freeze said.
Locksley quickly asked if Jackson would be playing on Saturday. Freeze’s response: “No. I wish he was.”
As for Tagovailoa — the younger brother of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the former Alabama star — Maryland’s record-setting quarterback announced his decision to opt out Dec. 19, leaving Locksley to focus on the “quarterback situation.”
Redshirt sophomore Billy Edwards Jr. is expected to make his third career start after running for six touchdowns this season. Redshirt freshman Cameron Edge, who is 2-of 3 passing for 18 yards this season, is another option. Both should get plenty of help from the receiver corps after four Terrapins had at least 40 catches this season, tied for most in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
It also won’t hurt that Auburn will be starting a secondary filled with freshmen.
Meanwhile, Maryland’s defense is among seven FBS programs that had at least 30 sacks and picked off 15 interceptions coming into bowl season. The Terrapins ranked 11th nationally for interceptions and second in the Big Ten to Michigan (16).
Auburn has had to deal with players being sick over the past few days. Freeze said his doctor’s report was down to just one with “the fever” having broken. The challenge now is making sure everyone hydrates well to recover as quickly as possible.
“It’s kind of like everything else we’re dealing with, the optouts,” Freeze said. “You can’t control some things. But I do think I had a good report this morning that most everybody was feeling better. I’m sure, if at all possible, they’ll give it a go.”
Maryland will be wearing a sticker with the initials “FW” on its helmets in memory of Frank Wycheck, who played for the Terrapins from 1990 to 1992. He set the school record for most catches by a tight end with 134.
Wycheck died Dec. 9 at his Chattanooga home at the age of 52. He played 11 NFL seasons and threw the lateral that started the “Music City Miracle” kickoff return touchdown that propelled the Titans to the franchise’s lone Super Bowl appearance in January 2000. A ceremony also will honor his part in that play in the same venue where it took place.