COLLEGE PARK, Md — The magic number is six. That's how many wins the Maryland Terps football team needs to become bowl-eligible.
With only three games left this year, the 4-5 Terps need to win two of their final three games this season.
That makes this Saturday's game against Rutgers as close to a must-win as possible.
"Obviously, this is an important game for us. An opportunity for us; we've got two home games left and an away game. This is playoff football. This is kind of what I told our team. It's our version of the playoffs," says Head Coach Michael Locksley.
It's been a rough two-week stretch for the Terps, losing their last two games.
Recently they traveled to Eugene, Oregon, to take on the number one Oregon Ducks and lost 39-18.
The loss, however, hasn't sullied their confidence
"A lot of things that can be corrected. A lot of details that we get corrected. We feel like we can play with anybody, and I think that was the thing that I kinda took away from that game. We made a lot of mistakes, and we found ourselves in that game, and I feel like if you can do that, that shows that every game is a winnable game for us," says redshirt junior running back Roman Hemby.
"There's no downers in the locker room. Everybody's head is in the right mental space. Like I said before, we're just scratching and clawing to get wins. That's where we're at now. We didn't expect to be here, but we're here. So the only thing we can do now is go fight and go get six," says senior linebacker Ruben Hyppolite.
In order to get six, it means stopping a Rutgers one win away from bowl eligibility themselves after coming off a win against Minnesota.
"We've gone against them, but they've been a team that's relied on their ability to run the ball, field position, and great on special teams," says Locksley.
The Terps haven't had a home game since October 19. Coach Locksley and his guys are hoping for an electric environment.
