Texas vs. Maryland Betting Preview – 2018 Week 1
Very rarely this early in the season do you find a game that is as emotionally important for both teams as the battle between Texas and Maryland will be. This is the classic revenge game for Texas after Maryland shellacked them in the opener last year in Tom Herman’s debut 51-41 at home.
The expectations are high for Herman and Texas in year two, so another loss to a middling Maryland team cannot happen. For Maryland, they are dealing with tragic death of player Jordan McNair and the subsequent absence of head coach D.J. Durkin. The Terrapins will be looking to staying focused on the Longhorns and silencing all the controversy surrounding their football program. Texas is -13.5 favorites heading into Saturday’s matchup in Landover, MD.
Longhorns Looking for Huge Season
The expectations are always high for the Texas football team and this year is no different. The pollsters have ranked Texas in the top 25 this preseason, without the Longhorns proving anything on the field. Tom Herman as anointed Sam Ehlinger as the starting quarterback for UT in 2018 and he has a very talented receiving corps to throw to, led by Collin Johnson (765 yards in 2017).
However, the offensive line is a suspect area for the Longhorns as they return only two starters from last year. UT has to be able to run the football in 2018 for this team to be successful. In 2017, the Longhorns finished 117th in the country in rushing.
On defense, Texas was absolutely throttled last year by the Terrapin offense, who was relatively anemic for the rest of the year against the Big Ten. Maryland’s offense should be no better than a bottom half Big 12 offense, so if Texas struggles on Saturday, they could be in for a long year.
Terrapins with Drama in Program
Maryland will feature two pretty good quarterbacks in Tyrrell Pigrome and Kasim Hill. These two saw limited time last season due to injuries that devastated the entire quarterback position for Maryland in 2017 and derailed their season.
Both of these guys are run-first quarterbacks, so they want to get out of the pocket and put the UT defenders in a position to make a decision. The offensive line returns all five starters from last season and while they were not great, they have the experience to perform under the bright lights.
Maryland’s defense finished 86th in the country last year and was particularly bad against the run. Luckily for them, Texas was equally as bad running the football last year. The Terrapins will also welcome back DE Jesse Aniebonam, who had nine sacks in 2016 before missing last season after getting hurt against the Longhorns in the opener last year.
Pick and Prediction
I expect Maryland to either play inspired or overwhelmed. We should find out which one it is early in the game. In reality, all the pressure in this game is on Texas. They cannot lose to a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team and return to Austin with their tail between their legs.
They will not lose this one and more defense will be played this year. When betting at YouWager - we predict Texas wins 36-24 as Maryland covers the +13.5 spread.
