Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs Maryland Terrapins Prediction, Odds and Picks for Saturday, 11/16/24

The Rutgers Scarlett Knights got a big win last weekend against the red-hot Minnesota Golden Gophers 26-19 with their star running back, Kyle Monangai out with an injury. Rutgers has now set themselves up nicely where they just need to win 1 of their final 3 games to become bowl eligible. This weekend’s matchup against the Maryland Terrapins may be the most winnable games out of the 3 matchups. Maryland has lost 4 of their last 5 games, including a 39-18 loss last weekend to the Oregon Ducks. Junior quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. completed 50% of his passes and threw for 1 touchdown in the losing effort. Edwards Jr. has had to take the role of under center for a program after Taulia Tagovailoa set school records. It has felt that Edwards Jr.’s success has gone under the radar in the Big Ten. He is currently 3rd in the conference in passing yards with 2520 yards. He will go against Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, who is coming off his best game of the season against his former team. Kaliakmanis threw for 3 touchdowns in the victory and 240 total yards. It’s still in question if Kaliakmanis will have Monangai behind him this weekend, but considering Monangai was a gametime scratch last week, he potentially could be ready to go against Maryland.

Rutgers has not faired well away from home this season, and I believe that is what is pushing this spread more heavily in the favor of Maryland. Rutgers has a record of 1-2 when playing away from their home stadium. The good news for Rutgers is that Maryland has struggled when playing against Big Ten opponents. The Terrapins are 1-5 against in-conference foes and have put together some poor performances at home. The main game I’m thinking of is their 37-10 loss against Northwestern on their home field a month ago. One of these two bad streaks will break this weekend. I’m leaning more towards Rutgers due to play of their quarterback these last 3 weeks. After a stretch of poor performances, Kaliakmanis has thrown for a combined 840 yards in his last 3 games and has looked more comfortable running the offense. This line may move more if Monangai is announced to be healthy, but this could be a good time to grab this line when it has a couple extra points.

Rutgers +6 available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.