PISCATAWAY – Maryland hasn’t been an easy opponent for Rutgers football in recent seasons.

The Scarlet Knights were blown out by the Terrapins each of the last three seasons, including a 37-0 debacle to close out the 2022 campaign.

But Greg Schiano’s team, coming off an resurgent victory over Minnesota that changed the complexion of the season, now has to hope those losses come to an end.

Rutgers will play at Maryland on Saturday (6 p.m., FS1) needing one victory to secure bowl eligibility for a second-consecutive season.

Schiano on Monday cautioned that this won’t be an easy game – despite Maryland right now standing at just 1-5 against Big Ten competition (the win came by one point against USC).

“Coach (Mike) Locksley does a great job,” Schiano said during a news conference at the Hale Center.

“Certainly he's been a handful for us in our time back here. We haven't had a ton of success against them, especially playing on the road. So we have our hands full.”

Maryland’s ‘explosive offense’ to test improved Rutgers football defense

Former Terrapins quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa gave the Scarlet Knights fits the last few times the teams met. Tagovailoa finally is no longer in a Maryland uniform, but the Terrapins replaced him with Billy Edwards Jr. and the results have been strong.

The 6-foot-3, 222-pound Edwards is 236-of-357 passing (66.1 percent) for 2,520 yards (third in the Big Ten) with 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

“Offensively they're explosive,” Schiano said. “The Edwards kid, the quarterback, has done a really nice job, and he's up at the top of the league in passing.”

Much of that comes from the weapons Edwards has to throw to.

Tai Felton leads the Big Ten with 979 receiving yards on 80 catches. He’s caught six touchdown passes.

Kaden Prather has caught 47 passes for 503 yards with three touchdowns.

Schiano offered the Terrapins high praise.

“Receiving room is as good as you'll play against,” Schiano said. “It's an NFL receiving room. Felton leads the Big Ten and Prather isn't very far behind. They really do. They have an NFL receiving room. Then (Roman) Hemby, it feels like he's been playing forever. Very experienced.”

As a team, the Terrapins average 417.2 yards per game, sixth in the Big Ten.

Maryland’s offensive line is coached by Damian Wroblewski, who was the OL coach at Rutgers from 2012-13.

“Then the O-line is gigantic, and they made a change here a couple of weeks ago,” Schiano said. “We all here at Rutgers know Coach Wroblewski very well. A lot of respect for him and the job that he does. Going to be a huge challenge for our defense for sure.”

Rutgers’ defense against Minnesota on Saturday looked like the unit that garnered high expectations coming into the season. The Scarlet Knights improved their tackling – they had just one missed tackle against the Golden Gophers.

Now they need to continue it against Maryland, though Schiano cautioned that every game is different.

“What Coach Locksley does offensively is a little different than what we faced last week,” Schiano said. “It's different every week, right, but this one is quite a bit different. So we're going to have to have a good plan for sure. Put them in position to make those tackles, but as I mentioned some of those names, they're really athletic guys. So it's going to be really straining to the level that we strained and beyond.”

Greg Schiano on Maryland’s defense

Maryland’s defense hasn’t been as formidable as its offense.

The Terrapins are yielding 379.0 yards per game, third-worst in the Big Ten. Its passing defense (265.4 yards per game) is worst in the conference, while its run defense (113.6 yards per game) is eighth, the strongest aspect of its defense.

“They're gigantic up front,” Schiano said. “Especially their two interior guys. That's going to be a challenge to get some movement there. They're big. They're strong. They're physical.”

Linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II leads Maryland with 44 tackles (4½ for loss) with one interception.

The 6-foot, 240-pound Hyppolite is in his fifth season.

“Another guy that I feel like we've been saying his name for a long, long time,” Schiano said. “Really good football player. Then the secondary is quality players. Really good, long athletes. So our hands are full.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers football: Greg Schiano previews Maryland game