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Maryland's Kaden Prather (1) catches the touchdown during the Indiana versus Maryland football game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Ranking UCLA's Most Important Games: No. 8

Originally posted on UCLA Bruins on SI | By Connor Moreno | Last updated Aug 13, 2025 1:00 PM ET

We're officially three weeks away from UCLA's season opener, and the Bruins are one of the biggest stories in college football.

With a ton of expectations preceding them, let's rank the Bruins' most important games on the schedule, moving on to No. 8 -- Week 8 vs Maryland.

We're past the non-conference opponents and juggernauts (Penn State and Ohio State) in the Bruins' schedule. Now, we move on to the games UCLA needs to win because they'll either be favored or the matchup will be a toss up.

UCLA is going to be favored in its clash against the Terrapins. ESPN ranked Maryland as the 17th-best team in the Big Ten in its latest conference power rankings. This Week 8 matchup comes during the height of conference play and in between games against Michigan State and Indiana.

Depending on their start to the season, this game against the Terrapins has the potential to have serious bowl game implications. The Bruins need to win this one.

Analyst Previews Maryland

Want to know more about the Terrapins going into the season? Well,ESPN's Bill Connelly previewed them, here's what he had to say:

"In 2024's "The Price: What It Takes to Win in College Football's Era of Chaos," authors Armen Keteyan and John Talty talked to Maryland's Locksley about his school jockeying for position in this new paying-the-players world. Locksley compared his Terps to Macy's, trying to keep both the higher-end "Saks Fifth Avenues of college football" from plucking away his best talent and the discount stores from taking away his young backups. "I'm getting eaten from both ends, and that's why you don't see f---ing Macy's very much anymore," he said.

"I thought about that quote a lot as Maryland got absolutely wrecked by the portal this offseason, losing starters and key contributors to Arkansas, Auburn, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Texas, UAB (really?) and Wisconsin, and losing backups to Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, Fresno State, Georgia State, James Madison, Sacramento State, Sam Houston and UCF. Maryland had already suffered a disastrous 2024 season, collapsing to 4-8 and 86th in SP+, then got hit harder by spring attrition than almost any power conference program. The Terps are 107th in returning production and looking at only about a one-in-three chance of bowling this fall. Locksley had engineered three straight winning seasons and two top-30 SP+ finishes, but it feels as if he's starting from scratch in Year 7.

"There's almost no choice but to go with a full youth movement in 2025, but it could bear decent fruit. Blue-chip freshman Malik Washington could start at quarterback next to sophomore running back (and yards-after-contact machine) Nolan Ray and behind a line that might feature only one or two seniors. The defense has quite a few exciting sophomores -- edge rushers Neeo Avery and Trey Reddick, transfer tackles Joel Starlings (North Carolina) and Eyan Thomas (Saint Francis), cornerback La'Khi Roland -- and blue-chip freshmen such as end Zahir Mathis could quickly play a role.

"Forced to go young, Locksley could find he has a pretty exciting roster corps. But that might not help him much in 2025, and he'll then have to hold on to that roster corps in 2026. That certainly proved difficult this past offseason."

Make sure to bookmark UCLA Bruins On SI to get all your daily UCLA Bruins news, analysis and more!

Read more on UCLA football and their momentous second season in the Big Ten and under DeShaun Foster here. While you're here, check out all things UCLA basketball and Mick Cronin improving the Bruins through the transfer portal here.