Maryland's Aazaar Abdul-Rahim takes his rebuilt Terps to Purdue after a near miss in his debut

Maryland's season now belongs to a coach who grew up a few miles from campus. Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, the D.C.-raised defensive assistant who took over when Mike Locksley was fired on Oct. 21, has been asked to hold the program together until the school hires its next permanent coach, USA TODAY Sports reported in a profile this week.

Locksley left with a 39-54 record over eight seasons, and the Terps had lost 12 Big Ten games in a row when he was dismissed, according to ESPN. USA TODAY put Maryland at 10-22 since the start of 2024. Abdul-Rahim had come back to College Park from Boston College to work for Locksley, and he has not hidden how he feels about the firing. "I came back for (Locksley) because I believed in him," he told USA TODAY.

Abdul-Rahim has spent his first weeks in the job calling coaches who have held the interim title before, among them Penn State's Terry Smith and former Texas A&M interim Elijah Robinson, and he has also leaned on Maryland staffer Damian Wroblewski, who once ran James Madison on an interim basis. His debut didn't produce a win, but it was competitive. Maryland lost 20-17 to Illinois on Halloween when Ethan Moczulski kicked a 26-yard field goal with four seconds left, PressBox reported. The Terps had tied the game at 17 with 10 minutes to play. USA TODAY noted they committed one penalty and one turnover and held the ball longer than Illinois did.

That discipline is the most concrete change so far. In the three weeks before the bye, Maryland lost by 31 at UCLA, 25 at Nebraska and 29 at Ohio State. The three-point loss to Illinois was its closest Big Ten result of the year.

What it means at Purdue

The Terrapins go to West Lafayette on Saturday, Nov. 7 (BTN) at 2-6 and 0-5 in the Big Ten. They have lost six straight since a 2-0 start built on wins over Hampton and UConn. Those six losses add up to a 239-115 scoring deficit, an average of almost 40 points allowed per game. Because ESPN counted 12 straight Big Ten losses at the firing, the Illinois result made it 13. Saturday's game is Abdul-Rahim's second chance to end that run.

Purdue is favored on this site's board, which tracks 12 venues. Novig has Purdue at -199 on the moneyline and Maryland at +194. The best Maryland price anywhere is +197 at Polymarket, which shows how tightly the venues agree on the outright result. The spread is a little wider. Novig lists Purdue as a 5.5-point favorite, with Maryland +5.5 at +102. Pinnacle offers the Terps at +6.5, priced at -114. Novig sets the total at 56.5, and FanDuel's highest number is 57.5. Sportsbook hold runs from about 3.3% to 7% across the markets.

That total fits what Maryland has been playing. Four of its five conference games have gone past 56 combined points, and Illinois was the exception at 37. If the slower game Maryland played against Illinois was a real change under Abdul-Rahim and not a one-week result, the Purdue trip is the first chance to show it.