COLLEGE PARK, Md. — For the second consecutive week, Terps fans will likely have to wait until their team’s first offensive series to see who will start at quarterback for Maryland (3-5, 1-4 Big Ten), which is set to host No. 14 Michigan (6-2, 4-2) Nov. 2 for Homecoming in College Park.

The Terps’ quarterback carousel was in full effect last weekend in a 52-10 loss at Minnesota. Redshirt junior Tyrrell Pigrome started his third straight game but exited early with a knee injury, which would later be diagnosed as a hyperextension and limit Pigrome’s practice reps earlier this week. Pigrome was replaced against the Golden Gophers by grad-transfer and Maryland’s starter to open the season, Josh Jackson. Jackson lasted just one series — in which he did not look sharp — before sophomore Tyler DeSue was brought in to finish out the game.

According to Locksley, the quick hook for Jackson was not injury-related or because the Terps’ head coach has completely lost confidence in the former Virginia Tech quarterback. Rather, it was a sense of Jackson’s confidence — or lack thereof — that Locksley had that day which led to the decision to go with DeSue. But with several practices in the books since Saturday, Locksley believes Jackson’s confidence level is back to where it needs to be.

“I think a lot of last week might have been confidence,” Locksley said Wednesday. “What you look for as a quarterback is for a guy to come in and command things, which he had done. But for whatever reason, I didn’t feel his confidence. He missed an early throw and just the way the game played out. So I think this week he has shown focused and it’s almost like he has re-engaged himself. So I’m hoping we can have a good week out of him.”

Pigrome was limited in practice early this week but returned to full participation by Wednesday. Locksley said Pigrome and Jackson split first-team reps on Wednesday and that a decision on who the starter will be on Saturday against the Wolverines will likely be made after seeing how both quarterbacks perform in Thursday’s practice.

Questions have been brought up as to how inconsistency at the quarterback position throughout the week at practice can possibly lead to a disjointed offensive game plan, but Locksley and his staff are well aware of the dynamic at hand and do what they can to create a sense of cohesion.

“Regardless of who the quarterback is, it’s going to be important for us to build off of what we do on offense,” Locksley said. “Obviously, one quarterback does certain things better and the other one doesn’t, but we have to get all 11 guys being able to execute. So we’ve tried to stay consistent with a lot of the game plans, but obviously we always gear toward the strength of the quarterback.”

Now riding a three-game losing streak for the first time this season, Maryland isn’t just looking for answers at quarterback. The Terps are undergoing assessments across the board. Many of Maryland’s misfortunes in recent weeks have come at the hands of its own doing with costly turnovers, untimely penalties, and poor tackling. But the Terps are confident that cleaning up their own game will help lead to more success.

“It’s just an execution thing,” Pigrome said. “It’s probably just guys thinking too much or not knowing what’s going on. But I feel like, at the end of the day, we just beat ourselves a lot. We just have to stop beating ourselves. I feel like other than that we can beat anybody in this league and in the nation.”

The Terps’ next chance to prove that they can hang with anyone comes Saturday as the Michigan Wolverines come to town. It’s not the easiest of Homecoming matchups Maryland could have asked for, as Michigan is a top-15 team that has won four of its last five games. But the opportunity to pull off something special in front of the many Maryland alumni that will be in attendance is an opportunity the Terps are welcoming.

“It's homecoming week for us, which is a big deal for campus and for all of our alumni that have an opportunity to come back this weekend,” Locksley said. “As I told our team, you know, our job is to, to go out and put a product on the field that our alumni can be proud of this weekend and we will work hard to do that.

“Michigan poses another tremendous challenge for us. They’re a team that's obviously coming in ranked, they have a top 10 defense. They've been running the ball very effectively, especially the last three games. For us, our challenge will be to find a way to contain their run game and then manage to attack a very aggressive defense. They're well-coached with Coach (Jim) Harbaugh and his coaching staff, and we expect to get their best.”

Much like Maryland’s last opponent, the Wolverines typically find success by running the ball on offense and playing stout defense.

Having seen a similar scheme the week prior at Minnesota, Locksley is hoping his team can take the two weeks of similar preparation and apply what it has worked on better than the Terps did against the Golden Gophers.

“I hope [playing similar styles] helps us because obviously we didn’t play the run very well (against Minnesota) at all,” Locksley said. “If anybody knows who Jim Harbaugh is and the identity he has with his style of offense, they’re going to run the football. So there’s no doubt that we’ve made that a point of emphasis. Michigan comes in as a team that in the last three weeks has really run the ball really well. We’ve put it on film that we struggled last week, maintaining our gaps because we had enough guys in the gaps, but we weren’t in the gaps we needed to be, and so we gotta get that corrected, which we’ll work to get done this week.”

Locksley added that it is just as important for Maryland to establish its running game as it is for the Terps to stop the run. The Terps’ dynamic running back duo of Anthony McFarland and Javon Leake has been the lifeblood of Maryland’s offensive attack this season, and backup Tayon Fleet-Davis even showcased the type of threat he can be with a 59-yard touchdown reception out of the backfield last week. But Locksley knows he and offensive coordinator Scottie Montgomery are going to have their hands full this week with one of the best defensive fronts in college football.

“Michigan is a top 10 defense; (defensive coordinator) Don Brown does a tremendous job on that side of the ball with the way they coach the pressure,” Locksley said. “You know what you're going to get, they're going to play man coverage that will have more numbers in the box for you to block. They try to create the one-on-one matchups up front.

“They pose a great challenge, but our guys come to play at Maryland because of these opportunities to play against the best. We'll definitely see one of the better fronts this weekend and it's a great challenge, but I think our guys will be up to the task.”

Kickoff in College Park between Michigan and Maryland is scheduled for 12 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast on the Maryland Sports Radio Network and televised on ABC. This week's game captains for the Terps will be Keandre Jones, Marcus Lewis, and Javon Leake.