COLLEGE PARK — Maryland football might have hit rock bottom.

Facing a Northwestern team dwelling in the cellar of the Big Ten in several key categories, the Terps botched a prime-time appearance Friday night and sputtered to a 37-10 loss before an announced 39,371 at SECU Stadium.

Maryland (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten) trailed 17-0 before the midpoint of the second quarter, and a second-half comeback was about as half-hearted as the opening as the team dropped its first three conference games for the first time since 2015.

While Northwestern was playing on short rest after a loss last Saturday to Indiana, Maryland was coming off its bye week. But by failing to overcome a 17-7 deficit after the first two quarters, the program lost its 33rd straight game when falling behind by at least 10 points at halftime.

“It’s frustrating, especially when you had two weeks to prepare,” said fifth-year senior linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II, who finished with three tackles (one for loss) and one pass breakup for a defense playing without injured safety Dante Trader Jr. “Credit to Northwestern. They played hard. We played well on defense — well enough to win. We gave up a couple big plays, but it’s challenging losing like this in this fashion.”

Maryland will seek its first victory over a Big Ten opponent when USC (3-2, 1-2) visits on Oct. 19 at 4 p.m. But there wasn’t much to look forward to after the team’s latest missed opportunity.

“When I go back and watch the tape, there’s obviously a lot of things I could have done better,” redshirt junior quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. said. “Had some missed throws. So it’s tough, it’s frustrating, but we’re at the midpoint of the season, and we really only have one choice: to look inside and fix some things to come together as a team and push forward. That’s really all we know. So that’s all we’re going to do. We’re going to continue to take steps in the right direction and just continue to try to get better.”

For his part, Locksley remained defiant about the team’s dwindling prospects at reversing course and qualifying for a fourth consecutive bowl game.

“Nobody can be tougher on us than we will be on ourselves, than I will be on myself,” said Locksley, who took over play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Josh Gattis. “That’s just how I’m built. We’re here to build this team to compete to win championships. Nobody ever said that it would be linear. Today, we took a step back, and we’re going to find a way to turn this frustration into something positive and productive this week. It starts with the next game, which we will hopefully use some of this from today as some motivation.”

Entering the game ranked second in the country in turnover margin at plus-11, the Terps turned the ball over four times to a Wildcats team that entered with six takeaways. Redshirt freshman returner Ricardo Cooper Jr., Edwards and redshirt sophomore tight end Preston Howard each fumbled, and Edwards was intercepted midway through the fourth quarter.

The giveaways contradicted what appeared to be Maryland’s advantage on offense, which had 25 first downs to Northwestern’s nine and held the ball for more than 33 minutes. Edwards threw for 296 yards but completed just 28 of 51 attempts and did not finish with a touchdown pass for the first time this season.