With just under 10 minutes to go in the game, Taulia Tagovailoa searched the field as he looked for Maryland’s fourth touchdown of the day.
The redshirt junior found Jeshaun Jones open up the seam in front of the end zone, and Jones caught the pass in stride and ran in for a 27-yard touchdown.
The score gave Tagovailoa 50 passing touchdowns in his career, a new Maryland program. Additionally, the score continued Jones’ career day, as the redshirt senior finished with 9 catches and 152 yards on senior day, both career highs.
“It meant a lot, and I know how much it means to him,” Jones said. “He doesn’t really care about the stats, but he deserved that.”
In a record-breaking day for Maryland football’s quarterback, the Terps’ play in all three phases excelled from the very start of the game. The Terps dominated Rutgers, 37-0, to cap off the regular season with momentum entering the bowl game.
“Proud of this team, really proud of the way they finished,” coach Mike Locklsey said. “Every part of our program is designed to finish the right way, and I thought we did that today, playing probably our most complete game all season.”
On Maryland’s opening drive, a five-yard completion to senior wideout Dontay Demus gave him 2,000 career receiving yards, the seventh Terp in program history to reach that feat.
Just two plays later, the Terps faced a third-and-six in Rutgers territory.
Tagovailoa found CJ Dippre open in the middle of the field at the Rutgers 30. The sophomore tight end caught the pass and turned upfield, but a Rutgers defender punched the ball out of his hands. The Scarlet Knights pounced on the ball at their 21, resulting in a turnover just five minutes in.
Maryland’s defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing drive as the Scarlet Knights couldn’t capitalize.
Once again in the first quarter, the Terps fumbled in Rutgers territory when redshirt freshman running back Antwain Littleton coughed up the ball while being brought to the ground. The Scarlet Knights recovered at their 29.
On fourth-and-one at the Maryland 46, a loss of three gave the ball right back to the Terps.
After a scoreless first quarter, redshirt freshman running backRoman Hemby scored from one-yard out just five seconds into the second to put the Terps ahead 7-0. Hemby’s touchdown capped off an eight-play, 51-yard drive.
Hemby notched his second one-yard score of the day with just under four minutes left in the second quarter, giving the Terps a two-touchdown lead.
Redshirt senior Jeshaun Jones feasted on the touchdown drive. The wideout corralled three passes for 57 yards, increasing his first half total to five for 80.
On Maryland’s final drive of the first half, Tagovailoa rushed for a first down five plays in but remained down on the ground, holding his right knee — the same knee he sprained his MCL in earlier this season. Tagovailoa limped off the field after being looked at by Maryland’s medical staff.
Redshirt junior Eric Najarian took over at quarterback, and fired a 15-yard completion to sophomore Tai Felton on his first pass of the day. Najarian drove the Terps into the red zone, but the drive stalled out as senior Chad Ryland connected on a 33-yard field goal.
At halftime, Maryland led 17-0.
The Terps’ defense excelled in the first 30 minutes, as they held Rutgers to 59 total yards of offense, two first downs, and did not commit a single penalty.
Tagovailoa returned to start the second half, and led a seven-play, 75-yard drive to open the half.
“It was an easy decision for me, just because we’re playing this game for the seniors and trying to end them out the right way,” Tagovailoa said. “The things that they did throughout the years they’ve been here … it’s only right for everyone on our team to give it they’re all for the seniors.”
Hemby capped it off with an eight-yard touchdown run — giving him a hat trick — to extend Maryland’s lead to 24.
“I feel like we left it all on the field, we were clicking,” Hemby said. “It wasn’t like we were one-dimensional, we had a lot of things going today.”
Ryland nailed a 46-yarder through the uprights five minutes later, as Maryland’s lead grew to 27-0.
With six seconds left in the third quarter, Ryland made his third field goal of the day with a 33-yarder.
Tagovailoa connected with Jones for a 27-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, as Maryland’s lead grew even further, 37-0.
Najarian returned as quarterback on Maryland’s next drive, as Tagovailoa’s day was officially over. Tagovailoa finished 25-37 for 342 yards and the one touchdown, as he played phenomenal to close out the regular season.
The score remained 37-0 until the end, and Maryland finished the regular season with a winning record for the first time since 2014.
Finishing out the regular season 7-5, the shutout victory — their first Big Ten shutout since joining the conference in 2014 — was the first win in over a month for the Terps. During that losing stretch, a 6-2 start felt like a distant memory. Now, Maryland heads to a bowl game for the second year in a row, adding another dominant win to the ledger.
The Terps will be off for a bit before their bowl game, which will be announced at a later date.
“We’ll use these extra practices that a bowl affords us to get back to doing the basic things, the ‘simple things’ better fundamentally,” Locksley said. “This is the end of our season. The next game is the start of our next season so it’s gonna be really important that we put the work in and get off to a fast start with our bowl game.”
