Entering halftime up 17-7, Maryland looked to blow the game open early in the second half.
Roman Hemby took care of it to start the third quarter.
On the second play of the half, the redshirt freshman took a handoff and flew past the Buffalo defense. Hemby coasted untouched on his way to a 70-yard touchdown, putting the Terps up by 17, and the Bulls in the rearview mirror.
Maryland football took on Buffalo at home in its 2022 season opener. The Terps gained an early lead and coasted the rest of the way, downing the Bulls 31-10.
“Always great to get the first victory, especially here [at] home in the Shell in front of our fans,” head coach Mike Locksley said. “Pleased with the way we were able to to some things today … but obviously game one leaves a lot of things we still got to get corrected.”
The Terps’ defense hit the field first and showed no signs of rust, as they forced a quick three-and-out to set up the Maryland offense for its first drive of the season.
A shovel pass to junior Rakim Jarrett went for 25 yards on the offense’s first play, and a completion from redshirt junior Taulia Tagovailoa to Jeshaun Jones for 14 yards on the next play put Maryland only a few yards shy of the 50 in less than a minute.
The redshirt senior showed no limitations on his first touch since suffering a season-ending injury against Ohio State last year.
A few plays later, Hemby took his first carry of the season 33 yards to the house, putting the Terps on the board first.
Hemby took the ball from Tagovailoa and burst down the Buffalo sideline, broke a tackle near the 20, and coasted into the endzone for the first score of the season for the Terps.
Chad Ryland, the senior Eastern Michigan transfer, converted on the point-after-attempt to put Maryland on top 7-0 less than three minutes into the game.
Following the Maryland touchdown, Buffalo responded with an 11-play drive that stalled out as senior Alex McNulty missed a 49-yard field goal wide right.
Down 7-0 entering the second quarter, another Buffalo three-and-out sent the ball back to Maryland. Jackson Baltar’s punt was returned by Tarheeb Still to the Buffalo 31 yard line, giving the Terps offense a short field to work with.
After a Tagovailoa completion to Jarrett for eight yards, Antwain Littleton II powered through multiple Buffalo defenders for a 21-yard carry down to the two-yard line. The redshirt freshman took the handoff on the next play and sent it up the middle for six, putting Maryland ahead by two scores.
Ryland’s successful extra point gave the Terps a 14-0 lead with 12:14 left in the second quarter.
On Buffalo’s next drive, the Bulls drove the ball down to the Maryland 25 but were left with a fourth and seven.
McNulty missed the 44-yard try, but offsides was called on the Terps. Now with just two yards needed on fourth down, the Bulls elected to go for it.
Maryland’s defense was ready.
Cole Snyder’s shovel pass to Ron Cook went for just a yard, resulting in a turnover on downs for Buffalo.
Maryland responded with a six-play, 54-yard drive that ended in a successful 45-yard field goal from the right leg of Ryland, his first as a Terp.
Buffalo’s offense finally broke through against the stout Maryland defense, joining the Terps on the scoreboard with 3:03 left in the first half.
A nine-play, 75-yard drive was capped off with a 19-yard scamper into the endzone by Al-Jay Henderson, cutting the Bulls’ deficit down to 10, 17-7.
Tagovailoa spread the wealth to his playmakers in the first half, as his 16 completions went to eight different receivers. Jones led the Terps in both catches (4) and yards (70).
“Jeshaun, I call him the human joystick,” Dontay Demus Jr. said. “Six is a great competitor.”
Starting the second half on offense, Maryland needed just two plays for its third touchdown of the day, all on the ground. After a five-yard rush to open the third quarter by Hemby, the redshirt freshman turned on the jets on his sixth carry of the day.
Hemby took the handoff from Tagovailoa up the middle and thanks to great blocking from his offensive line, simply outran the Buffalo defense, sprinting to the endzone for a 70-yard touchdown.
Hemby’s score gave the Terps a 24-7 lead. The run was the longest by a Terp since 2019, when Anthony McFarland took one 80 yards to the house against Rutgers.
“As a running back group, we’re close knit and we know that not many people trust us, not many people look at us as the long-run hitting guys on the outside,” Hemby said. “Every time I go out there I have the mindset to prove myself right and try to make the play that can change the game.”
Two drives later, Tagovailoa overthrew redshirt sophomore Corey Dyches on a pass over the middle of the field that found the waiting arms of Buffalo safety Marcus Fuqua. The interception was Tagovailoa’s first turnover of the season.
The rest of the third quarter was an offensive struggle consisting of four punts to go with Tagovailoa’s interception.
Less than two minutes into the fourth, Maryland found the end zone for the fourth time.
A 35-yard completion to Jarrett set up first and goal from the nine for the Terps, when Tagovailoa found Dyches on the left side near the pylon. Dyches stepped out at the one, setting up a Littleton one-yard score to extend the Terps’ lead to 24, 31-7.
With 6:07 left in the fourth, Buffalo scored points for the first time in the second half. McNulty connected on a 34-yard goal, but the Bulls still trailed 31-10.
“As a whole defense, I think we showed that if we bend we’re not going to break and if we communicate, be disciplined, and tackle well, then we’ll be good,” Jakorian Bennett said.
Neither team scored over the final six minutes, and the Terps defeated the Bulls 31-10 to move to 1-0 on the season.
