Maryland football suffers 29-13 Senior Day loss to Iowa

Photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics

Following a Maryland touchdown, Iowa regained possession up just six and still looking for its first touchdown of the second half. Kamari Moulton took a handoff as the o-line opened a major hole. After Moulton made it past the line, there was no one else back to stop him. The running back took it 68 yards, putting the Hawkeyes up two scores and silencing the Maryland crowd.

The Terps had no answer for Iowa’s (7-4, 5-3 Big Ten) run game as the duo of Moulton and Kaleb Johnson each ran for over 100 yards.

On senior day, Maryland football (4-7, 1-7) suffered a 29-13 loss to Iowa, officially putting the Terps out of bowl contention.

“It’s tough now, but we’ll learn and be able to grow from some of the painful things we’ve had to go through,” head coach Mike Locksley said.

Johnson, the Big Ten leader in rushing yards and touchdowns displayed his dominance against Maryland, rushing for 164 yards – his most since Oct. 12 against Washington.

However, Tai Felton’s two touchdowns kept the game within reach. The Terps finally found the end zone midway through the third quarter following a head injury to Billy Edwards Jr. MJ Morris rolled out to his left to avoid pressure and found Felton wide open in the back corner of the endzone.

Morris connected with Felton again in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. After his first read wasn’t open, Morris looked to his right and found an open Felton again. This touchdown marked Felton’s ninth touchdown of the season.

“At the end of the day, we didn’t do our part in the first half,” Felton said, “It’s just so many things that I wish could have went the other way that didn’t.”

Despite this, the Terps ended the day with a season low 129 passing yards.

Iowa outgained the Terps 124 yards to eight in the first quarter but held just a 3-0 lead due to a red zone fumble on its first drive.

The first touchdown of the afternoon came on a two yard Johnson run midway through the second quarter. The run also put the running back at 101 rushing yards and 5.6 yards per carry in three Iowa drives.

Up to this point, Maryland has just 16 total net yards with six minutes left in the half. In need of a change, MJ Morris came in for Billy Edwards Jr. who was wearing a glove on his throwing hand due to injury.

However, the offense still struggled to move the ball and entered halftime down 13-0.

Against Rutgers, the Terps got the running game going early and finished with 122 yards and 4.9 yards per carry – a major upgrade from their 75.5 yards per game and 2.7 yards per carry season average.

But despite the surmountable deficit and passing game troubles, the Terps barely ran the ball to begin the game against Iowa. At the half, Maryland ran the ball just seven times and found no success, averaging 1.9 yards per carry.

“When you talk about the run game, it takes just one breakdown and now it looks like it’s not working,” Locksley said, “We had a few of those one man breakdowns that didn’t allow us to get into our rhythm on the offensive side to help our defense.”

Edwards came back in to start the second half but it was more of the same as Maryland went three and out on its first drive.

Iowa’s offense also struggled at times but thanks to great field position (three drives started at the Iowa 49 or closer), it relied on field goals. Kicker Drew Stevens hit five field goals including two from 50+ yards (54 and 50).

Two late Morris interceptions following the Moulton touchdown, ended any hopes of a Maryland comeback.

The Terps are officially eliminated from making their fourth straight bowl game but have one more game to play – next Saturday at No. 4 Penn State (9-1, 6-1).

“Pride. That’s one of our pillar words,” Felton said, “I definitely will be out there and we’ll definitely have some juice and some motivation after this one.”