Maryland football’s bowl hopes dwindle with 31-17 loss to Rutgers

Photo courtesy of University of Maryland Athletics

On the opening play of the fourth quarter, Maryland blitzed Athan Kaliakmanis who threw to a streaking Dymere Miller who out-ran his defender, Glendon Miller. Kaliakmanis hit his receiver in stride for a 32-yard touchdown, giving Rutgers (6-4, 3-4 Big Ten) its largest lead and one it would not give up.

From the second quarter on, the Scarlet Knights were unstoppable, scoring on five straight drives including four touchdowns (excluding a kneel-down to end the half). The win marked Rutgers’ sixth, securing its second straight bowl game and third in four years.

Maryland football (4-6, 1-6) suffered a 31-17 loss to Rutgers at SECU Stadium on Saturday – the Terps’ third straight loss.

Now, the Terps must win out to become bowl-eligible.

“We couldn’t get off the field. It’s been an issue the last few weeks. We’re able to get rolling early with the emphasis of ‘Hey, let’s try to create some balance and run the ball offensively. We were able to move the ball but just could not finish drives,” head coach Mike Locksley said. “But like I told our team, we got to find a way to turn the page on this one pretty quickly.”

The last time Rutgers came to College Park Maryland grabbed a 37-0 win behind Roman Hemby’s 70 yards and three touchdowns. This time around the defense struggled but Hemby still carried the load offensively with 87 rushing yards, 59 receiving and a touchdown.

Running the ball has been a weakness for Maryland as of late. In its previous four games, it averaged 75.5 yards per game and 2.7 yards per carry. The offense broke that spell against Rutgers with 122 yards and 4.9 yards per carry.

“It would feel a lot better if we won,” Hemby said, “It feels good to do my part, if at all possible, but we want to win and that’s the main goal. That’s all I really care about.” 

However, the Terps had to abandon the run while playing from behind in the second half – relying on their passing which was inconsistent. Billy Edwards Jr. completed 58% of his passes for 335 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Maryland possessed the ball for over 10 minutes in the first quarter but had just a three-point lead heading into the second. Edwards had an open Tai Felton for what would have been a walk-in touchdown but Edwards overthrew Felton.

Felton still made his mark in the first with a 17-yard catch on fourth and two. The reception marked his 81st of the season, breaking the program’s single-season receptions record set by D.J. Moore in 2017.

After punting twice in the first, Rutgers found its offense in the second quarter. Kaliakmanis led a 17-play touchdown drive that lasted over eight minutes. Ian Strong caught a pass on a slant over the middle to complete the drive, putting the Scarlet Knights up 7-3.

This was the first of two touchdowns for the senior quarterback who threw 20-for-30 with 238 yards passing and 26 rushing.

The Terps quickly answered on another record-breaking catch by Felton. After the offense got the ball down to the 12, Felton ran a fade to the back left of the end zone, stopped, turned his body and caught the pass. The touchdown put him over 1,000 yards on the season, the first Terp to do this since Moore in 2017.

“We all know that individual awards are good when you’re successful as a team and I’m sure [Felton] would be the first to tell you,” Locksley said. “Obviously, he’s a good player for us, he’s made some plays for us. But for us to sit here with four wins… I’m sure he’d give up some of those yardages and those catches for a few more wins.”

Rutgers grabbed another touchdown before the half, this time from Kyle Monangai. In his return from injury, the running back ran for 97 yards and two touchdowns, putting over 1,000 yards on the season.

A Rutgers 46-yard field goal following Edwards’ interception closed the door on a Maryland comeback.

The Terps face Iowa (6-4, 4-3) at home next Saturday at noon, needing a win to keep their bowl hopes alive.