Following a disheartening 43-30 defeat to No. 2 Ohio State its last time out, Maryland football looks for its first win in November in its regular season finale at home against Rutgers.
The loss was the Terps’ third in a row, which dropped their record to 6-5. All five losses have come against Big Ten opponents.
“One of the things that comes along with building a championship mindset is consistency,” coach Mike Locksley said. “We’ve shown some consistency in how we’ve played the Michigans and Ohio States of the world. The inconsistencies is the thing that really bothers me … for us to take the next step that is what it will be about.”
The Terps led at halftime against the Buckeyes, 13-10, as their defense stood strong through the first 30 minutes.
Maryland’s defense has been much more of a second half unit this season, so the first half came as a welcomed surprise against a potent Buckeyes offense. A big reason for its defensive success was because of Maryland’s ability to possess the ball in the half. The Terps held a time of possession advantage of over six minutes at halftime.
However, things changed in the second half.
The first drive after halftime for the Terps ended in a blocked punt, as Maryland allowed an Ohio State rusher to block Colton Spangler’s kick untouched. Ohio State’s offense started its drive at the Maryland 14 as a result, and scored in just two plays as the Buckeyes went ahead 17-13.
The blocked punt was a complete momentum changer, as it was the start of a 17-0 third quarter from the Buckeyes. Ohio State’s offense found its mojo, while Maryland’s offense struggled.
Taulia Tagovailoa and crew quickly put the dud of a quarter behind them, as they notched their best quarter in the game in terms of both points and yards. Still, it wasn’t enough to down the Buckeyes, as a late strip-sack touchdown from Ohio State sealed the win.
Despite the loss, the performance from Tagovailoa was arguably his best of the season.
In the first half of the year, Tagovailoa looked like one of the top quarterbacks in the Big Ten. Against non-conference opponents, the redshirt junior notched seven total touchdowns with just two interceptions. Maryland’s offensive line protected Tagovailoa well, giving him time in the pocket to survey the field and find an open receiver.
The first four conference games saw similar success for Tagovailoa, as he registered nine total touchdowns with three interceptions.
Tagovailoa re-aggravated a leg injury against Indiana, which forced him to miss the Northwestern game. After the bye, Maryland’s signal caller looked like a completely different quarterback.
In crucial road games against Wisconsin and then-No. 14 Penn State, Tagovailoa put up back-to-back dud performances as he did not look comfortable at all in the pocket. His offensive line struggled, and as a result, he constantly flustered in the pocket and was sacked an unreal 12 teams in the two games.
So against an Ohio State defense that allows the fifth-fewest passing yards and has registered the second-most sacks in the Big Ten, the storyline was painted of yet another poor Tagovailoa performance.
Instead, he put on a show in front of the home fans at SECU Stadium. Tagovailoa finished 26 of 33 for 293 passing yards and three total touchdowns, and put some life into the Maryland offense entering the final weekend of the regular season.
“As an offense, we did our job,” Tagovailoa said. “Went back to the basics, played fast. We made everything more simple for ourselves, executed the plays we know really well. We kept playing fast and everyone did their job.”
Tagovailoa will look for continued success against a Rutgers defense that ranks in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten in opponent passing yards and passing touchdowns.
“If we execute, if everyone does their job on the offense, we can move the ball down the field,” Tagovailoa said. “It’s not really what the defense does, it’s more so focusing on our job and the things we need to do.”
The Scarlet Knights enter on a skid, losers of four straight and seven of their eight conference games this season. As a result, Rutgers sits in last in the conference, and enters 4-7 overall on the season.
Last time out against Penn State, Rutgers held a 10-7 lead midway through the first quarter, but then the Nittany Lions stomped all over the Scarlet Knights. Penn State finished with an absurd 48 unanswered points, dominating Rutgers, 55-10.
Sophomore quarterback Gavin Wimsett significantly struggled against the NIttany Lions, as he finished just 10-29 for 122 yards with one touchdown and one interceptions, and registered a QBR of just 13.8.
As poor of a performance as that was, Wimsett still played better against Penn State than Tagovailoa did, so the Terps’ pass defense — which allows the third-most yards per game in the Big Ten — shouldn’t take Wimsett lightly, especially since in the prior game against Michigan State, he completed 20 of 34 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns.
Still, Rutgers’ offense has significantly struggled since the start of conference play, as they’ve thrown the third-fewest passing yards, have recorded the fourth-fewest rushing yards, and have scored the second-fewest points in the Big Ten.
As a result, Maryland’s defense — which allowed 30 and 43 points in the Terps’ last two games — should be in for a solid performance to close out the regular season.
“We’ve just got to lock in on our assignment, the game plan the coaches put together, and then make sure we watch film,” defensive back Tarheeb Still said.
The game on Saturday will start at 12 p.m. and will take place at SECU Stadium in College Park.
