Feature photo courtesy of umterps.com.
BALTIMORE, MD – Under the lights of M&T Bank Stadium in front of nearly 70,000 fans, the scoreboard showed one minute and 21 seconds remaining in the game. The Maryland Terrapins had one final chance.
Quarterback Perry Hills and the offense trotted out onto the field, but Hills’ mistake was a dagger in the Terps’ hope of a win. On the next play, he threw an interception.
“I just threw a bad ball,” Hills said.
Hills dropped back to pass and threw his third interception as safety Malik Golden came up with the grab. The pass sealed Penn State Nittany Lion’s 31-30 win and dropped the Terps to 2-5 on the season.
In Mike Locksley’s first game as head coach, the Terps provided their highest offensive output in over a month but committed five costly turnovers.
Hills led the Terps statistically. He completed 19 of 28 attempts for 225 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. On the ground, he rushed for 156 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries. He also registered four of the team’s five turnovers.
“He made some plays in the passing game then he made some plays with his feet,” Locksley said. “Where he can improve starts with decision making in the passing game.”
Between the second and third quarter, Maryland endured a 14 minute and 50 second stretch without completing a pass. The stretch included 20 plays, 15 of which were rushes.
One of those runs was a 10-yard score for running back Brandon Ross that gave the Terps a 20-17 lead.
The teams traded touchdowns before the Nittany Lions took the final lead early in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Christian Hackenberg connected with wide receiver Geno Lewis for a 27-yard touchdown on the right side of the end zone.
Hackenberg finished the game 13 of 29 for 315 yards, averaging 24.23 yards per completion. He tossed three touchdowns and no interceptions.
“What he did was he threw balls and put balls in positions to where our guys had chances to make plays,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said. “We had another one at the end of the game.”
Though the offenses provided excitement as the game progressed, it was quiet early on.
The Nittany Lions broke the game open just over nine minutes in as running back Saquan Barkley rushed the ball into the end zone from six yards out for a touchdown, giving Penn State a 7-0 advantage.
It didn’t take the Terps long to come up with a response as they scored on the next drive. Hills rushed for seven yards and then found wide receiver Malcolm Culmer for a 48-yard gain before capping off the drive with a quick 12-yard touchdown run.
Two Craddock field goals gave the Terps a 13-7 advantage in the second quarter, but Penn State would score ten unanswered points and take a 17-13 lead into the half.
Despite the halftime lead and 30 points on the scoreboard, the Terps fell short in Locksley’s debut.
“We just have to build off of this and take it to heart. We never want to feel this again,” Hills said. “We just have to prepare as hard as we can prepare, and do things we need to do so that we never feel like this again.”
The Terps have now experienced defeat in five of seven games this season. But today was the first loss without Randy Edsall pulling the strings on the sideline.
“I really wanted to get a win,” running back Brandon Ross said. “The team feels like it’s on our shoulders why Coach Edsall got fired. We knew we had to play better on both sides of the ball.”
The coaching change has forced players to adjust over the past two weeks.
Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue said that although leadership has changed, the team’s level of energy has not.
“It’s the same energy,” Ngakoue said. “At the end of the day, adversity hit and we just came together, even closer. That’s all that happened.”
But Ross saw a boost on the field today.
“I saw a different team today,” Ross said. “There was a lot more energy and focus. Everybody noticed it. I think we just need to keep that up these last five games and see what happens.”
Next week, the Terps, who are 0-3 in Big Ten play, will travel to Iowa to take on the no. 12 undefeated Iowa Hawkeyes.
Moving forward, cutting down on turnovers will be a point of emphasis.
“The things we gotta get corrected are the turnovers,” Locksley said. “The mark of a good team is a team that doesn’t beat itself.”
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