Maryland caps eight-win season with Duke’s Mayo Bowl title

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In a fresh change of clothes but maybe with a subtle scent of Duke’s Mayonnaise left after his postgame celebratory dunking — which “had a little different smell than I expected” — Maryland coach Mike Locksley sent a warning shot across the bow of his conference after his Terrapins won their second straight bowl game.

“The last four years we’ve talked about ‘taking the next step, taking the next step.’ Well, the next step for us is to start competing for Big 10 championships,” Locksley said. 

“And there’s some people out there that’ll laugh at us, and they think it’s funny. But you take a Terp for granted, I promise you we’ll make you pay. And I’m excited for what the future looks like.”

Taulia Tagovailoa eclipsed 3,000 passing yards for the second straight season, but it was Maryland’s defensive pressure that stunted North Carolina State and helped the Terrapins hang on for a 16-12 victory in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Friday afternoon.

“That was a classic old school, old ACC Maryland-, N.C. State rivalry game,” Locksley said. “I mean, you think about those games … they’ve always come down to the end. It’s never been easy.”

The win tips the century-plus-old series in the Terrapins’ favor, 34-33-4.

Tagovailoa finished 19 for 37 passing for 221 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. His 18th completion, a 30-yarder to tight end Corey Dyches, put him over the 3,000-yard plateau again. It was the fourth such effort in program history as Tagovailoa ended his season with 3,008 yards.

Dyches, Jeshaun Jones and Tai Felton each had four receptions, stepping up for Rakim Jarrett, Dontay Demus and Jacob Copeland who opted out. Maryland (8-5) becomes a back-to-back bowl champion for the first time since 2002-03 and notches its first eight-win season since 2010’s 9-4 effort. 

Under a mostly cloudy Charlotte sky, the game was a departure from the gaudy scores Maryland has been able to put up this season and in past bowls. But a deliberate, incremental offensive effort, coupled with strong defensive line pressure, held N.C. State (8-5) in check throughout. The Wolfpack finished with less than 300 yards of total offense, with only 27 yards rushing and no touchdowns.

“Holding them to field goals saved the day because we weren’t as clean as we needed to be on offense, and we had some red zone and goal-line opportunities where we were just not clicking on offense,” Locksley said. “And so, you know what? Some games it turns out the way it did today.”

In his final game as a Terrapin, defensive back Jakorian Bennett sealed the win with an interception on N.C. State’s final drive with 2:28 remaining. No one would have blamed him if he chose not to suit up today, with an invite to February’s Senior Bowl and a potential high-round NFL Draft selection on the horizon. But he wouldn’t have missed this game — “a testament to who he is,” said Locksley — for anything.

“It meant a lot for the guys in the locker room,” said Bennett, who was chosen as bowl MVP. “I felt like I kind of owed it to them … like it was a no-brainer. I love football and I get an opportunity to play the game I love, so why wouldn’t I?”

Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren left it a mystery who would be his starting quarterback. Then, before kickoff, word was that MJ Morris, who practiced all week after dealing with an injury in November, would get the nod. But that ended up not being the case, as fellow freshman Ben Finley started and played the entire game. He finished 22 for 48, with 269 yards passing and two interceptions.

Lockley also had some quarterback misdirection of his own. He sent out reserve Billy Edwards Jr. for Maryland’s first drive, had Tagovailoa lead the second, and used both of them on a later drive. Doeren “assumed someone was maybe late to a meeting” upon seeing Edwards start. 

Locksley alluded to that point, saying it was a coach’s decision and “sometimes you’ve got to do things to send a message.” It was Tagovailoa, though, who played the overwhelming bulk of the game and helped set the table for the narrow Terrapin win.

On Maryland’s first drive of the second quarter, the offense put together its most complete effort to that point. Tagovailoa worked the fade to perfection, finding Tai Felton down the right hashmarks for 26 yards on third down to put Maryland at the Wolfpack 26. 

Running back Roman Hemby was a key part of keeping things in rhythm on the drive, gaining 26 total yards on two rushes and a screen pass reception. But it was another fade on third-and-14 from Tagovailoa that brought the Terrapins to life. 

This time, the soft-touch rainbow pass ended up in the left corner of the end zone, brought in with a sensational effort by receiver Octavian Smith Jr., who controlled the ball and remained in bounds. The 19-yard score gave Maryland its first lead, 10-3.

N.C. State had things rolling on its last drive of the first half, with three straight completions of 12, 27 and 22 yards to reach the Maryland 2-yard line with less than a minute to go. Finley threw three incompletions, and the Wolfpack settled for their third field goal. That was the closest they would get to the end zone.

Maryland’s defense held the line in the second half with five of N.C. State’s seven drives ending in punts. Its only points of the half came off of Tagovailoa’s second interception, which set the Wolfpack up on Maryland’s side of the 50 and led to a fourth Christopher Dunn field goal — a bowl record.

Dunn, who won this year’s Lou Groza Award winner for best college kicker, went toe-to-toe — pardon the pun — with Maryland’s Chad Ryland. But Ryland’s kicks of 42, 33, and 45 yards were the difference.

“I know him personally a little bit,” Ryland said of Dunn, “lot of respect for Chris, but at the same time, it was a little internal motivation for me, because I didn’t win the [award] and he did. So I was happy that we got to sort of trade blows there today.”

As for the bowl’s infamous mayo bath: Locksley is now the second coach to receive it after South Carolina’s Shane Beamer last year. Former Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst didn’t partake in the bath during the first year of Duke’s sponsorship of the game in 2020.

Noting “a good coach always has a game plan,” Locksley helped evade the initial cascade of creamy twang courtesy of an oversized ‘Noggin Boss’ hat. He eventually relented, and took off the hat to enjoy the full splendors of the Mayo Bowl victory.

“To be able to have that done because you won —  as I told our team, sometimes you’ve got to sacrifice yourself for the good of the team and that’s what it was all about,” Locksley said.