- The Washington Times - Saturday, October 7, 2023

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Maryland struck first and held serve with Ohio State for the bulk of their matchup with the Buckeyes Saturday afternoon, including a 10-point lead in the first half.

But once the best college wideout in America got going, there was no stopping him.

Marvin Harrison Jr. hauled in eight catches for 163 yards and a touchdown, and No. 4 Ohio State scored 27-unanswered points on five-consecutive second half drives to pull away from Maryland, 37-17.

“None of us are [happy] and it’s not one guy. It’s all of us, including me,” Maryland coach Mike Locksley said. “There’s a lot of football left to be played. I thought our team understands how to prepare for games like this. And now we’ve just got to go find a way to win them.”

The unanimous All-American tallied his third 100 yard receiving game of the season and third-highest receiving total of his career, frustrating a Maryland secondary that struggled to contain his speed and ability to get open - a secondary that was without cornerback Tarheeb Still, who warmed up and dressed but did not play.

“There’s a lot of communication errors out there. And I think that was probably the biggest thing, there was a lot of big plays that happened off of those communication errors,” safety Beau Brade said.

Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord threw for 320 yards on 19-of-29 passing and two touchdowns, and running back Chip Trayanum led the Buckeyes with 61 rushing yards on 20 carries in lieu of TreVeyon Henderson, who didn’t play due to injury.

Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa finished 21-of-41 with 196 yards passing, a touchdown through the air and on the ground and two interceptions. Though one of the interceptions was returned for a touchdown, they weren’t necessarily back-breaking. Rather, they slowed a Maryland offense that, specifically in the second half, lost its ability to make game-breaking plays.

“As we talk about with our squad, our winning formula is being able to generate explosives, take care of the football on defense, limit the explosives, and get turnovers, and we didn’t do either very well today,” Locksley said.

The loss is Maryland’s first of the season, dropping them to 0-9 all time against Ohio State, and first since Nov. 19, 2022 - also against the Buckeyes.

Maryland (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) got the quick start it needed to take momentum early. The Terrapins defense held the Buckeyes to a three-and-out in the game’s first drive, and a botched snap on the punt gave Maryland prime field position at the OSU 30.

Tagovailoa made short work of the short field, using strong pocket protection to find Kaden Prather — who made a sensational, one-handed catch at the back of the end zone four plays later — for a 15-yard touchdown and the early 7-0 lead. The Terrapins’ opening salvo would subdue the 104,000-plus homecoming crowd, and the Maryland defense would extend that calm for most of the first half. 

The Terrapins’ defense would force four straight Ohio State punts, with three of those drives going three-and-out. Two of them ended courtesy of Maryland sacks from linebacker Kellan Wyatt and lineman Donnell Brown. It marked the first time Ohio State hadn’t scored on any of its first five offensive drives since being shutout by Clemson in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl.

Maryland would add a Jack Howes field goal to go up 10-0 before momentum swung to the Buckeyes in a big way early in the second quarter. In the shadow of his own zone, Tagovailoa tried to force a ball into the hands of Tyrese Chambers at the Maryland 24 — he would say afterwards that he put it on the receiver’s wrong shoulder — and OSU safety Josh Proctor jumped the route and took the ball in for the Buckeyes’ only touchdown of the first half.

Two Ohio State drives later, Harrison got going. The son of the Pro Football Hall of Famer ate up 77 yards on back-to-back pass plays to get the Buckeyes deep into Maryland territory. 

But Maryland’s defense would batten down three plays later, hurrying McCord and causing an intentional grounding penalty. An ensuing Jayden Fielding 36-yard field goal would tie the game at 10.

Maryland would have one more chance to score in the half with 92 seconds remaining, but for the second-straight week, the Terrapins made a mistake that would let time expire before trying a field goal.

Tagovailoa led the Terrapins to the Ohio State 18 but with no time outs threw the ball in the middle of the field to running back Antwain Littleton, who was six-yards short of the first down and unable to stop the clock. Locksley called the sequence “almost deja vu.” 

“We wanted to take a shot in the end zone. We had 12 seconds on the clock. You take a shot. If it’s not there, you kick the field goal. What you don’t want to do is check it down in that situation, which we did, and we prevented ourselves from again taking points before the half,” Locksley said. 

“That’s just bad situational football,” Tagovailoa said, and “I gotta be better.”

In addition to its opening touchdown drive, Maryland would get inside the Ohio State 30 on three other opportunities in the first half, but could only generate three points from those chances.

“Those are opportunities that we’ve got to come through on. Our defense is, playing lights out and we’ve got to play complimentary football like we’ve been doing the previous games,” Tagovailoa said.

The Terrapins regrouped after the break and came out clicking. Roman Hemby opened the first drive with a 17-yard run, his longest of the game on a day when he was held to only 35 yards on eight carries and Maryland rushers were held to 106 in total.

“There wasn’t a scheme issue. Our inability to run the ball wasn’t numerical because of the numbers they have or they schemed us. It was a matter of our players making plays up front. We were able to generate a couple of explosives but not enough today.”

Completions to Tai Felton (12 yards) and Jeshaun Jones (23 yards) would push the Terrapins into the red zone. Two plays later, Tagovailoa called his own number as his protection broke down, rushing in from 9 yards out for the Maryland touchdown and a 17-10 lead.

That’s the last time the Terrapins would alter the scoreboard. Still dressed in his uniform after the game, Tagovailoa, perhaps unfairly, placed much of the blame for the lack of offensive output in the second half on his shoulders.

“I think I gotta give [the receivers] a chance more, you know, especially those one-on-one plays, 50-50 balls, just give them a chance. I know our guys are gonna make a play on it. We didn’t do that in the second half,” Tagovailoa said.

Coverage breakdowns for Maryland contributed greatly to Ohio State’s three touchdown drives in the second half. On the third play of the first OSU drive of the half, McCord found a wide-open Julian Fleming sliding down at the Maryland 4, with Trayanum rushing in on the next play to tie the game at 17.

Maryland’s next drive would prove to be an inflection point. Facing third down and 10 at their own 43, Tagovailoa was flushed left and tried to force a ball over the head of OSU safety Lathan Ransom near midfield. Ransom high-pointed and snagged a second pick of Tagovailoa, returning it to the Maryland 38. 

“[Taulia] is a veteran player. He’s played a lot of football for us. We’ll win and lose with him. And I’ll take my chances with him, because he’s a competitor,” Locksley said. “I’d liked to have saw him play a little better today. We’ll look at the tape, get him corrected and get back home.”

The Buckeyes (5-0, 2-0) would turn that drive into a field goal and their first lead at 20-17. Couple that with a Maryland defense that kept the Terrapins close for most of the game but began to crack late in the second half, and Ohio State seized the advantage.

To open the fourth quarter, Maryland looked to be on the way to forcing an Ohio State punt, with a botched pass play and delay of game penalty creating a second-and-33 at the OSU 34.

Harrison erased that deficit in one play, a 37-yard over-the-shoulder catch into Maryland territory. Not even a sideline infraction on the play that pushed the Buckeyes back to the Maryland 44 could help, as McCord immediately found wide-open tight end Cade Stover for a touchdown and a 10-point lead.

Maryland would fail on a fourth down conversion attempt on its next drive, and the final Ohio State touchdown — McCord to Harrison for 17 yards — was the dagger in the Terrapins’ first loss of the season.

“We talked all week about getting the game into the fourth quarter and then seeing where we where we fit. We were able to do that, and I just didn’t like the way we finished.”

• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.

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