COLLEGE PARK — Maryland has heard all season about how it had gotten off to a slow start in games, including back-to-back weeks earlier this month going down by two touchdowns in the first quarter.
Consider what happened Saturday then the equivalent of a burnout down the front stretch at the Indianapolis 500.
Maryland three scored touchdowns on three of its first four drives, Taulia Tagovailoa set a career high with five touchdown passes — three of them to Tai Felton — and the Terrapins stepped on the gas early and sped away from Indiana 44-17.
“I thought today was probably the most complete game that we played in all three phases. Started fast, finished strong, played to our standard. And usually if you play to your standard, you usually end up with the win,” Maryland coach Mike Locksley said.
Tagovailoa accounted for all six Terrapins touchdowns, including a 19 yard rushing score in the first quarter. His 24-of-34, 352-yard performance also pushed him north of 9,000 yards passing for his Maryland career. It’s the first time a Terrapin has thrown for five scores since Scott Milanovich — who Tagovailoa has often surpassed in program annals — did so in 1994.
“I think a lot had to do with the coaches in their preparation and getting us right, trying to play quick. And I think it was an awesome job of everyone on offense and defense and special teams just doing their job and taking one play at a time and executing at a high level,” Tagovailoa said.
PHOTOS: The Maryland Terrapins run away with conference game against the Hoosiers 44-17
Felton went off for a career day. The receiver torched the Hoosiers for 134 yards on seven catches and Maryland’s first two touchdowns of the game, adding another on the penultimate drive of the first half. Hitting the century mark in yards was a first, and the trio of TDs were a career high for the Ashburn, Virginia, native, marking the first time a Terrapins receiver had done so since Torrey Smith in 2010.
“The irony of a guy like Tai is I think as coaches we think more highly of Tai than of sometimes I think that he does himself. He’s a talented player,” Locksley said. “All those guys are talented enough to have that type of game, and I’m glad that Tai was able to do it because I think this will really do wonders for the confidence he needs to play with … I’m hoping today kind of jumpstarts him to where that becomes the standard for him and how he can play for us.”
“I’ve always believed in myself. I had a couple of mistakes earlier in the season, a couple of drops and stuff. The coaches and players and my teammates really believe in me and keep pushing me, keep encouraging me. That really helps,” Felton said. “So that’s a blessing to have them there, just having those guys on my back and keep pushing me, that really helps.”
The Terrapins (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) are 5-0 for the first time since 2001, when Maryland won the ACC and reached the Orange Bowl. After Locksley preached all week about playing to a “standard,” Maryland’s offensive expeditiousness on its touchdown drives reached a championship-worthy level yet unseen this season.
“You know what, they pull for each other. They’ve got a tremendous brotherhood that’s been created where they don’t want to let each other down. It ain’t even about letting us down as coaches. It’s about that brotherhood,” Locksley said.
The first play of the game was a shot across the bow of what was to come for Indiana. Tagovailoa rainbowed a ball left to a wide-open Jeshaun Jones, who raced down the sideline for a 62-yard gain. Two plays later, Felton took a screen pass around the right side 13 yards for his first score.
“It was just me kind of trusting myself and trusting the process and kind of trusting that my training I had this week over practice and watching film,” Felton said.
Maryland’s initial scoring drive took a mere 25 seconds. The second one only took five.
After a bad punt on Indiana’s second drive was made worse by a fair catch interference call on the Hoosiers, Tagovailoa found Felton again. The wide-open, 29-yard pitch-and-catch down the middle of the field put Maryland up 14-0 and left no doubt about how the rest of the afternoon would go.
“Coach [Josh] Gattis and Coach Locks challenged us this week: This is going to be the hardest week, and from this point on it’s always going to be a hard week in practice,” Tagovailoa said. “Just trying to focus on our jobs and the little details and not scoreboard watching and really just trying to dominate the football game.”
The Terrapins’ first four scoring drives all took less than a minute — combined, they only elapsed 76 seconds. Maryland would add two second half touchdowns, with Tagovailoa finding freshman tight end Dylan Wade and receiver Kaden Prather for 3 and 14 yard scores, respectively.
“We know that we’re capable of doing this. When we play tough games, very few times will it be because of our opponent. It’ll be all about what we do or don’t do,” Locksley said.
The Hoosiers (2-3, 0-2) struggled to gain traction and yards against Maryland’s defense. Indiana started to put something together with a pair of 10-plus play drives in the second quarter, but both ended on failed fourth-down conversions. Other IU attempts to jump start the group - like a failed fake punt from its own 24 yard line - didn’t work either.
“These kids believe in what we’re doing. They’re all bought in. And you know what? Gotta give them credit,” Locksley said.
With their business in the season’s first month of the season taken care of, the Terrapins will have their first chance to measure up against the Big Ten’s elite next Saturday at Ohio State.
“This was a great opportunity to create some momentum and have confidence going into a tough place to play against a really talented team. But you know what? I think this team is just young and dumb enough to show up and play like they’re capable of playing, and we’ll see what happens,” Locksley said.
“Coach always talked about and harped about this whole week … winning the football game and playing to the standard. And I think if we continue to do that, you know, we’ll continue to make history,” Tagovailoa said.
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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