COLLEGE PARK — Tai Felton continued his dominant start to the season by recording his fourth-straight 100-yard receiving game as Maryland beat Villanova, 38-20, on Saturday afternoon.
“It is honestly a blessing that I’m playing at this level,” Felton said, “but it’s a testament to all the hard work I’ve been putting in.”
Felton, the Big Ten’s leading receiver, racked up 157 yards on 14 receptions, the most catches by a Maryland receiver in a game in 14 years. The Ashburn native’s 41 receptions this season are the most through four games in program history, and his string of 100-yard games ties a school record dating to 1994.
“I do it for the team. These guys inspire me to be great every day,” Felton said. “So I’m doing whatever it takes for the team to win. So that’s — if I have zero catches or 15 catches — whatever it takes to get a win.
“It’s definitely a blessing,” he said. “Success isn’t an accident. So it’s all the hard work I’ve been putting in every day.”
Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. was efficient again, throwing for 328 yards with two touchdowns and an interception on 28-of-32 passing. His 87.5% completion percentage set a new single-game Maryland mark.
“I just try to stay on schedule, stay efficient as an offense,” Edwards said. “Because regardless of how we play statistically, it’s going to give us the best chance to be successful in the long run.”
Maryland finishes the nonconference schedule 3-0 and has its their last 15 games outside of the Big Ten for the second-longest streak in the nation.
“One of the things that’s showing up for us as a team and that I’m liking about this team is the maturity level that they’re showing,” Maryland coach Mike Locksley said. “You know, we win a game and we go in the locker room, and it’s almost as if we lost, because they know we didn’t play as well as they wanted to play, and we had some opportunities.”
The Terrapins (3-1) scored on each of their three drives in the first quarter. Kaden Prather scored for the second straight week and 10th time in his collegiate career. Prather was helped on Maryland’s first drive by 40 yards on the ground from Roman Hemby, who would score from 6 yards out on the next drive.
After not making it past its own 35 in the first quarter, Villanova moved 40 yards in five plays into Maryland territory as soon as the clock turned to the second. A 33-yard field goal attempt was blocked at the line of scrimmage by Dylan Fontus, though, ending the Wildcats’ best scoring chance of the first half.
Maryland outgained Villanova, 326-51, in the first half and scored on all but one of its five drives. The final points came from running back Nolan Ray’s 1-yard plunge after Edwards led a snappy procession with chunk catches by Felton, Prather and tight end Preston Howard, to stake a 24-0 halftime lead.
“Our quarterback’s playing at a really, really high level,” Locksley said, “and I feel like we can put a put a little bit more on him to allow him to get those pieces the ball a little bit more.”
The Terrapins struggled to regain their dominance after halftime, playing a sloppy, mistake-filled third quarter. After a fourth-down touchdown catch by the Wildcats’ Jaylan Sanchez was overturned, Edwards threw a deflected interception on the next play. From the Maryland 8, the Wildcats only went backward — losing 8 yards on three plays — and settled for a 33-yard FG.
Villanova (3-1) surprised Maryland with an immediate onside kick — so surprising that it was recovered with little trouble by kicker Ethan Gettman.
“The surprise onside should not have been a surprise,” Locksley said, pointing out that freshman Keyshawn Flowers left the line of scrimmage before the ball was kicked. “For me as a coach that’s coaching my coaches and coaching the team, when I look and see that, they must have saw something on tape that we’re showing.”
The Wildcats turned the drive into points, with QB Connor Watkins hitting WR Devin Smith on a 17 yard fade to cut the Terrapins’ lead to 21-10.
“They stole a couple possessions in the middle eight [minutes] of the game, which you know, for me, it’s frustrating, because we want to develop some of the younger players,” Locksley said, “and when you lose that third quarter the way we lost it, we lost opportunities to develop the rest of our roster.”
The wake-up call got Maryland to snap back to life quickly.
“It’s all about staying poised, I feel like. Just staying neutral,” Maryland defensive lineman Tommy Akingbesote said. “Believe in your preparation., believe in your teammates, and I promise everything will be okay.”
On the following Maryland drive, Edwards hit Dylan Wade over the middle for a 37-yard pitch-and-catch to the Villanova 25 to get things going. Three plays later, Felton caught his fifth score of the season on a 9-yard corner fade jump ball to buttress the lead, 31-10. Backup quarterback MJ Morris would score in the fourth on a 14-yard run to add to the winning total.
Big Ten play awaits the rest of the way, beginning with a tough test at 4-0 Indiana next Saturday.
“There’s things we want to clean up, and we know we’re heading into conference play that we got to clean up some things pretty quickly with a big one coming up on the road this week,” Edwards said. “So yeah, it feels good. But I think a lot of guys in the locker room have the mindset of we’re not satisfied.”
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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