Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Columbus, OH–
While the day started out very promising for the Terps, I certainly didn’t end that way as they fell 37-17 to Ohio State and dropped to 0-9 overall against the Buckeyes.
The Buckeyes (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) didn’t lead until Jaden Fielding kicked a field goal to put them up 20-17 late in the third quarter, which by the final score many Maryland fans might have found this hard to believe, but the tail of two halves of football struck again for Maryland, this time, not in their favor.
The Terps took the lead again early in the second half when Tagovailoa picked his way through traffic from 9 yards out for a touchdown, but this would be the last time the Terps did anything worthy the remainder of the afternoon.
Maryland again got another decent outing from Taulia Tagovailoa, who finished 21 for 41 for 196 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score. It was the his miscues that cost the Terps the game. He was intercepted twice, the first a 24-yard pick-six by Josh Proctor in the second quarter that gave the Buckeyes their first touchdown.
“We talked all week about getting the game into the fourth quarter and then seeing where we fit,” Maryland coach Mike Locksley said. “We were able to do that, and I just didn’t like the way we finished.”
For the Buckeyes, they got a huge second half from Kyle McCord passed for a career-high 320 yards and two touchdowns which was capped by the performance by Marvin Harrison Jr., who had eight catches for 163 yards.
“We have to put this one behind us and work on the second half game plan again,” said Locksley. We will go home and get ready for Illinois next week.
For the Terps, the goal of finally knocking off Ohio State becomes something they have not been able to do and it goes back to the pre-season comments by Locksley that said the Terps can compete in the Big Ten for a Championship, well today they proved there is still more work to be to done and for now the Buckeyes own the 9-0 record over the Terps, who they will not see until 2026 with the new Big Ten schedule starting in 2024.
