Story By: Richard Thomas
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Baltimore, MD–
They say there is an A for effort, but in the game of football effort doesn’t always deliver that big W in the win column. It may look good on paper the next day to say that the Terps finally played a game this season with passion and drive, but they still have a big L to look at against Penn State today. They even had several chances in the final minutes of today’s game to pull it off, but one errant pass to go along with many of the errant plays on the day sent the Terps to another woeful loss.
Nittany Lions safety Malik Golden stepped up on first down with 1:21 remaining to pick off Maryland quarterback Perry Hills’ pass, ending the Terrapins’ attempt to pull off a last-second win on a drive that started and ended at the Terrapins 25.
“We were resilient,” James Franklin said after the Nittany Lions’ 31-30 Big Ten Conference victory Saturday against Maryland at M&T Bank Stadium. “There was adversity that we faced, there was highs and lows, there was big plays, there was plays that we’ve got to clean up.”
Maryland (2-5, 0-3), playing under interim coach Mike Locksley, stayed in the tight back-and-forth matchup largely because of Hills. Hills, a former Pittsburgh Central Catholic standout, attacked a Nittany Lions defense that entered the game ranked 15th in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Hills rushed for 124 yards on a career-high 26 carries and added another 225 through the air, completing 19 of 28 passes. He also threw and ran for a touchdown, but posted three interceptions.
Maryland finished with 466 yards of total offense.
“We were all confident,” Hills said of Maryland’s final drive. “We were moving the ball pretty well [Saturday], but things happen.”
The Terps who seemed to regain some momentum against Ohio State before the bye week, definitely showed a little more aggressiveness on offense which led a lot of people to believe that Randy Edsall crippled the play calling of Locksley.
Maryland returns to action next Saturday at No. 12/13 Iowa. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. and the game can be seen on ABC or ESPN2.
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