Terps Fall to #5 Iowa on Friday Night

Friday, October 1

Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium

8:00 PM

Maryland

4-1 , 1-1

Iowa

5-0 , 2-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Iowa	3	31	10	7	51
Maryland	7	0	7	0	14

10/1/2021 9:52:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

COLLEGE PARK, MD -- Maryland suffered its first defeat of the season, dropping a 51-14 decision to #5 Iowa before a raucous 'Blackout' crowd at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium. The Terps are now 4-1 and 1-1 in the Big Ten while Iowa remains perfect at 5-0 and 2-0 in the conference.

Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa threw for 157 yards on 16-of-29 with 2 touchdowns. Wide Receiver Dontay Demus Jr. had four catches for 61 yards before suffering an injury in the second quarter. Tight End Chigoziem Okonkwo scored his third touchdown of the season on a 9-yard reception in the first quarter to put Maryland up 7-3 at the end of the period.

Rakim Jarrett scored on a seven-yard touchdown reception from Tagovailoa in the third quarter.

The Terps committed five turnovers in the first half and turned the ball over seven times in the game as Iowa capitalized on the Maryland miscues. The Hawkeyes recorded 17 points off turnovers in the first half. Quarterback Spencer Petras rushed for a pair of 1-yard scoring runs and connected with Arland Bruce on an 8-yard touchdown reception. The Hawkeyes led 34-7 at halftime after outscoring Maryland 31-0 in the second quarter. Petras threw for 259 yards and three touchdowns.

From The Coach:
"Disappointed. Disappointed for our fans. Disappointed for our supporters and for our team. Give Iowa credit. They're a football team that took full advantage of the opportunities we presented. Obviously as the head coach, it's my job to get us to play well, which we didn't do today, but also things that are important that we realize this is just one game that is important for us as a team to understand that one game shouldn't and can't define this and we can't have that one game playing poorly lead to a second one so what we need to do is get back in as a team and as coaches that obviously get this film ready in order to correct it. Make the necessary adjustments that we need to make and get our team ready to bounce back. That will be a challenge for our team here next week to see if we're a team that can stick together. In the end, we have to bounce back, which I believe we will. We'll get around these guys and this team is better than what we showed tonight and it's my job as head coach to get us to play that way each and every week and I'm sure they'll respond the right way."

Darts To Demus

With four catches for 61 yards, Demus Jr. caught a pass in the 27th straight game, dating back to October 27, 2018, tied for the 11th-longest streak in the country and fourth-longest in the Big Ten - entering the weekend.
Demus Jr., moved to 8th on the career receiving yardage list as he had 61 against Iowa to give him 1,775 yards in his career. Demus passed Barry Johnson (1,721), Greg Hill (1,721) and Marcus Badgett (1,748). Next on the list at No. 7 is Azizuddin Abdur-Ra-oof (1,895).

Richigoulous

Chig Okonkwo had his third receiving touchdown of the season on a 9-yard reception from Tagovailoa in the first quarter.
It was his ninth career touchdown and third this season. With three receiving touchdowns, he has set a career-best, as he had two in 2019 and one in 2018.

New Video Board Unveiled

Maryland Athletics debuted two new video boards at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium this fall, including one of the largest in America which was unveiled for Friday's game.
The 120-foot-by-54-foot (3,600-by-1,620 pixels) display in the West end zone (adjacent to the Stadium Drive garage) is 6,532 square feet, making it the ninth-largest collegiate video board in the country and largest in the Big Ten.
The display will be the first in college athletics to operate end-to-end in 1080p HDR (High Dynamic Range) broadcast quality. This board replaces one that measured 49-foot by 30-foot, making the new LED display area nearly six times larger than the previous board, which was more than 15 years old.

Mental Health Awareness

The game was a mental health awareness game where the team wore green ribbons on its helmets, as green is the color of mental health awareness.
There was also an in-game public service announcement video that played that focused on destigmatizing mental health, and it was also shared on social media.
Maryland athletics had content focusing on the importance of taking care of your mental health throughout the week leading up to the game. There was a special episode of the Hear the Turtle podcast, and a Feature Friday story on umterps.com.

Up Next

The Terps head to Columbus to take on #11 Ohio State (3-1, 1-0) next Saturday in a Big Noon Kickoff on FOX at Noon. The game will also be heard on the Maryland Sports Radio Network.

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