COLLEGE PARK, MD -- Taulia Tagovailoa connected with
Corey Dyches in the end zone to pull Maryland to within two points of Purdue with 35 seconds remaining, but the ensuing two-point conversion failed after the initial attempt was called back and the Terps fell in a heartbreaker, 31-29, at SECU Stadium on Saturday.
Purdue scored the go-ahead touchdown with 3:19 left in regulation and then added another touchdown with 1:20 remaining. The first of those touchdowns came on the following drive after the Terps took a 23-17 lead as Tagovailoa hit Roman Hemby on a screen pass and Hemby took it 11 yards to the house with 7:47 left in the fourth. The Maryland extra point attempt was blocked.
On the final possession, Tagovailoa orchestrated a beautiful drive down the field with 1:20 left in regulation and connected with Dyches for his second receiving score of the day. He appeared to find
Rakim Jarrett in the back of the end zone on the two-point conversion, but the officials called it back on an ineligible receiver downfield penalty and the ensuing attempt was no good.
The Terps are now 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten while Purdue moved to 4-2 and 2-1 in the conference.
Tagovailoa had another big game, completing 26-of-38 passes for 315 yards and three scores. He moved to second in career passing yards with 6,702, passing Chris Turner (6,543 from 2007-09). Scott Milanovich holds the school record with 7,301 career passing yards. His 315 yards were the 11th time he surpassed the 300-yard threshold, setting a program record.
Dyches had a career-high 106 yards receiving with two touchdowns, both in remarkable fashion. The second inched the Terps to within two points.
The defense was strong throughout the game. True freshman Jaishawn Barham had five tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Durrell Nchami had two sacks, three tackles for a loss and forced a fumble.
Overall, Maryland had a season-high five sacks and eight tackles for loss.
Jakorian Bennett had an interception and racked up three pass break-ups to add to his total of 25 over the last two seasons, the most of any player in FBS football.
Fa'Najae Gotay led the Terps with seven tackles.
In allowing just 14 Purdue rushing yards, it was the second-fewest the Terps defense has allowed in a conference game since joining the Big Ten. The fewest the Terps was when Purdue rushed for just 10 yards in 2016. Overall, the 14 rushing yards are the fewest allowed by Maryland since limiting Howard to one rushing yard in 2019.
Maryland continued its season-long third quarter defensive dominance, holding Purdue scoreless and creating three turnovers in the quarter. The Terps have only allowed seven third-quarter points all year, posting its fifth third-quarter shutout on Saturday.
In scoring 27 or more points, the Terps set a school record for most consecutive games with 27 or more points in eight games in a row, dating to last season's final two games.
Coach Michael Locksley's Takes
"I want to start off by obviously giving credit to Purdue. They did a tremendous job...We had a lot of things not go our way today, but the thing that I loved the most was that we never stopped fighting. That's something that I think we'll be able to build on."
"We had plenty of opportunities on the field to win this game, we just have to execute and take advantage of those opportunities. As I told our team, there's a lot of football left to be played. Are we disappointed? Yeah, we sure are, because we let one slip away here at home. And I gotta credit, our crowd showed up today and played a major role. We didn't get it done, but I can tell you there's a lot of football left to play. There's no quit in this team. They're disappointed, but they also know that we left something out there that we can control. If they keep giving this type of effort, I'm confident we'll be back on the right track here in a week."
Player's Perspectives
"I think we did a good job of trying to fight back," Tagovailoa said. "Our defense gave us a lot of opportunities to do that. We just got to finish."
"Just like we do with any game, whether we win or lose, you gotta flush it," Dyches said. "The next opponent is always the most important...We played hard and showed great effort. We will continue to show great effort. We showed what the Terps can do.
Breaking Down The Action
- The Terps forced a three-and-out on the opening drive and then put together a six-play, 69-yard scoring drive. Tagovailoa and Dontay Demus Jr. connected on a big 35-yard play and Tagovailoa ended the drive with his legs, scoring from nine yards out.
- Purdue scored the next 10 points until Chad Ryland connected on a 46-yard field goal to tie the game at 10 with 10:22 remaining in the first half.
- The Boilermakers added another touchdown, but the Terps responded again with a huge, momentum-swinging touchdown as Tagovailoa found Dyches open 68-yards down the field with 14 seconds remaining in the half, knotting the game at 17 going into halftime.
- The Terps created a trio of takeaways in the third quarter: a forced fumble by Nchami, a pick from Bennett, and a Barham forced fumble that he also recovered. Both teams were scoreless in the stanza.
- Maryland grabbed the lead with 7:47 remaining off the Hemby touchdown, but the extra point was blocked and Purdue drove down the field to answer and go up 24-23.
- The Terps got the ball back but couldn't push the ball down the field and were forced to punt. Purdue added another touchdown late to set up the final drive for Tagovailoa and the Terps.
Taulia On The Charts
- Tagovailoa built on his dominant season with another strong outing, finishing with 315 yards in the air on 26-of-38 passing and three touchdowns. He also rushed for a score on the opening drive, his sixth career rushing touchdown.
- With 315 passing yards, Tagovailoa passed Chris Turner to claim second place in Maryland all-time program history. He now has 6,702 total and is only behind Scott Milanovich and his 7,301 career yards.
- With his three touchdown passes, he has totaled 44 for his career and also passed Boomer Esiason for second all-time in career passing touchdowns. Milanovich is first with 49.
- He continues to stand third all-time in career completions with 547.
- With his first-quarter touchdown run, Tagovailoa now has six career rushing touchdowns with two each in his three seasons as a Terp (2020, 2021, 2022).
Third Quarter Dominance
- The Terps have allowed just seven points in the third quarter all season, after posting their fifth third-quarter shutout against Purdue on Saturday.
- Maryland has outscored its foes 27-7 in the third stanza.
- Coming into Saturday, the Terps were one of just eight teams to allow seven or fewer points in the third quarter this season. Air Force, Marshall and Minnesota (0); Illinois, Michigan, Utah (3); SMU (6).
Spreading Out The Sacks
- The Terps finished with five sacks, the most in a game this season, surpassing the four they had in the season opener vs. Buffalo.
- With Durell Nchami's two sacks today, 10 different Terps have now recorded at least one sack this season.
- Nchami had two sacks in a game for the third time in his career, also doing it against Rutgers (12/12/20) and Illinois (9/17/21). Nchami's second sack forced Purdue's quarterback Aidan O'Connell to fumble, his fourth career forced fumble and first this season.
- Jaishawn Barham had his second career sack with a 5-yard loss in the second quarter. It is the freshman's first career multi-sack game.
Streaks Extended
- Maryland has scored on the first drive of the game in all six games of the season.
- Jarrett has recorded a reception in 20 straight games.
- With his 35-yard grab on the Terps' opening drive, Dontay Demus Jr. hauled in a pass for the 33rd consecutive game.
- Spencer Anderson and Johari Branch both started their 24th game in a row on the offensive line.
- Bennett started his 13th game in a row at cornerback.
Notes And Nuggets
- Bennett had three pass break-ups to give him 24 over the last two seasons, the most of any player in the nation.
- Demus' 35-yard reception in the first quarter was his longest catch of the season.
- Gotay set a new season high with 7 total tackles.
- Dyches set a new career high in both single-game receiving yards and longest reception with his 68-yard touchdown catch at the end of the first half. The 68-yard reception was the longest pass play by the Terps this season.
Up Next
- The Terps travel to Indiana next week and face the Hoosiers on Saturday at 3:30 pm. That game will be broadcast on ESPN2 and the Maryland Sports Radio Network.
