Box Score COLLEGE PARK, MD -- Maryland (5-2, 2-2) came up just short on Saturday afternoon at SECU Stadium on Homecoming Weekend, falling to Illinois (3-4, 1-3) in the game's final seconds, 27-24. 

The Terps got the ball back trailing 24-21 with 4:19 remaining and drove 38 yards to set Jack Howes up for a successful 48-yard field goal, matching his career-long and knotting the game at 24-24 with 1:31 left to play. However, on the ensuing drive, Illinois set up a successful field goal of its own, knocking through a 43-yarder as time expired to come away with the win. 

Taulia Tagovailoa threw for 266 yards on 27-of-39 passing and two touchdowns in the game.

Kaden Prather caught six passes for 70 yards and a touchdown. Roman Hemby totaled 133 all-purpose yards. Linebacker Sean Greeley caught his second touchdown pass of the season.

Defensively, the Terps racked up a season-high five sacks, led by a career-best 1.5 sacks by Fa'Najae Gotay. Ruben Hyppolite II led the way with seven tackles. Maryland was without starting defensive backs Tarheeb Still and Dante Trader Jr. 

From Coach Locksley

"I'll start by giving credit to Illinois. They played hard, as I expected they would. But as I stand here before you, the more I play this thing back in my head, what happened today had very little to Illinois. It goes back to what I always say that it's us versus us. We didn't play very well in any of the three phases...Our standard doesn't change whether we win or lose; it stays the same. Obviously, we have a bye week looking at us this week to get some guys healthy while also taking a look at all the things we do and get this back on track and back in rhythm...I still have a lot of faith in this team, all of our goals are still ahead of us, but we've made it a little more difficult on ourselves and we've got to do the work to do what's necessary to get us going back in the right direction."

Breaking Down The Action

• After going down 7-0 early, the Terps cashed in off a Glendon Miller interception and turned it into a touchdown as linebacker Sean Greely caught his second touchdown pass of the season to even it at 7 apiece at the end of the first quarter. 
• The Terps took the lead with 5:46 remaining in the first half as they put together a eight-play, 73-yard drive capped off by a beautiful 27-yard throw from Tagovailoa to Prather in the back right corner of the end zone. 
• Illinois tied it at 14-14 just before the end of the first half.
• After the Illini added 10 points, the Terps responded by putting together an 11-play touchdown drive, finished off by a four-yard score by Antwain Littleton II, to make it 24-21 heading into the fourth quarter. 
• The Terps tied the game at 24-24 with 1:31 left to play as Jack Howes knocked through a career-high tying 48-yarder. 

Taulia Adds To His Records 

• Tagovailoa continued to add to his career passing yardage today with 266 today in the game as he now has 9,805 in his career. The quarterback holds the Maryland career records for passing yards, passing touchdowns (67), total touchdowns (79), completions (824), completion percentage (66.6), 300-yard passing games (14), passing efficiency (146.5) and total offense (10,076). 
• He is now eighth all-time on the career Big Ten passing yards list with 9,805. On Saturday, he passed Michigan's Chad Henne with 9,715 and Purdue's David Blough (9,734). Next on the list is No. 7 Penn State's Trace McSorley and his 9,899 yards. 
• He moved to a tie for 12th in career passing touchdowns in Big Ten history with two, giving him 67 in his Maryland career. He is now tied with Purdue's Curtis Painter  and Nebraska's Tommy Armstrong. Next up with 68 is Iowa's Nathan Stanley. 
• Tagovailoa has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 10 consecutive games.

Defensive Highlights

• The Terps had a season-high five sacks. The last time Maryland had five sacks was on Oct. 8, 2022 against Purdue. 
• Glendon Miller had his second interception of the season, coming in the first quarter. 
• Fa'Najae Gotay recorded a career-best 1.5 sacks.
• Donnell Brown had his second sack of the season. He had 10 sacks in his career at FCS Saint Francis (Pa.). 
• Kellan Wyatt added to his sack total with a sack and now has 3.5 this season. 
• Jaishawn Barham notched his third sack of the season. 

Greeley Scores Again 

• After becoming the first Maryland defensive player to score on offense since 1996 in the Michigan State game (9/23), Sean Greeley scored his second career receiving touchdown on a 4-yard reception with six seconds left in the first quarter. 
• Greeley became the first defensive player with multiple offensive touchdowns in a season in Maryland history. 

Jones In The Record Books

• Jeshaun Jones moved to 11th in career receptions with three in the game. He now has 120 in his career as he passed Rakim Jarrett with 119 from 2020-22. Next on the list at No. 10 is  Russ Weaver (120, 1992-94) and No. 9 Dontay Demus Jr. who recorded 128 receptions from 2018-2022. 
• He moved to 12th in career receiving yards with 40 in the game, as he now has 1,671. He passed Ferrell Edmunds (1,641 from 1984-87) on the all-time list. Next up, tied for 10th are Barry Johnson (1987-89) and Greg Hill (1982-84), each with 1,721. Next up at ninth is Marcus Badgett (1989-92) with 1,748. 

Prather Touchdown Maker

• For the fifth time in seven games this season, Kaden Prather scored on a receiving touchdown as he opened the scoring with a 15-yard reception. He has now caught a touchdown pass in three straight games, also recording one against Indiana and Ohio State. 
• His 27-yard touchdown grab in the second quarter put the Terps up 14-7 in the second quarter. 

Wyatt The Sack Machine

• Linebacker Kellan Wyatt now has full sacks in his last three games becoming the first Terp to do that since Mosiah Nasili-Kite with three games in a row with Sept. 25-Oct. 9, 2021. 
• Wyatt also had a half-sack four games ago, giving him partial sacks in four consecutive games. 
• The last Terp with at least a half sack in at least four games in a row was Jesse Aneibonam with partial sacks in the first six games of the 2016 season (Sept. 3-Oct. 8). 

Spreading It Around

• Eleven different Terps recorded at least one reception today, marking the second time this season Maryland accomplished this feat of double-figure receivers.
• Last season, Maryland had three games with 10 or more players catching a pass. 

Notes and Nuggets

• In the fourth quarter, Jeshaun Jones threw a 21-yard pass to Taulia Tagovailoa. It was the first pass by Jones since his first college game with a 20-yard touchdown pass against Texas on Sept. 1, 2018. 
• It was also the first reception by a Terps' quarterback since Ryan Brand caught a 21-yard pass from D.J. Moore against Michigan on Nov. 11, 2017. 

Up Next

• The Terps have a bye week before returning on Saturday, Oct. 28 to face Northwestern in Evanston, IL. The time and broadcast information will be announced this coming week.