COLUMBUS, OH --- In front of an Ohio Stadium crowd of 104,974 and a Fox Big Noon television audience, the Terps pushed No. 4 Ohio State and led by as many as 10 points before ultimately falling 37-17.
The Terps jumped out to a 10-0 first-quarter lead and scored on the first drive of the second half to go up by a touchdown, but the Buckeyes scored the game's final 27 points.
Taulia Tagovailoa threw for 196 yards, with a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown.
Kaden Prather had three catches for 49 yards and a touchdown while
Jeshaun Jones added 59 receiving yards on five catches.
The Maryland defense was impressive for most of the afternoon, holding Ohio State to just 62 rushing yards. The Terps didn't allow the Buckeyes to score in their first five drives. Other defensive highlights for the Terps, including holding Ohio State to just 3-of-12 on third-down conversions. Maryland had three sacks, the most Ohio State has allowed in a game this season.
Maryland, which started the year 5-0, for its best start since the 2001 season, fell to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten. Ohio State improved to 5-0 and 2-0 in the conference.
Coach Locksley's Take
"Give Ohio State credit; they did a really good job limiting the explosive plays and creating turnovers. And our winning formula is generating explosives, taking care of the football, and on defense limiting the explosives and creating turnovers, and we didn't do any of them today. I like the way we started fast. We had an opportunity there in the first half. But as I told our team just now, for us to take that next step, we have to be able to make the plays that are there to be made...We talked all week about getting the game into the fourth quarter and then see where we fit, and we were able to do that. I just didn't like the way we finished, but we can get those things corrected."
Breaking Down The Action
- The Maryland defense set the tone on the game's first drive, forcing a three-and-out and then snuffing out a fake punt to set the Terps up on the 30 yard-line.
- Tagovailoa and the offense took quick advantage of the short field and Kaden Prather made a monster one-handed touchdown grab in the end zone to put the Terps up 7-0 not even three minutes into the game.
- The Terps forced two more Ohio State punts and held a 7-0 lead after one quarter. Maryland held a 111-28 advantage in total yards through the first 15 minutes.
- Jack Howes added a 21-yard field goal early in the second quarter, but the Buckeyes scored the next 10 points to make it 10-10 heading into halftime.
- Maryland totaled 177 yards in the first half to Ohio State's 142 and earned 12 first downs to the Buckeyes' six.
- The Terps kicked off the second half with another big drive, methodically driving 75 yards in nearly four minutes for a huge touchdown on a nifty nine-yard run from Tagovailoa. That put the Terps ahead, 17-10, four minutes into the second half.
- Ohio State added a touchdown and a field goal to take its first lead of the game near the end of the third quarter, 20-17.
Taulia Adds To His Records
- Tagovailoa continued to add to his career passing yardage today with 196 today in the game as he now has 9,539 in his career. The quarterback holds the Maryland career records for passing yards, passing touchdowns (65), total touchdowns (77), completions (797), completion percentage (67.0), 300-yard passing games (14), passing efficiency (148.5) and total offense (9,816).
- He is now 10th all-time on the career Big Ten passing yards list with 9,539. On Saturday, he passed the likes of Purdue's Mark Herrmann (9,354), Ohio State's J.T. Barrett's (9,434) and Minnesota's Tanner Morgan (9,469). Next on the list at No. 9 is Michigan's Chad Henne with 9,715.
- Tagovailoa has reached 1,500 passing yards through his team's first six games for the third straight season (2021-23). The only other Maryland player to do this once over the past 25 seasons was Sam Hollenbach in 2005 (1,513 passing yards).
- With a passing score and a rushing score on the day, it was Tagovailoa's 11th career game with one of each, the most among active Big Ten players.
- With his 9-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter, Tagovailoa has rushing touchdowns in three games in a row. He's the first Maryland quarterback since C.J. Brown did for the last three games of the 2014 season
- Tagovailoa is one of eight FBS players over the past 25 seasons to record multiple games against Ohio State with both a passing touchdown and rushing touchdown.
Defensive Highlights
- The Terps held the Ohio State offense from scoring on its first five drives, the first time since the 2016 Fiesta Bowl that the Buckeyes didn't score on its first four or more drives. In that game, Ohio State didn't score on its first 15 drives in a 31-0 loss to Clemson.
- Kellan Wyatt notched a huge sack on third-and-10 on the Buckeyes' second drive. It's his third consecutive game with at least a partial sack.
- Donnell Brown also had a big first-quarter sack to force a punt, his first as a Terp.
- Coming into the game, Ohio State had only allowed four total sacks, the Terps had three in the game, including two in the first quarter. Issac Bunyun also recorded a sack.
- With two sacks in the first quarter, it's the first time the Terps had multiple sacks in the first quarter since the Indiana game in 2022.
- Maryland held Ohio State to just 28 yards in the first quarter, the fewest yards for the Buckeyes in a first quarter since 2019, when they had just 16 vs. Michigan State.
- The Terps held Ohio State to 1-of-9 on third downs through three quarters, the lowest percentage for the Buckeyes over the last decade.
Jones In The Record Books
- Jones moved to 12th in career receptions with five in the game. He now has 117 in his career as he passed Guilian Gary (1998-2001) with 113. Next on the list is Rakim Jarrett with 119 from 2020-22.
Prather Touchdown Maker
- For the fourth time in six games this season, Kaden Prather scored on a receiving touchdown as he opened the scoring with a 15-yard reception. He also had receiving touchdowns in the first two games of the season (Towson and Charlotte) along with last week against Indiana.
- It's the first time since Rakim Jarrett accomplished that in 2021 that a Terp had four receiving touchdowns in six games.
Notes and Nuggets
- Corey Dyches has caught a pass in 20 consecutive games.
- When the Terps led 7-0 after the first quarter, it's the first time Ohio State trailed after any quarter this season.
- Jeshaun Jones had a season-long 27-yard punt return in the second quarter, its the longest by a Terp since Tarheeb Still had a 92-yard punt return touchdown in the 2021 Pinstripe Bowl.
- Colton Spangler had his 29th career punt of 50 or more yards, third this season with a 53-yarder.
Up Next
- The Terps will return home for Homecoming to host Illinois at 3:30 pm at SECU Stadium. The game will air on NBC and the Maryland Sports Radio Network.
