COLLEGE PARK, MD -- Maryland continued its impressive start to the season, besting Indiana 44-17 on Saturday afternoon on Family Weekend at SECU Stadium. The win brought the Terps to 5-0 for the first time since 2001.
This is the ninth time in the 131-year history of the Terrapins that Maryland started a season 5-0. Maryland has won seven games in a row overall dating to last season, its longest win streak since winning seven in a row bridging the 2003-04 seasons. Maryland is now 15-5 in its last 20 games.
The Terps got off to another fast start, putting up 21 points in the first quarter, and never looked back. Maryland (5-0, 2-0) has now beat the Hoosiers (2-3, 0-2) three straight times.
Tai Felton had a career day, finishing with three first-half touchdown receptions, as part of career-highs of seven catches and 134 yards. Felton became the first Terp in history to have three receiving touchdowns in the first half. He became just the sixth – and first since Torrey Smith (four) in 2010 – to have three receiving touchdowns in a game in Maryland history.
Taulia Tagovailoa had another big day, throwing for 352 yards on 24-of-34 and a career-high five touchdown passes. His first completion of the day, a 62-yard bomb to Jeshuan Jones down the sideline, gave him over 9,000 career passing yards. It was his 14th career 300-yard passing game. His five-touchdown passing game was the first by a Terp since Scott Milanovich had five passing touchdowns vs. NC State in 1994.
Jones finished with 121 receiving yards on six catches. He had his third career 100-yard game. His first catch of the day put him over the 1,500 career passing yards mark. He's now 13th in career receiving yards with 1,569.
The defense piled up a season-best eight tackles for loss and three sacks.
Caleb Wheatland had two TFLs and a sack.
Tarheeb Still led the Terps with six tackles. Fa'Naje Gotay had his second career interception along with five tackles and a TFL.
The Terps are now set for a battle between two unbeaten teams next week as they will travel to Columbus to face the fourth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0) in FOX's Big Noon Saturday game.
Coach Locksley's Take
"I couldn't be prouder of this team. This is a really close-knit group that just plays. At the same time, this is still just the beginning. We still have some work to do. We've got a tremendous challenge coming up this week, which I know our guys are excited for. I thought today was probably the most complete game we played in all three phases. We started fast and finished strong. We played to our standard and if you play to your standard, you usually end up with the win. And today we were fortunate enough to be able to do that."
From Tai Felton
"It's very exciting," Felton said of the team's first 5-0 start since 2001. "The most exciting part is that when Locks was recruiting me, he had a blueprint for how my years here were going to go. He said we were going to keep winning as we keep going. Seeing that come to fruition is very exciting, but we know that this is not the final destination. We still have more work to do."
"It feels good," he said of his record-setting three-touchdown first half. "Today's my mom's birthday so I know she's very happy with that. It feels great…It was just me trusting myself, trusting the process and trusting the training I had this week in practice and doing film study."
Breaking Down The Action
- On the game's first play from scrimmage, Tagovailoa hit Jeshuan Jones down the field for a 62-yard gain, a play that allowed Tagovailoa to eclipse 9K passing yards and Jones to eclipse 1,500 receiving yards. Two plays later, the Terps were in the end zone as Felton notched a 13-yard touchdown reception.
- Leading 7-3 with 5:39 to play in the first quarter, the Terps got the ball back off an Indiana three-and-out and, on the drive's first play, Tagovailoa found Felton all alone in the end zone for a 29-yard score.
- Maryland made it a 21-3 game in the first quarter as a 23-yard punt return from Jones gave the Terps another short field that they quickly turned into points, this time thanks to a 21-yard scamper from Tagovailoa off a nicely executed fake handoff.
- Felton found his way into the end zone for the third time with 36 seconds remaining in the first half as he caught a nine-yard pass from Tagovailoa to make it a 27-3 Maryland lead heading into halftime.
- The Terps added 10 more points in the third quarter, first from a 44-yard field goal from Jack Howes and then from tight end Dylan Wade's first-career touchdown reception.
- With 6:54 left to play, Tagovailoa hit Kaden Prather in the back of the end zone for his career-best fifth touchdown pass of the day, making it a 44-10 lead before Indiana added a late score in garbage time.
Big Start To 2023
- In addition to the Terps' first 5-0 start since 2001, Maryland is off to one of the best starts in program history.
- This is the ninth time in the 131-year history of the Terrapins that Maryland started a season 5-0. The previous seasons were: 1893 (6-0), 1951 (10-0), 1952 (7-0), 1953 (10-0), 1955 (11-0), 1976 (11-0), 1978 (8-0) and 2001 (7-0).
- This is the first time Maryland scored 30-plus points in the first five games of the season and the first time since a six-game streak in 2002 that Maryland scored 30 or more points in five or more consecutive games in a single-season.
- This is the first time the Terps have won their first five games of the season by 18 points or more.
Points Galore!
- The Terps' 44-point outburst was the most in a conference game since the 45-44 overtime win over Minnesota on Oct. 30, 2020.
- Maryland scored 21 points in the first quarter for its most in the first quarter of a conference game since leading Minnesota, 21-7, on Oct 30, 2020. The Terps won that game, 45-44, in overtime.
- The 27 first-half points were the most scored in the first half of a Big Ten game since the Terps scored 28 on Nov, 7, 2020, when they led Penn State, 28-7, in a 35-19 victory in Happy Valley.
- The 27-3 halftime lead was the program's largest since a 24-0 halftime advantage over Rutgers on Oct. 13, 2018.
Taulia Adds To His Records
- Tagovailoa continued to add to his career passing yardage today with 352 today in the game as he now has 9,343 in his career. The quarterback holds the Maryland career records for passing yards, passing touchdowns (64), total touchdowns (75), completions (776), completion percentage (67.0), 300-yard passing games (14), passing efficiency (146.8) and total offense (9,599).
- He became the first quarterback in program history to eclipse 9,000 passing yards.
- He is now 13th all-time on the career Big Ten passing yards list with 9,343. On Saturday, he passed the likes of Iowa's Chuck Long (9,210), Michigan State's Connor Cook (9,194) and Michigan State's Kirk Cousins (9,131).
- With five passing touchdowns today, QB Taulia Tagovailoa has now thrown multiple touchdown passes in 20 career games, the most of any active Big Ten player. Maryland has gone 15-5 in those games.
- He had his 11th career rushing touchdown with a 19-yard scamper towards the end of the first quarter.
- His career-high five passing touchdowns and rushing score marked his seventh career game with at least three passing touchdowns and one rushing score. It was his first career game with six total TDs.
- It was also third career game when he was responsible for five-or-more touchdowns, joining the Charlotte game (four passing and one rushing) and the 2020 Minnesota game (three passing and two rushing).
Big Game Jones
- Jones had his third career 100-yard receiving game with 121 yards. The previous ones came with a 103 vs. Minnesota (10/30/20) and 152 vs. Rutgers (11/26/22).
- Jones moved to 13th in career receptions with six in the game. He now has 112 in his career as he broke a tie with Barry Johnson (1987-90). He passed Azizuddin Abdur-Ra-oof (1984-87) with 108. Next on the list is Gary with 113 from 1998-2001.
- Jones also moved to 15th in career receiving yards with 121 in the game. He now has 1,569 to pass Levern Jacobs, who had 1,544 from 2012-16 and Rakim Jarrett (2020-22) and Guilian Gary (1998-2001), who both had 1,552. Next on the list is Ferrell Edmunds (1984-87) and his 1,641 yards.
TD Time For Tai
- Tai Felton became the first Maryland player with three receiving touchdowns in a first half in the 131 years of Terrapin football.
- He became the sixth player with three receiving touchdowns in a game – and the first since Torrey Smith had four vs. NC State in 2010. The others on the list are: Vernon Davis (vs. Duke in 2004), Guilian Gary (vs. Georgia Tech in 2000), Jermaine Lewis (vs. West Virginia in 1993) and James Milling (vs. North Carolina in 1986).
- He's the first Big Ten player with three receiving touchdowns in a game since Jalen Nailor had three for Michigan State vs. Rutgers on Oct. 9, 2021.
- Felton had the first multi-touchdown game of his career with scoring receptions of 13 and 29 yards in the first quarter and a nine-yard score in the second.
Defense Getting It Done!
- The Terps once again had a fantastic defensive showing.
- Over the last 18 games (covering the 2022 season and first four games of the 2023 season), Maryland has only allowed 42 points in the third quarter (2.3 per game).
- The defense has been stout in second halves in that span, allowing 142 points in those 18 games for 7.9 per game.
- Maryland has outscored opponents 94-29 in the second half of games this season.
- Caleb Wheatland and Quashon Fuller both recorded sacks for the second week in a row.
- Fa'Najae Gotay recorded his first interception of the season just before halftime. It marked the fourth consecutive game the Terps have picked off an opposing quarterback at least once.
Notes and Nuggets
- Maryland won its 24th straight game when leading after three quarters.
- Corey Dyches has caught a pass in 19 consecutive games.
- Maryland improved to 2-0 in the Big Ten for the first time ever.
- The Terps improved to 4-0 at home for the first time since 2010.
Up Next
- The Terps will hit the road for a Fox Big Noon matchup at No. 4 Ohio State. The game will be broadcast on FOX and the Maryland Sports Radio Network.
