Each week, umterps.com reviews the numbers and notes from Maryland football. This week, we reflect on a dramatic comeback,
Billy Edwards Jr.'s big day, a trio of wide receivers with unprecedented days and a look ahead to next week's matchup at Minnesota.
First Down: Comeback Kids
- The Terps posted a thrilling 29-28 comeback victory over USC in the first-ever meeting between the teams on Saturday before a season-best crowd of 43,013 at Homecoming.
- Maryland rallied from a 28-14 in the fourth quarter thanks to Billy Edwards Jr.'s heroics. The quarterback scored the game-winning touchdown on a three-year rush with 53 seconds remaining.Â
- The last time the Terps scored a game-winning touchdown in the final minute of regulation was on Nov. 17, 2001, as Guilian Gary's 8-yard touchdown pass from Shaun Hill with 41 seconds left lifted the Terps to a 23-19 win at NC State to clinch the ACC Championship.
- Saturday's comeback win over USC on Edwards' touchdown run with 53 seconds left marked the Terps' latest comeback win from a deficit since beating Penn State 20-19 on Nov. 1, 2014, as Brad Craddock kicked a 43-yard field goal with 51 seconds left to give the Terps a last-minute win at Penn State in Maryland's first win in the Big Ten.Â
- Coming back from 14 points down in the fourth quarter marked the Terps' biggest fourth-quarter comeback since Oct. 30, 2020, when Maryland trailed Minnesota by 17 at 38-21 in the fourth quarter before winning 45-44 in overtime.
- Maryland's last comeback from being at least 14 points down in the fourth quarter to win in regulation came on Nov. 11, 2003, at NC State when the Terps trailed 24-10 with 8:45 remaining before rallying for a 26-24 win on a 43-yard Nick Novak field goal with 23 seconds left in the fourth.Â
- Donnell Brown's blocked field goal with 1:41 left in the fourth quarter set up the Terps for their game-winning drive. The time a Big Ten team had a blocked field goal in the final two minutes of a game came by Rutgers on Oct. 5, 2019.Â
Second Down: Big-Time Billy
- Billy Edwards Jr. completed 39-of-50 passes for a career-high 373 yards and three total touchdowns (two passing and the game-winning rushing score).Â
- Edwards' 300-yard performance was the second of his career. His other was against Villanova on Sept. 21, where he passed for 328 yards.Â
- The quarterback set a career-high in yards and completions. His 39 completions rank third in program history for a single game.Â
- Edwards became the second Terp this century with 350+ passing yards and 35+ completions in a single game. The only other time that happened since 1996 was when Taulia Tagovailoa had 41 completions with 371 passing yards against No. 22 Penn State on Nov. 6, 2022.
- Edwards is just the second player in the Big Ten this season and second in the conference in the last two seasons with 350+ passing yards and 35+ completions. He joins Oregon's Dillon Gabriel, who had 380 passing yards and 41 completions against Idaho on Aug. 31, 2024. Before Gabriel, the last Big Ten player with those thresholds was Aidan O'Connell of Purdue, who had 391 passing yards and 35 completions against Nebraska.Â
- In going 39-of-50, Edwards posted a 78 percent completion percentage. He's the first Big Ten player since at least 1996, with at least 50 pass attempts and a 78 percent completion mark. In all of FBS football, the last player with 50 attempts and at least 78 percent completed was DJ Irons of Akron on Oct. 8, 2022, when he was 43-of-54 for a 79.6 completion percentage vs. Ohio.Â
- With his marks on Saturday, Edwards has passed for 250+ yards and 2+ touchdowns in six games this season. Miami's Cam Ward is the only FBS player with more such performances (7).
- On the season, Edwards is tied for the national lead in completions with 195. He's tied with Colorado's Shadeur Sanders.Â
- He is eighth in passing yards in all of FBS with 2,113, which ranks first in the Big Ten. He's also eighth in passing yards per game at 301.9 and sixth in attempts at 39.7.Â
- Edwards's season completion mark of 70.1 percent is ninth in the country and sixth in the Big Ten. Gabriel leads FBS with 77.0 percent.Â
- He completed 12 consecutive passes in the first half, his longest streak of consecutive completions in his career.Â
Third Down: Spreading It Around
- Edwards' big day resulted in an unprecedented day for Maryland receivers. Since at least 1996, Maryland has never had three receivers record eight or more receptions with each gaining more than 80 receiving yards.Â
- Kaden Prather had a career-best nine catches for a career-high 111 yards. Tai Felton hauled in nine catches for 84 yards and Octavian Smith Jr. also had a career day with new highs in catches with eight and receiving yards with 84.Â
- In all of the Big Ten, it had been three seasons since a team had three receivers with at least eight catches for at least 80 yards. The last time was Ohio State's trio of Chris Olave, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Garrett Wilson achieving it against Purdue on Nov. 13, 2021. Before that, it had not happened in the Big Ten since 2017, when Indiana did it.Â
- Since 1996, it has happened just six times in the Big Ten.Â
- This was the first time in all of FBS this season that a team had three receivers with eight catches, all with 80 receiving yards. The last time it happened in the country came when Temple had three receivers achieve it against UTSA on Oct. 7, 2023. Prior to that, the last time it happened was that Ohio State occurrence in 2021.Â
Fourth Down: Minnesota On The Road
- The Terps return to action next Saturday at Minnesota in a 3:30 p.m. match-up on FS1.
- Maryland leads the all-time series 4-3, with the Terps trailing 2-1 in games played in Minneapolis.Â
- Minnesota won the last meeting, 34-16, on Oct. 23, 2021.
- The teams met for six consecutive seasons from 2016-21, with each team winning three.Â
- Maryland's last win was a dramatic 45-44 overtime win on Oct. 30, 2020, when the Terps rallied from a 38-21 deficit to win on a missed extra point.Â
- The Terps' last win at Minnesota came on Sept. 30, 2017, as Ty Johnson scored the go-ahead winning touchdown with 1:10 left in the fourth quarter for a 31-24 Terp victory. Johnson ran for 130 yards in the win.Â
- The teams met for the first time in the 1977 Hall of Fame Bowl, a 17-7 Maryland win in Birmingham, Alabama. It was the first-ever Hall of Fame Bowl as George Scott scored on a pair of rushing touchdowns.Â
