Each week, umterps.com reviews the numbers and notes from Maryland football.
Billy Edwards Jr. and
Tai Felton's record-breaking performances, defensive numbers and a look ahead to its matchup next weekend at Indiana highlight this week's reading.
First Down: Terrific Tai
- Tai Felton finished his day against Villanova with 14 catches for 157 yards and a touchdown. His 14 catches were a career-high, surpassing his previous best of 11 catches against Michigan State on Sept. 7, and are tied for second in school history for a single game (last done by Torrey Smith vs. NC State, 2010). The school record for catches in a game is 16 by Geroy Simon vs. Florida State in 1995.
- With 100+ receiving yards for the fourth game in a row to start a season, Felton extended his streak and became the first player in program history to start the season with four consecutive 100-yard games.
- He became the second Terp overall to have four consecutive games with 100+ receiving yards, equalling the mark Jermaine Lewis set in 1994 with four in a row from Oct. 22 to Nov. 12, 1994.
- Felton is the third Big Ten player since 1996 to start a season with 100 receiving yards in each of the first four games, joining Garrett Wilson of Ohio State in 2020 and Charles Rogers of Michigan State in 2002.
- Felton is the first FBS player to have 100+ receiving yards in their first four games of a season since Washington's Rome Odunze (four) in 2023.
- His 14 catches against Villanova were the most by a Terp in a single game since Maryland joined the Big Ten. It surpassed Chigoziem Okonkwo's 12 catches against Penn State in 2021.
- In the first quarter alone, Felton caught eight passes, the most by any Big Ten player in any quarter since at least 2012.
- Through four games, he has 41 receptions, 604 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns. Those totals rank 2nd, 3rd and tied for 4th in the nation, respectively. Furthermore, Felton leads the Big Ten in receptions and receiving yards and ranks tied for second in the league in receiving touchdowns.
- Felton's 604 receiving yards are the second-most nationally behind San Jose State's Nick Nash (637). The 604 are also the second-most for a Terp in the first four games of any season, behind only Jermaine Lewis' 617 in 1993.
- The 604 yards are the most by any Big Ten player since Michigan State's Charles Rogers had 634 in the first four games of 2002.
- Only eight players in all of FBS have more than 604 receiving yards in the first four games of a season in the last 10 seasons.
- Felton's 41 receptions through four games surpassed Frank Wycheck's previous school record of 38 catches in the first four games of the 1991 season.
- The 41 catches also equal the most receptions by a Big Ten player since 1996, tying Purdue's Charlie Jones in 2022. Next on the list with 39 catches are Purdue's Chris Daniels (1999) and David Bell (2020).
- Felton is the first power-conference player with 600+ receiving yards and 40+ receptions in their team's first four games of a season since Syracuse's Amba Etta-Tawo and Cal's Chad Hansen in 2016.
- Felton has accounted for 48.9% (604/1235) of Maryland's receiving yards so far this season. That is the highest share among Big Ten players this season.
- Felton's 1,327 receiving yards since the beginning of last season now leads all Big Ten players over that span (he surpassed Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. on Saturday).
Second Down: Big Baller Billy
- Billy Edwards Jr. completed 28-of-32 (87.5%) passes for a career-high 328 yards and two touchdowns against the Wildcats. His completion percentage broke the single-game school record held by Taulia Tagovailoa, who completed 87.1% (27-of-31) of his passes at Charlotte in 2022.
- Edwards joined C.J. Stroud (32-of-35, 91.4%) vs. Michigan State on Nov. 11, 2021, and Sean Clifford (28-of-32, 87.5%) vs. Auburn on Oct. 18, 2021, as the only Big Ten players to have a 87.5+ completion percentage on 30+ passing attempts since 1996.
- Through four games, Edwards has completed 102 of his 136 pass attempts. His 75.0 completion percentage ranks fifth in the nation. Edwards has thrown for 1,155 yards and has accounted for 10 total touchdowns. He leads the Big Ten in completions and passing yards, while tying for second in the league in passing touchdowns (8).
- Entering the contest, Edwards was the No. 12 graded quarterback in the nation with a minimum of 100 dropbacks, garnering an 86.4 grade, according to Pro Football Focus. Furthermore, he was the third-highest graded signal caller in the Big Ten, behind Oregon's Dillon Gabriel and Illinois' Luke Altmyer.
Third Down: Defensive Dynamos
- The Terps' defense had a strong day against Villanova. Maryland equaled its season-best with three sacks as part of six tackles for a loss.
- Michael Harris had his first career sack in the game, a five-yard stop.
- Tommy Akingbesote has his first sack of the season and a career-high two tackles for loss in a single game, making two stops for a total of 15 yards.
- The third sack was a split sack between Daniel Owens and Taizse Johnson. For Owens, it was the first partial sack of his career. Johnson now has 1.5 sacks this season and 5.0 sacks in his four-year career.
- Overall, 28 different Terps had tackles in the victory.
- Maryland's defense had its best showing in terms of the fewest yards allowed in a game this season, giving up just 231, including a season-low in allowing 156 passing yards.
Fourth Down: Indiana On The Road
- The Terps will face Indiana (4-0) in Bloomington on Sept. 28. The game will kick off at noon and be streamed on Big Ten Network and Maryland Sports Radio Network.
- Maryland last played Indiana last season, dominating them at home 44-17. Tai Felton scorched the Hoosiers' defense and finished with a stat line of 7-134-3. All were career-highs at the time, and his three scores remain a career-high.
- Overall, Maryland is 5-7 against Indiana in 12 all-time meetings but holds a three-game series win streak.
- Both teams have met yearly since Maryland joined the Big Ten Conference in 2014. Before joining the conference, the Terps played the Hoosiers in 1934 and 1935.
