Quarterback Caleb Rowe has spent the majority of the Maryland football season — save for holding responsibilities on special teams and the occasional trick play — on the sideline. But Saturday afternoon against No. 2 Michigan, with the Terps in a 21-point hole, he took his first snaps at the helm of the offense.
Perry Hills had just taken a hit to his upper body, and after he walked off with trainers, Rowe trotted onto the field. As one the four co-backups in the Terps’ weekly depth chart, Rowe took over against Michigan’s vaunted defense.
The redshirt senior finished 12 of 23 for 203 yards and two interceptions as the Terps’ deficit when he entered early in the second quarter almost tripled by the end of the 59-3 loss to the Wolverines.
“Obviously, a couple of times he put the ball in harm’s way, which we’ve got to work through and get over,” coach DJ Durkin said. “He did a good job throwing the ball downfield and kept us moving.”
On a conference call Monday, Durkin said he expects Hills to participate in practice this week, though he didn’t commit to his status for Saturday’s game against sixth-ranked Ohio State, the Terps’ second consecutive matchup against a top-10 opponent.
Durkin also sent the video of the hit Hills suffered — a blitz up the middle from Wolverines defensive end Chase Winovich — to the Big Ten for review. He referenced a personal foul the Terps committed for a hit later in the game as a similar infraction.
“I guess as a late hit as defined, yes,” Durkin said of his view on whether Winovich’s tackle should have drawn a flag. “The ball was gone, and he was driven into the ground, but whatever. I put it in the league for clarification on exactly how we’re calling it.”
In the previous three games Hills missed time with injuries, quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome entered after earning the top backup job during the preseason while Rowe recovered from an injury. But the coaching staff has preached readiness and competition with a steady rotation between the reserves in practice.
That’s left Rowe to help relay signals in from the sideline and take a team-first approach in offensive coordinator Walt Bell’s set-up, but he felt prepared to see time as the top replacement Saturday.
“I’ve kind of been through it long enough to kind of know what to do and how to do it, kind of stay mentally into it,” Rowe said. “It’s not really much of a struggle for me.”
In Michigan Stadium, he showed flashes of the qualities that made last year’s coaches refer to him as a “gunslinger.” Five of his completions went for double-digit yards, including 35-and 39-yard screens to running backs Ty Johnson and Wes Brown, respectively.
Rowe’s longest completion came on a 47-yard toss to wide receiver D.J. Moore, who charged upfield as time expired in the first half. Michigan’s defense tackled him from behind at the one-yard line, leaving the Terps short of a touchdown on the play and for the first time in a game this season.
But a season after Rowe paced the Terps with 15 interceptions — the program led the nation with 29 — he surrendered two picks against the country’s top defense. Twice Wolverines safety Delano Hill reeled in the ball — first on the opening second-half drive with no receiver in the area and again on a fourth-quarter sideline route.
“It was just I threw off my back foot,” Rowe said of his first turnover. “It was just a bad play on my part.”
Moore finished as the team’s leading receiver with two catches for 66 yards, including the 19-yard pitch from Hills on the play the signal caller endured the blow. After that, the sophomore spent the rest of the game battling Michigan’s secondary to create openings for Rowe’s first redshirt senior action at the helm of the offense.
“When Caleb came in, he just filled the role,” Moore said. “He filled the role real good and then just tried to lead us to victory.”
