In the two weeks before facing Ohio State, the Maryland football team’s defense surrendered at least 650 yards. Indiana first gashed the unit for 650 with a mix of power rushing and high-tempo wildcat looks. Then, No. 2 Michigan moved up and down the field at the Big House for 660.
The Terps hoped to shore up their porous play against No. 6 Ohio State on Saturday afternoon. After all, they returned to Maryland Stadium for the first time since Oct. 22. Defensive coordinator Andy Buh maintained the players’ adherence to the scheme would fix some of the lapses.
But from the opening drive of the contest, the Terps failed to stop Ohio State in the 62-3 loss. The College Football Playoff-contending Buckeyes managed 581 yards on offense under Heisman Trophy candidate J.T. Barrett’s lead. Maryland’s attack, meanwhile, failed to establish a rhythm with three quarterbacks taking snaps and running back Lorenzo Harrison serving an indefinite suspension.
For the second consecutive week, Maryland fell by at least 56 points, the two largest margins of defeat in coach DJ Durkin’s tenure.
“Back-to-back [weeks] where the game got away from us early,” Durkin said. “We didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had and didn’t get a stop on defense.”
The losses came against two of Durkin’s mentors. He worked with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh at Stanford and at Michigan in 2015, and he learned under Ohio State coach Urban Meyer as a Bowling Green graduate assistant and on his staff at Florida.
The rookie coach called Meyer a “great friend” earlier in the week, but Meyer didn’t hesitate to pummel through his mentee’s squad as the Buckeyes aim to keep up with the Wolverines in the Big Ten East standings.
The Buckeyes (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten) scored touchdowns on six of their first eight drives. By halftime, Maryland trailed 45-3, and Ohio State was on pace for more than 700 yards of offense.
Down, 14-0, late in the first quarter, the Terps (5-5, 2-5) had a chance to cut into their deficit with a 1st-and-goal inside the five yard line. But the Terps failed to reach the end zone on three rushes. The third, a quarterback sneak from Caleb Rowe, appeared to break the plane, but the officials ruled him short and upheld the call after review. The Terps lined up for a fourth-down try, but a false start forced a 23-yard field goal from Adam Greene.
“If you’re going to play with a team or beat a team like that, you’ve got to take advantage of those opportunities,” Durkin said. “We didn’t.”
The sequence mirrored one they faced against the Wolverines when the Terps failed to convert a goal-line look and Greene missed a short kick. While the redshirt junior ensured Maryland recorded first-half points this time, the Buckeyes’ dominance reflected that of Michigan’s.
Barrett finished 18 for 27 for 253 yards and four total touchdowns. Halfback Curtis Samuel, the reigning Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week after the Buckeyes’ thrashing of Nebraska, totaled 112 yards and three scores.
“There’s not many guys like that who can do it all,” Meyer said of Samuel, the country’s lone player to have at least 500 yards rushing and receiving. “We’ve had tight ends before that were dual purpose guys, but he’s a tough one to defend. He’s a really good player.”
The duo watched from the sideline for much of the second half as the Buckeyes rotated through its reserves. Maryland’s offense, meanwhile, relied on backups, too.
After quarterback Perry Hills suffered a shoulder injury in the second quarter against the Wolverines, he returned to start Saturday, but on the Terps’ second possession, he took a blow on a third-down run and jogged off the field. Durkin confirmed after the game Hills injured his left shoulder.
Quarterback Caleb Rowe finished the first half seven of 13 for 93 yards and one interception. After the break, Durkin inserted quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome for action against the nation’s fifth-ranked defense.
The Buckeyes defense stifled the three Terps’ efforts — Maryland finished the game with 176 yards on offense — while displaying the control and discipline Durkin’s squad hoped to showcase amid its three-game slide.
“They just played really well,” offensive lineman Michael Dunn said. “You can tell that they’re a really well coached team and were very prepared to play us. We’ve just got to do a better job.”
