Yesterday Maryland suffered a rather ugly defeat in Columbus, falling 62-14 to Ohio State.

Despite it being a pretty tough loss, there were improvements from last year’s 62-3 loss against the Buckeyes. Let us break them down.

Kick return touchdowns

2016: 0

2017: 1

For a brief moment during Saturday’s game, it looked like there was a chance Maryland was going to hang around with Ohio State. That came when Ty Johnson ran 100 yards down the left sideline to cut Ohio State’s lead to 14-7.

Last year’s game at College Park featured no such explosive kick returns, so we already have one improvement from 2016’s 62-3 drubbing.

Blocked field goals

2016: 0

2017: 1

While Maryland’s offense and defense certainly had their struggles, the Terps did everything could on special teams to make this a game. On top of Ty Johnson’s kick return, the Terps blocked a field goal.

The field goal block unit had no such luck doing this in 2016, so you can chalk up another sign of progress for the Terps against Ohio State.

Interceptions thrown

2016: 1

2017: 0

To put it lightly, Max Bortenschlager struggled against Ohio State. However, he did avoid throwing an interception, which did not happen in the 2016 contest. So let’s give Max some credit for, at the very least, making sure no INTs occurred when he threw the ball.

Forced fumbles

2016: 0

2017: 2

Last year the Terps were unable to get any turnovers off the Buckeyes. This year, they were able to produce a pair of forced fumbles. The second forced fumble was recovered by JC Jackson at Ohio State’s 27-yard-line and was eventually punched in for a touchdown.

Yes, Maryland got blown out yesterday.

However, there are some signs of improvement from last year’s even worse defeat. So if you wanted to look on the bright side following the loss, we hope this post will do the trick.