No, we here at Terps Watch are not done talking about Maryland’s thrilling yet devastating 52-51 overtime loss to Ohio State. At least, not until we discuss the best play from that game.
This is of, course, the fake punt completed pass from punter-turned-quarterback Wade Lees to Taivon Jacobs with about nine minutes left in the fourth quarter.
The Buckeyes and Terps were tied 31-31, but this fake punt on fourth down and eight changed the complexion of the drive which ended on a Tyrrell Pigrome touchdown pass to Jeshaun Jones to give Maryland a 38-31 lead.
Here is the play in its full entirety.
To understand the sheer greatness of this play, here’s a frame-by-frame analysis of what happened.
Maryland is set up like a normal punt, but notice normal wide receiver Taivon Jacobs at the bottom of the offensive line. He becomes a big part of this play in a few seconds.
As Lees receives the ball, the three Maryland blockers closest to him are blocking like normal, but you can see Jacobs running parallel to the yard line with his jersey number facing the camera at the 48-yard line.
As the defense converges on Lees, who they think is punting, he goes back to pass and Jacobs is wide open at the 48-yard line, ready to receive the pass. However, he has to get nine yards for this fake to work.
Jacobs has more than enough room to get a first down when he catches Lees’ pass. He now has to hope that his one blocker at the first down marker can continue blocking his man long enough for Jacobs to move the chains.
Luckily for Jacobs, no one on Ohio State trying to block Lees’ punt is close enough to get back and tackle him before the first down marker and his blocker in front held off the Buckeye defender enough to let him get the first down.
Also, at this point, Jacobs jukes back right to get more yards and jukes back left to avoid the defense and go with the block in front of him.
Jacobs is now past the first down and has enough of a hole down the sideline to get a few more yards before he was pushed out of bounds.
This was a gutsy decision by Matt Canada and great execution from Lees, Jacobs and the other nine Terps on the field for the play.
The decision also worked, as Maryland ended this drive with a touchdown. If the Terps were able to pull off the upset on Saturday, this play would’ve gone down in the program’s folklore. Instead, it’ll likely end up being nothing more than a fun trick play that sadly came in a loss.
