Welcome to The Diamondback Sports Digest. Every week, we send you a rundown of the latest Maryland athletics news.
Maryland football (4-3, 1-3 Big Ten) may have saved its season on Saturday. It pulled off its largest fourth-quarter comeback since 2020 to top USC in miraculous fashion.
In this week’s newsletter, we’ll dive into how the Terps snapped their season’s free fall, field hockey’s busy week and women’s volleyball’s continued struggles.
Maryland football’s stunning comeback
Maryland entered its first-ever meeting in program history with USC coming off two straight defeats. A loss would’ve continued its tumble down the conference standings.
The Terps trailed 21-7 at halftime and 28-14 with just more than 13 minutes left in the game. But on the verge of disaster, they defeated the Trojans, 29-28, with an incredible performance on all three phases.
It started with a touchdown and a two-point conversion with just under 10 minutes left. The teams then traded stops, which gave USC the ball in Maryland territory.
Maryland’s special teams blocked a USC field goal after the two-minute warning, which paved the way for Billy Edwards Jr.’s five-play touchdown drive that put the Terps up by a point with less than a minute left.
The Trojans weren’t in field goal range when junior linebacker Caleb Wheatland broke up a fourth-down pass with 11 seconds left to seal the upset win and bring a field storm.
Maryland field hockey splits a pair of top 10 clashes
No. 8 Maryland played its sixth and seventh top 10 matches of the season this weekend, resulting in a 2-1 loss to No. 3 Ohio State and a win against No. 7 Michigan, 2-0.
Defense dominated Maryland’s Friday meeting with Ohio State, which stayed scoreless for the first 52 minutes. The Buckeyes and the Terps then struck within two seconds of each other before Ohio State’s Makenna Webster scored the game-winner with less than 30 seconds left.
Maryland had control against Michigan on Sunday. Senior midfielder Hope Rose scored on a penalty corner in the second quarter and sophomore defender Josie Hollamon added a dagger in the 58th minute.
Excellent defense from the Terps led their win against one of the Big Ten’s best offenses.
Maryland volleyball can’t buy a set
The Terps’ last win was a three-set sweep against Rutgers on Oct. 5. The Terps have since lost their last 12 sets, including a pair of 3-0 losses to No. 16 USC Friday night and Illinois on Sunday.
The defeats to the Trojans and Illini were similar. The Terps hit less than 20 percent in each match and handily lost the kill battle.
The stretch is similar to one from last year, when Maryland was swept in three straight matches before a three-set win against Ohio State ended the trend. It’ll hope for any type of win next weekend in a West Coast trip to face Oregon and Washington.
Best Bits
- Maryland men’s basketball coach Kevin Willard changed his roster construction philosophy this offseason in hopes of avoiding another disastrous year.
- Maryland men’s soccer faces stout Big Ten competition. Coach Sasho Cirovski made the team’s nonconference schedule difficult in preparation for the NCAA tournament.
- Maryland women’s soccer’s interim head coach Michael Marchiano is bringing the Terps together since the program parted ways with Meghan Ryan Nemzer.
- Kylee McQueen committed to Maryland gymnastics. Once she joins the team, she’ll be the first Canadian on the Terps’ roster since 2020.
- Maryland football’s win against USC brought the team’s fan base back in a monumental victory.
Stat of the week
Maryland football’s final scoring drive against USC was its first game-winning touchdown in the final minute since Nov. 17, 2001.
Quote of the week
“There’s two big factors in the transfer portal: money and money,” Willard said at Maryland men’s basketball’s media day on Tuesday.
