For a second straight weekend, Maryland Football is blown out

By: Ethan Cadeaux @Ethan_301

For a second straight week, Maryland Terrapins’ head coach D.J. Durkin faced one of his previous mentors. And for a second straight week, their opponent slaughtered the Terps.

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer, who Durkin coached under at the University of Florida, had his no. 5 ranked Buckeyes prepared for the Terps in all phases of the game. The Buckeyes dominated from the start, going on to win 62 to 3.

The Buckeyes dominated on the ground. Through the first half, they had 171 rushing yards. The Terps had just a mere five.

Three Buckeye running backs outrushed Maryland as a whole. Mike Weber had 93 yards, Demario McCall had 53, and J.T. Barrett totaled 47. The Terps finished with 43 rushing yards.

It was never close. This game was over shortly after it started.

Maryland was without their best running back, as freshman Lorenzo Harrison was suspended indefinitely on Saturday for violating a team code. It would not have mattered on Saturday.

Ohio State scored five times via the ground, and three times through the air.

The Terps? Three total points.

The Buckeyes scored touchdowns on four of their first five drives. They only punted twice throughout the whole game, and scored points on 10 of their 14 drives.

#Terps head coach D.J. Durkin's opening statement following loss to OSU. pic.twitter.com/xPK1a8fgsM

— Ethan Cadeaux (@Ethan_301) November 13, 2016

“Our defense certainly has to play better,” Durkin said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, it matters about us. We have to get better.”

After just the second Terrapin drive of the game, starting quarterback Perry Hills did not return due to injury. His original replacement, senior Caleb Rowe, was ineffective, throwing for just 93 yards.

In the second half, freshman Tyrrell Pigrome led the Terrapin offense. Piggy was one-dimensional – he could not complete a pass anywhere remotely down the field. The Buckeyes knew that, and kept the Terrapin offense stagnant throughout the afternoon.

It was just an awful day all around for Maryland.

THREE TAKEAWAYS

The Terps are still very far from being a good team.
The Terps faced the two best teams in the Big Ten in consecutive weeks, and got blown out both times.While the winner of the Ohio State-Michigan game will most likely be in the College Football Playoff, it would have been a good sign to see the Terps at least put up a fight against a tough opponent.

They failed to do that in either game, and gave up 550-plus yards of total offense to both teams. That is not the recipe for how to knock off a top-five opponent.
Maryland really could have used Dwayne Haskins and Keandre Jones today.
The talk around College Park all of last year was how four-star recruit Dwayne Haskins would be the answer to the revolving door at quarterback that has plagued Maryland for so many years.But all that changed when Haskins flipped his commitment from the Terps to Ohio State just a couple weeks before National Signing day.

Along with Haskins, four-star linebacker Keandre Jones flipped from Maryland to Ohio State as well. Just like that, the two top recruits in Maryland’s 2016 class were gone.

While neither one did much in the game (Haskins didn’t see the field), the Terps sure could have used these two, whom many figure would have been day one starters had they kept their commitment to Maryland.
Maryland’s defense needs help. Fast.
For the second straight week, the Terps allowed over 550 yards to their opponent. The Buckeyes totaled 650 yards, running for 253 and throwing for 328.After allowing 59 points a week ago, the Terps allowed 62 points on Saturday. You’re not going to win very many games when allowing those numbers.

“We have to play harder,” Durkin said. “We have to play faster, we have to tackle better and get stops.”

J. Durkin is regarded as one of the best defensive minds in college football, but his team is not reflecting that at all right now. This team may need two or three of his recruiting classes before the defense is in the same breath as the ones he coached as an assistant at Florida and Michigan.