Taulia Tagovailoa snapped the ball and looked downfield. Before he could manage the throw, three blue jerseys grabbed hold of his body and threw him to the ground. This would not be an easy game for the Terrapins, and they knew it from the first drive.
For a second straight week, Maryland had an in-conference road game. Traveling to State College this time around, Maryland went knocking on the doors of the 7-2 Penn State Nittany Lions, ranked No. 14 in the country.
Maryland’s offense took the field first. On the first third down of the drive, Tagovailoa was sacked on Maryland’s own 5-yard line. Maryland’s first drive lasted only about a minute and a half, allowing Penn State to take over early in the quarter.
QB Sean Clifford made quick work of Maryland’s secondary on his first drive, connecting a series of passes to get Penn State in the red zone. WR Brenton Strange ended Penn State’s first possession with a 3-yard touchdown reception. 7-0, Penn State.
Maryland struggled to find production on offense, failing to convert a single third-down in its first three drives. As a result, Penn State held Maryland to zero points in the first quarter.
On Penn State’s third drive of the game, Clifford handed the ball off to RB Nicholas Singleton, who broke away for a 45-yard touchdown run. Penn State was now up by two possessions with a minute and a half left in the first quarter.
“I think we were prepared for the running backs, like most teams,” DB Beau Brade said in his post-game presser. “It was just our execution at the end of the day that made some of those plays get loose.”
The second quarter shared a similar narrative with the first. Maryland remained scoreless through three more drives while Penn State relentlessly pushed on. A bold fourth-down conversion led to a 27-yard touchdown run from Singleton, giving him his second touchdown.
Penn State finished the half with two field goals from Jake Pinegar on back-to-back drives, advancing its lead to 27-0.
Tagovailoa had an uncharacteristic first half, throwing for only 20 yards with a 42% completion rate. Maryland’s running back corps severely underperformed as well, rushing for only 7 yards by halftime.
“We just didn’t execute the way we wanted to,” RB Roman Hemby said. “Obviously, ten rushing yards isn’t what we’re looking for, but we knew that the plays we wanted to make were there.”
With Maryland unable to respond at the start of the second half, Penn State advanced its lead by three with another field goal from Pinegar. Now down by thirty points in the third quarter, Maryland’s chances at winning were grim.
Substitutions on Penn State’s offense later in the half allowed Maryland to catch its breath and look to come back. Maryland made substitutions as well, sending out QB Billy Edwards Jr. to finish the game with a little over eight minutes left to play.
Tagovailoa left the game with 74 yards and a 50% completion rate, connecting on just 11 out of 22 pass attempts. It didn’t help that he was sacked a whopping seven times, easily the highest number of sacks allowed by the offensive line this season.
“It’s always easy to blame the quarterback because he has the ball in his hand,” head coach Mike Locksley said. “I think it takes not just a quarterback to play great, but it takes the players around him too. It also takes calling things that we can get executed.”
Unable to produce any spark on offense, Maryland turned the ball over on downs and allowed Penn State to run down the clock.
“It is time to really take a hard look inside and make sure that we’re playing the right guys and doing the right things in all three phases,” Locksley said.
The final score was 30-0, Penn State.
