Maryland football did a lot of things wrong against Ohio State

Maryland football was demolished on Saturday by one of the nation’s best teams on ESPN. Just like it was a week ago.

Ohio State came into College Park and routed the Terps, 62-3. The final score equaled that from the Buckeyes’ 62-3 win over Nebraska last week and surpassed Maryland’s 59-3 loss at Michigan last week.

In Ann Arbor, the Terps moved the ball at a reasonable clip on offense, amassing 367 yards. They mustered just 176 on Saturday while giving up 581.

Here’s a quick assessment:

Stock up

Teldrick Morgan, Maryland wide receiver. The grad transfer had seven catches for 56 yards. That’s not an eye-popping stat line by any means, but it made him a bright spot for the Terps. No other Maryland receiver had more than three catches or 37 yards (and that was all gained on one play by Levern Jacobs). Morgan also returned one punt, but he was blasted before he could gain a yard.

Stock holding

Maryland’s backup quarterbacks. Perry Hills left after two possessions with a left shoulder injury (it’s the opposite shoulder that kept him out in the past). Caleb Rowe came in and immediately engineered a 13-play, 76-yard drive that led to Maryland’s only three points of the game. After that, though, the offense was in a constant sputter. Rowe finished with 93 yards on 7-of-13 passing with an interception. Tyrrell Pigrome played the second half and went 7-of-11 for 44 yards. Neither was disastrous. Neither was good. With Hills injured again, the saga continues.

D.J. Moore, Maryland wide receiver. Moore had one three-yard catch and one two-yard rush. He was pretty much locked down by Ohio State’s Marshon Lattimore, who recorded the interception for the Buckeyes. These games happen to even the best wideouts, especially against teams like Ohio State, but they’re still disappointing.

Stock down

Maryland’s ground game. Running the football is usually something Maryland is pretty good at. At times, it’s been the Terps’ only redeeming quality. Not even that avenue was open Saturday. The Buckeyes held Maryland to 43 yards on the ground, by far a season low. The Terps averaged a paltry 1.1 yards per carry on their 40 attempts. Maryland was without freshman Lorenzo Harrison, who along with two other freshmen has been suspended indefinitely for violating the student-athlete code of conduct. Against a stout Buckeye defense, nobody picked up the slack. Ty Johnson had 21 yards on eight carries. Jake Funk had 13 on four. Wes Brown had one yard on nine attempts. It was rough.

Maryland on third down. In 15 third-down offensive snaps, the Terps moved the chains only once. They did go 2-for-5 on fourth down, but even that only brings the number to 3-of-20. The offense had only nine first downs all game. Unlike last week, when Maryland moved the ball but couldn’t finish drives, the Terps never found a rhythm. Harrison’s absence, the revolving door at quarterback and a top-notch Ohio State defense all contributed to this stagnation.

The defense, again. The Terps surrendered 581 yards—328 through the air and 253 on the ground—and 62 points. J.T. Barrett, an established very-good quarterback, had four total touchdowns. Three different Buckeyes (Mike Weber, Demario McCall and Barrett) out-rushed Maryland’s entire team. The 581 yards is actually the least Maryland has given up since beating Michigan State, but that’s not exactly encouraging.