Making a big statement in Big Ten

Terps rout Boilermakers in conference opener; will bring 4-0 record to Penn St.

COLLEGE PARK — When the first pass thrown by Maryland quarterback Perry Hills was intercepted by Purdue deep in his team’s territory early in Saturday’s Big Ten opener, there might have been more than a shred of doubt creeping the announced 41,206 here for Homecoming.

But any thought of Hills and the Terps returning to the mistakes and misery of TV: Radio: SCHMUCK: recent years quickly dissipated. The defense kept the Boilermakers out of the end zone, a 35-yard field-goal attempt fluttered wide and Maryland put up 29 unanswered points by halftime en route to a convincing 50-7 victory.

Not only did it give first-year coach DJ Durkin his fourth straight win to start the season and Maryland (4-0, 1-0) its biggest margin of victory ever in a Big Ten game, but it also helped keep the momentum going into Saturday’s game at Penn State.

Hills quickly redeemed himself for Maryland’s first turnover of the season by leading the Terps to a touchdown on their next possession with the first of two scoring passes to senior transfer Teldrick Morgan (Meade). Maryland’s running game and defense did the rest.

The Terps amassed 400 yards on the ground — 204 of them, plus a touchdown, by sophomore running back Ty Johnson on just seven carries. The defense held Purdue (2-2, 0-1) to 10 rushing yards and sacked redshirt sophomore quarterback David Blough six times.

Durkin thought the game’s first scoring

drive was critical to the way Maryland dominated.

“Obviously, you never want turnovers or interceptions, but to see how he responded was great; Perry saw our confidence in him as well,” Durkin said. “The very next time we had the ball on offense, [offensive coordinator Walt Bell] called a pass, Perry threw the ball and we were like, ‘Let’s go.’

“No one is going to get shellshocked by that. We haven’t had a turnover this year, so we haven’t had a sudden change situation defensively. For us to go out there and hold them to no points, that was great for momentum.”

After the touchdown, Durkin and Bell made a statement of sorts by going for a 2-point conversion, with third-string senior quarterback Caleb Rowe hitting senior running back Kenneth Goins Jr. (Gilman) to make it 8-0.

“That 2-point play is something that we’ve worked on. Let’s call it ‘Let’s show our guys we’re installing stuff to run it.’ We’re not going to play scared — ever,” Durkin said.

Said Hills, who also added an 11-yard touchdown run late in the first half: “The defense did a fantastic job all day. They really bailed us out a couple of times. After turning the ball over, you just kind of got to forget about it. … You’ve just got to go down the field and score.”

If there was a noticeable difference between the way the Terps played Saturday and the first three games, it was in their defense. After being run all over the field by Central Florida quarterback McKenzie Milton in their previous game Sept. 17 in Orlando, the Terps kept Blough in check by keeping him in the pocket, putting more pressure on him than they did on Milton and doing a better job covering Purdue’s receivers.

“We got coached very hard throughout the week,” said senior defensive end Roman Braglio (McDonogh), who had his first two sacks of the season. “We knew this kid would like to run and would look down the field to throw. That’s where a lot of his big plays come from, and we successfully stopped that.”

Blough, who came into the game with a Big Ten-worst seven interceptions, didn’t get picked off. But a player who had completed roughly 60 percent of his passes and thrown for 315 yards a game completed just 18 of 41 passes for 132 yards.

“I could have gotten the ball out of my hands, maybe thrown it away,” said Blough, who had been sacked once in Purdue’s first three games. “There is a list that goes on forever on what we could have done differently. I was not sharp with it.” A more positive list goes on for the Terps. Maryland’s margin of victory was its largest in a conference game since a 62-14 win over Wake Forest in 2010.

The 173 points the Terps have put up this season is the most by any Maryland team after four games. Running back Lorenzo Harrison, who had a 62-yard touchdown run, is the first Terp to score in the first four games of his career.

This is also the first time the Terps have started the season 4-0 since 2013.

“We’re 4-0, with a chance to go 5-0. We know we’ve got a big task ahead of us [at Penn State],” Durkin said. Purdue Maryland FIRST QUARTER MAR: Morgan 11 pass from Hills (Goins pass from Rowe), 6:59 SECOND QUARTER MAR: Harrison 62 run (Greene kick), 13:35 MAR: T.Johnson 8 run (Greene kick), 10:08 MAR: Hills 11 run (Greene kick), :11 THIRD QUARTER MAR: Morgan 5 pass from Hills (Greene kick), 7:27 FOURTH QUARTER PUR: Herdman 4 pass from Blough (Dellinger kick), 13:30 MAR: T.Johnson 48 run (Greene kick), 12:10 MAR: Funk 9 pass from Pigrome (Greene kick), 7:12 0 8 0 21 0 7 7 14 — — RUSHING: Purdue, Mar.Jones 12-23, Sindelar 1-13, Da.Yancey 1-2, Worship 1-(minus 1), (Team) 1-(minus 1), Blough 11-(minus 26). Maryland, T.Johnson 7-204, Harrison 6-78, Funk 6-33, Goins 3-24, Pigrome 3-19, Hills 10-18, Morgan 2-16, D.Turner 1-4, Edmunds 2-2, W.Brown 5-2, (Team) 1-0. PASSING: Purdue, Blough 18-41-0-132, Sindelar 4-12-1-63. Maryland, Hills 8-13-1-87, Pigrome 1-4-0-9. RECEIVING: Purdue, Young 4-47, De.Yancey 4-40, Herdman 4-23, Phillips 3-43, Posey 2-12, Mar.Jones 2-6, Hopkins 1-14, Bailey 1-8, Marshall 1-2. Maryland, Morgan 5-46, W.Brown 1-20, D.Moore 1-15, Funk 1-9, Harrison 1-6. MISSED FIELD GOALS: Purdue, Dellinger 35 7 50