Recurring nightmare
Terps make wrong kind of statement in blowout loss
COLLEGE PARK — All the hype and hope that began with two one-sided victories and its first national ranking in six years began to dissipate for the Maryland football team nearly two weeks ago with a disheartening three-point road loss to Temple.
On Friday night, before the first sellout crowd at Maryland in four seasons, the Terps saw their “Blackout” game against No. 12 Penn State quickly become a blowout — for the Nittany Lions, who scored on six of their first seven possessions, including the first four, and cruised to another easy victory, 59-0 before a crowd of 53,228.
It was the largest margin of defeat for Maryland since a 66-3 loss at home to No. 10 Penn State to end the 2017 season. With the defeat, the Terps haven’t scored a touchdown against the Nittany Lions since then-freshman quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome’s 7-yard run in the second quarter of a 38-14 road loss in 2016, a stretch of 14 quarters.
It was also the worst shutout defeat for Maryland since a 63-0 loss at then-No. 8 Florida State in 2013, the last time before this season that the Terps were ranked.
Graduate transfer quarterback Josh Jackson, coming off what was statistically one of the worst performances of his college career, which was called an “outlier” by first-year coach Mike Locksley, struggled even worse against the Nittany Lions. Jackson finished 10 of 21 for a career-low 65 yards and two interceptions. He was also sacked four times.
Jackson, who had seven touchdowns and just one interception in wins over Howard and Syracuse, was picked off twice in his first eight throws, the first leading to an 8-yard touchdown run by counterpart Sean Clifford and the second near the Penn State goal line, leading to a 95-yard touchdown drive by the Nittany Lions.
The victory was the fifth straight for Penn State (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) in the series since Maryland (2-2, 0-1) beat the Nittany Lions in Happy Valley in its first year in the Big Ten in 2014, with the past three wins coming by a combined 163-6. Penn State leads the series 40-2-1.
On Jackson’s first interception, it appeared he was looking at sophomore wide receiver Dontay Demus Jr., who was streaking across the middle of the field on a post route wide open. Jackson threw a bullet that was picked off by linebacker Jan Johnson, who was tackled out of bounds by Jackson to set up Clifford’s first touchdown.
Clifford, who took over at quarterback this season after Trace McSorley, now with the Baltimore Ravens, graduated and Tommy Stevens transferred to Mississippi State, completed his first nine passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns — including a 58-yard catch-and-run by redshirt sophomore KJ Hamler. He finished the night 26-for-31 for 398 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
Penn State’s 14-0 first-quarter lead doubled in the first 5:20 of the second quarter on sophomore Ricky Slade’s 3-yard run to complete the 10-play, 95-yard drive and with Clifford’s second touchdown pass, a 15-yarder to redshirt senior tight end Nick Bowers.
After Clifford completed his 10th pass — which went to freshman safety Nick Cross of Maryland — the junior ran for 25 yards on a third-and-7 and eventually found junior running back Journey Brown on a short pass that Brown turned into a 37-yard touchdown jaunt down the sideline for a 35-0 lead.
Penn State finished the half driving 75 yards to set up a 21-yard field goal by Jake Pinegar for a 38-0 lead as time expired.
Clifford completed19 of 22 passes for 287 yards in the first half alone, the most passing yards in a half in school history, and the Nittany Lions outgained Maryland 383-94. Jackson finished the half 5-for-11 for 34 yards, while redshirt sophomore Anthony McFarland Jr., the team’s leading rusher, had just 22 yards on eight carries.
Injuries continued to pile up for the Terps.
After losing senior guard Terrance Davis with a sprained knee and redshirt junior running back Jake Funk with a torn ACL against Temple, junior offensive tackle Marcus Minor and redshirt junior running Lorenzo Harrison III both went out with injuries in the first quarter. Senior cornerback Marcus Lewis left with an injury in the second quarter.
Maryland also saw redshirt junior safety Deon Jones get ejected for a targeting penalty in the second quarter.