Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Penn State
The Terps took out their frustration from four consecutive lopsided losses to Penn State the last four years by a combined 20120 score and posted their most points in the series.
They jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first 18 minutes and led 35-7 early in the third quarter.
“We weren’t as competitive as we needed to be,” Lions coach James Franklin said. “We weren’t competitive early in the game.”
Taulia Tagovailoa, younger brother of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, completed 18-of-26 passes for 282 yards and three touchdowns. He threw scoring passes of 42 and 62 yards in the first quarter to speedy wide receiver Rakim Jarrett, who outran the Penn State secondary on both.
“We needed to have some intensity and hunger from the start,” defensive end Jayson Oweh said.
Maryland sacked Sean Clifford seven times and throttled the Penn State offense after allowing 978 total yards in its first two games against Northwestern and Minnesota. The Lions finished with a deceiving 434-405 advantage in total yards, but many of those came after the Terps had built an insurmountable lead.
Under duress most of the night, Clifford completed 27-of-57 passes for 340 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions, setting a Penn State record for attempts in a game. He also missed open receivers.
“Mentally, I’m ticked,” Clifford said. “That’s probably the only way I can describe it. We’re an 0-3 football team. I’ve never been on an 0-3 football team. I’ve never lost like this in my life. To say I’m frustrated and disappointed, that’s an understatement.”
Penn State hadn’t looked so helpless since a 27-10 loss at Temple to begin the 2015 season when Christian Hackenberg was sacked 10 times and the Lions were still feeling the effects from NCAA sanctions.
It was perhaps their most stunning defeat at home since a 24-6 loss to Toledo in 2000, a game in which Penn State was favored by 18½ points. The Lions had been 30-0 in games they were favored by at least 20 points since 2008.
“We’re not playing up to our standards or up to our capabilities,” tight end Pat Freiermuth said. “At the end of the day it’s on us as players to be prepared to go out there and start fast.
“Coach Franklin can put us in every position to get us going fast but at the end of the day we have to hold each other accountable and I don’t think that’s happening right now.”
Tagovailoa’s 38-yard touchdown pass to Jarrett in the first three minutes gave Maryland its first touchdown against Penn State since 2016, a span of 14 quarters. And there were more to come.
Tagovailoa hooked up with Jarrett
again and Jake Funk ran for a 38-yard touchdown to make it 21-0 early in the second quarter. Dotson, who had nine receptions for 123 yards, made a pretty catch for a 20-yard score to give the Lions hope.
But Maryland squelched that with another Tagovailoa TD pass, this one to Dontay Demus behind
the defense, and then one on defense. The Terps picked up their first takeaway of the season when Nick Cross sacked Clifford and forced a fumble, which Chance Campbell returned 29 yards for a score that made it 35-7 early in the third quarter. Game, set and match. Penn State will travel to Nebraska
next week, trying to begin to salvage this strange season.
“We’re not one right now,” Dotson said. “We’re not a unit. There are a lot of different things going on. There are distractions that we shouldn’t be focused on right now. We should be focused on getting in the win column and nothing else.”