Quarterback injuries come back to haunt Terps
Maryland got a lot of bounce nationally by taking down No. 23 Texas 51-41 in its opening game. But a lot of air leaked out of the Terrapins’ football that day when quarterback Tyrell Pigrome tore an ACL and was lost for the season.
Then it lost four-star freshman backup Kasim Hill two weeks later to the same injury against Central Florida.
Third-stringer Max Bortenschlager, who is strictly a pocket passer, was the essential Statue of Liberty against Ohio State on Saturday in a 62-14 loss at Ohio Stadium. The final tally for Maryland was 66 yards of total offense and six first downs.
Shining moment
Ty Johnson’s 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown with 9:40 left in the first quarter will appear on the Terrapins’ highlight film. He didn’t get touched until jumping over Ohio State’s Elijaah Goins at the goal line.
What went right
Special-teams coaches also will be replaying a 47-yard blocked field-goal attempt by Chandler Burkett. Burkett split a guard and a tackle in barging through the left side for the swat.
Drawing board
Ohio State’s first possession of the third quarter was a perfect example of how overmatched Maryland was on defense. First, blitzing linebacker Isaiah Davis had a clear shot at quarterback J.T. Barrett about 6 yards deep in the backfield but whiffed. Barrett ran 35 yards to the Terrapins 22-yard line. On the next play, cornerback Tino Ellis almost took down Austin Mack in the end zone for pass interference. Luckily for the Terrapins, Ohio State missed a 29-yard field goal.
Question mark
Midway through the second quarter, Maryland faced a third-and-4 from the Ohio State 31 and called timeout. The head-scratching choice was a run by Johnson that netted 1 yard. On fourth down, Bortenschlager was blindsided by linebacker Jerome Baker for a 6-yard loss.
Star power
Junior receiver DJ Moore did extend his streak of catching at least one pass to 26 straight games, but the end-of-the-game numbers were two catches for 11 yards. They said it
“They made the plays and we missed the plays. We left plays out there. You watch the film and get better. It’s already out there. It already happened. You get ready for next weekend and another contest.’’ — Maryland safety Josh Woods
Telling stat
Before the crowd got overheated by 80-degree-plus temperatures and bored, the Terrapins showed they had no counterpunch for J.T. Barrett and company. The final count was 1 of 15 on third down.
Trivial matters
Johnson ran for 57 yards on 12 carries, with a long gain of 35 yards. … Maryland punted nine times. … Ohio State coach Urban Meyer is 10-1 against former assistants. Durkin was a graduate assistant on Meyer’s staff at Bowling Green and was linebacker and special-teams coach for Meyer at Florida.