This season for Ohio State fans has been a steady dose of insecurity about how the team will play in any given game. Whether it’s the coaching, player youth, or high fans’ expectations is open to argument. Ohio State kicked off as a four touchdown favorite against Maryland and most fans expected the Buckeyes to cover easily.
Very early on in the first drive for Ohio State, it looked like the Buckeyes were both disinterested and playing down to their competition. A Maryland pass interference penalty bailed out a questionable throw from Joe Thomas Barrett that looked like it was intercepted. The offense then got rolling and marched 71 yards to score the opening touchdown on a Curtis Samuel two yard run around the right side.
The second series for Ohio State, after forcing a Terrapin three and out, was a steady dose of ground game. Needing only four rushes to go 56 yards with Joe Thomas Barrett scoring after pulling the handoff on the zone read and rushing to the left corner of the end zone. After less than six minutes of game time, it looked as though the rout was on.
The Maryland quarterback Perry Hills left the game after a tackle forced him down on his left shoulder. The backup, Caleb Rowe, entered the game with only 23 passing attempts on the season and immediately went to work on the Ohio State defense. Rowe was 4/6 passing for 72 yards on the drive before a combination of stout Buckeyes defense, a Maryland penalty, and an allegedly botched review forced a Maryland field goal. The rout was still on.
The first half was a lot more of the same, Buckeyes mixing the run and pass and seemingly scoring at will. The Ohio State defense stiffened after realizing that Caleb Rowe was not a threat running the ball. Marshon Lattimore had a beautiful interception after Nick Bosa leveled Rowe on the release.The Buckeyes were able to score on a nifty reverse pitch to Curtis Samuel from Mike Weber to get Samuel his third touchdown in the first half. Jalyn Holmes recovered a fumble forced by Raekwon McMillan at the Maryland 22 but the Buckeyes had to settle for 45 yard field goal from Tyler Durbin after stalling inside the 30.
The first half was an absolute drubbing. Maryland had one good drive that only got them three points. The Terrapin defense was flagged three times for pass interference in the opening half and could do nothing to stop Joe Thomas Barrett, Curtis Samuel, and Mike Weber from consistently driving down the field and scoring. Ohio State finally had to punt, which is a very, very minor win for Maryland.
Maryland had won the toss and deferred to the second half so they received the kickoff to open play. The Terrapins trotted out freshman Tyrell Pigrome as its quarterback, hoping that his quickness would help keep the Silver Bullet defense honest. It didn’t seem to do much good as Maryland only earned one first down before failing to convert a fourth and one at their own 49 yard line. Ohio State’s offense picked up a quick 32 yards when Barrett hit Demario McCall on a swing pass but was unable to get any more yardage and had to settle for 34 yard field goal from Durbin to stretch the lead to 48-3 less than three minutes into the second half.
After forcing yet another Maryland punt, the Buckeyes starting offense put together a nice 73 yard drive before yielding to the skill position backups and scoring on a three yard Demario McCall run. The touchdown bringing the Buckeyes within seven points of their final against Nebraska last week with 5:43 left in the third quarter.
The Ohio State backups were unable to drive the ball to open the fourth quarter and Cameron Johnston had to punt for the second time. That is a workout compared to his zero punt night last week against Nebraska. Maryland had to punt for the sixth time of the game instead of going for it on fourth down for the sixth time. Joe Burrow went 3/3 on the ensuing drive, including a 25 yard throw to Binjimen Victor in the end zone to push the lead out to 62-3. That makes it two weeks in a row that Ohio State has scored at least 62 points in B1G play and surpassed the 59 that Michigan scored on Maryland last week.
If it is possible for a game that is 62-3 with half of the fourth quarter to actually not be as close as the score, this is the example. There was never a moment in the game where it appeared that Maryland had anything to counter Ohio State offensively or defensively. The Terrapins didn’t seem to have the same mental issues against the Buckeyes that Nebraska did but the talent mismatch was glaring and obvious from the beginning. The last seven minutes of this game felt a lot like the end of the Rutgers game, Urban doing everything he could to not embarrass the opposing coach that is also a friend or former assistant.
The Buckeyes offense continues rolling and the defense continues dominating as Ohio State recovers from the Penn State loss. Next week against Michigan State will be just as important as this one was and hopefully this young team continues their march through November.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
