Final: Maryland – 17, Ohio State – 37
False hope, poor decision making, and baffling play calls in key moments. These are the ingredient that make up the University of Maryland’s football program. We do this song and dance every year with the Terrapins; only difference is they waited until game six of this season to show their true colors. I had been saying before last weekend that the Indiana game was going to be a classic, “Maryland falls on their face” spot. I should have known better.
Fans were incensed after this team started 5-0 but was held out of the top 25 rankings this week. To those people I ask this: do you not see who these teams are? FCS level Towson (don’t get me wrong, I love my alma mater but… let’s be real), 1-3 Charlotte, winless Virginia, a Michigan State program in absolute shambles, and an Indiana team that took 4 overtimes to beat Akron. What voter would have put Maryland in the top 25 with that sort of schedule?
All that being said, I fell for the trap. I got my hopes up after an utter dismantling of the Hoosiers. Those same hopes were sky high until the very last play of the first half.
A potential shot to the endzone and a seemingly guaranteed minimum of three points doused in kerosene and set on fire. Maryland would open the second half with a touchdown drive, only to see it immediately matched by one for the Buckeyes. At this point the writing was on the wall. After a second, back-breaking interception by Taulia Tagovailoa, the coffin was all but six feet under.
I would have thought that Maryland could’ve at least covered a 19.5 point spread given how well they had been playing, but Mike Locksley wasn’t having any of that. Down a couple score, Locks and every neuron in his brain decided it was the perfect time to run four straight running plays deep in their own zone. Ohio State took quick advantage of that gift by making sure they got back in the end zone. Tack on one more field goal to seal the deal and that’s how a cover is blown.
All people were saying ahead of this game was that Maryland always gives Ohio State a hard time; and to some level this is true. However, the harsh truth about this program is that once you think you know what’s going to happen, they turn around and do the opposite. I have no doubts they will come back and beat Illinois next weekend, and Northwestern two weeks after that, but there is not chance I going to get my hopes up in November against Penn State and Michigan; you only get to fool me once.
Still, I should have seen this coming.
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