For back-to-back weeks, Maryland football is feeling the sting of a gut-wrenching loss in Big Ten play.
One week after suffering a 24-20 loss after a Washington 20-point comeback at home, the Terrapins (4-2, 1-2 B1G) dropped to Nebraska (5-1, 2-1 B1G) on Saturday in College Park 34-31 after the Cornhuskers scored 10-unanswered points in the fourth quarter to steal a conference win from the home team. Coach Mike Locksley was still pleased with his team’s effort to fight throughout the contest during his postgame press conference thoughts Saturday night.
“One of the things we talk about around here is nobody’s going to give us anything. Anything we get, we’re going to have to take or earn,” Locksley said. “That’s one of the things that, again, a week ago, we didn’t make enough plays. This time, we get it till there were zeros on the clock, and we’re competing, scratching, scraping, and fighting to find a way to win. I think with that type of effort, you’ll see the results of it. Obviously didn’t do it today.”
Despite the Terrapins’ best efforts, costly penalties marred key plays throughout the contest for Maryland. The Terps were penalized eight times for 100 yards, including several personal fouls, including a late hit on Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola.
“If it was the same person, I’d say, hey, let’s pile on. But when it comes from leaders like number 10, obviously, those after-the-play penalties are critical. Like I’ve told you, I equate a lot to being a parent. As a parent, all I can do is draw the line in the sand. We’ll continue to coach our guys up on the proper way to play,” Locksley said.
The Terrapins held a 31-24 advantage heading into the fourth quarter with a chance to continue a drive, but failed to convert on third down, giving Nebraska the chance to score on a 12-play, 82-yard drive that ended in a Nebraska field goal. The Huskers then held Maryland to a five-play, 22-yard drive, getting the ball back to close on a game-winning seven-play, 81-yard touchdown drive ended by a Dane Key touchdown reception.
Locksley summarized the Terps’ final quarter of play with three words: “make a play.”
“We can analyze every call, but at the end of the day, I’ve watched the other team make plays and I’ve watched us not make the play,” Locksley said. “As a coach, that’s where I’ll focus. Why are these plays not being made on our end, and how can we put the guys in better position? Credit again to Nebraska—they made the play they needed. We needed one more drive on offense, one more stop on defense, and we couldn’t get off the field. They made the plays necessary. We’ll keep working and emphasizing it.”
The coach credited Nebraska’s ball carriers and receivers for creating big plays, but noted the Terrapins’ defense had some work to do in the fundamentals to prevent future big play opportunities.
Again, a week ago, we had opportunities to finish on the quarterback. If you take a look at some of the plays, they had explosive plays in those long drives, and then we fight and hold them in the red area. But there were just too many explosives in the run game. I think they had a 177-yard rusher, which, for us, we’ve played the run really well, but the missed tackles again showed up in critical parts of the game. Good teams get the ball on the ground, and we didn’t do it in critical situations,” Locksley said.
“Usually, when we miss tackles in space, it’s overrunning the football, overpursuing, long stride, short stride, open-field pursuit. They had a couple screens that spit out and we didn’t get the ball on the ground. When we don’t tackle well, it’s a byproduct of the fundamentals, and we’ll take a look and make sure we finish better.”
Nebraska finished with 453 total offensive yards, including 196 net rushing yards. The Huskers’ Emmett Johnson led the way with 176 rushing yards and routinely made several Terrapin defenders miss throughout the contest.
Although the Terrapins were unable to notch a quality Big Ten win, Locksley is still confident his Terrapins can compete with the conference’s best.
“We’ll turn the page quickly, get back on the horse, and continue to coach the crap out of this team. I feel really good about this team. I know you guys are going to write what you’ve got to write, but nobody can watch what we did today and feel like it’s the same old Maryland, because I don’t see that, and I’ll continue to tell you those things,” Locksley said.
For Nebraska, coach Matt Rhule is looking forward to Nebraska’s next challenge after a 5-1 start.
“It’s just about playing the next game, playing the next play – as corny as that sounds,” Rhule said. “I can tell just tell you my nerves inside are going 100 miles a minute and I just go, ‘Play the next play.'”
Maryland hits the road for the first time in two weeks, heading to California to take on the revitalized UCLA Bruins on Saturday. Nebraska returns to the road for a Friday night battle against Minnesota.
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