Maryland defeated Northwestern for the first time in program history and became bowl eligible at its earliest point since 2001 behind quarterback Billy Edwards Jr., starting in place of an injured Taulia Tagovailoa, and running back Roman Hemby.
Following the 31-24 win, Maryland (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten) enters the bye week having clinched bowl eligibility for a second consecutive season.
“What it does is … if we take care of business the right way we will have better and better opportunities ahead of us,” head coach Michael Locksley said.
“It means a lot, but as this program is built we’re trying to get bigger and better, so we’re looking forward to getting more wins,” sophomore defensive back Dante Trader Jr. said. “That was a great relief to get over the hump.”
Redshirt freshman Edwards picked up his first career win for the Terps by leading his team to another comeback win. He finished the game with 166 yards and one touchdown on 18-for-28 passing. He also rushed for 66 yards.
“That’s who Billy is,” Locksley said. “We talked to him about protecting himself on the runs. … He really did a good job of protecting the football, which is always key. It would be nice to see him not take some of those extra shots, but if it’s a third down and he’s got to get the first down, you’ve got do what you need to sustain the drive.”
“I don’t think it’s my style, but I definitely think I can extend the plays with my feet when I need to,” Edwards said of his scrambling to extend plays. “I think sometimes I got a little bit undisciplined and kind of had my eyes down at the rush when there were times I could have kept my eyes downfield and thrown the ball downfield to an open receiver.”
The Terps exploded for 21 second-half points after the offense struggled to get the ball in a position to score early on.
“Those first couple of drives I was trying to get my feet underneath me, trust my eyes, trust my feet, and stick to my training and make the correct reads,” Edwards said.
The Terps were behind, 17-10, at the end of the first half, but the Maryland defense was able to hold the Wildcats to one touchdown in the second half while the offense found its groove.
“We came out kind of strong then we kind of lapsed and got complacent and didn’t play our style of play, so we stopped communicating,” Trader said of the first-half defense. “We came out second half and I made sure I talked to every single position group like, ‘Let’s go, we go to turn up and we’re going to play Maryland football.'”
“We don’t hope to be a second-half team,” Trader added. “We want to play four quarters, but we have been known to come out in the second half after adjustments.”
After Northwestern scored on three consecutive first-half drives, Trader intercepted Wildcats sophomore quarterback Brendan Sullivan to give the Terps momentum early in the second half:
“They ran the same screen action about three times,” Trader said. “So, on the third one he gave me a shopping cart fake block and I was like, ‘He’s going for a pass.'”
“For whatever reason when our defense gets us the ball, minus maybe the Purdue game, good things tend to happen,” Locksley said.
Maryland scored after Trader’s interception thanks to the legs of the redshirt freshman Hemby. Hemby ran for 30 yards on the drive and scored an 18-yard touchdown to tie the game at 17.
“At halftime [the offensive line] came in and said, ‘Coach, let’s pick our best running plays and let’s run the ball,” Locksley said.
Hemby finished the game with 179 yards and three touchdowns. Hemby’s three touchdowns are the most from a Terps running back since Javon Leake had four against Illinois in 2018.
“Roman did a tremendous job getting behind those big guys,” Locksley said. “We needed the run game the second half [because] it opened up the play action pass. … It makes us tougher to defend when we get the running game going like that.”
Hemby’s third touchdown was the game-winning touchdown for the Terps. After a nine-play, 72-yard touchdown drive by Northwestern to tie the game at 24, it took Hemby just one play to score a 75-yard rushing touchdown to give Maryland a 31-24 lead.
“It’s a simple play that we work all week in practice and it was the perfect time to run it in the game,” Hemby said. “We saw the front that we wanted and I just came through the mesh and the lineman got their blocks, the wide receivers work to the secondary to get their blocks. I just had to run and beat two people and I was able to outrun their angles that they had to score a touchdown.”
But what effectively sealed the win was another big second-half interception. Junior safety Beau Brade picked off Sullivan with 3:02 remaining. Maryland ran down the clock, forcing the Wildcats to use their timeouts, and sealed the win.
This marked Maryland’s third consecutive game forcing multiple turnovers.
Maryland will now head into its bye week with back-to-back wins before taking on Wisconsin Nov 5.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics