The Maryland football team defeated Rutgers, 37-0, on Nov. 26 to end the regular season.
It marked the Terps’ first win since grabbing a 31-24 victory against Northwestern on Oct. 22.
Maryland has struggled to keep its momentum since then, but the Terps managed to send their seniors home victorious behind a dominant performance against the Scarlet Knights.
It was a roller-coaster season for the Terps, who will now they will look to see what bowl game lies ahead. They clinched bowl eligibility against Northwestern, the earliest the program had done so since 2001.
But first, here are three takeaways from Maryland’s season finale:
1. Roman Hemby bounces back.
After each team’s offense struggled in a scoreless first quarter, redshirt freshman running back Roman Hemby opened up the scoring at the beginning of the second quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Terps a 7-0 lead.
“We had to generate some offense and we knew if we kept chipping away that the plays were going to come through for us,” Hemby said.
It had been weeks since Hemby had gotten into the end zone, but he ran for three touchdowns along with 70 yards on 19 attempts. This is Hemby’s third multi-touchdown game of the season and second three-touchdown game.
Hemby’s last touchdown prior to the Rutgers game had come in the bowl-clinching win against Northwestern, during which he also rushed for three touchdowns and had a career-high 179 yards on 24 carries.
“It’s a good feeling to get back in the end zone — especially on senior night, helping the seniors go out with a win,” Hemby said. “I made some plays that I haven’t made in a while, so it felt good to get back on the right side of things.”
2. Jeshaun Jones has a career day on Senior Day.
Terps redshirt senior receiver Jeshaun Jones showed out in front of his friends and family in what head coach Michael Locksley hopes is not the final game of Jones’ college career.
“My first recruiting job is to recruit Jeshaun to come back and play,” Locksley said. “He has another COVID year and I know it’s something that he’s entertaining. You know, this guy shows the toughness that you want, the resiliency, all pillars of our program. And you know, he’s a guy that leaves it all on the field. I was really happy to see him be able to have the type of game today coming off two ACL injuries.”
Jones finished with a career high in catches (nine) and reception yards (152). He also added a 27-yard receiving touchdown, his third of the season. Most of Jones’ damage came after he caught the ball. He finished with 69 yards after the catch.
“Since I’ve been hurt, I never looked at it like I’m trying to go out there and do this or do that,” Jones said of his mindset going into games. “I just take it for what comes. If the ball comes my way, I just need to do my job. I need to be open and make a play after.
“I thank the [defensive backs], the offensive line, the quarterback and the other receivers. They pushed me every day,” Jones added. “The [defensive backs] are the most competitive group … on the team. So if it wasn’t for them I probably wouldn’t even have this type of game.”
Redshirt junior quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa completed 25 of 37 passes for 342 yards, and his touchdown pass to Jones made him the program’s career passing touchdown leader (50).
“That’s like my brother,” Tagovailoa said of Jones. “Every Tuesday we watch third downs together, we stay late after practice along with the other receivers. He’s always one person that tells me he needs one more catch, I need one more clip to look at. I’m happy to see his hard work paying off on a special night like this on senior night.”
3. Maryland’s defense had its best game of the season.
Maryland allowed 30 and 43 points to Penn State and Ohio State, respectively, in its last two games. The defense pitched a shutout against Rutgers.
“Communication,” redshirt senior linebacker Ahmad McCullough said of the difference against Rutgers. “It felt like practice. We were out there making the calls, making the checks and reading our keys. We were just seeing everything. It was more so what we did than what they did.”
Junior defensive back Beau Brade mentioned after the Penn State loss that the defense typically played poorly in the first half. That was not the case against Rutgers.
“It was thrilling,” McCullough said. “It felt really good, especially in Big Ten play. So you can just imagine what type of work and preparation we put in throughout the whole week. We didn’t expect anything else.”
The Maryland defense has performed better in second halves this season, but the unit was able to put it all together to end the season. The Terps held an FBS opponent to zero points for the first time since a 37-0 win against West Virginia on Sept. 21, 2013. This marked the first time they have ever shut out a Big Ten opponent.
Maryland held Rutgers to just 135 total yards of offense and forced the Scarlet Knights to punt 11 times. Rutgers also barely made it to the Terps’ side of the field throughout the game. Rutgers had a chance to move past the 50-yard line but failed to convert on fourth-and-1 in the first quarter after a jet sweep attempt went backward, a sign of things to come.
“One of the things that I liked was just seeing the mental intensity of how we played a week ago against Ohio State,” Locksley said, “then being able to carry it over and have their first shutout since we joined the Big Ten, which is a great feat no matter the opponent.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics