Through 45 minutes of football, Maryland held a comfortable lead over Washington. Quarterback Demond Williams Jr. looked rattled by the Maryland attack, and the Huskies were starting to challenge Maryland in the red
zone for the first time.
Cornerback Dontay Joyner made a critical play, outbattling star receiver Denzel Boston to prevent a touchdown. As Joyner rose from the turf, he turned to the crowd and appeared to mimic clicking a seatbelt. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. On the very next play, the Huskies scored, upending the game.
“I thought he did the seatbelt, which everybody does,” head coach Michael Locksley said. “Brandishing a weapon, I guess, is what I was told on the field. But those calls aren’t the reason why we lost this thing.”
The Terps then followed an all-too-familiar script. Everything went wrong for them late, collapsing at home against Washington, 24-20, to lose the home opener.
After the sun began to set midway through the third quarter, the ugly side of Maryland football from years past emerged. It allowed 24 unanswered points to close the game.
The Terps allowed four consecutive scoring drives in the second half. In its three drives between that stretch, Maryland logged just one first down.
Two straight three-and-outs allowed the momentum to fully slide in favor of the Huskies, with a deep shot from Williams bringing Washington within three points.
The Terps failed to chew clock down the stretch — after logging 39 rushing yards in the first quarter, Maryland got just 16 on the ground through the remainder of the game.
On third down, Washington sailed a pass to a wide-open Octavian Smith, setting Washington up for its game-winning drive. But a Washington defender collided with punter Bryce McPherson on the kick. With the five-yard running into the kicker penalty added on, Maryland could have faced fourth-and-3 from its own 45. But Locksley declined the chance to put the offense back on the field or redo the punt, giving Washington the ball back on the 20-yard line.
“We looked at that … to me, it was a matter of our defense had played pretty well most of the game,” Locksley said.
The Huskies ultimately went 80 yards in five minutes to take the lead with just over three minutes left. Maryland had a chance to take the lead back, but that chance slipped through Jalil Farooq’s hands on a beautiful third-down pass down the right sideline.
Malik Washington had no one open on fourth down, and the Huskies picked up the first down they needed to put the game on ice.
With the Terps selling out SECU Stadium for the second time this decade, the crowd was rowdy at the game’s beginning. And just five plays in, the energy grew. Huskies quarterback Demond Williams Jr. threw his first interception of the year, an aggressive ball that sailed over his receiver and into the hands of safety Jalen Huskey.
The Terps settled for a field goal, but Malik Washington rose to the occasion on the next drive. After a near-perfect throw to Smith on third-and-long, Malik Washington pranced into the end zone untouched on a short keeper, pushing the lead to double-digits.
Although the Terps were efficient early and got creative in their play-calling, Maryland’s offense never shifted into top gear.
After holding on defensively to earn what could have been the last possession of the half, Malik Washington forced the ball upfield for his first career interception. And after stopping the Huskies again, Sean O’Haire had a 55-yard field goal fall just short.
Sidney Stewart drew a targeting penalty on the third-to-last play of the first half, losing Maryland one of its top pass rushers in a situation he was desperately needed for.
The Huskies stumbled upon a successful formula in the second half — one that changed the course of the game. Washington mixed a steady diet of Williams and Jonah Coleman runs up the depleted gut with mid-level throws, hitting the Maryland defense for its most points in a game on the season.
Maryland failed to rise to the occasion on both sides of the ball. Despite that, the Terps believe that momentum from the first four weeks can be sustained.
“We just have to play our game and give [fans] reasons to come back,” Malik Washington said. “This week, we’re going to look inward and find places we can improve as a team and keep continuing to put a good product out on the field.”
Three things to know
1. Bye week a bad week? Entering Saturday’s game against Washington, the Terps had lost their last 11 games following a bye week, a streak stretching all the way back to 2016. With the loss, the Terps move to 0-10 under Locksley in such games.
“I didn’t think we did a great job in the bye week of managing success without the distractions and the things that pop up,” Locksley said. “And now we want to see how we manage adversity.”
2. Red zone woes. Two early red zone opportunities for Maryland ended with the Terps kicking short field goals. Losing potential points in those moments ultimately kept Washington within reach.
3. Maryland once again stumbles in a big moment. Saturday’s game felt like it had the potential to be an inflection point in Maryland’s season, a moment from which the year could be divided into before and after.
With nearly everything coming up Maryland through the opening half, the Terps seemed to be in position to pull off a season-defining victory. With the game done, though, the same questions about whether Maryland can put it all together remain.
