COLUMBUS — After playing an ugly first half of football, the Ohio State offense rattled off 27-straight points and the fourth-ranked Buckeyes pulled away from the Maryland Terrapins for a 37-17 win on Saturday afternoon.
At halftime, the Buckeyes appeared to be in trouble. Their first half possessions included turning the ball over on downs, three punts, and a field goal. Their only touchdown in the first half came from safety Josh Proctor, who stepped in front of a Taulia Tagovailoa pass and returned it 24-yards to cut Maryland's lead to 10-7.
The Terps still maintained the momentum despite the turnover.
In fact, Maryland (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) had a chance to take a lead into halftime. But instead of throwing the ball away, Tagovailoa completed a pass inbounds to Antwain Littleton at the Ohio State 14. But without a timeout, the clock ran out and the score remained 10-10 at the break.
Tagovailoa would make up for the mishap, as he weaved his way the final nine-yards t0 score and give the Terrapins a 17-10 lead with 11:03 in the third quarter.
But from that point on, the Buckeyes went to work.
On their ensuing drive, McCord would connect with Emeka Egbuka and Julian Fleming to set up Trayanum's 4-yard touchdown run.
Ohio State (5-0, 2-0) would finally take their first lead of the game when Jayden Fielding connected on a 24-yard field goal to give the Buckeyes a 20-17 lead.
From that point on, the Buckeyes never looked back.
Kyle McCord passed for a career-high 320 yards and two touchdowns for the Buckeyes and Marvin Harrison Jr. had eight catches for 163 yards and a fourth quarter touchdown catch to balloon Ohio State's lead to 27-17.
Tagovailoa finished the afternoon 21 for 41 for 196 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score. But he had two costly interceptions, with one of those immediately turning into points for Ohio State.
Ohio State will be at Purdue next Saturday before a showdown at home against No. 7 Penn State.
Maryland 7 3 7 0 — 17
Ohio State 0 10 10 17 — 37
First Quarter
UMD — Kaden Prather 15 pass from Taulia Tagovailoa (Jack Howes kick), 12:41.
Second Quarter
UMD — Jack Howes 21 field goal, 12:56.
OSU — Josh Proctor 24 interception return (Jayden Fielding kick), 9:41.
OSU — Jayden Fielding 36 field goal, 1:32.
Third Quarter
UMD — Taulia Tagovailoa 9 run, (Jack Howes kick), 11:03.
OSU — Chip Trayanum 4 run (Jayden Fielding kick), 8:56.
OSU — Jayden Fielding 24 field goal, 8:35.
Fourth Quarter
OSU — Cade Stover 44 pass from Kyle McCord (Jayden Fielding kick), 10:16.
OSU — Marvin Harrison Jr. 17 pass from Kyle McCord (Jayden Fielding kick), 7:01.
OSU — Jayden Fielding 41 field goal, 2:10.
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UMD OSU
First downs 20 21
Total Net Yards 302 382
Rushes-yards 35-106 33-62
Passing 196 320
Punt Returns 2-32 3-(-3)
Kickoff Returns 1-18 1-24
Interceptions Ret. 0-0 2-39
Comp-Att-Int 21-41-2 19-29-0
Sacked-Yards Lost 3-21 2-18
Punts 5-41.6 4-43
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 4-50 10-81
Time of Possession 30:04 29:54
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING–Maryland: Littleton 11-38, Hemby 8-35, Tagovailoa 11-21 TD, McDonald 4-12, Edwards Jr. 1-0; Ohio State: Trayanum 20-61 TD, Williams 6-23, Egbuka 1-3, Simon 1-minus 3, McCord 4-minus 20, Team 1-minus 2.
PASSING–Maryland: Tagovailoa 21-41-2-196 TD; Ohio State: McCord 19-29-0-320 2TD.
RECEIVING–Maryland: Jones 5-59, Prather 3-49 TD, Dyches 5-41, Felton 3-30, Howard 2-8, Chambers 1-5, Littleton 1-4, Hemby 1-0; Ohio State: Harrison Jr. 8-163 TD, Stover 2-66 TD, Fleming 2-45, Egbuka 3-40, Johnson 1-12, Tate 1-8, Williams 1-4, Trayanum 1-minus 18.
MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.
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