Day: flummoxed by slow start; fake punt not supposed to be a fake
COVER PHOTO: OSU head coach Ryan Day talks to the media after his team's win over Maryland on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo by Andy Evans/Columbus Wired.
It’s a good thing there are four quarters in a football game because if not, Ohio State’s 20-point win over Maryland would have looked even shakier than it already did.
After the final seconds ticked off the clock in Ohio Stadium on Saturday afternoon, the fourth-ranked Buckeyes (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) managed to scrap together a 37-17 victory over the Terrapins (5-1, 2-1) thanks to an unanswered 17-point fourth quarter barrage while outgaining the Terps in total yards, 146-10.
OSU quarterback Kyle McCord completed eight of nine passes in the quarter for 116 yards and both of his touchdowns.
His counterpart, Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa, was held to 2-of-4 passing for three yards in the final stanza and had two rushes: one for a six-yard gain, the other for an eight-yard sack.
Wide receiver Marvin Harrison, Jr. was once again McCord’s favorite target of the day as the duo hooked up twice in the quarter for 54 yards including a 17-yard TD strike with seven minutes to go.
However, after three quarters the Terrapins were hanging with the Buckeyes and were even looking like the better team with a 292-236 total yards advantage despite trailing 20-17.
Up to that point, Maryland had tallied three sacks to OSU’s one, accrued only two penalties for 20 yards to the Buckeyes’ seven for 56, and controlled the ball for six more minutes. They also dominated on third down, converting 8-of-16 while Ohio State mustered one conversion on nine attempts.
It didn’t help that four out Ohio State’s first five drives ended in punts with their first drive concluding with a botched fake punt that actually wasn’t supposed to be a fake at all. At least that’s what head coach Ryan Day said.
“I didn’t quite understand what was going on there (especially) the first couple of drives,” he said. “(We) didn’t quite get in sync on offense and then we had the botched snap. That was not supposed to be a fake.”
It was 4th-and-2 for the Buckeyes at their own 33 after gaining five yards on the first three plays. Day called out the punting unit but according to him, the ball simply slipped out of long snapper John Ferlmann’s hands and found its way to linebacker Cody Simon, who was the upback in the punt formation. Bewildered, Simon tried to make something out of it but was tackled for a three-yard loss.
“It was like one of those things, ‘ok what’s going on here?’ But, you know, that is the game and you’ve got to respond," Day said.
The Terrapins then put the first score of the game on the board four plays later, capped off by a 15-yard strike from Tagovailoa to receiver Kaden Prather to complete the four-play, 30-yard drive.
After forcing OSU into punts on their next two drives, the Terrapins extended their lead to 10 on a Jack Howes 21-yard field goal with under 13 minutes left in the second quarter.
The Buckeyes would punt for a third straight drive but the pendulum would begin to swing their way when sixth-year safety Josh Proctor stepped in front of Tagovailoa’s 3rd-and-5 pass and took it 24 yards to the house to pull the Buckeyes to within three, 10-7.
Proctor said the Terrapins formation led to the perfect scenario for the interception.
“We knew the route concept on third down, they usually sit right at the (first down) sticks, like a little curl route. I knew it was coming but I didn’t expect him to throw it but when he threw it, I knew I could jump right in front of it.”
It was Proctor's first career pick-six and he tied a career-high in the game with seven tackles, which he had previously set on Sept. 23 against Notre Dame, and notched a career-high six solo tackles against the Terps.
After both teams traded punts - with the Buckeyes’ last punt of the game coming with 5:40 left in the first half and the Terrapins punting again for only the second time up to that point - OSU got the ball back with 4:15 remaining in the half, rambled 72 yards down the field on six plays and tied the game 10-10 with a minute-and-a-half left on a Jayden Fielding 36-yard field goal.
Maryland got the ball to begin the second half and Tagovailoa led them on a nine-play, 75-yard drive, finishing it off with a nine-yard scramble on a 2nd-and-9 passing play to regain the lead, 17-10, with barely four minutes elapsed in the quarter.
That would be the Terrapins’ last score of the game and the Buckeyes would regain composure as they scored on five of their last six drives - which included the TD pass from McCord to Harrison as well as a 44-yarder to tight end Cade Stover - with the exception coming on the very last drive where they kneeled on the ball after a four-yard run by Miyan Williams on first down.
Terps head coach Mike Locksley said he saw some good things from his team but it just wasn’t enough to finish the job.
“I like the way we started fast (and) had an opportunity in the first half. But as I told our team just now, for us to take that next step, we’ve got to be able to make the plays that are there to be made.”
He touched on the fact the Terrapins couldn’t convert on 4th-and-1 at the OSU 29 on their second drive of the game as well as having to settle for a field goal early in the second quarter with a 7-0 lead despite having the ball 1st-and-goal on the OSU 6.
“Those are the types of plays where our best players got to show up and make plays and we’ve got to do a better job as a coaching staff of putting them in those positions to make plays. We talked all week of getting the game into the fourth quarter and then seeing where we fit. We were able to do that and I just didn’t like the way we finished.”
Day said he was ultimately happy with the way his guys finished.
“I thought we did respond well in the second half and … got into a rhythm. The number one goal is to be 1-and-0 on Saturday, so check that box. We want to play well in the second half, so check that box. We wanted to start fast in this game and we didn’t get that done so we got to look at why that is. But you can start to see the rhythm in the second half similar to kind of how we got into that two-minute drive two weeks ago (against Notre Dame) and figure out why that is.”
He said Harrison’s play was one of the factors why their second half was so successful.
“Some real good play by Marvin Harrison and we needed that because they were putting a lot of guys in the box and leaving the middle of the field open at times and we took advantage of that in the second half.”
Harrison led all receivers with eight catches for 163 yards and the one score on 15 targets. That despite playing on a sprained ankle he suffered two weeks ago against Notre Dame.
The junior said earlier in the week that the sprain he’s suffering from now is worse than the one he played through last year and his ankle felt “good enough” to get the job done but he didn’t approach the game the same way he normally would.
“Nah, definitely not the same old approach,” Harrison said. “Going into this game, I kind of knew it was going to be a little (bit) of a struggle for me, moving around into different routes but coach (Hartline) put me into great positions where I didn’t have to use the ankle as much as I really wanted to so definitely a collective effort there.”
Harrison gave a shout out to the trainers led by physical therapist, Adam Stewart.
“They prepared me all week for the game, taped my ankle differently to try and see what’s more comfortable for me, so definitely a collective effort.”
McCord finished the day 19-of-29 for 320 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions but was sacked three times for 21 yards.
Tagovailoa ended 21-of-41 through the air for 196 yards, one touchdown pass, two interceptions and two sacks. He carried the ball 11 times for 21 yards with a nine-yard TD but took two sacks for 18 yards.
Stover finished with two catches for 66 yards and the 44-yard score.
Receiver Emeka Egbuka had three catches for 40 yards but was injured on his last catch of the game, an eight-yarder early in the fourth quarter. He didn’t return and Day didn’t immediately know the extent of the injury.
Linebacker Tommy Eichenberg led the team with 13 tackles while fellow LB Steele Chambers tied Proctor with seven.
Bandit safety Lathan Ransom had six tackles and the team’s other interceptions while slot safety Sonny Styles finished with five and one tackle for loss.
Fielding was 3-of-3 on field goals with two others of 24 and 41 yards.
Terrapins receiver Jeshaun Jones led them with five catches for 59 yards while Prather finished with three catches for 49 yards and the team’s one receiving score.
Ohio State’s next game is on the road against Purdue (2-4, 1-2) with the kickoff set for noon and will air solely on the Peacock app.