Maryland drops sixth straight game, pummeled by Nebraska 54-7

Feature photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics

If Saturday afternoon’s game between Maryland and the visiting Nebraska Cornhuskers was a sign of anything, it was a sign that Christmas is coming early this year.

The Terps were in the spirit of giving with all of the opportunities they gifted Nebraska in their 54-7 defeat.

“You don’t win games when you beat yourself,” Mike Locksley said. “I’ll keep saying this: when we learn not to beat ourselves first that’s when we’ll start turning the corner, and get back to the winning football that we play.”

Trying to break a five-game losing streak, Maryland tried to get its seniors one more victory at Capital One Field in the teams’ last home game of the season. Much to the dismay of the small home crowd and near non-existing student section, the senior day festivities before kickoff were the only thing the Terps got right.

After Maryland’s defense forced a rare three-and-out on the game’s opening drive, the Cornhuskers got the ball back one play later.

Junior running back Javon Leake gained 14 yards on the Terps’ first play from scrimmage only to cough up the football after being hit towards the end of the run.

Nebraska took advantage of the fumble two players later when running back Dedrick Mills trotted into the endzone for a six-yard touchdown run to give the Cornhuskers a 7-0 less than three minutes into the game.

Down 14-0 after a one-yard touchdown run from quarterback Adrian Martinez, Maryland shot itself in the foot again when Leake mishandled a kickoff and allowed Nebraska to recover the ball on the Terps’ 22-yard line. The Cornhuskers settled for a field goal to go up 17-0 with a little over three minutes left in the first quarter.

Another missed opportunity for Maryland turned into more points for Nebraska during the opening minute of the second quarter. What should have been an interception turned into a 25-yard touchdown reception for Cornhusker wide receiver JD Spielman.

A risky pass from Martinez bounced off the hands of freshman defensive back Nick Cross and then took another bounce off sophomore linebacker Jordan Mosley’s helmet before Spielman caught the ricochet and got both feet down in the endzone.

Freshman quarterback Lance LeGendre checked into the game for Maryland on the ensuing drive in hopes that he could instill some life into an offense that played like it needed a miracle to maintain possession for longer than three minutes.

After LeGendre picked up 35 yards on four carries and gave the offense a little spark, disaster struck again for the Terps. LeGendre took a hit at the end of a 17-yard run and left the game with a dislocated left shoulder, according to a team spokesperson.

The freshman fumbled on his way down to the ground, and Nebraska recovered.

Maryland’s four turnovers led to 17 points for the Cornhuskers. The Terps could not capitalize off of their lone turnover, an interception by Cross in the second quarter.

Maryland trailed 31-0 at halftime, the fourth consecutive week it has been down at least three scores at half.

Including LeGendre, The Terps rotated four different quarterbacks throughout the game. Junior Josh Jackson bounced in and out with junior Tyrrell Pigrome. Freshman Tyler DeSue also had a few drives.

Jackson was the leading passer of the group, finishing with 33 yards on four completions.

“The inability to throw the football continues to just kind of piss me off a little bit,” Locksley said. “We can’t execute whether its protection, the quarterback’s decision making or pitching and catching. A couple times we had some late balls--some high balls--when we had guys open and we had a drop on a big play down the field.”

Maryland’s defense had another tough afternoon giving up over 500 yards of total offense while only registering one sack. Coming into the game the Terps ranked second-to-last in the Big Ten in points allowed per game with 34.3. They also rank dead last in yards allowed with 442.9 yards per game.

“As a defense we got put in some tough spots,” senior defensive back Marcus Lewis said. “But at the end of the day you just have to keep playing and I feel like that’s what we did the whole game.”

Maryland (3-8) will conclude its season on Nov. 30 when it travels to Spartan Stadium to face Michigan State (5-6) at 3:30 p.m.