Maryland boosted their lead to ten and after stopping Ohio State, Maryland looked to have things their way until midway through the second period when Josh Proctor grabbed a Taulia Tagovailoa pass and ran twenty-four yards for a score to cut the lead to 10-7.
Ohio State was tied at the half and the defense again started the half with Maryland driving down the field for a touchdown to take the lead as they began the game, the thoughts of a trap game began to float around.
But Maryland would threaten no more and the Buckeyes tied and then pulled away to a 37-17 win over the Terrapins to improve to 5-0, 2-0 in the conference.
Kyle McCord threw for two touchdowns and a career-high 320 yards while Marvin Harrison Jr. caught one of the McCord passing touchdowns and finished with eight catches for one hundred sixty-three yards.
The Buckeyes will travel to West Lafayette Indiana next Saturday to meet the Purdue Boilermakers.
Olentangy Offerings
1) Top takeaway from this one- the offensive line's issues with run-blocking.
Ohio State averaged around three yards per carry (the official line says 1.9 but that includes the fake punt and the four sacks of Kyle McCord) and Chip Trayanum needed twenty rushes to earn his sixty-one yards and one touchdown.
That might be the biggest concern about an offense that still is not putting it all together.
2) The offensive line is much better in pass protection than in the run game but even so, Maryland still sacked Kyle McCord three times and did well in the first half in not allowing McCord to set in the pocket comfortably.
3) TreVeyon Henderson missed the game with an "upper-body injury" but he warmed up for the game and reportedly appeared to do so without problems.
4) Kyle McCord still has some refinement to do in the passing game.
McCord did complete two long passes in the game, one each to Marvin Harrison Jr and Julian Fleming, but on both throws, McCord underthrew the ball and cost the Buckeyes touchdowns, especially on the throw to Harrison.
5) You have to be happy for Josh Proctor, who started his career with so much promise and had dropped to the point of non-consideration entering this season before winning a starting spot in the secondary.
Proctor finished with the interception pick-six and six solo tackles with one of those for a loss.
6) Give Proctor credit in the second half as he set the tone for the OSU defense.
After Maryland scored their second-half opening touchdown, as the Terrapins kicked off, Josh Proctor put a hit on an unsuspecting Terp that spelled out physical.
The hit fired up the Buckeye defense and they would not allow a point the remainder of the game.
7) Ryan Day was nailed with a fifteen-yard penalty for being on the field and interfering.
Day didn't actually interfere with the play, a pass caught by Marvin Harrison Jr but he was on the field and when he accidentally made contact with an official, the penalty moved up from five to fifteen yards.
8) Emeka Egbuka left the game in the fourth quarter with an injury that could see him miss the game against Purdue.
If the injury is even semi-serious, it would be prudent to get Egbuka ready for the Penn State game two weeks from today.
9) Ohio State attempted a fake punt on their first possession with the center snapping the ball to the up back who was stopped before getting the two yards needed for the first down.
Maryland then scored their first-half touchdown on a short field but that's not the strange part of the call.
Ryan Day said after the game that it was NOT a called fake punt and that it was a snap gone awry.
Taking Day at his word, if Ohio State has a long-snapper who snapped the ball two yards and to his right by accident, the Buckeyes need to be taking long-snapper auditions.
10) It's not unfair to say the Buckeye offense is not a finished product and it's also not unfair to hope that the offense is taking steps forward for their tougher opponents later this season.
The run game is uneven (By the way, whatever happened to Dallan Hayden?) and the line is very much erratic.
Ohio State built its brand on explosive offense, in 2023 they may have to rely on a dependable defense for success.
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