Game 6: OHIO STATE v MARYLAND

GAME 6       OHIO STATE v MARYLAND

October 10, 2015                    Ohio Stadium              Columbus, OH

Maryland Terrapins

Location: College Park, MD

Stadium: Byrd Stadium (54,000)

Coach: Randy Edsall (5^th year): 22-33 at Maryland/96-103 overall, 6-6 v B1G, 0-1 v OSU

Series: OSU 1, Maryland 0

Last Meeting: 10/4/2014: OSU 52, Maryland 24

Coach Meyer (4^th year): 43-3 at OSU/147-26 overall, 29-2 v B1G, 1-0 v Maryland

2014 Maryland Terrapins (7-6)(4-4)                         2014 Ohio State Buckeyes (14-1)(9-0)

52        James Madison              7                                34        at Navy (Baltimore)    17

24        at South Florida           17                                21        Virginia Tech               35

37        West Virginia              40                                66        Kent State                      0

34        at Syracuse                  20                                50        Cincinnati                    28

37        at Indiana                    15                                52        at Maryland                24

24        Ohio State                   52                                56        Rutgers                        17

38        Iowa                            31                                31        at Penn State               24 (2OT)

  7        at Wisconsin                52                                55        Illinois                          14

20        at Penn State               19                                49        at Michigan State       37

15        Michigan State            37                                31        at Minnesota               24

23        at Michigan                 16                                42        Indiana                        27

38        Rutgers                        41                                42        Michigan                     28

21        Stanford                       45                                59        Wisconsin                      0

            (Foster Farms Bowl)                                                    (B1G Championship)

                                                                                    42        Alabama                      35

                                                                                                (Sugar Bowl)

                                                                                    42        Oregon                        20

                                                                                                (National Championship)

2015 Maryland Terrapins (2-3)(0-1)                         2015 Ohio State Buckeyes (5-0)(1-0)

50        Richmond                    21                                42        at Virginia Tech          24

27        Bowling Green            48                                38        Hawaii                           0

35        South Florida               17                                20        Northern Illinois          13       

  6        at West Virginia           45                                38        Western Michigan        12

  0        Michigan                     28                                 34        at Indiana                     27

O10     Ohio State                                                                   Maryland

O17                                                                                         Penn State

O24     Penn State (Baltimore)                                               at Rutgers

O31     at Iowa

N7        Wisconsin                                                                    Minnesota

N14      at Michigan State                                                       at Illinois

N21      Indiana                                                                        Michigan State

N28      at Rutgers                                                                   at Michigan

            The undefeated and top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes will attempt to shake off a less-than-inspiring performance at Indiana when they host the Maryland Terrapins on Saturday.  This is Maryland’s second season in the B1G Conference and their first trip ever to Columbus.

Maryland Offense v Ohio State defense: Maryland figured to struggle a bit on offense starting out the year, but they figured to be doing better than averaging a mere 23.6 points per game and scoring only one touchdown in the last eight quarters.  But not all is doom and gloom for the Terps.  One of the bright spots has been senior RB Brandon Ross, who ran for 129 yards in the first half in their loss at West Virginia and needs just 13 more yards to reach 2000 yards in his career.  Coach Edsall has had three quarterbacks taking snaps under center.  Oklahoma State transfer Daxx Garman has appeared in their last two games in relief of starter Caleb Rowe, while junior Perry Hills started the first two games.  Apparently, Coach Edsall has settled on Rowe as the starter and he comes in to the game completing 44 percent of his throws for 428 yards and four touchdowns.  Maryland has a talented, if inexperienced receiving corps, led by junior deep threat Levern Jacobs who has 18 catches for 196 yards and two scores.  Rowe will also look to Jacobs’ younger brother, sophomore Taivon Jacobs, who will line up on the opposite side and occasionally take a pitch on a sweep.  Taivon also has the speed to go deep and caught his first career touchdown pass from Rowe against South Florida on a 70-yard pass play.  Freshman WR D.J. Moore is also a deep threat who has already hauled in eight receptions, averaging over 16 yards per reception.  Freshman TE Avery Edwards has already made an impact as a sure-handed receiver as he was able to get open under coverage employed by West Virginia and Michigan.  He has nine catches for 89 yards and two scores thus far this season.  The good news for the Maryland program is the offensive line, led by senior guards Ryan Doyle and Andrew Zeller, and Evan Mulrooney at cente, continues to improve.  Junior Michael Dunn has picked up his game at the left tackle spot, while freshman Damian Prince is making strides at his right tackle position.  Maryland’s sub-par offensive production should start to pick up as the season wears on.  For this game, the Terps will face a tall order to sustain any drives.  They may rely on a heavy dose of wide receiver screens and draws to try to slow down Ohio State’s pass rush.  The Terps will probably have no success going deep over the top due to the outstanding man coverage Ohio State’s DBs can put up, coupled with the need for Rowe to get rid of the ball quickly, so look for Maryland to concentrate on short and medium throws.

                                             QB Caleb Rowe

Maryland defense v Ohio State offense: The Maryland defense figured to be more stout this year, but for the most part has not, probably due to being left on the field too long and tiring in the second half of their games.  But that doesn’t mean the Terps can’t play defense.  Up front, Maryland features all juniors, led by DT Quinton Jefferson, who had an interception, forced a fumble, and had a sack against Michigan.  Jefferson has shown to be perhaps their most effective pass rusher on the Maryland line with 4.5 sacks in their five games thus far.  Both DEs come in with experience, with Yannick Ngakoue and Roman Braglio starting the last 15 and six games respectively.  Ngakoue, an honorable mention All-B1G last year, is currently fifth nationally and third in the conference with 6.5 sacks in 2015, while Braglio garnered 2.5 TFL and two sacks in their win over South Florida and continues to improve.  Azubuike Ukandu should get the nod at the other DT spot, who played well in back up duty against West Virginia and made his first career start last week against Michigan.  The linebackers are led by sophomore MLB Jermaine Carter, who leads the Terps in tackles with 54 and also has six TFLs.  Sophomore WLB Jalin Brooks has a good blend of size and speed and had a career-high ten tackles at West Virginia and is an Academic All-B1G.  Senior Avery Thompson, who has spent much of his career on special teams, will get his first career start at the SLB position.  The strength for the Terps on this side of the ball is in the secondary, with junior CB William Likely, a sure high draft pick for the NFL if he comes out next year, leading the way.  He forced two fumbles against West Virginia and can play up on the line of scrimmage and cover the deep throws equally well.  Likely is not the only impact player in that Maryland secondary, as his fellow corner senior Sean Davis is making a name as a hard-hitting corner who leads the nation with four forced fumbles.  He also notched two picks against South Florida and has 14 tackles against Bowling Green.  The Terps have experience at safety, with seniors A.J. Hendy and Anthony Nixon each having over 30 starts.  Both are sure tacklers in the open field with Hendy notching ten tackles at West Virginia and Nixon having nine against Bowling Green.  

                                             CB William Likely

SPECIAL TEAMS: Maryland’s special teams rank among the best in the conference, highlighted by last year’s Lou Groza Award winner kicker Brad Craddock who is virtually automatic up to 50 yards.  Craddock is 5/6 on field goal attempts in 2015 with a long of 41.  Freshman Nicolas Pritchard handles the punting chores for Maryland and he has averaged 38.6 yards on his 22 punts with a long of 47.  Likely leads the conference in punt returns averaging 24 yards per return.

SUMMARY: Maryland has talent in the secondary and the Buckeyes will have to watch out for Likely in the return game, but, their offensive issues notwithstanding, this should be a “get well” game for the offensive line and Cardale Jones as Maryland’s front seven should get worn down in the second half.  The Ohio State offense running Ezekiel Elliott and short and medium throws by Jones, should be able to rack up yardage against this defense providing they clean up the ragged play and penalties.  Defensively, as long as they can tighten up against the inside zone run and don’t let Maryland get outside contain, the Ohio State defense should be able to pressure Rowe and get some turnovers.

                                             OHIO STATE 45, MARYLAND 13