GAME 10: OHIO STATE v MARYLAND

GAME 10              OHIO STATE v MARYLAND

November 12, 2016                Maryland Stadium                  College Park, MD

Maryland Terrapins

Location: College Park, MD

Stadium: Maryland Stadium (51,802)

Coach: DJ Durkin (1^st year): 5-4 at Maryland/overall, 2-4 v B1G, 0-0 v OSU

Series: OSU 2, Maryland 0

Last Meeting: 10/10/2015: OSU 49, Maryland 28

Coach Meyer (5^th year): 58-5 at OSU/162-28 overall, 2-0 v Maryland

2015 Ohio State Buckeyes (12-1)(7-1)                      2015 Maryland Terrapins (3-9)(1-7)

42        at Virginia Tech          24                                50        Richmond                    21

38        Hawaii                         0                                27        Bowling Green             48

20        Northern Illinois          13                                35        South Florida               17

38        Western Michigan      12                                  6        at West Virginia            45

34        at Indiana                    27                                  0        Michigan                     28

49        Maryland                    28                                28        at Ohio State               49

38        Penn State                   10                                30        Penn State                   31

49        at Rutgers                     7                                15        at Iowa                        31

28        Minnesota                   14                                24        Wisconsin                    31

28        at Illinois                       3                                  7        at Michigan State         24

14        Michigan State            17                                28        Indiana                        47

42        at Michigan                 13                                46        at Rutgers                   41

44        Notre Dame                28

            (Fiesta Bowl)

2016 Ohio State Buckeyes (8-1)(5-1)                                    2016 Maryland Terrapins (5-4)(2-4)

77        Bowling Green              10                                52        Howard                       13

48        Tulsa                              3                                41        at Florida International14

45        at Oklahoma               24                                 30        at Central Florida        24 (2OT)

S24

58        Rutgers                          0                                50        Purdue                           7

38        Indiana                        17                                14        at Penn State               38

30        at Wisconsin                23 (OT)                        10        Minnesota                   31

21        at Penn State               24                                28        Michigan State            17

24        Northwestern              20                                36        at Indiana                    42

62        Nebraska                       3                                  3        at Michigan                59

N12      at Maryland                                                                Ohio State

N19      at Michigan State                                                       at Nebraska

N26      Michigan                                                                     Rutgers

After the dismantling of Nebraska, the Buckeyes take their suddenly high-flying offense on the road to College Park, Maryland under first-year coach DJ Durkin, an assistant under Urban Meyer at Bowling Green and Florida.

OHIO STATE OFFENSE v MARYLAND DEFENSE: Maryland’s red zone defense continues to be a strong point, ranking sixth in the Big Ten Conference and 20th nationally. The Terrapins are holding opponents to points on just 70 percent (21-of-30) of their red zone chances.  The Terps are led on the defensive front by 300-pound junior DT Kingsley Opara who comes in with 35 tackles, eight tackles for loss and a sack.  Junior DE Jesse Aniebonam has also caused problems for opposing offensive lines as he has been in on 34 tackles and a very respectable nine tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.  Also playing well are seniors Roman Braglio, an all-B1G candidate at DE and Cavon Walker at DT.  Braglio provides a good blend of size and speed, garnering 36 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks to go along with a fumble recovery.  Walker earned his first start last week at Michigan and, for the year, has earned 17 stops, 5.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks.  Junior linebacker Shane Cockerille totaled six tackles against Michigan to maintain his position as the Big Ten Conference’s fourth-leading tackler with 8.9 tackles/game. Cockerille has continued to impress in his first season on the defensive side of the ball, totaling at least seven tackles in six of his last seven games and leads the Terps with 79 tackles, five tackles for loss and a sack.  Just behind Cockerille in tackles is his classmate at MLB, Jermaine Carter, Jr with 71 tackles and an interception.  Junior Jalen Brooks has earned the starting role at  the other OLB position and has 20 tackles.  The Maryland secondary is led by one of the best all-around athletes in the B1G Conference, if not the country.  Senior CB William Likely does it all for the Maryland defense and comes in with 32 tackles, four tackles for loss and a sack.  In man-to-man coverage, he will be hard to beat.  Likely also sees duty returning kickoffs and punts.  The rest of the Maryland secondary is relatively inexperienced, but Senior cornerback Alvin Hill  recorded a career-high nine tackles against Michigan  last Saturday, including seven solo stops. Hill is having his best season as a Terrapin this year, leading the team in both interceptions (2) and pass breakups (4). He is also the only defensive back to start in all nine games this season.  JC Jackson, Josh Woods, and Darnell Savage will also see playing time back there as the Maryland coaching staff will attempt to try different zone and man coverages to try to stem Ohio State’s suddenly resurgent passing attack.

Maryland’s red zone defense continues to be a strong point, ranking sixth in the Big Ten Conference and 20th nationally. The Terrapins are holding opponents to points on just 70 percent (21-of-30) of their red zone chances.  Maryland’s pass defense currently ranks 30th in the nation, allowing just 204.2 passing yards/game. The Michigan Wolverines were the first team to pass for more than 300 yards against the Terrapins this season through nine games. In fact, the Terps have held 7-of-9 opponents under 250 passing yards. The pass defense has been much improved from last year’s defense, which allowed five 300-yard passers in 12 games.

                                            DB William Likely

OHIO STATE DEFENSE v MARYLAND OFFENSE: Senior quarterback Perry Hills continues to lead the Big Ten Conference in completion percentage (67.4), while ranking second in passing efficiency (152.8). Hills currently ranks eighth in program history in touchdown passes (27) and 10th in total offensive yards (3,566).  For the year, he has thrown for 1143 yards and ten touchdowns.  The Terps are one of just two teams in the Big Ten (Iowa) with two rushers who have gained at least 630 yards in 2016, as sophomore Ty Johnson leads the way with 635 yards and freshman Lorenzo Harrison is just behind with 633.  Sophomore D.J. Moore currently leads all Maryland receivers with a reception in 17 consecutive games dating back to Oct. 3, 2015. It is the longest streak for a Terrapin receiver since Torrey Smith pieced together a 30-game streak from Nov. 6, 2008 to the final game of his career on Dec. 29, 2010. Moore has caught five touchdown passes this season.  Although Maryland’s offensive line is playing with three sophomores and a freshman, senior tackle Michael Dunn is one of the better tackles in the conference and has paved the way for an improved rushing attack.  Sophomore Damian Prince has played well at the other tackle spot.  Sophomores Mike Minter (LG), Brendan Moore at center, and freshman Terrance Davis at RG round out an improving offensive line unit.  This was evident last week, when the Terps accumulated 367 yards of total offense against  Michigan last weekend, marking the second-most yards against the Wolverine defense this season.

                                             QB Perry Hills

SPECIAL TEAMS: Junior Adam Greene has made 7 out of 10 of his field goal attempts with a long of 37, while freshman punter Wade Lees averages just under 40 yards per punt with a long of 50.  The Buckeyes will have to be on guard when punting, as the Terrapins are one of just three teams in the Big Ten Conference (Michigan, Indiana) with at least two blocked punts this season. Both blocks happened to be at the hands of Maryland’s top running backs, with Ty Jonson blocking a punt against Howard and Lorenzo Harrison notching a block against Penn State.

SUMMARY: Maryland’s up-and-down season took a major pounding last week in Ann Arbor, but Coach Durkin has the Terps on the cusp of a bowl game appearance, a major improvement after their late-season collapse last year.  The offensive line play and running game have made strides this year.  Still, Maryland’s only hope of keeping close with Ohio State is to force a lot of turnovers and hope the Ohio State offense plays flat like they did against Penn State and Northwestern.  But, the Buckeyes may have found an offensive spark that had been missing and J.T. Barrett’s improvement last week in his downfield throws will not bode well for the Terps, who figure to be overmatched on both sides of the ball.

                                            OHIO STATE 45, MARYLAND 16