FINAL
It’s good. Joseph Petrino’s 32-yard attempt splits the uprights. And Maryland walks off with a 20-17 victory against Illinois.
The Terrapins (3-0, 1-0 Big Ten) scored 10 points in the final five minutes to hand the Illini (1-3, 1-1) their third consecutive loss.
Maryland outgained Illinois 481-335 for the game, with Taulia Tagovailoa leading the visitors on both the game-tying and game-winning drives. The junior quarterback finished 32 of 43 for 350 yards and a touchdown.
The Illini’s passing game, by comparison, was largely ineffective, as Brandon Peters — in his first game back from a shoulder injury — went 10 for 26 for 185 yards and a interception.
The inability to find success in the passing game proved consequential in the final two minutes. Back-to-back sacks of Peters on first and second downs and a third-down penalty for intentional grounding gave the ball back to Maryland with 47 seconds left in regulation.
The Terrapins started the game-winning drive at the Illinois 46-yard line and used a 6-yard connection between Tagovailoa and Tayon Fleet-Davis followed by a 26-yard strike from Tagovailoa to Rakim Jarrett to move into field-goal range.
Illinois returns to action next Saturday at Purdue. The Boilermakers (2-0) host No. 12 Notre Dame on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind., before their Big Ten opener versus the Illini.
***
Tie game. Taulia Tagovailoa leads Maryland on an 8-play, 86-yard drive in 2 minutes, 37 seconds, capping it off with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Tayon Fleet-Davis. And the extra point knots the game up at 17.
***
Leading by seven, Illinois tries to draw the Maryland defense offside on fourth-and-1 at the Terrapins’ 40-yard line. But the Illini — after taking a delay-of-game penalty — eventually punt. Blake Hayes’ punt is fair caught by Maryland’s Tarheeb Still at his own 14-yard line.
***
Chase Brown going off with an injury of some sort opened the door for some Reggie Love playing time. And Love has added to the craziness that is this game. The Illinois running back broke off a big gain and fumbled. But right to teammate Casey Washington, who scooped and scored. Wild times.
***
Illinois was about the only high-major program to recruit Josh McCray as a running back. The Enterprise, Ala., native potentially could have found a home in the SEC as a linebacker.
But McCray is a running back. Has been his whole life. And the Illini gave him that option.
McCray has taken advantage. He worked his way onto the field by the second game of the season and now has his first career touchdown. The 6-foot-1, 240-pound back rumbled his way for a 38-yard score and shed several tackle attempts in the process.
***
The Illinois defense did a nice job in the first half of basically shutting down the Maryland offense. Not so much in the first not even 2 minutes of the second half.
Taulia Tagovailoa completed a 21-yard pass to Jeshaun Jones, and the Terps’ quarterback also added a 35-yard rush. The scoring drive was capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Tayon Fleet-Davis, as Maryland actually scored after getting into the red zone.
***
Three straight pass plays after getting first-and-five from the Maryland 7-yard line was a bit curious. Not sure what Illinois offensive coordinator Tony Petersen was thinking. That all three were incompletions was less than ideal.
But James McCourt at least salvages the drive a little bit, making a 25-yard field goal to the tie game just before halftime.
***
Illinois managed to go the entire first quarter without letting a big-play Maryland team unleash big plays. Two to start the second quarter for the Terrapins got them fairly deep into Illinois territory.
Taulia Tagovailoa hit Rakim Jarrett for a 37-yard completion. Tayon Fleet-Davis added an 18-yard rush. Then the Illinois defense held. Maryland has the early lead after a 26-yard field goal from Joseph Petrino, but giving up just three points instead of seven is a small victory for the Illini.
***
Illinois actually moved the ball fairly well in the first quarter. Got into Maryland territory twice, including rather deep into the red zone. Still zero points for the Illini in the first quarter of games this season, though.
The first foray into Maryland territory came up just short of James McCourt’s range. The second was easily in McCourt’s range at just a 26-yard field goal, but it was blocked by the Terrapins’ Ami Finau. Not ideal.
***
The starters for both teams are played on the videoboard at Memorial Stadium every game about 30 minutes before kickoff. They’re … not always accurate. Like tonight where Illinois is apparently going to try and start 12 guys on both offense and defense. Bold move. We’ll see if it works out.
Here’s who was listed as starters …
Offense
LT – Vederian Lowe
LG – Jack Badovinac
C – Doug Kramer (not dressed, so this can’t happen; it’s Blake Jeresaty)
RG – Julian Pearl
RT – Alex Palczewski
RB – Chase Brown
TE – Luke Ford and Daniel Barker
WR – Isaiah Williams, Casey Washington and Donny Navarro
QB – Brandon Peters
Defense
DL – Jamal Woods, Johnny Newton and Rod Perry
OLB – Seth Coleman and Owen Carney
LB – Tarique Barnes and Jake Hansen
STAR – Quan Martin
CB – Devon Witherspoon and Tony Adams
S – Derrick Smith and Sydney Brown
***
The most notable Illinois player not dressed for tonight’s game? Starting center Doug Kramer. The six-year veteran was injured last week at Virginia and didn’t finish the game against the Cavaliers.
So in what’s been a regular shuffling of the Illini offensive line, look for Blake Jeresaty to start at center. If the other starters hold, it will be Jack Badovinac and Julian Pearl at guard and Vederian Lowe and Alex Palczewski at tackle.
Full list of Illini not dressed for tonight’s game:
LB CJ Hart*
WR Desmond Dan Jr.
WR Ty Lindemann
RB Mike Epstein
LB Dylan Rosiek
CB Tailon Leitzsey
OLB Ben Schultz
TE Preston Engel
LB Kalen Villanueva
OL Jordyn Slaughter*
WR Owen Hickey
DL Keith Randolph Jr.
* – out for season
***
Former Illinois linebacker (and soon-to-be official Hall of Famer) Kevin Hardy is tonight’s honorary captain. Hardy got a chance to speak to the Illinois team following Thursday’s final walkthrough.
“One thing that really stood out to me was those guys, when they took a knee, and every one of their eyes was plastered on me,” Hardy said. “It was almost like they didn’t blink. … I could tell they were eager to learn, eager to listen. That means a lot to me.
“They’re going through a little bit of adversity right now. I told them I remember the days. … I know right now they probably feel like they should be 3-0 or at the very least 2-1. I just talked to them about overcoming the start that they’ve had and to make them understand their goals are still in front of them.”
***
A few notes to get us started ahead of tonight’s game …
— Tonight’s game is Illinois’ fourth Friday night game in the last five years. The Illini lost at South Florida in 2017, at home to Penn State in 2018 and at Wisconsin in 2020.
— Illinois linebacker Jake Hansen has more career forced fumbles than any other active player in the nation. His 12 (after forcing and recovering one at Virginia last week) have him just one short of tying Simeon Rice’s program record.
— The Illinois roster boasts 28 players that have already earned their bachelor’s degrees. That’s the most of any team in the nation. The Illini’s 10 four-time letterwinners is tied for second most in the country with Toledo and USC. Only Ball State with 11 has more.
— Maryland has been in the Big Ten since 2015, but the Terrapins have only played Illinois once and never before in Champaign. The last meeting, of course, was a 63-33 Maryland victory in College Park, Md., in 2018. Three different Terrapins scored multiple touchdowns, with Javon Leake rushing for three scores and returning a kickoff 97 yards for another.
— Maryland is one of only two FBS teams to have a top 15 total offense and total defense. Auburn is the other. The Terps are allowing just 235.5 yards per game (ninth best nationally) and are averaging 535 yards of total offense (13th nationally).
— Maryland wide receiver Dontay Demus Jr. has caught a touchdown pass in six straight games dating back to last season. That streak is tied with Memphis’ Calvin Austin for longest active in the country. It’s also the longest by any Maryland pass catcher since 1985.
— Maryland’s wide receiver duo of Demus and Rakim Jarrett have combined for the most yards of any pass catching duo among Power Five teams this season with 450 yards. Demus and Jarrett both rank in the top 30 nationally in receiving yards per game, with Demus at sixth and Jarrett at 28th. Their 255 yards against West Virginia were the most by a Maryland tandem since Torrey Smith (who did most of the work) and Will Yeatman combined for 270 yards. Smith had 224 of them.
***
Illinois football is already a quarter of the way through its season thanks to a Week 0 start. A first quarter, if you will, that began on a positive with a win against Nebraska and has deteriorated the last two weeks with losses to Texas San Antonio and Virginia.
Tonight’s game against Maryland, though, could alter the trajectory of the season. Despite those losses, Illinois is still 1-0 in the Big Ten thanks to its win against the Cornhuskers.
Beating Maryland? Improving to 2-0 in the conference? That’s the jolt of momentum the Illini need. The first half of the schedule was built for first-year coach Bret Bielema to win now if he could. So far Illinois hasn’t really taken full advantage.
But both the momentum lost by losing to UTSA and Virginia and the fans lost to some “another season, same Illini” feelings can be reversed with a win against Maryland. And much like that Week 0 game, Illinois has the national stage with only UCF and Louisville also playing tonight.
Beating Maryland, of course, isn’t so simple. What the Terrapins do well offensively is exactly what the Illini have struggled to stop the past two weeks. That will be the difference maker in tonight’s game … and perhaps the difference maker for how this first season in the Bielema era is viewed.
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