Illinois nails walk off field goal, hands Maryland 20-17 defeat on Halloween

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A mid-season coaching change often provides teams a chance to redefine their identity — and Maryland football had plenty to change after five straight losses. It started with a defense that entered Saturday allowing 33.3 points per game, tied for most in the Big Ten.

In the Terps’ first game after firing Michael Locksley and promoting Aazaar Abdul-Rahim to interim head coach, they made marginal progress. But the result remained the same.

Maryland (2-6, 0-5 Big Ten) dropped a sixth straight game in a 20-17 loss to Illinois (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) in College Park on Saturday, totaling 288 offensive yards and sustaining untimely defensive collapses. One of them swung the game in the Illini’s favor.

Illini running back Javari Barnett busted through the defensive line and broke loose for a 64-yard touchdown to begin the fourth quarter, breaking tackles that could have prevented the chunk gain. That play gave Illinois its first lead of the day, which it wouldn’t relinquish.

“One of our goals or standard as a defense is to limit explosives, so no, it’s not what we want,” Abdul-Rahim said. “Our main goal and our first focus was to stop the run.”

Aside from that play, missed tackles and penalties, which have plagued Maryland this season, were mostly absent. The Terps committed only one penalty for five yards and showed cleaner tackling than usual.

These were some of Abdul-Rahim’s points of emphasis in his introductory presser. The Terps mostly delivered.

“It was a clean game … we stress discipline. It’s kind of invalidated because we had one penalty,” Abdul-Rahim said. “We stressed energy, I felt like our energy was really good. And I thought it was sustained energy.”

After Katin Houser gifted Maryland the ball with an errant pass that Messiah Delhomme intercepted on the Illini’s opening drive, Maryland gave possession right back when DeJuan Williams fumbled on the goal line. The Terps defense responded by forcing a three-and-out and a punt from Illinois’ own six-yard line.

“Everyone was technically sound and flying to the ball, it was good to see,” redshirt senior defensive back Lavain Scruggs said. “That was one of Aazaar’s biggest things. He wanted us to play free, he wanted us to feel good.”

The defense’s staunch play set Maryland up for a six-play, 49-yard touchdown drive, fueled by Malik Washington’s legs. The quarterback rushed for 35 yards on three carries, capping the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run.

Maryland forced another punt on Illinois’ next possession, shifting the game into the Terps’ hands. The first quarter ended with Maryland clearly looking like the better team — it led 7-0 and outgained Illinois 122-55.

But the Terps started to crack late in the first quarter and into the beginning of the second quarter.

Maryland strung together another productive drive that neared the red zone. On 3rd-and-8, Illinois flushed Washington out of the pocket and forced the sophomore to roll out right. Washington hesitated to throw until he lofted a pass intended for Chris Durr Jr. that floated long enough for Illinois defensive back Tanner Heckel to intercept it — Washington’s seventh interception this season.

The game seemed to flip for the rest of the first half.

Illinois advanced the ball into Maryland territory, then faced a 3rd-and-8. Pressure from the Terps’ pass rush forced Houser to heave the ball toward the end zone into double coverage. Maryland cornerback Amari Jackson positioned himself for an easy interception, but misjudged the ball and jumped far too early.

The ball slipped past Jackson and into wide receiver Collin Dixon’s hands, but Dixon dropped the ball. Illinois’ 52-yard field goal attempt afterwards was no good, leaving the Illini with no points on the drive. But the Terps’ offense failed to respond.

Maryland totaled two yards on two full drives in the second quarter, while Illinois gained 129 yards. The Illini capped the quarter with an 80-yard touchdown drive to tie the game, 7-7, entering halftime.

“[We have] to make the most of all our possessions,” Washington said. “We can’t come out there … go three-and-out and expect the defense to continue to hold every single time.”

The Terps’ offense rebounded with a 65-yard touchdown drive to open the second half, taking a 14-7 lead, but failed to sustain those type of drives down the stretch. Maryland’s defensive improvements were obvious — but the offense left much to be desired.

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