Maryland football drops another heartbreaker, falls 34-31 vs. Nebraska

jmcconn3
Oct 11
4 min read

Updated: Oct 11

The dominoes may start to be falling for Maryland football as they drop their second straight game, this time to the Nebraska Cornhuskers 34-31. Maryland falls to a 4-2 record and 1-2 record in conference play.

After coming off a late-game collapse for the Terps against the Washington Huskies a week ago, they were unable to redeem themselves at home and blow another lead, this time not as large as last time.

The Huskers established their dominance early in the game with support from running back Emmett Johnson and quarterback Dylan Raiola, stepping out to an early 10-0 lead.

With their backs against the wall early, Maryland would end up responding to get on the board, cutting the lead to three. Running back Nolan Ray would spark some life into the offense with a 28-yard rushing touchdown, his second of the year.

The backfield has been a struggle for the Maryland offense all year, not really getting anything to work coming into this game. Ray only had one touchdown prior to the game coming against Towson almost a month ago.

Today, both running backs Nolan Ray and DeJuan Williams would get on the board. Head coach Mike Locksley mentioned how they tried to expand their offense and diversify touches, even though it wasn’t enough in the end.

“We needed to get the run game going,” Locksley said. “We’re still not getting enough explosives out of the run game. You really want to look at this game, it comes down to explosive plays and turnover battles. We have not made enough explosive plays the last two weeks, and you know when you have players like we do that have the ability to make them, we got to figure out and make sure we’re putting them in the best possible position to have the outcome that we want.”

Riding the momentum, the Terps would come up big in the secondary in moments of this game. Freshman defensive back Messiah Delhomme would set the tone right after with his first career interception as a Terp. Maryland would take over in Nebraska territory.

Wasting no time at all, Washington would float a dime to wide receiver Leon Haughton Jr. for a 21-yard touchdown, Haughton Jr’s. first of his career in a crucial moment.

The theatrics continue in this action-packed first half. Nebraska’s Kenneth Williams would fly on the kickoff, an 85-yard return nearly beating everyone and practically go the distance, ended up getting stopped just shy of the endzone, setting up Raiola and the Huskers offense with a first and goal.

In prime position, Raiola scrambles on the first play of the drive, throws a touchdown to regain their lead immediately after the return, 17-14 Nebraska.

Maryland’s defense slowed down, hurting themselves for the rest of the half. The Terps would find themselves racking up three unsportsmanlike penalties, giving the Huskers ideal field position.

Senior safety Jalen Huskey talked about the importance of getting these penalties corrected and how it starts and ends with the players.

“We got to be more disciplined at the end of the day,” Huskey said. “That’s not something that’s coached, it’s not something that’s emphasized to go after the whistle. It’s a player thing. We have to fix it.”

Maryland would end up trailing going into the second half 24-17, down but not out of the game at all.

Throwing the first punch, running back DeJuan Williams knots the game up at 24, continuing positive production for the Maryland ground game.

Punches would continue to be thrown at the Huskers.

Raiola would end up throwing his third interception a few minutes later, this one being the costliest turnover, putting his team in warry position. Dontay Joyner would be the one coming up with a pick-six, taking it to the house for 67-yards. Terps now jumped out to a 31-24 lead, scoring 14 unanswered in the third quarter.

The game would come down to the wire heading into the final 15.

Nebraska refused to go away. Johnson took matters into his own hands, bulldozing his way breaking multiple tackles to pick up a 50-yard gain to put the offense on the 10-yard line.

Maryland however wouldn’t go away without putting up a fight either.

Maryland’s defense forced a fourth and goal, making Nebraska settle for three, chipping into the lead to make the score 31-27.

After the Terps offense fails to produce any scoring opportunities, Nebraska gets the ball back inside the two-minute warning in the redzone. Nebraska converted inside the three-yard line to take their lead back, 34-31 left with 1:08 left to play.

In Washington's time to shine in the crunch, crucial mistakes ended up costing them the game.

An intentional grounding on what could have been avoided with not finding tight end Dorian Fleming open on his left, instead costs them critical yards.

“In situations like that, time is more important than yardage, so once I felt like I was away and I didn’t want to take a sack or try and run around and make a play,” Washington said. “Just being able to get the ball out of bounds, and the call was the call, nothing that we can argue against.”

Washington ended up targeting Fleming on the fourth and four, however a missed throw ultimately sealed the game.

Related Links