The Terps couldn't have scripted a better start to the game at Northwestern, coming off of their bye week, scoring the game's first touchdown on their opening offensive drive and forcing a punt on their first defensive series.
Things quickly unraveled, however, as quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa had a ball slip out of his hand and recovered by the defense inside Maryland's 20-yard line. That turnover led to a quick Northwestern touchdown to tie things up at 7 all and give all the early momentum right back to the Wildcats.
With the loss, their third straight, the Terps dropped to 5-3 overall and 2-3 in Big Ten play.
The Terps will look to gack into the win column next Saturday at home when they host border rival Penn State.
Below are several key takeaways from Maryland's third straight loss.
Tagovailoa continues to make costly mistakes
Once again, you couldn't have scripted a better start to the game offensively, with a five-play, 66-yard touchdown drive in which Tagovailoa was a perfect 3-for-3, including an 8-yard throw to Tai Felton for a touchdown.
But like we have seen throughout the season, Tagovailoa had a bad turnover, with the ball seemingly slipping out of his hand and recovered by Northwestern at the Maryland 12-yard line. That turnover led to a quick touchdown by the Wildcats and the game's momentum shifted right back to the home team where it seemed to remain for the rest of the game.
The issues continued into the fourth quarter, with. Tagoailoa leading a potential game-winning drive in the final minutes. He overthrew a wide open Tai Felton for what could have been a potential scoring play and then threw an errant ball in the middle of the field on the very next play which was intercepted by Northwestern's Coco Azema to seal the win for the Wildcats.
Tagovailoa has had more than his share of bright spots this season, but he will likely need to cut down on the mistakes moving forward if the Terps are going to become bowl eligible.
Secondary Struggles
On paper, Maryland seemed to have the advantage when it came to the matchup between the Terps' defense and the Northwestern offense. You wouldn't have known it on Saturday. A Northwestern offense that came into the game ranked at the bottom nationally in total offense came up with big play after big play.
After sitting out the Illinois game due to injury and being listed as questionable in this week's injury report, starting cornerback Tarheeb Still got the start. But he got beat badly on several occasions for big gains by the Wildcats which led to multiple scores. With a backup quarterback, Northwestern did the majority of their damage on offense through the air, as Brendan Sullivan finished with 265 yards and a couple of passing touchdowns in the win.
There is plenty of blame to go around, however, as penalties, missed tackles and missed assignments in the front seven all contributed, as well.
The secondary has been a bit banged up of late and shown some vulnerability. They will need to continue to get healthy as the Terps look to finish out the season strong.
Bye Week blues
In five-plus full seasons as a head coach now, Mike Locksley is 0-6 coming off a bye week. If you include the two bye weeks during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, that stat is 0-8.
At some point you have to start wondering why Locksley's teams struggle so much after having an extra week to prepare. Obviously, lots of factors go into the outcome of a game, but on this day, the Terps simply looked unprepared, uninterested and uninspired for much of the game.
Maybe it is time to change the way some things are done during the bye week and see if it has any impact on the final outcome on the scoreboard. But at this point you have to look at this as more than just a coincidence.
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