Maryland football falls to Nebraska 54-7 on Senior Day

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Maryland (3-8, 1-7 Big Ten) lost its sixth straight game Nov. 23, as Nebraska (5-6, 3-5) came to College Park on senior day and ended its own four-game losing streak with a convincing 54-7 victory over the Terps.

“I’m disappointed in our performance today for those 16 seniors we honored before the game,” Locksley said. “I thought from top to bottom we needed to be better. I expected us to be. I have expectations for this team and I’m not going to lower my expectations. We’re better than what we’re showing on Saturdays every week, and it’s my job as the head coach to figure out a way for us to play to our standard. We’ll continue to identify guys in our program who give great effort and do things the right way as we continue to build.”

The Cornhuskers dominated in all facets of the game Saturday, as Nebraska outgained Maryland 531 to 206 in offensive yards and converted 31 first downs to the Terps’ nine.

The Terps turned the ball over four times — three fumbles in the first half and another in the fourth quarter. Three of the fumbles were by junior running back Javon Leake and the other was credited to freshman quarterback Lance Legendre.

Leake’s first fumble came on the very first play from scrimmage for Maryland’s offense, as he burst through the line for a 14-yard gain before coughing up the ball upon getting hit. With Leake’s fumble on the opening possession, Maryland has now turned the ball over four times this season the first time the Terps have the ball.

Leake then fumbled a kickoff later in the first quarter and then again in the fourth. Legendre’s fumble came after a scramble for a big gain by the dual-threat quarterback. Legendre was hit hard at the end of the run and exited the game with a dislocated shoulder on his non-throwing arm after the play.

“The thing that continues to sit in my craw is that it’s us hurting us,” Locksley said. “We had turnovers, four fumbles, we had a bunch of penalties on special teams, which kind of broke the back of our team and our momentum early in the game. And you don’t win games when you beat yourself. When we stop beating ourselves first, that’s when we’ll start to turn a corner and get back to the way we need to play.

“The turnovers kind of stand out the most to me. We knew it would be a wet-ball game, we practiced wet balls, we understood that it most likely was going to rain, and we didn’t maintain control of it. They did a good job, give Nebraska credit, they put their helmets on the ball.”

Leake did, however, provide Maryland’s only points of the game, scampering to a 58-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter with the Terps down 54-0. The junior finished with eight carries for 80 yards.

Cornhuskers’ quarterback Adrian Martinez had no issues running or throwing the ball against the Terps on Saturday. Martinez finished completing 16-of-25 pass attempts for 194 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He added 94 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground as well.

“Martinez is a good player,” Maryland senior cornerback Marcus Lewis said. “Obviously, there are some things we could have done to slow him down but we didn’t, and give him credit. He played well.”

Martinez’s favorite target on the day was Nebraska wide receiver JD Spielman, who hauled in seven receptions for 104 yards and two touchdowns, including 16-yard and 25-yard scores in the second quarter that helped put the game out of reach early for Maryland.

Nebraska’s offense was also complemented by junior running back Dedrick Mills, who scored the Cornhuskers’ first touchdown of the game and went on to run for 65 yards and a touchdown on just 12 carries. Cornhuskers’ freshman running back Rahmir Johnson took over in the second half and finished with 18 carries for 55 yards and a touchdown.

Like his fellow freshman Johnson, Nebraska freshman quarterback Luke McCaffery finished out the game for the Cornhuskers. While under center, McCaffery completed 3-of-5 passes for 32 yards, but his biggest contribution came by way of 83 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown.

There were very few plays made by the Maryland defense on Saturday, as Nebraska converted on seven of 16 third downs and ran 87 plays to the Terps’ 52.

The lone bright spot on the defensive side of the ball for the Terps was freshman safety Nick Cross recording his second interception of the season by picking off Martinez in the second quarter.

Maryland received relatively no offensive production on Saturday. The Terps used four different quarterbacks against the Cornhuskers, but the quartet combined to complete just seven of 21 pass attempts for 21 yards and no touchdowns. Along with Legendre leaving the game with a shoulder injury, Pigrome also limped off the field with a lower-body injury. Nebraska was also able to sack Maryland’s quarterbacks six times.

“The inability to throw the football just continues to kind of piss me off a little bit,” Locksley said. “We just can’t execute, whether it’s protection, the quarterback’s decision making, pitching and catching. The passing game to me is something we have to have to create the balance that we need to play with. That’s where — whether it’s offense or defense — we have to make our biggest improvement.”

Maryland will end its season next weekend when the Terps travel to East Lansing to take on Michigan State. Locksley said after the game that the short-term goal now becomes reconciling this blowout loss for the seniors and sending them off with a win against the Spartans.

“We’ll get to work immediately with trying to get this taste out of our mouth and try to build some momentum as we head into the offseason,” Locksley said.