Ohio State Buckeyes opponent breakdowns: Maryland

Opponents: Florida Atlantic | Cincinnati | Indiana | Miami (OH) | Nebraska | Michigan State | Northwestern | Wisconsin

The college football season is still weeks away but anticipation is starting to build as the calendar turns from June to July and we are closing in on less than two months from the first kickoffs of the season.

Much has been made of Ohio State’s schedule this season with its lack of a Power Five non-conference opponent on it, but don’t let anyone convince you that this schedule does not pose more than its fair share of problems for a team that will be breaking in not only a new quarterback but essentially a new head coach as Ryan Day takes over for Urban Meyer as the Buckeyes look to defend their back-to-back Big Ten championships.

The lack of a P5 non-conference opponent may overshadow the fact that Ohio State has about as difficult of a crossover schedule as a Big Ten East team can have with games against Nebraska, Wisconsin and Northwestern and the schedule maker did this team no favors with a final two of Penn State and Michigan to wrap up the regular season in November.

Last year’s game against Maryland was not for the weak of heart as the Buckeyes made Anthony McFarland look like Walter Payton en route to 298 rushing yards and two scores.

Ohio State would trail by 14 points in the 3rd quarter and have to put up 21 points in the 4th quarter along with 14 in extra frames to escape with a 52-51 win in College Park (Md.).

It is hard to put the 2018 season into words for Maryland after starting off the season with the tragic death of Jordan McNair followed up by a coaching suspension of D.J. Durkin that led to his ultimate dismissal. Now Mike Locksley is the head coach and the Terps seem to have a new pep in their step as Maryland looks to climb out of the bottom of the Big Ten East and into contention in the super-competitive division.

Last Year: 5-7, 3-6 Big Ten East

It might take too long to go through everything that Maryland went through last season in terms of football, both on and off the field. The most notable incident was the untimely passing of Jordan McNair, a 19-year-old offensive lineman who died during spring football practice. An investigation ensued and head coach D.J. Durkin was suspended as further investigation and deliberation took place. It was deemed that there was a ‘toxic culture’ around the program and it ultimately led to the dismissal of Durkin, but that did not take place until late October, and that was not without its own controversy as Durkin was reinstated for the grand total of one day before an about-face took place after public outcry for that decision.

Matt Canada was named the interim head coach and finished out the year for the Terps as they played to honor the memory of McNair and try and make sense out of a season that started off with a horrendous tragedy.

It was just a year prior that Maryland traveled to Texas and defeated the Longhorns in a game that many tried to call a fluke. It was no fluke as Maryland defeated Texas once again, this time at FedEx Field in Landover (Md.), dealing another crushing blow to those who keep banging the drum stating that Texas is back.

After a win against Bowling Green, on the road, the Terps had another tough game against Temple and things went poorly as the Owls crushed the Terps, 35-14.

Maryland would ping-pong between wins and losses over the next several games with wins over Minnesota, Rutgers and Illinois but dropping games to Michigan, Iowa and Michigan State before the bottom really dropped out of the season as the Terps lost their final four games, all after the time that Durkin was brought back and subsequently let go.

The game that everyone will remember however is a 52-51 game against Ohio State, a game that the Terps led the entire way including 14-point lead in the 3rd quarter. Ohio State would have to score twice in the final four minutes to force overtime, including a 3-yard TD pass to Binjimen Victor with 40 seconds left in the game. The Buckeyes would score in overtime and kick the PAT and Maryland would score and try and win the game right there, as neither team was having much success stopping their opponent, but Maryland’s two-point try did not connect and Ohio State escaped.