With the rivalry game against Michigan looming next week, Ohio State surely would have liked to take care of business quickly against Maryland. Instead, the Buckeyes were forced to battle their way to their 11th win of the season.
Ohio State scored only one touchdown in the first half and trailed 13-10 at halftime, and things didn’t get much easier for the Buckeyes in the second half. But they ultimately did enough to earn a 43-30 victory over Maryland in their final road game of the regular season.
The Buckeyes never led the game by more than two scores but held the lead for the final 27 minutes and 13 seconds of the contest to earn the win.
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #2 Ohio State | 7 | 3 | 17 | 16 | 43 |
| MARYLAND | 6 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 30 |
| NOV. 19, 2022 • SECU STADIUM • College Park, MD | |||||
Marvin Harrison Jr. made a one-handed 29-yard catch on the game’s first play from scrimmage, and Ohio State scored its first touchdown six plays into the game when TreVeyon Henderson turned a screen pass into a 31-yard scoring play.
TreVeyon's healthy @TreVeyonH4 catches a TD on No. 2 @OhioStateFB's first possession. pic.twitter.com/TXTN3sVKNw
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 19, 2022
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For the rest of the first half, however, Maryland outplayed Ohio State.
Taulia Tagovailoa got off to a hot start on Maryland’s opening drive, completing his first three passes for 44 yards including a pair of passes to tight end CJ Dippre that went for 37 yards, but the Terrapins settled for a 31-yard field goal after a third-down sack by Jack Sawyer.
Maryland drove back into the red zone again on its second possession as a 27-yard catch-and-run by Roman Hemby got the Terrapins to Ohio State’s 10-yard line, but the Buckeyes were able to hold Maryland to a field goal again to stay ahead by one point.
The Terrapins came close to completing what would have been a go-ahead 51-yard touchdown pass on their third drive of the game, but the ball went through Jacob Copeland’s hands and Maryland left tackle Jaelyn Duncan was called for holding on the same play, leading to the Terrapins’ first punt of the day on the final play of the first quarter.
| OHIO STATE | METRIC | MARYLAND |
|---|---|---|
| 401 | TOTAL YARDS | 402 |
| 160 | RUSHING YARDS | 84 |
| 43 | RUSHING ATTEMPTS | 31 |
| 3.7 | AVERAGE per RUSH | 2.7 |
| 3 | RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS | 1 |
| 241 | PASSING YARDS | 318 |
| 18-30 | COMPLETIONS–ATTEMPTS | 27-37 |
| 13.4 | AVERAGE per COMPLETION | 11.8 |
| 1 | PASSING TOUCHDOWNS | 2 |
| 26 | 1st DOWNS | 21 |
| 73 | TOTAL PLAYS | 68 |
| 5.5 | YARDS PER PLAY | 5.9 |
| 5-5 | RED ZONE | 5-5 |
| 8-15 | third down conv | 6-14 |
| 11-97 | PENALTIES | 10-96 |
| 30:15 | POSSESSION | 29:45 |
After back-to-back three-and-outs on its second and third possessions, Ohio State reached the red zone on its fourth drive of the game but was forced to settle for a 33-yard Noah Ruggles field goal after Henderson was tackled for a loss and C.J. Stroud threw back-to-back incompletions.
Ohio State was forced to punt for the third time in five possessions on its final drive of the first half, allowing Maryland to take a three-point lead into halftime.
After forcing Maryland to punt on its opening possession of the second half, Ohio State got the momentum-changing play it needed when Lathan Ransom blocked his second punt in as many weeks, with Xavier Johnson recovering the blocked punt just as he did against Indiana. Two plays later, Dallan Hayden – who played nearly all of the second half in place of Henderson after Henderson ran for only 19 yards on 11 first-half carries – put the Buckeyes back in front with an 8-yard touchdown run.
Lathan Ransom does it again!
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 19, 2022
For the second straight week, he blocks a punt after making a big stop before it. @L8thanRansom x @OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/zqa0Q0tvxK
The Buckeyes had a chance to extend their lead to two scores on their next possession, but ended up settling for a 47-yard Ruggles field goal after Stroud was penalized for intentional grounding on third down in the red zone.
Ohio State finally took its first two-score lead of the game on its third possession of the second half when Hayden capped off an 11-play, 88-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run.
Maryland quickly cut the lead back to one score by driving 75 yards in just five plays. Tagovailoa completed three straight passes and drew a pass interference penalty on Cameron Martinez before finishing the drive off himself with a 5-yard touchdown run. The Terrapins opted to go for two after the touchdown and Tagovailoa completed a pass to Jacob Copeland to cut Ohio State’s lead to 27-21.
Following a kickoff return to the 47-yard line by Johnson, Ohio State extended its lead back to two scores as Hayden ran for his third touchdown of the game from 13 yards out. That touchdown would only give the Buckeyes a 10-point lead, however, when Deonte Banks blocked Ruggles’ extra point attempt and Jakorian Bennett returned it all the way to the end zone for two Terrapins points.
A 49-yard pass from Tagovailoa to Rakim Jarrett got Maryland back inside Ohio State’s 10-yard line on its subsequent possession. Tagovailoa cut Ohio State’s lead to three points when he completed a 1-yard touchdown pass to Jeshaun Jones to convert 4th-and-goal.
The Buckeyes took a risk on their next possession by going for it on 4th-and-1 from Maryland’s 42-yard line, and that risk backfired as Stroud’s pass intended for Harrison fell incomplete. Ohio State got away with it, though, as the defense forced a 3-and-out.
After getting the ball back with 5:54 to play, Ohio State was able to run more than five minutes off the clock before Ruggles made a 45-yard field goal with 42 seconds left to play.
The Buckeye defense sealed the victory with nine seconds left on the clock when Zach Harrison knocked the ball out of Tagovailoa’s hands and Steele Chambers recovered the ball for a defensive touchdown.
Ohio State will wrap up the regular season with its final home game of the season and its most important game of the season next Saturday at noon, when the Buckeyes will host Michigan at Ohio Stadium. Both Ohio State and Michigan are entering The Game with 11-0 records, marking the first time The Game will pit two undefeated teams against each other since the “Game of the Century” in 2006.
Game Notes
- Miyan Williams and Jaxon Smith-Njigba were among nine unavailable players for Saturday’s game. TreVeyon Henderson, Dawand Jones and Denzel Burke all returned to the starting lineup after missing the previous game against Indiana, but Henderson played only one snap in the second half as he continued to deal with a foot injury.
- Ohio State and Maryland both wore Virginia helmet decals to honor the three Virginia football players who were shot and killed last weekend. A pregame moment of silence was also held.
- C.J. Stroud, Tyler Friday, Cade Stover and Tommy Eichenberg were the captains for the game’s opening coin toss.
- With his first two catches of the game, Marvin Harrison Jr. became the eighth player in Ohio State history to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a single season.
- The blocked extra point was Ruggles’ first unsuccessful extra point try as a Buckeye.
- Matt Jones exited the game in the fourth quarter after going down with an apparent lower-body injury and had to be carted back to the locker room. He was replaced by Enokk Vimahi at right guard.
- Chambers became the third Buckeye to score a defensive touchdown this year, joining Tommy Eichenberg and J.T. Tuimoloau.
- Eichenberg is now up to 105 total tackles for the season, the most by any Buckeye in a single season since 2015.
- #2 Ohio State 43, Maryland 30
- • Buckeyes Battle to Beat Maryland, 43-30
- • Just Hand it to Hayden
- • Ransom, Eichenberg Battle Through Injuries
- • Welcome to Hate Week
- • Ohio State Postgame • Photos • Notebook • Quotebook • Debriefing
- • Maryland Postgame • 3 Key Stats • Five Things • Social Reactions
