Buckeyes Preview 10/6/17: Maryland Terrapins @ Ohio State

By Jason Disantis, @JasonInCLE


The J.T. Barrett led Buckeyes put together their most complete game of the season as they pounded Rutgers 56-0. This was the second year in a row the Silver Bullets pitched a shutout against the Scarlet Knights who have lost the last two years to the Buckeyes by a total of 114-0.

Barrett, who threw three touchdown passes, tallied 286 yards through the air making him Ohio State’s career passing yardage leader.

“I think it’s a tremendous honor,” Barrett said on his record. “I came to Ohio State, I always wanted to be a quarterback there, and win football games and be productive. This is a great honor and I’m just going to focus on winning football games.”

Northeast Ohio product Demario McCall led the Buckeyes in rushing, taking full advantage of his opportunity, with 103 yards and a touchdown on eleven carries. McCall also did some damage in the passing game with a 35 yard touchdown catch.

Mike Weber made the most of his carries piling up a career-highthree touchdowns while J.K. Dobbins only got six carries in a game that got out of hand quickly for Rutgers and allowed the Buckeyes to get others involved.

The tenth ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) enter this Saturday as another heavy favorite as the Maryland Terrapins (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) come to Columbus.

The Terrapins opened the 2017 campaign with a big upset on the road against #23 Texas and are coming off a 31-24 road win in their Big Ten opener against Minnesota.

Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer knows that this Terrapin team isn’t the same one the Buckeyes rolled over 62-3 last year.

“Playing a very good Maryland team that beat Texas,” Meyer said. “And came back with their third-string quarterback and really looked much improved against Minnesota. A very good team.”

That third-string quarterback is Max Bortenschlager, a sophomore who will now lead the Terrapins the rest of the year after season-ending knee injuries to Tyrrell Pigrome and KasimHill.

“I’m feeling good after the win, but that only lasts so long,” said Bortenschlager. “Just have to look forward to this week and just have to build off last week.”

Inadvertently, Buckeye quarterback Dwayne Haskins played a big part of Bortenschlager getting to Maryland. When Haskins, who was a local kid originally committed to Maryland, flipped to Ohio State a scholarship opened up. Bortenschlager, who was committed to Buffalo at the time, was convinced by Maryland offensive coordinator Walt Bell to come to the Terrapins. While Bortenschlager isn’t as flashy and Pigrome and Hill, he’s steady, plays within himself, and knows what his coaches need from the quarterback position.

In Maryland's win against Minnesota Bortenschlager attempted just two throws of 20 yards or more and ended with only 154 yards passing. But he also threw two touchdowns and did not throw an interception.

“I think he was confident and comfortable with the game plan,” Maryland coach DJ Durkin said. “That’s Max. He’s the same guy. He’s got a quiet confidence about him, and he went out and played that way.”

Helping take the pressure off of Bortenschlager is running back Ty Johnson whose 34 yard touchdown run put the Terrapins ahead of Minnesota with a 1:10 left last week. Johnson, who leads Maryland in rushing with 411 yards on the year, totaled 130 against the Gophers to go along with what proved to be the game-winning touchdown.



The Buckeyes defense will also have to lock down the Terrapins leading receiver D.J. Moore.

Moore had a big game against Minnesota with eight catches for 90 yards and a touchdown. Moore has 30 receptions on the year to go along with 403 yards and five touchdowns.

Durkin, a former assistant coach for Urban Meyer, knows the task is tall for the Terrapins. Maryland will have to try and stop the No. 5 total yardage and 11th ranked scoring offense in the nation. Add to that the problem of trying to rack up points against the No. 16 scoring defense and it could prove to be a long day for the Terrapins. But Durkin knows that the bigger the challenge, the bigger the opportunity.

“It’s going to be an unbelievable opportunity this weekend,” Durkin said. “This is a great football team that we’re playing, and I mean that -- great.”



What: Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Maryland Terrapins
When: Saturday October 7, 2017 at 4:00 PM ET
Where: Ohio Stadium, Columbus Ohio
Watch: FOX
Spread: OSU -30.5
Over/Under: 60
Money Line: OSU -12500, Maryland +5000

Buckeyes Preview 11.11.16: Ohio State @ Maryland

By Jason Disantis, @JasonInCLE

After dismantling the #10 Nebraska Cornhuskers the #5 Ohio State Buckeyes (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten) will travel to College Park to take on the Maryland Terrapins (5-4, 2-4 Big Ten) this Saturday night.

While the Buckeyes improved to 4-1 over their last five games the Terrapins are on the other side at 1-4 and coming off of their worst loss of the season, a 59-3 drubbing by Michigan.  Maryland has given up over 30 points in each of those four losses and is giving up 27 points a game on the year.  Former Urban Meyer assistant and current Maryland head coach D.J. Durkin will have to get his team to quickly forget about last week and get them to focus on the team in front of them.

"We're going to get back to work and figure out what to do with the next team and how to bounce back," Durkin said.  "We've had some ups and downs for the season, but the good thing is, we've bounced back every time.  I don't know if it's been as quick as we'd have like, but we've bounced back.  We'll do it again."  

The Terrapins are going to have a tough time bouncing back against Ohio State if the Buckeyes can continue their offensive chemistry from a week ago.

"Everything was clicking, the run game, the pass game," Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett said.  "It was good for us to go out there and show we could throw the ball downfield."  

Barrett easily had his best game of late, throwing for 290 yards and four touchdowns.  The Buckeyes as a whole tallied up 590 yards of total offense.  Two of Barrett's touchdowns, including one of 75 yards went to dynamic H-back Curtis Samuel.  Samuel and the rest of the Buckeyes offense knows they have been struggling of late to find that spark they had earlier in the season.

"We really didn't do anything different,"  Samuel said.  It's about execution."

And with Dontre Wilson struggling returning punts fans might be seeing a little more of the already do-it-all player for the Buckeyes as coach Urban Meyer said on his radio show that Samuel will have a chance to take over the punt return duties on Saturday.

The Buckeye offense wasn't the only group getting in on the scoring.  Ohio State had two interceptions returned for touchdowns including a score from safety Damon Webb on the first series of the game.  The young Buckeye defense knows how big those scores can be throughout the course of a game.

"A defensive score gives momentum to the offense and that's what we try to do every time." Buckeye cornerback Marshon Lattimore said.  "If we get our hands on the ball, we try to score so we can put points up on the board."

The end of the regular season is nearing as the Buckeyes get closer to a shot at the Big Ten title and a playoff birth.  Ohio State has two more games before a highly anticipated showdown with current #3 and rival, Michigan.  Will the Buckeyes get caught looking ahead and not focus on the Terrapins this Saturday?

"There's no chance," said Meyer.

What:  Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Maryland Terrapins
When:  Saturday, November 12, 2016 at 3:30 ET
Where:  Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium, College Park, Maryland
Watch:  ESPN
Line:  Ohio State -29, O/U 58

On The Mark 10.11.15: #Buckeyes v. #Maryland Recap

Offense finally clicks for the Buckeyes in 49-28 victory against Maryland
By @MarkW2112

The Ohio State Buckeyes finally seemed to be click on offense, let by both Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett, in a 49-28 victory against the beleaguered Maryland Terrapins today at The Horseshoe in Columbus.  Jones threw for 291 yards and 2 touchdowns while J.T. Barrett only went 2-2 for 26 yards but ran for 3 touchdowns on 62 yards.  The Terps offense, however, also played well, led by Perry Hills.  While not very that spectacular throwing the ball, he did run for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns while passing for 1 touchdown. 

Ezekiel Elliot ran for 106 yards and a 2 touchdowns.  The highlight of the game for the Buckeyes was a spectacular catch by Braxton Miller, leaping high in to the air to catch a bullet thrown by Jones.  He then scored on a passing touchdown on the next play.  Michael Thomas also caught 7 passes for 107 yards.

The defense did have 4 sacks but, once again, was susceptible to the big plays, with Hills running free for huge gains.  It wasn't pretty but they were able to contain the Terps offense just enough to allow the offense to get going after the Terps tied it at 21 to start the third quarter.

My take:  Urban Meyer is trying everything he can to keep his team focused during a supposed "cupcake" schedule.  The Terps are not a good team but were still able to get 28 points on the board.  It was a good sign, however, how the offense finally seemed to come together.  With Cardale Jones doing more passing and J.T. Barrett more running, there is a balance to both of them playing on different occasions during the game.  After the success they had today, the Buckeyes, it appears, will use the 2 quarterbacks in the same fashion moving forward.

Player of the game:  J.T. Barrett, who ran for 3 touchdowns and seemed to spark the offense when they needed it.

Play of the game:  Braxton Miller's phenomenal open field catch.  Coming from a former quarterback makes it that much more impressive.

Next game:  against Penn State at Ohio Stadium next Saturday night at 8 PM

#Buckeyes Preview 10.9.15: #Maryland Terrapins @ Ohio State

By @jddisantis

After escaping Indiana with an ugly win last weekend the Buckeyes return home to Columbus this Saturday as they continue Big Ten play and host the 2-3 Maryland Terrapins.  The Buckeyes moved to 5-0 (1-0 in the Big Ten) after another unimpressive performance against the Hoosiers.  Maryland is coming off of two losses in a row, which they lost by a combined 73-6.

Ohio State turned in another disappointing performance last week against Indiana.  The Buckeyes committed three turnovers and in four trips to the red zone came away with two field goals.  The bright spot for Ohio State was Ezekiel Elliot's three touchdown runs of 55, 65, and 75 yards in the second half.  Elliot has 274 yards on 23 carries for an 11.9 average and once again showed the combination of power and breakaway speed that made him a Heisman contender coming into this season.

Cardale Jones played better Saturday but still missed important throws and left points on the field.  Jones missed Michael Thomas for a touchdown and threw an interception deep in Indiana territory.  The Buckeyes have only converted six of 16 red zone trips to touchdowns this season.  Last season Ohio State converted red zone visits to touchdowns 71.6 percent of the time.  Don't be surprised if you see J.T. Barrett come in the game in red zone situations.  Urban Meyer said earlier this week "We've thought about it. We've had that conversation.  At this time we haven't made any decisions on that."

Compared to Maryland, Ohio States quarterback problems look minuscule.  The Terrapins have used three quarterbacks this year and are still having a competition to see who will start.  Caleb Rowe (428 yards, 44% completion, 4/12 td/int), Perry Hills (306 yards, 52.9%, 4/2) and Daxx Garman (115 yards, 33.3%, 1/1) have all been terrible this year, and head coach Randy Edsall has yet to name a starter against the Buckeyes.

With Maryland giving up 32 points a game and only producing 18, the Buckeyes will have another opportunity to put together a complete game of dynamic offense and dominating defense this Saturday.  The Buckeyes have been 1-4 overall against the spread (ATS) and 0-3 at home.  Ohio State is a 33 point favorite against Maryland this weekend and should cover, but that's all going to depend on if the Buckeyes can finally get their offense firing like the high-powered finely tuned machine the nation has been waiting to see.


What:  Ohio State vs. Maryland
When:  Saturday Oct. 10 at 12:00 PM ET
Where:  Ohio Stadium, Columbus Ohio
Watch:  Big Ten Network

On The Mark 10.3.14: Buckeyes vs. Maryland Preview

By @MarkW2112

The Ohio State Buckeyes will start its Big 10 schedule this Saturday against the Maryland Terrapins as the 2 will face each other for the first time as conference opponents.  The Terrapins are 4-1, winning big against Indiana last week, while the Buckeyes are 3-1, coming off an exciting victory against the Cincinnati Bearcats.

While the Buckeyes look to continue their offensive dominance with J.T. Barrett looking more confident with every game, the Terrapins are uncertain who will start at quarterback with C.J. Brown and Caleb Rowe, who played well in the second half of the Indiana game when Brown went out with a wrist injury.  This is definitely the biggest game the Terrapins have played in the last few years and should be up for it playing at home.

My take: The Buckeyes are 10 point favorites in College Park and while the Terrapins and their fans will be pumped for the start of the game, I wouldn't be surprised if this turns in to a blow out in the end.  The Terrapins look tough but the Buckeyes have much better talent on both sides of the ball and should easily win their first Big 10 game of the year.

Game Info:

Date: Saturday, October 4
Time: 12 P.M. EST
Place: Byrd Stadium in College Park, Maryland
TV: ABC