Maryland wide receiver Rakim Jarrett carries the ball between Buffalo's Devin Grant, left, and Shaun Dolac during Saturday's season opener. Jarrett led the offense with six catches for 110 yards. (Gail Burton, AP)
The high expectations for Maryland football’s offense might be warranted.
Heading into the 2022 season, the combination of star quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, a dynamic receiving corps that welcomes back Dontay Demus Jr. after last year’s knee injury and a veteran offensive line that features potential NFL draft pick Jaelyn Duncan generated buzz that the Terps could have one of the best offenses in the Big Ten.
In Saturday’s season opener, it didn’t take long for that talent to show up. Tagovailoa threw for 290 yards and the Terps’ running game led by redshirt freshman Roman Hemby powered a 31-10 victory over Buffalo at Capital One Field.
After the departure of Tayon Fleet-Davis, coach Mike Locksley said he planned to use three to four running backs this season, riding with whoever had the hot hand. In Maryland’s 11th straight season-opening nonconference win, Hemby delivered. The former John Carroll standout rushed for 114 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries, helping the Terps record 446 total yards.
“We showed good depth [at running back],” Locksley said. “I thought Roman Hemby showed us why we named him our starter with the ability to hit the home run and the consistency he plays with.”
The opening drive showed all the Terps’ offense had to offer. After junior receiver Rakim Jarrett’s 25-yard gain on a jet sweep and Jeshaun Jones’ 14-yard reception, Hemby ran 33 yards while slipping past a pair of defenders for a touchdown, capping off a five-play, 73-second march that gave Maryland a 7-0 lead in the opening minutes.
Maryland’s offense remained quiet until the start of the second quarter, when running back Antwain Littleton II bulldozed a pair of Buffalo defenders for a 21-yard gain before powering into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown, extending the Terps’ lead to 14-0 with 12:14 left.
After taking a 17-7 lead into halftime, the Terps started the third quarter with a bang. On second-and-5, Hemby burst up the middle for a 70-yard score — the longest rushing touchdown by a Terps player since 2019 — to give Maryland a 24-7 lead.
Littleton added 34 yards on six carries to help the Terps rush for 149 yards and four touchdowns, while Hemby became the fifth running back to rush for 100 yards in Locksley’s four seasons.
“We all got a lot to prove,” Hemby said. “Not too many people trust us but [our team] takes pride in us. I kind of have the mindset of [wanting] to prove myself right, and try to make the play that could change the game.”
After Tagovailoa rewrote the school’s record book in 2021, setting program benchmarks in passing yards (3,860), completions (328) and completion percentage (.692), his performance against an overmatched Bulls team was inconsistent.
The Alabama transfer finished 24-for-34 with 290 yards, but he threw an interception and tossed a handful of sloppy passes, sometimes putting his receivers in bad situations.
During Maryland’s final drive of the second quarter, Tagovailoa threw a pair of incomplete passes to Jarrett and Demus, who were both sandwiched by Buffalo defenders.
Tagovailoa also lacked touch on his deep throws. In the first quarter, Tagovailoa underthrew sophomore receiver Tai Felton, but Bulls defensive back Elijah Blades was called for roughing the passer. When the Terps faced a third-and-13 with under 11 minutes left in the third quarter, Tagovailoa’s pass down the middle soared over redshirt sophomore tight end Corey Dyches before being intercepted by Buffalo safety Marcus Fuqua.
The junior quarterback did manage to spread the ball around, however, connecting with nine receivers. Jarrett led the way with six catches for 110 yards, including a 35-yard reception that set up Littleton’s second rushing touchdown with 13:49 left in the fourth quarter.
Locksley attributed Tagovailoa’s uneven performance to first-game jitters, but the fourth-year coach expects his quarterback to improve as the season progresses. When looking back at Tagovailoa’s interception, Locksley credited Buffalo for disguising its coverage.
“He thought they opened the middle of the field up,” Locksley said. “What we talked about is that he’s got to confirm the coverage and not make a decision [presnap]. But those are all things that are correctable and we’ll get those things corrected this week.”
Jones, who suffered a season-ending leg injury last season, tallied 70 yards on four receptions, while sophomore tight end CJ Dippre finished with three catches for 30 yards. In his first game back from a knee injury suffered Oct. 1 against Iowa, Demus had three catches for 23 yards.
“We are still managing the loads for [Demus and Jones],” Locksley said. “They played about 50 to 60 percent of the plays they normally would get. So it was good to see [Demus] make a few plays and get his feet wet as well as his timing back with Taulia.”
Overall, the Terps seemed pleased with their performance. Locksley said the team’s goal was to get at least 80 offensive plays, but it settled for 61. He thought the offense could’ve executed better on third down, where it went 4-for-13. Once again, penalties were an issue, with the Terps being flagged eight times for 82 yards.
“There’s plenty of things that we can still get cleaned up,” Locksley said. “It’s always better to be able to do it after a victory, which we’re really fortunate to have gotten it done here.”
MARYLAND@CHARLOTTE
Saturday, 3:30 p.m.
Stream: Stadium
Radio: 105.7 FM
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Originally published at Tribune News Service