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Ohio State Football: 3 takeaways from win over Maryland

By Matty Breisch

COLLEGE PARK, MD - NOVEMBER 12: Head coach Urban Meyer of the Ohio State Buckeyes looks on during the second quarter against the Maryland Terrapins at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium on November 12, 2016 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - NOVEMBER 12: Head coach Urban Meyer of the Ohio State Buckeyes looks on during the second quarter against the Maryland Terrapins at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium on November 12, 2016 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images) /

2. Maryland’s special teams are special

Maryland’s special teams unit has been, well, special so far in 2017. In the Terrapins’ Week 1 upset victory over former Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman’s Texas squad, the team blocked a Longhorns field goal that was returned by sophomore defensive back Antoine Brooks for a 71-yard touchdown. This play really helped to swing momentum Maryland’s way in a then still close game, and ultimately resulted in a 51-41 victory for the Terrapins in Austin.

And while Maryland’s special teams dominance in Week 6 game against Ohio State didn’t exactly return the same results as it did in Week 1, arguably the first statement win of the D.J. Durkin era at College Park, it did provide the team’s lone score of the first half. That score kept the game fairly close going into halftime.

After Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa sacked sophomore quarterback Max Bortenschlager and forced a fumble that was returned by Jerome Baker for a 20-yard Ohio State touchdown on the second drive of the game, many fans of either team assumed that the game was over.

Going down 14-to-0 in less than five minutes against one of the nation’s top-ranked teams can be an incredibly hard challenge to overcome, but on the very next play the Terrapin’s junior running back Ty Johnson did just that.

Johnson, a three-star speed back from Cumberland, Maryland, who only received one college football scholarship offer coming out of high school, returned the Buckeyes’ kickoff 100-yards for a Maryland touchdown and closed the gap to a one score game.

While this momentum swing was fairly short-lived it was far from the only spectacular play that the Terrapins executed in the game. Maryland also blocked an Ohio State field goal later in the first half on a play that should have resulted in an easy three points. Instead it gave the Terps excellent field position to start their subsequent drive.

If Maryland hadn’t lost their top-two quarterbacks to a pair of ACL injuries in the first month of the season, this team could have been really special, but as the 2018 season is still months away, D.J. Durkin’s squad will have to use this season as a building block from which they can build an eventual contender upon.

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