Maryland Football: 3 takeaways from devastating loss at Temple

Maryland football had an ugly showing against Temple and lost its first game. What’d we learn from the devastating loss against the Owls?

Who saw this one coming? Maryland was putting up 70 points on average through its first two games but had just two in the first half against Temple in Week 3.

It wasn’t the upset anyone was expecting, but it’s the one everyone was paying attention to until the bitter end.

The game looked as good as over when Maryland couldn’t convert a 4th-and-goal at the 1-yard line with under five minutes left in the game, but the Terrapins got another chance to pull off the victory at Lincoln Financial Field. They forced a Temple three-and-out the next drive and got the ball back with time to score the go-ahead touchdown.

They ultimately couldn’t get anything going on their final drive and the Terrapins allowed the Owls to step out of the back of the end zone for a safety to end the game with a 20-17 loss.

What’d we learn?

3. Anthony McFarland better than advertised

Can we just talk about how good Anthony McFarland Jr. is? On a day when the offense wasn’t moving the ball effectively, he was the lone bright spot.

And surprisingly, this was his first big game of the year. Yes, the Terrapins may have been averaging 70 points per game heading into this one, but McFarland had struggled for the most part. In fact, he had less than 100 yards through two games, but he topped that total on Saturday afternoon.

McFarland finished with 26 carries for 132 yards and a touchdown and probably should have touched the ball more if Maryland wanted to pull out the comeback win.

This kid may be the most underrated back in the Big Ten.