Saturday, October 1, 2016

Unbeaten Maryland wallops Purdue 50-7 in Big Ten opener

Ty Johnson ran for 204 yards on seven carries, and unbeaten Maryland used a strong defensive performance to breeze past Purdue 50-7 Saturday and provide first-year coach DJ Durkin a victory in his first Big Ten game.
The Terrapins (4-0, 1-0) scored four touchdowns and amassed 293 yards in taking a 29-0 halftime lead. Maryland finished with 400 yards rushing and outgained the Boilermakers 496-205 overall.
Purdue (2-2, 0-1) had no answer for the no-huddle offense that has scored a school-record 173 points over its first four games.
Taking over at Maryland after serving as Michigan's defensive coordinator in 2015, Durkin has the Terrapins operating at a high level on both sides of the ball.
Perry Hills threw two touchdown passes to Teldrick Morganand ran for an 11-yard score. Johnson peeled off a 76-yard run and scored on carries of 8 and 48 yards, andLorenzo Harrison chipped in with a 62-yard touchdown sprint.
The defense sacked David Blough six times. The Boilermakers were ranked second in the nation in third-down conversions (59 percent), but in this game they went 6 for 20.
It was 36-0 before Purdue finally scored, on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Blough to Cole Herdman with 13:30 remaining.
Coming off two straight 300-yard games, Blough was limited to 46 yards passing before halftime and finished 18 for 41 for 132 yards.
The Boilermakers were guilty of a variety of ill-timed penalties, poor tackling and shoddy blocking by the offensive line.
Even when the Terrapins made mistakes of their own, Purdue couldn't capitalize. Maryland hadn't committed a turnover all year until Hill threw an interception on the opening series. The Terrapins subsequently jumped offside on third down, but Purdue's J.D. Dellinger was wide right on a 35-yard field goal try.
Maryland promptly moved 80 yards in six plays, then fooled the Boilermakers with an unbalanced formation on the 2-point conversion.
On Purdue's next series, an illegal formation wiped out a successful third-down play and forced a punt. Not long after that, Harrison burst up the middle on his 62-yard run.
Johnson's first touchdown made it 22-0.
Desperate for a spark, Purdue coach Darrell Hazell opted to for it on a fourth down from the Boilermakers 32. They made it, but it merely delayed Maryland's next touchdown.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
After this surprisingly lopsided victory, Maryland might receive a few votes in the AP Top 25 poll as the list of unbeaten teams in the nation continues to dwindle. Then again, the Terrapins' victories have come against Howard, Florida International, Central Florida and a Purdue team playing its first road game.
UP NEXT
Purdue: The Boilermakers travel to Illinois for a West Division matchup Saturday. The Illini lost to Nebraska 31-16 on Saturday.
Maryland: The Terrapins take a short trip north to face Penn State and former Maryland assistant coach James Franklin.

No comments:

Post a Comment