Meet the Maryland Terrapins, Ohio State football's Week 11 opponent in 2022
The Ohio State football team will travel to the land of Old Bay Spice and crab cakes for its final road game of the regular season in 2022 when the Buckeyes face Maryland.
OSU heads to College Park for a game that has a kickoff time to be determined on Nov. 19, a week before the massive showdown with Michigan in Columbus.
While Maryland won't likely be on many preseason top 25 lists this August, the Terps do enter the 2022 college football season with momentum.
Maryland went 7-6 in 2021 and capped the season with a 54-10 rout of Virginia Tech in the Pinstripe Bowl (the bowl game played inside Yankee Stadium).
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It's another sign that the program is taking steps under coach Mike Locksley, the former Alabama offensive coordinator who became Maryland's head coach in 2019. After going 5-12 in his first two seasons, including the pandemic year when Maryland played just five games, the 7-6 mark in 2021 led to a $21 million extension for Locklsey.
Here's what we know about the 2022 Maryland Terrapins.
Mike Locksley was one of several Big Ten football coaches to receive extensions
Locksley's five-game improvement from 2020 to 2021 led to a contract extension that is in line with a lot of Big Ten programs since the start of the 2021 season.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day and Michigan State coach Mel Tucker each received extensions that pay them upwards of $9.5 million annually, while Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh signed a new contract in February after flirting with the NFL. He'll make $7 million in 2022. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, the longest tenured coach in the Big Ten, signed an extension in January that will keep him at Iowa through the 2029 season.
Penn State coach James Franklin was another popular name in coaching rumors last year. He wound up with a new 10-year deal worth $70 million in December 2021. That extension came about a month after Minnesota's P.J. Fleck was given a seven-year deal that gave him a million dollar annual raise.
Ohio State vs. Maryland all-time record
The Buckeyes and Terrapins had never met until Maryland joined the Big Ten. Ohio State has never lost to Maryland going 7-0 since 2014. Ohio State beat Maryland 62-3 in 2016 and last year beat Maryland 66-17.
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The closest Maryland has come to beating Ohio State came in 2018. Under interim coach Matt Canada, Maryland took Ohio State to overtime. But it was Maryland native, and 2018 Heisman Trophy finalist, Dwayne Haskins' late-game heroics that pushed the Buckeyes over the edge in a 52-51 win.
Maryland coach Mike Locksley worked for Ron Zook, Nick Saban
Locksley is a Washington D.C.-area product and graduated from Towson University. This is his third stint at Maryland. His first stint at Maryland was as the running back coach under Ron Vanderlinden and he stayed on, along with James Franklin, when Ralph Friedgen became the coach.
He left Maryland for a similar job at Florida under Ron Zook and followed Zook to Illinois.
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From 2009 to 2011, Locksley was the head coach of New Mexico. His tenure was rocky. Not only did he go 2-26 but there were numerous off-field issues, including a withdrawn discrimination lawsuit and a suspension. He was fired after an 0-4 start in 2011.
After a second stop in Maryland where he was the offensive coordinator and then the interim coach in 2015, Locksley worked for Alabama coach Nick Saban from 2016 to 2018, spending his final two seasons as the offensive coordinator.
What did Maryland football do in 2021?
The Terps went 0-5 against ranked teams, all of which were Big Ten opponents, with the closest game being a 31-14 loss to then-No. 22 Penn State at home.
Overall, Maryland was 3-6 in conference play.
Maryland's Pinstripe Bowl win made Big Ten history
The 44-point win over Virginia Tech in the Pinstripe Bowl is the third-largest margin of victory in a bowl game in Big Ten history.
It is the largest margin of victory since Michigan beat USC by 49 points in the 1948 Rose Bowl. Michigan also beat Stanford by 49 in the Rose Bowl in 1902.
The 54 points scored is the most points a Maryland team has ever scored in a bowl game.
What does the 2022 Maryland football schedule look like?
Here's Maryland's schedule:
Sept. 3: Buffalo
Sept. 10: at Charlotte
Sept. 17: SMU
Sept. 24: at Michigan
Oct. 1: Michigan State
Oct. 8: Purdue
Oct. 15: at Indiana
Oct. 22: Northwestern
Nov. 5: at Wisconsin
Nov. 12: at Penn State
Nov. 19: Ohio State
Nov. 26: Rutgers
Taulia Tagovailoa is the Maryland quarterback
It's a big season for the Tagovailoa brothers.
While Tua Tagovailoa faces a possible make-or-break season in the NFL with the Dolphins, his brother, a redshirt junior, is in his third year with the program after transferring from Alabama.
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The 5-foot-11 quarterback is draft eligible but he isn't considered a lock to be drafted despite setting the Maryland program single season record for passing yards with 3,860 in 2021. He completed 69.2% of his passes last season, a program record, and is Maryland's all-time leader in passing percentage at 67.6%. His 26 touchdown passes tied for the most in a season last year.
Tagovailoa figures to break many of the Maryland all-time passing records this season, possibly by the time he faces Ohio State in the penultimate game of the regular season. He is second in career 300-yard passing games, fourth on career passing touchdowns, sixth in completions and eighth all-time in program history for passing yards.
The Maryland offense should be explosive
Tagovailoa put up Maryland-historic numbers in 2021 as he ran offensive coordinator Dan Enos' offense.
He had talented receivers who are also back this season in Rakim Jarrett and Dontay Demus Jr. (who led the Big Ten in receiving yards before missing seven games with an injury). The passing game gets a spark as Florida's 2021 leading receiver, Jacob Copeland, transferred to Maryland.
The offense could be even better in 2022.
The Maryland defense? Well, here's who the Terps' DC is in 2022
But the defense is ... well... Maryland will have its fourth new defensive coordinator under Mike Locksley (yes, a new coordinator for every season, though Kevin Steele was only the defensive coordinator at Maryland for a week in February).
This year's coordinator is Brian Williams. Not the journalist.
Williams, a member of the coaching staff since 2019, was the co-defensive coordinator in 2021 and he called the defense in the final two games of the 2021 season.
Williams was hired after Steele accepted the Maryland job but left for the Miami Hurricanes position days later. Brian Stewart was the co-defensive coordinator in 2021 and the unit ranked 85th in total defense and 98th in scoring defense, allowing 404.3 yards a game and 30.69 points per game.
Ohio State surpassed those numbers by halftime in their game with Maryland last year.
Who are the best NFL 2023 Draft prospects on Maryland?
Tagovailoa may not be rising on any draft boards this offseason, but one of his top targets is. Mel Kiper Jr. lists Jarrett as the No. 7-ranked receiver in the 2023 draft class. Jarrett caught 62 passes for 829 yards and five touchdowns in 2021.
He's the not the only player on a top-10 list, Kiper has offensive tackle Jaelyn Duncan as the No. 5-ranked tackle in the draft class.
Ohio State football schedule 2022
Week 1: Ohio State vs. Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 3, in Columbus, Ohio
Week 2: Ohio State vs. Arkansas State, Sept. 10, in Columbus, Ohio
Week 3: Ohio State vs. Toledo, Sept. 17, in Columbus, Ohio
Week 4: Ohio State vs. Wisconsin, Sept. 24, Columbus, Ohio
Week 5: Ohio State vs. Rutgers, Oct. 1, Columbus Ohio
Week 6: Ohio State vs. Michigan State, Oct. 8, East Lansing, Mich.
Week 7: Ohio State vs. Iowa, Oct. 22, Columbus, Ohio
Week 8: Ohio State vs. Penn State, Oct. 29, State College, Pa.
Week 9: Ohio State vs. Northwestern, Nov. 5, Evanston, Ill.
Week 10: Ohio State vs Indiana, Nov. 12, Columbus, Ohio
Week 11: Ohio State vs. Maryland, Nov. 19, College Park, MD.
Week 12: Ohio State vs. Michigan, at noon Nov. 26, Columbus, Ohio
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football schedule 2022: OSU vs. Maryland preview
