Five plays later, junior quarterback Artur Sitkowski found junior running back Isaih Pacheco alone along the left sideline for a 20-yard touchdown and a 14-10 lead. Gotay’s personal foul gave Rutgers a first down at Maryland’s 42. On Saturday, the Terps outdid themselves with season highs in penalties (12) and penalty yards (145), and too many of them occurred at critical points in the game.

The team has been flagged more often and lost more yards on penalties than its opponent in all five games this season. If there is one area Maryland has been consistent in, it is penalties and penalty yards. Speaking of discipline … the penalties remain a problem. So it wasn’t our players on the plays that hurt us. “But we’ve got good enough players and we put good enough players on the field. “Obviously when we have all of our players that play well for us, that helps us,” he said.

The defense also surrendered 240 of Rutgers’ 354 yards in the second half, which is when the presence of Hyppolite, Campbell and Bennett would have fortified that unit.Īfter the game, Locksley refused to talk about what could have been if the team had played at full strength. Sophomore Fa’Najae Gotay led the defense with 10 tackles in place of Hyppolite, but he also committed a costly personal foul penalty that contributed to a Scarlet Knights touchdown in the third quarter (more on penalties later). Tagovailoa’s accuracy and mobility would have been additional headaches for the Rutgers defense, which might have opened up gaps in the defensive line or the secondary. In the first quarter, the offense managed just 3.6 yards per play, three first downs and no trips across midfield. The team greatly missed the four absent starters.Īs well as Najarian played, one can only wonder how the offense might have fared if Tagovailoa had been available.

Rutgers word scramble