After cruising to wins over Howard and Florida International to open the season, Maryland tasted its first dose of adversity in a hostile road environment.
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The Terrapins and Knights swapped scores in a five-minute span between the first and second periods.
The Terrapins’ offense has accumulated over 475 yards each game with a balanced attack and has yet to turn the ball over.
Milton turned his fumble into a touchdown after losing the ball at the Terrapins’ 7-yard-line, only to scoop it up and bolt 7 yards into the end zone at 4:47 of the third quarter. The Terrapins are 1-1 against the spread in the two games.
Maryland is attempting to rebuild its football program and first-year Terrapins coach DJ Durkin isn’t looking for perfection.
The back-to-back contests against the Big 10 Conference didn’t end in the results the Knights had hoped for, but the latter contest against Maryland proved that UCF can hang with Power-5 level teams.
Outside of their two scoring drives in the first half, the Terps struggled to move the ball, but didn’t commit any turnovers.
But Maryland also forced three takeaways in the first half.
Milton was almost flawless in the opening half, completing 13 of 16 passes for 106 yards. Jawon Hamilton added 65 rushing yards for Central Florida.
The electrifying run by Killins would be his only carry of the day, as Dontravious Wilson ground out 83 yards on 17 carries and Holman raced to 67 yards on seven carries after being repeatedly flushed out of the pocket.
Maryland went back to Harrison to begin the next drive. After a lost fumble by Milton on Maryland’s 2-yard line, the Terrapins took over and senior running back Trey Edmunds blasted in on a 25-yard touchdown run.
In overtime, the Knights continued to battle, and when it looked the Knights were out of it, Milton connected on 31-yard touchdown pass to Smith on third down. He completed 10 of 23 passes for 127 yards, and over 40 percent of that total came on a 51-yard toss to Teldrick Morgan. When UCF stopped Maryland from gaining chunks of yardage on the ground on early downs, the Knights had a lot of success in stopping Maryland. After throwing 13 interceptions last season, he hasn’t thrown an interception in the first two games but has managed three touchdown passes and has an efficiency rating of 176.01. Smith went out-of-bounds but came back in and made a leaping catch and ended up falling into the end zone.
For Hills, taking a sack under heavy pressure isn’t a bad play, especially not with the punter the Terps have. Jackson is a big, physical cover corner that has been a quality addition to a relatively thin back end after sitting out the first game of the season due to an academic matter. Likely and Cockerille had 14 tackles, while Carter had 11.
-Another big-time contributor on defense was Opara, who had six tackles and played a big role in stuffing a running play on several occasions. Holman’s prognosis as of Wednesday was still uncertain, though UCF officials indicated that he was being evaluated to see whether he’d be available to play when Maryland comes to the Bright House on Saturday.
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-After two games in Florida, the Terps have a well-deserved bye week and will host Purdue Oct. 1 at 3:30 p.m.
