The Hawkeyes racked up 268 rushing yards, while the Terps had just 227 total yards on offense.
Maryland football quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. started the game against Iowa despite nursing an injury to his throwing hand. After two drives that both resulted in punts, he was replaced by redshirt sophomore MJ Morris, who played the rest of the first half.
But Edwards reentered the game to begin the third quarter. He led two more drives — but near the end of the latter, he took a shot to the head on a red-zone scramble and left the game once again. Morris was the Terps’ quarterback for the rest of the game.
No matter who its signal caller was, Maryland generated little offensive movement all afternoon, getting into opposing territory just twice. Iowa ran away with a 29-13 victory over the Terps Saturday at SECU Stadium.
Maryland is now unable to hit the six-win mark needed for bowl eligibility with one game left. Head coach Michael Locksley’s squad won’t have a postseason game for the first time since 2020.
“What does being negative do? I choose to not live my life that way … if I was negative about everything I’ve had to endure as a person, I wouldn’t be standing here,” Locksley said. “It’s my job to model that for these young men, for this team, because they’re our future.”
The Hawkeyes led 13-0 at halftime. They slowed the game’s pace to a crawl, running the ball 36 times in the first half compared to just 10 passing attempts. Iowa’s offense was on the field for 22:52 in the first half — Maryland was on offense for 7:08 in that span.
Iowa star running back Kaleb Johnson was a borderline unstoppable force, finishing the afternoon with 164 rushing yards on 35 carries. His backup, redshirt freshman Kamari Moulton, added a 68-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to seal the game. Iowa’s 268 rushing yards was more than Maryland’s entire offensive output.
“He’s about my size … his burst after contact is lethal. He’s a big back,” linebacker Donnell Brown said. “It’s the explosiveness. And he’s twitchy too, and he can bounce off tackles.”
The Hawkeyes made their offensive intentions clear from the get-go. They ran the ball eight times in the first 10 plays of their opening drive, all for positive gains. But Caleb Wheatland ended that stretch with a sack, and one play later a bad handoff led to a fumble that Maryland recovered.
Edwards found Kaden Prather for a first down on the subsequent drive. That was the only time an Edwards-led offense moved the chains in the first half. An errant throw on third-and-3 ended that drive prematurely, and the Terps picked up just six yards on their next possession.
Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes had no problems controlling both the line of scrimmage and pace of play. They rushed the ball 36 times for 139 yards in the first half. Only two carries went for negative yardage and just three went for double-digit yardage. Iowa ran 46 first-half plays compared to the Terps’ 20 plays.
Morris entered the game on Maryland’s third possession with Edwards injured. He found tight end Preston Howard for a first down — something the Terps hadn’t picked up in nearly 18 game minutes — but a holding penalty on Aliou Bah put them behind the sticks and they punted four plays later.
“[Billy’s] been banged up for two or three weeks now … Billy came to me and said ‘Coach, I really want to try to go.’,” Locksley said. “He really gave us a chance … and then MJ came in and scrapped, and fought through adversity.
Maryland had two more drives in the first half. It picked up just 24 total yards on them, both leading to punts. The Terps didn’t score until the 6:07 mark of the third quarter, when Morris found Tai Felton in the corner of the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown.
Iowa’s offensive dominance faded in the second half. It picked up 19, 22 and 7 yards on its three third-quarter drives. But two of those drives ended in field goals due to good field position.
It looked like Maryland had a chance to claw back late. Morris led an eight-play, 65-yard drive that took 3:54 and ended in Felton’s second score of the afternoon. That cut Iowa’s lead to just one possession.
But Moulton put things on ice four plays into Iowa’s subsequent drive with his second rushing touchdown of the season.
Maryland’s last-ditch comeback effort was quickly squashed by Iowa cornerback TJ Hall, who intercepted a deep ball thrown Prather’s way. Standout Iowa linebacker Jay Higgins picked off Morris once again on the next drive, unofficially ending the game and sending fans to the exits.
Three things to know
1. Kaleb Johnson dominated the game. Johnson entered Saturday leading the Big Ten in both rushing yards (1,328) and rushing touchdowns (20). He lived up to that pedigree against the Terps.
Maryland’s defense looked helpless trying to bring Johnson down. Its run fits weren’t poor, but Johnson broke tackles at will, repeatedly doing just enough to keep the chains moving. Despite his longest run being just 13 yards, he averaged 4.7 yards on 35 carries.
2. Neither Maryland quarterback played well. Even before leaving the game, Edwards was far from his best Saturday. He wore a glove on his throwing hand and displayed obvious discomfort on the sideline in the first quarter. He finished the outing 5 for 8 for just 26 passing yards, with another 25 yards on the ground.
Morris wasn’t much better in relief. He finished with 103 yards on 12-of-23 passing, and wasn’t a factor as a runner. He threw two touchdowns to bring Maryland within striking distance, but then killed its comeback prospects with back-to-back interceptions.
3. Tai Felton continued his record-breaking season. Felton was once again Maryland’s most productive offensive weapon, fighting through poor quarterback play to record six catches for 57 yards and two scores. He’s now fourth all-time in Maryland career receiving yards (2,180) — passing Darrius Heyward-Bey — second in single-season receiving yards (1,097) — passing Torrey Smith’s 2010 campaign — tied with D.J. Moore for fourth in career receiving touchdowns (17) and in a three-way tie for second in single-season receiving touchdowns (9).
“I had a torn ACL [in high school], I had some stuff going on at home, I had some mental challenges I went through,” Felton said. “Seeing my journey and my progression I’ve had here … l look at it all as a blessing. I try to find a positive in stuff like this when we’re not winning.”