Maryland 34, Purdue 29: Big plays beat five Purdue field goals

Maryland ran 21 fewer minutes of offense than Purdue and still won 34-29 at Ross-Ade Stadium on Saturday. The difference was the end zone. Purdue drove the field all day and kept settling, with Jacobo Echeverria Lozano kicking five field goals. Maryland scored from 44, 75 and 87 yards out.

The win ends a six-game losing streak for the Terrapins, who move to 3-6. Purdue, also 3-6, has lost three straight.

How it was won

Purdue controlled the first half without pulling away. Echeverria Lozano hit from 47 yards in the first quarter, then from 26 and 24 in the second for a 9-0 lead. Malik Washington answered with a 15-yard touchdown run at 6:34 of the second quarter, and Echeverria Lozano added a 36-yarder before the break. Purdue led 12-7 at halftime having scored on four drives and found the end zone on none of them.

The third quarter turned it. Dorian Fleming hit Na'eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding for a 44-yard touchdown at 8:53 to put Maryland in front 14-12, and Washington scored again from a yard out to make it 21-12. Purdue finally got a touchdown when Xavier Townsend ran 30 yards at 2:54, cutting the gap to 21-19. Eleven seconds of game clock later, DeJuan Williams went 75 yards and Maryland led 28-19.

Echeverria Lozano's fifth field goal, from 22 yards early in the fourth, brought Purdue within 28-22. Three minutes later Washington found Chris Durr Jr. for 87 yards. The two-point pass failed, leaving it 34-22. Fame Ijeboi's 2-yard run at 3:50 closed it to five, and that was as close as Purdue got.

The box score tells the same story. Purdue had 26 first downs to Maryland's 12, outgained the Terrapins 425 to 390 and held the ball for 35:56. Ryan Browne went 24 of 38 for 296 yards without a touchdown pass. Ijeboi carried 19 times for 32 yards, and Purdue converted 7 of 17 third downs.

Maryland needed far fewer snaps. Washington completed 13 of 18 for 253 yards with an interception and ran for two scores. Durr caught four passes for 127 yards. Williams finished with 99 yards on 14 carries, most of it on one run. The Terrapins were 5 of 10 on third down, and each side committed one turnover.

Full pricing history is on the game page.

Against the number

Purdue closed as a 5.5-point favorite. Maryland covered and won outright, which paid +170 on the moneyline against Purdue's -205.

The total closed at 56.5 and the teams scored 63, so the over cashed. It needed the last score: after Durr's touchdown the game sat at 56 points, half a point under, until Ijeboi's run with 3:50 left took it over.

What's next

Maryland hosts Wisconsin on Saturday, November 14, on FS1. The Terrapins' other wins came against UConn and Hampton, so this was their first in conference play. Their three Big Ten home losses before Wisconsin came by 3, 7 and 51 points.

Purdue travels to No. 19 Iowa the same day. The Boilermakers' two conference wins came against Minnesota and Illinois, and the last three weeks have produced losses to Washington, Penn State and now Maryland. Against Iowa, the red zone is the first thing to fix: five field goals and one Purdue touchdown through three quarters is how a 26-first-down day ends in a loss.