Ohio State football: 3 Maryland players to watch Saturday against Ohio State
The Maryland Terrapins will host Ohio State on Saturday, November 14th on a hot streak. These are three players to watch from the Terrapins.
After dropping their season opener in humiliating fashion, 43-3 against a surprisingly undefeated and now ranked Northwestern squad, they beat preseason Big Ten West favorite Minnesota in an overtime thriller and then really dominated Penn State for the majority of somewhat of a surprising 35-19 win over the Nittany Lions to keep them winless. Now with a third-ranked Ohio State matchup looming, here are some of the players who could make an extreme impact Saturday.
Taulia Tagovailoa – Quarterback
Most notably the brother of former Alabama star and current Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua, a big reason Maryland has won back-to-back games has been his quarterback play. After a disastrous week one performance where he failed to break 100 yards passing and tossed three interceptions in a loss to Northwestern, he has found his stride.
He threw for nearly 400 yards and three touchdowns while adding 59 yards rushing the week after the Northwestern game against Minnesota and was the main reason for a Terrapin win. Last week vs. Penn State, he had his first turnover-free game and completed 18-26 passes for 282 yards and another three touchdowns.
Maryland has some weapons offensively, and if Tua can get it to his playmakers in space and avoid negative plays, you have got to think Maryland will be competitive against the Buckeyes.
Chance Campbell – Linebacker
The Junior from Towson, MD is the leading tackler on the Maryland defense. He has registered 33 total tackles (18 solo) in three games while also accumulating 1.5 sacks. He had 15 tackles against Northwestern and then 13 more against Minnesota while picking up a combined four tackles for loss. Then against Penn State, he had six tackles, a half of a sack, and a fumble recovery.
Maryland likes to move him around the field a bit, so I wouldn’t expect him to just stay in one spot in the box. He has stepped into a bigger role this year after accumulating 54 tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss as a Sophomore in 2019. Look for the Terrapins to deploy him all over the field Saturday.
Jake Funk – Running Back
The speedy fifth-year senior is back in the backfield for Maryland in 2020 after a torn ACL cut a promising redshirt Junior year to a halt in 2019. After logging just six carries for 35 yards against Northwestern, the Terrapins gave him an opportunity to get a boatload of carries against Minnesota where he took full advantage racking up 243 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns while averaging a whopping 10+ yards per carry.
He was solid and steady against Penn State with 16 carries for 80 yards and a score. Clearly good things tend to happen whenever the veteran is on the field and garnering carries, so look for the Terrapins to try to get him involved fairly early Saturday.
Next. Ohio State's defense needs to be at their best. dark
These are guys that Ohio State needs to stop if they want to win this game by a hefty margin.