EAST HARTFORD - Maryland didn’t need anything fancy Saturday. It just kept turning the game into a race to the edge, and UConn couldn’t keep up.
The Terrapins beat the Huskies 38-14 at Rentschler Field by leaning on Malik Washington’s quick release and a passing game built on short throws that turned into long gains. Washington completed 34 passes for 347 yards, and 222 of those yards came after the catch as Maryland’s receivers kept slipping free and racing into space.
“That’s a very perimeter-oriented operation,” UConn coach Jason Candle said after the game. “They want to play fast, they want to spread the field, they want to get the receivers out there and throw those screens to fast players.
Easier said than done, you’ve got to get out there and you’ve got to tackle ’em. Too many thrown shoulders in there for me, you’ve got to wrap up, you’ve got to get the guy to the ground.”
That part was the story all afternoon. Chris Durr Jr. caught 10 passes, Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding had eight receptions for 130 yards with 81 coming after the catch, and Kaleb Webb added six grabs. Even when UConn defenders were in position, Maryland’s receivers still finished the job.
“Credit their quarterback and their (receivers) for making some great plays on the ball in some tough moments,” Candle said.
UConn did get out to a 7-0 lead, and for a stretch it looked like the Huskies might settle in. But by the second quarter, Maryland had started wearing them down. The Terrapins also began to tighten things up defensively, and that made life tougher and tougher for UConn quarterback Kalieb Osborne.
Linebacker John Lista said the penalties and missed chances hurt UConn’s effort to slow Maryland down.
“They had a good plan coming in, with some things we didn’t execute,” Lista said. “Penalties kind of killed us.
That was a great team, but we also shot ourselves in the foot a little bit. We tried to pressure but didn’t really get home, which is kind of a big issue for us.
We have to pressure the quarterback and get to him, so we didn’t affect him in the ways we wanted to.”
The Huskies played in front of a large crowd, with 34,000 tickets distributed and a turnout that looked close to that in the building, and there was plenty of hope around the stadium before kickoff. But by the end, the day had turned into a reminder of how far UConn still has to go.
“My biggest worry coming out of Week One,” Candle said, “there wasn’t any adverse moments coming out of the football game. This (Maryland) team was a whole different animal, we were going to have to toe the line and play Big Ten football. It’s Week Two, we’ve got a long way to go, this certainly is not to define us.”
That doesn’t mean the loss tells UConn nothing. It does show where the Huskies are right now: clearly below a team like Maryland in speed and power, but still capable of competing with most of the teams on their schedule. Their level, as this game suggested, sits somewhere between the 56-7 win over Lafayette and what happened Saturday.
Osborne opened well by hitting JD Willoughby for a touchdown, and Shamar Porter later caught one of Osborne’s two long scoring passes. But once Maryland crowded the receivers and forced faster decisions, the young quarterback started to look like a player still learning on the job. UConn also couldn’t get its run game going, which made everything harder.
Lafayette’s zone looks gave Osborne cleaner windows last week. Maryland’s man coverage did not.
“Every team needs to face adversity and this is our adversity,” Lista said. “Better now than five games in.”
Porter said the response has to start immediately.
“The first adversity we’ve fought this season,” Porter said. “So we’ve got to come back harder this week. Focus on things we need to work on individually and as a group, come back and do better.”
He also said the issue wasn’t Maryland’s size so much as UConn’s response.
“Me, personally, I don’t think size matters,” Porter said. “It’s more about the heart in you as a player.
I think we took ’em on. We definitely got hit in the mouth a couple of times.
We’ve got to go harder and learn from our mistakes.”
Now the focus shifts to the stretch that can shape UConn’s season. The Huskies go to Southern Mississippi next week, then to Miami of Ohio the week after, before returning home to face Syracuse on Oct.
- Candle pointed to the schedule as a reminder that one rough afternoon doesn’t have to define anything.
UConn learned Saturday it isn’t ready for a game like this one yet. The next question is how quickly it can turn that into something useful.
In Other News...
UConn's Fast Start Suddenly Comes With One Uncomfortable Question
For a program that has leaned on home-field confidence to build momentum, Saturday came with a blunt reminder of how quickly that can disappear. Maryland controlled the game from the start at Pratt & Whitney Stadium, and UConn spent most of the afternoon trying to find any kind of rhythm against a defense that kept the Huskies from settling in.
The bigger concern for UConn was the way its offense was pushed around, finishing with just 223 total yards and never really threatening to change the shape of the day. Marylands Malik Washington was sharp throughout, and the Terps extended their remarkable run in nonconference play, but for UConn the result leaves a more uncomfortable question hanging over an otherwise promising start. [Read more 🡒]
UConn Just Got A Harsh Reality Check Early This Season
UConns early-season reality check arrived in blunt fashion against Maryland, where the Huskies were outplayed in a 38-14 loss that exposed how much work still sits ahead on both sides of the ball. Kalieb Osborne did connect on two touchdown passes, but the offense never found the kind of rhythm needed to keep pace, and Maryland controlled the game with efficiency and balance from the opening stretches.
The bigger issue for UConn was how thoroughly Marylands offense dictated the terms, with quarterback play driving a day that kept the Huskies under constant pressure. Afterward, head coach Jason Candle pointed to the matchup as the kind of test that can reveal where a team stands early, and this one left little doubt that UConn still has plenty to sort through before the schedule gets any friendlier. [Read more 🡒]
UConns First Big Ten Reality Check Came Fast Under Jason Candle
The first Big Ten test under Jason Candle arrived with little time to settle in, and UConn felt the weight of it in College Park. The Huskies scored early, but Maryland steadily took control and pulled away for a 38-14 win, turning what began as a promising start into a long afternoon against a deeper, faster attack.
UConn was worn down by Marylands offense and never found enough rhythm to answer back, with penalties adding to the strain as the game slipped away. Candle said afterward the Huskies have to improve, and that is the reality check from this one: the standard in this league leaves little room for the kind of lapses that can turn a close opening into a lopsided finish. [Read more 🡒]