Northwestern pulls away from error-prone Maryland

Jack Lausch threw for 203 yards and ran for a touchdown, helping Northwestern to a 37-10 Big Ten victory over Maryland on Friday night in College Park, Md.

In the fourth start of his college career, Lausch completed 10 of 18 passes without an interception as the Wildcats (3-3, 1-2) beat the Terrapins (3-3, 0-3) for the second straight year and improved to 4-1 in the series.

Cam Porter and Jake Arthurs had touchdown runs for Northwestern. Luke Akers was perfect on three field-goal attempts and Bryce Kirtz added three receptions for 123 yards.

Playing for the first time this year after coming off the injured list, Carmine Bastone made the defensive play of the game when he had a blind-side strip sack of Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. and the Wildcats’ Aidan Hubbard recovered for a touchdown.

The play came early in the fourth quarter and gave Northwestern a 24-10 lead.

Edwards completed 28 of 51 passes for 296 yards and scored a touchdown for Maryland, which fell into a tie for last place in the Big Ten with UCLA.

The Terrapins, who entered with a turnover margin of plus-11, which was tops among power conference schools, committed four costly turnovers while the Wildcats had none. Opportunistic Northwestern converted the mistakes into 17 points.

Lausch sparked the Wildcats early, completing a 40-yard rainbow to A.J. Henning. Three plays later, Lausch improvised, scrambling for a 9-yard touchdown run that put Northwestern up 7-0.

The next time the Wildcats got the ball, Lausch directed a 92-yard scoring drive, capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by Porter in the second quarter.

Northwestern quickly expanded its lead as Greyson Metz forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and Damon Walters recovered for the Wildcats, setting up a 43-yard field goal by Akers, which made it 17-0.

Maryland responded with a 16-play, 90-yard drive, capped by Edwards’ 1-yard quarterback sneak on fourth down, which cut the deficit to 17-7 with 3:22 left in the half.

In the third quarter, the Terrapins dominated possession, out-gaining the Wildcats 124-11. But a dropped pass on fourth down ended one Maryland possession and Hubbard ended another Terrapins drive with a third-down sack.

After the sack, the Terrapins got a 31-yard field goal by Jack Howes on the first play of the fourth quarter, which cut the Wildcats’ lead to 17-10. Northwestern, however, dominated the rest of the way.

–Field Level Media