The Minnesota Golden Gopher football team blew a 17-point lead on Friday night, falling in a 45-44 overtime loss to Maryland.
The Gophers fell into an early hole as the Terrapins came out on fire against the inexperienced Minnesota defense. Taulia Tagovailoa was a key part in Maryland’s fast start, throwing a touchdown to Jake Funk and adding a 39-yard touchdown scramble to give the Terrapins a 14-0 lead.
Just as the Gophers looked poised to have a repeat performance from their opening loss to Michigan, Mohamed Ibrahim put the team on his back with a one-yard touchdown to cut Maryland’s lead in half.
After Tagovailoa hit Jeshaun Jones for a 76-yard touchdown, Ibrahim led the charge on the ground with three touchdowns in the second quarter to give the Gophers a 28-21 lead at halftime.
In the second half, Minnesota continued to dominate on the ground and control the time of possession. With Maryland focused on stopping the run, Tanner Morgan found Chris Autman-Bell for a leaping 39-yard touchdown to give the Gophers a 35-21 lead.
Minnesota extended its lead with a 25-yard field goal by Brock Walker but Maryland mounted a furious rally to come back from a 38-21 deficit.
Tagovailoa threw his third touchdown pass of the night to Dontay Demus Jr. to bring the lead down to 10 and Maryland added a 51-yard field goal from Joseph Petrino to come within a touchdown at 38-31.
The Terrapins got a stop on the next Gopher drive and Jake Funk ran in from 19 yards to tie the game at 38-38 and eventually send the game into overtime.
Tagovailoa ran in for his second rushing touchdown of the game on the opening drive of overtime and the Gophers answered with a Seth Green touchdown on their possession. With a chance to tie the game on the extra point, Walker pushed it to the right and Maryland came away with the victory.
The Gophers will look for their first win of the season when they travel to Illinois next week.
