COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Aidan O’Connell threw for 360 yards and two touchdowns, and Purdue held on for a 31-29 victory over Maryland on Saturday when a penalty wiped out the Terrapins’ tying 2-point conversion with 35 seconds left.
The two teams went scoreless in the second half until a wild finish that included four touchdowns in the final 7:47. Maryland appeared to have tied it when Taulia Tagovailoa found Rakim Jarrett in the corner of the end zone for a 2-point conversion in the final minute, but offensive lineman Delmar Glaze was flagged for an ineligible man downfield penalty, and Tagovailoa threw incomplete on the next attempt.
Tagovailoa threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns, but Maryland couldn’t produce any points off Purdue’s three second-half turnovers.
The Terrapins (4-2, 1-2 Big Ten) broke a 17-all tie on Tagovailoa’s 11-yard TD pass to Roman Hemby with 7:47 to play, but Cam Allen blocked the extra point. Then O’Connell, who had fumbled and thrown an interception earlier in the half, calmly guided the Boilermakers 66 yards in 10 plays and threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Payne Durham with 3:19 remaining.
“One thing about Payne, he’s a great leader,” Purdue coach Jeff Brohm said. “He’s made a few mistakes this year, he’d be the first one to tell you, but man, he goes hard. He cares, he wants to win, he’s a great teammate.”
After taking the lead, Purdue (4-2, 2-1) forced a Maryland punt with 2:36 left, and although the Terrapins had all three timeouts left, they left Durham all alone over the middle for a 56-yard catch-and-run to the Maryland 2. That set up Devin Mockobee’s 1-yard touchdown run with 1:20 left that made it 31-23.
Tagovailoa and the Terps responded impressively, pulling within two on an 18-yard scoring pass to Corey Dyches, but Maryland ultimately came up one play short.
Tagovailoa opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 9-yard run, but Purdue eventually took a 10-7 lead with the help of a Maryland penalty. The Terrapins were called for an illegal substitution when O’Connell threw incomplete on third-and-goal from the 2. Given another chance, the Boilermakers scored on Dylan Downing’s 1-yard run.
O’Connell threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Mershawn Rice for a 17-10 lead. That drive was aided by an unnecessary roughness penalty on Maryland’s Ahmad McCullough when Purdue would have been facing third-and-long.
Purdue took over the ball at its own 16 with 1:08 left in the half and seemed content to run the ball, but Maryland aggressively used timeouts and eventually forced a punt. Then Tagovailoa found Dyches open behind the defense on a deep pass, and although defensive back Cory Trice caught him around the 15, he couldn’t bring him down.
The Maryland tight end eventually dragged the defender to the end zone for a 68-yard touchdown. That tied it at 17 with 14 seconds left in the half.
THE TAKEAWAY
Purdue: The Big Ten West is very much up for grabs, and this was a second straight win on the road for the Boilermakers after they beat Minnesota. They were fortunate the turnovers didn’t come back to haunt them.
Maryland: A missed opportunity to put it mildly. With a manageable October schedule, it wasn’t crazy to think Maryland could be 7-1 by the end of the month. The Terps had a decent crowd on a nice day in College Park — and an opponent that kept giving them the ball — but Maryland’s offense didn’t start clicking until the very end.
“Are we disappointed? Yeah, we sure are because we let one slip away here at home,” Terps coach Michael Locksley said. “It’s just critical we come away with some points when we get turnovers like that.”
UP NEXT
Purdue: The Boilermakers return home to face Nebraska next Saturday night.
Maryland: The Terrapins are at Indiana on Saturday.
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Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister
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