Missed extra point in overtime sends Gophers to loss at Maryland - Minneapolis Star Tribune

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At the beginning, the Gophers couldn't make a stop, as Maryland racked up 21 first-quarter points Friday night.

In the middle, the Gophers — and particularly Mo Ibrhaim — couldn't be stopped, as Minnesota came back and built a 17-point lead at Capital One Field.

But that lead disintegrated in the fourth quarter. The Terrapins stormed back to force overtime. The teams traded touchdowns, and then Gophers kicker Brock Walker missed the extra point, handing Maryland a stunning 45-44 win.

The Terrapins entered the game as 20-point underdogs after losing to Northwestern 43-3 in Week 1.

The loss dropped the Gophers to 0-2 heading into next week's game at Illinois.

Taulia Tagovailoa passed for three touchdowns and ran for two more, including the one that gave Maryland a 45-38 lead in overtime.

Maryland took advantage of a third-down pass interference call to set up its overtime touchdown. And then the Gophers benefited from a third-down passing interference call, setting up their overtime TD, a 2-yard run by Seth Green.

The game looked headed to a second OT, when Walker pushed his kick wide right.

Walker recently had sports hernia surgery that limited him in the team's Week 1 loss to Michigan. In that game, he handled kickoff duties and was only able to hit squip and pooch punts because of the injury.

This time, the first half belonged to Ibrahim, who tied a Gophers record with four rushing touchdowns. Ibrahim, a Maryland native, rushed for more than 200 yards.

The Gophers needed a lot of that from Ibrahim, considering the defense basically folded to a Maryland offense that managed only three points in its season opener at Northwestern, the Big Ten West's worst team last season.

The defense — minus an interception return, fumble recovery and sack — was abysmal, allowing the Terrapins to rack up yards, torching Gophers cornerbacks and linebackers alike.

In the season opener against Michigan last week, those first couple minutes of the game were the Gophers best, thanks to a defensive stop, a blocked punt and a score. Against Maryland, they were some of the team's worst.

Tagovailoa led the Terrapins to a score on their first drive, culminating in an 8-yard run from Jake Funk. The Gophers followed that with a swift three-and-out, setting Tagovailoa up for a big 39-yard touchdown run off a scramble.

Cam Wiley appeared to fumble the ensuing kickoff return, though officials overturned that call. That's also when the Gophers' luck started to turn.

Ibrahim scored on a 1-yard run with about two minutes left in the first quarter. Tagovailoa interrupted the momentum with a 76-yard touchdown pass to Jeshaun Jones. But Ibrahim roared back with another 2-yard rushing score to start the second quarter.

The Gophers defense had looked largely hapless but redeemed itself with a vital turnover. Defensive end Boye Mafe tipped a Tagovailoa pass, which fell to defensive tackle DeAngelo Carter, who ran all of his 310 pounds 22 yards.

That granted Ibrahim yet another crack at the end zone, scoring on another 1-yard press. Ibrahim would add one more 1-yard touchdown in the first half, which launched the Gophers into the lead for the first time.

Ibrahim's four first-half touchdowns matched a Gophers record for rushing scores in a game. Former Gophers running back Darrell Thompson also accomplished that feat in the first half.

The ground game earned a small break to start the second half, with receiver Chris Autman-Bell stepping into the limelight. Autman-Bell caught only one pass while star Rashod Bateman had nine catches in the season opener but put together three catches for 100-plus yards against Maryland, including a 39-yard touchdown.

Maryland managed to drive the ball to the 1 before fumbling and handing possession back to the Gophers. A 25-yard field goal from Walker made it 31-consecutive points for the Gophers, until Tagovailoa threw 15 yards to Dontay Demus in the fourth quarter.

That seemed to open the floodgates, as Terrapins' kicker Joseph Petrino boomed a 51-yard field goal about halfway through the fourth quarter before Funk scored a 19-yard rush.

Megan Ryan did not travel to Maryland for Saturday's game. She wrote this account after watching the television broadcast and participating in interviews via videoconference.

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Missed extra point in overtime sends Gophers to loss at Maryland - Minneapolis Star Tribune
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