Maryland Football: Five things to watch for Maryland/Northwestern
By Chris Bengel
Quarterback production
Max Bortenschlager looked downright awful against Oho State.
The stat line wasn’t pretty for the sophomore quarterback. He completed just 3-of-12 passes for a grand total of 16 yards and also lost a fumble.
The Buckeyes’ pass rush knocked the ball out of his hands and ended up running it in for a touchdown in the first quarter of last week’s contest.
This came a week after he had a tremendous amount of success against Minnesota. He relied on a heavy ground attack and made some great throws when he had to in a 31-24 win.
Bortenschlager completed 18-of-28 passes for 154 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also ran in a touchdown on the ground when the Terps desperately needed a score.
A similar gameplan is going to need to be put in place by offensive coordinator Walt Bell. They’re going to need to run the ball in order to take some of the pressure off of Bortenschlager.
It’s been clear that when he has time to throw, he is very capable of completing tough throws. It also doesn’t hurt that he has an elite wide receiver in D.J. Moore to lean on.