In partnership with
Vo. 1, No. 6
Hello and welcome to another edition of Buckeye Historian from Cus Words Sports!
This is my weekly look at what’s going on at Ohio State from a historical perspective, as you might have guessed from the name.
While the last two weeks featured series with long and sometimes storied histories, that is not the case this week.
That is not to say the Ohio State-Maryland series lacks color, though.
Read less, know more.
That's it. That’s the pitch.
Morning Brew is a free daily email that explains the news shaping your life in a way you won't hate. From how geopolitics hits your wallet to AI eating entire industries, it's all explained in about 5 minutes, with just enough puns to keep things interesting.
Heck, you might even enjoy the news for once. No jargon. No pretending you understood that stock market headline.
See why over 4 million people start their day with Morning Brew.
Series history
Ohio State is 9-0 against Maryland.
The series began in 2014, and the teams last played in 2023.
Much like fellow Eastern interloper Rutgers, the Terrapins have struggled against Ohio State since joining the Big Ten. However unlike the Scarlet Knights, they have provided a couple of competitive games — one in particular (see below).
Factoid that may interest only me
Nine wins to start a series is tied for the second-most for Ohio State behind Rutgers (11 and counting). Ohio State won its first nine against Oregon before losing two in a row in 2021 and ’24. (The Buckeyes started 8-0-1 against Missouri but have lost two of the last four.)
Here are few teams of note that needed less than nine tries to beat the Buckeyes at least once:
Air Force (won first game)
Akron (4)
Carlisle Indian School (1)
Case (1)
Central Kentucky (1)
Chicago (3)
Cincinnati (3)
Columbus Barracks (3)
Cornell (2-0)
Dennison (11)
Great Lakes (1)
Kenyon (12)
Marietta (4)
Oberlin (1)3
Ohio Medical (5)
Ohio Wesleyan (34)
Otterbein (1)
Princeton (1)
Western Reserve (1)5
Wittenberg (26)
Wooster (won first game 64-0)
Statistical standouts
J.K. Dobbins ran for 203 yards against the Terps in 2018.
Marvin Harrison Jr. had 163 yards receiving against the Terps in 2023.
C.J. Stroud threw for 406 yards and five touchdowns against Maryland in 2021.
Dwayne Haskins Jr. threw for 405 yards against Maryland in 2018.
Ohio State gained 41 first downs against Maryland in 2019, the third-most in a game for the Buckeyes.
Maryland averaged 8.63 yards per play against Ohio State in 2018, a record in a Big Ten game. It was the most at the time but broken by Georgia in the Peach Bowl four years later.
Anthony McFarland ran for 298 yards in that 2018 game, the second-most for a player against Ohio State
A great cologne gets noticed. Gravité Cologne for Men is fresh, masculine, and engineered to last all day—the kind of scent people remember. Use code BH20 to get 20% off. Smell Your Best.
Notable games
2014: No. 20 Ohio State 52, Maryland 24
Ohio State scored the first 14 points in the first meeting between the schools and never really looked back in front of 51,802 fans in College Park.
Rod Smith scored the first touchdown on a 1-yard run then Jalin Marshall caught a 9-yard TD pass from J.T. Barrett.
After a 57-yard Maryland field goal, Barrett hit Michael Thomas for a 25-yard touchdown to put Ohio State up 21-3, and the Buckeyes maintained at least a two-score lead the rest of the way.
Barrett threw for 267 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 71 yards and another touchdown while Ezekiel Elliott ran for 139 yards.
Raekwon McMillan finished the scoring with a 19-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, and Ohio State continued its climb out of a hole created by a 35-21 loss to Virginia Tech in September by scoring more than 50 points for the third game in a row.
2015: No. 1 Ohio State 49, Maryland 28
Maryland scored one touchdown in every quarter, but that was not enough to get a win or save coach Randy Edsall’s job.
The Terrapins started the scoring with a 52-yard touchdown catch by D.J. Moore from Perry Hills, but Ohio State scored the next three touchdowns on runs by Elliott and Barrett and a 19-yard Braxton Miller touchdown catch from Cardale Jones.
Hills ran for two touchdowns as Maryland tied the score at 21 in the third quarter before Ohio State scored four more touchdowns to put the game away. Marshall caught a 48-yard touchdown pass from Jones, Barrett ran for two more touchdowns and Elliott ran for another before Wes Brown scored for Maryland to set the final margin.
Edsall was fired the following day.
2018: No. 10 Ohio State 52, Maryland 51
Anthony McFarland Jr. lost a yard on the first play from scrimmage then got it back and 80 more for a touchdown on the next play. He went 75 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the next Terp possession, leaving no doubt this would not be a normal day.
Ohio State had a chance to go into intermission tied at 24 until J.K. Dobbins lost a fumble heading into the end zone with under a minute left in the second quarter then RaVon Davis intercepted Dwayne Haskins Jr. and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown on the second play of the third quarter to give Maryland a 31-17 lead.
The Buckeyes battled back to tie the game at 31 on a 2-yard run by Haskins and a 6-yard touchdown pass to K.J. Hill.
The teams traded touchdowns twice more in the second half, including a 3-yard touchdown pass from Haskins to Bin Victor with 40 seconds left to tie the game at 45.
That forced overtime, where Ohio State scored first on a 5-yard run by Haskins.
Maryland answered with a quick touchdown as McFarland ran 24 yards on first down then Tayon Fleet-Davis scored from a yard out. That led Maryland interim coach Matt Canada to opt to go for two and the win, a decision that would have paid off if Tyrell Pigrome had not missed an open receiver in the end zone.
Ohio State prevailed, and Haskins ended up with 405 yards passing and three touchdowns through the air while also running for 59 yards and three more touchdowns. Dobbins ran for 203 yards, but McFarland’s 298 yards rushing for Maryland are still the second-most Ohio Stat has ever allowed an opposing runner. Johnnie Dixon caught six passes for 102 yards, and Terry McLaurin caught four passes for 118 yards and a touchdown.
While Ohio State had 688 total yards, Maryland finished with 535 yards and averaged 8.63 yards per play, a single-game record for an Ohio State opponent later broken by Georgia in the Peach Bowl four years later.
Adding to the memorability of this game is the fact it came one week before Ohio State was to face Michigan as an underdog at Ohio Stadium.
The Buckeyes upset the Wolverines to earn a trip to the Big Ten Championship Game that would not have been possible without pulling out that game at Maryland.
(Like what you see? Please share by forwarding this email, sharing the link on social media or sending someone this link)
That’s all for this edition, but be sure to come back Friday for This Week in Ohio State Football.
Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss it, the next edition of Buckeye Historian or the Tressel Tales.
Aside from Cus Words Sports, I’m also sharing my thoughts on the premium messages board BuckeyeInsiders.com and BuckeyeSports.com.
This week you can find coverage of Ohio State’s men’s basketball exhibition game in Mason:
Beyond that, I’m writing for multiple sites, including primarily PressProsMagazine.com, The Associated Press and MensJournal.com.
Interested in starting your own newsletter? I’m using Beehiiv, and I highly recommend it.
Click here to learn more (and if you end up subscribing, I would get a commission, but it is free to try and to maintain a newsletter).
1 Dennison won first game before losing next 17
2 Kenyon first two and four of first six
3 Oberlin first 6 and 8 of first 11
4 Ohio Wesleyan trails Ohio State 26-2-1 but was originally 2-1-1
5 Western Reserve won first 5 and still leads series 5-6-1, but Ohio State won the last meeting 76-0 in 1934
6 Wittenberg won games 2, 3 and 4 in the series but dropped the last 11, all by shutout