Nashville, TN – The Maryland Terrapins didn’t miss starting QB TauliaTagovailoa who opted out for the Music City Bowl. With Sophomore Billy Edwards and Freshman Cameron Edge sharing duties under center, the Terps took a 21-0 lead over Auburn in the first period. The Maryland defense forced four turnovers, and they held the Tigers to 76 rushing yards to dominate in a 31-13 Music City victory.
Maryland (8-5) with Edwards at QB drove 75 yards on its first possession. The Sophomore led them to score in five plays taking it over himself from the two for a 7-0 lead 1:49 into the game. Next possession, Maryland drove the same distance with Edwards tossing a five-yard TD pass to TE Preston Howard. On the final drive of the period, Edge got into the act finishing a 76-yard drive with a three-yard TD pass to Dylan Wade. The big play came on his 57-yard bomb to Kaden Prather to set it up to go up, 21-0.
Auburn breaks the ice
Heading into the second period, Auburn drove 42 yards, but turned the ball over on downs at Maryland’s 48. The Tigers finally forced the Terps to punt and took over from their 20. The drive finally resulted in an AU score when Payton Thorne connected with TE Brandon Frazier for a three-yard score. The Terps retaliated. Edwards passed and ran for all the Maryland yardage to get to the Auburn 31. With eight seconds remaining in the half, Jack Howes nailed a 44-yard field goal to give the Terps a 24-7 lead at the half.
Shooting the breeze during a blow-out
My first time Guest Game Analyst, John Fanelli and I spent a lot of time during the game trading sports anecdotes from games we attended when we both lived in the New York metropolitan area. Both retired now, we compared notes regarding our impressions with both now living in the Nashville area. We met at the Knights of Columbus Council in Lebanon at St. Frances Cabrini Church. As I watched the half time show, he stretched his legs under the upper deck where we sat two rows up at the 50-yard line.
I also met a woman from Nebraska sitting next to me who is a die-hard Cornhusker fan. We struck up a conversation since we found that we both have sons in the Navy. She and her husband and friends were in town for the game and New Year’s celebrations. She looks forward to the Huskers turning the program around soon under Matt Rhule and getting back to a bowl game. A game at Lincoln sits on of my Bucket List included in my book Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly.
Maryland puts Auburn away
We watched Maryland extend its lead in the third when DB Glendon Miller scored on a 44-yard pick six. Early in the fourth, neither offense did anything. John and I decided it was time to cross back over the Cumberland River walkway to get beers and burgers. On our way out, several loud cheers came out of Nissan Stadium. Auburn had replaced Thorne at QB with Freshman Hank Brown from right here in Nashville. He completed seven of nine passes for 132 yards outperforming starter Payton Thorne who tallied only 84 yards on 13 completions with one TD and one INT.
The second loud roar came for a one-yard TD run by Jeremiah Cobb of Auburn at the end of a 66-yard drive led by Brown. Maryland took home the Music City title, 31-13. John and I had our burgers and beers at the Acme Feed and Seed. We found many Auburn fans there already as well as revelers in town visiting for the New Year’s Eve celebration.
Next!
Maryland, Auburn (6-7) and Collegefootballfan.com have all completed our 2023 seasons. For Collegefootballfan.com, we attended 26 games this season. We’ve totaled the same twice before, and exceeded it only with 27 games in 2017. Check all our records on our Milestones Page. Starting Wednesday this week, we will publish “Steveo’s Salvos” daily here each day leading up to the CFP Championship game next Monday night between No. 1 Michigan (13-0) and No. 2 Washington (13-0). Reports will include some 2023 season summaries; our take regarding impending changes (which we cover in the new book); offer different impressions and analysis of this season; our very early plans for next season; and our predictions leading up to the Michigan vs Washington battle. Check us out right here! And please feel free to leave any comments or questions.
