Tagovailoa had way more urgent ideas swirling by means of his thoughts.

He had simply watched his older brother, Tua, undergo a daunting concussion in an NFL sport Thursday evening. Finally, amid a whirlwind 48 hours for the youthful quarterback, Tualia talked to Tua through FaceTime. Locksley recalled Tua telling his brother: “Hey, I’m advantageous, man. Go play. I’m trying ahead to seeing you go play and win a sport.” After dinner Friday evening, Locksley began to note Taulia’s standard power return. After which Saturday, Tagovailoa led the Terps to a 27-13 win over the Spartans the way in which he typically has — with poise and productiveness.

By the numbers, Saturday’s sport at newly renamed SECU Stadiuim wasn’t Tagovailoa greatest outing. However the circumstances and psychological toll of the previous two days made it considered one of his most spectacular performances as a Terrapin.

“I’ll take my hat off to that child,” mentioned Locksley, who additionally coached Tua at Alabama and has a robust relationship with the Tagovailoa household. “You guys do not know what the final 24 to 48 hours has been like for him. … Clearly the damage to his brother was heavy on his thoughts. We did a superb job of surrounding him [with support].”

Tagovailoa picked aside a struggling Michigan State secondary at a time when his staff wanted to reply from its first lack of the season final week at Michigan, a defeat that included him struggling minor rib and knee accidents. Moist circumstances may have threatened Maryland’s prolific passing sport, however Tagovailoa was unfazed.

Maryland (4-1, 1-1 Massive Ten) handed the Spartans their third straight loss. Tagovailoa and the Terps managed a lot of the sport, capitalizing on the Spartans’ lapses. Tagovailoa, who was not obtainable to reporters after the sport, completed with 314 yards on 32-of-41 passing; he had only one landing however no main errors.

“He was in a position to compartmentalize as we speak and actually deal with doing his job, and I believed the child confirmed up,” Locksley mentioned.

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Tagovailoa performed this sport two days after his older brother, the beginning quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, suffered a concussion throughout a sport in Cincinnati and needed to be taken from the sphere on a stretcher. The scary scene through which Tua lay frozen on the bottom along with his palms splayed got here 4 days after he was evaluated for a attainable head damage in Miami’s earlier matchup however was allowed to return to that sport after which play once more Thursday.

Because the NFL and the Dolphins face intense scrutiny over the quarterback’s medical care, Tua wrote in a statement that he’s “feeling significantly better and centered on recovering so I can get again out on the sphere with my teammates.”

Taulia, who could be very shut along with his older brother, realized of the damage from Faculty Park amid his preparation for Saturday’s sport.

“We’re at all times ensuring everyone’s okay,” defensive again Tarheeb Nonetheless mentioned. “Even when he’s hanging his head strolling across the locker room just a little down, we’ve nonetheless received him, and he is aware of we’ve received him as a result of we’re his brothers.”

Maryland’s protection did its half by holding Michigan State (2-3, 0-2) to only eight yards of offense in the course of the third quarter whereas the Terps dominated possession and grabbed a two-score lead. The Terps solely scored on a pair of area targets from Chad Ryland within the second half, however they held the Spartans scoreless after the break. Locksley praised the halftime changes made by defensive coordinator Brian Williams.

Tagovailoa stayed cool when surrounded by Michigan State’s strain, and the Spartans’ struggling go protection typically left him with wide-open choices downfield. Eight of Tagovailoa’s passes picked up a minimum of 15 yards, and his offensive line solely allowed one sack towards a formidable Michigan State go rush.

As Maryland marched down the sphere on its opening drive, Tagovailoa grew to become the quickest quarterback in program historical past to report 6,000 passing yards. Antwain Littleton II, a redshirt freshman operating again, powered up the center on a fourth-and-1 play throughout that drive after which scored from 15 yards out moments later.

Early within the fourth quarter, the 235-pound operating again barreled down the sphere for a 68-yard acquire, however was compelled out of bounds simply shy of the purpose line. He had 4 makes an attempt to punch the ball into the tip zone however landed inches quick on fourth down.

“Minus the 4 cracks we had on the one-yard line after the long term, [Littleton] has performed actually good soccer for us,” Locksley mentioned. “He had the new hand as we speak. We left him in there, fed him. With a big-body man like that, he wears down defenses. Finally, one thing’s going to pop.”

Although Littleton couldn’t convert in that sequence, he completed the sport with a number of profitable carries on third- and fourth-and-short conditions. These moments, along with sophomore operating again Colby McDonald’s two-yard rating within the opening quarter, highlighted Maryland’s dashing assault, which completed with 175 yards.

All three of Maryland’s main operating backs — Littleton, McDonald and starter Roman Hemby — additionally received concerned within the passing sport, combining for 10 catches for 66 yards. Tagovailoa distributed the ball to 10 Terps as he racked up his tenth profession sport with a minimum of 300 passing yards, matching a faculty report.

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The Terps’ protection struggled at occasions early however mustered sufficient stops — and benefited from sufficient particular groups woes — for Maryland to enter halftime with a 21-13 lead.

After two straight landing drives to begin the sport, Maryland’s offense sputtered with simply 15 whole yards on the following two collection. The unit rediscovered its groove on a methodical drive late within the half that featured 10 go completions and ended with Rakim Jarrett’s landing reception.

On what may have been an enormous swing in favor of the Terps, sophomore security Dante Dealer Jr. picked off Payton Thorne’s go and returned it for a landing. The rating was nullified by a private foul name on Corey Coley Jr., who hit a Michigan State receiver because the ball was tipped into the palms of Dealer. (Locksley mentioned he didn’t wish to “go down that rabbit gap” and speak about that penalty.) Michigan State retained possession, however Jakorian Bennett blocked the Spartans’ area purpose try as time expired. Michigan State had already missed a area purpose and had a nasty snap derail an extra-point try within the second quarter.

The protection’s robust second half is promising for the Terps’ upcoming slate of video games — Purdue, Indiana and Northwestern — that would assist them maintain their momentum rolling.