Malik Washington threw a pair of touchdowns to help Maryland pull away from Northern Illinois 20-9 in a defensive battle on Friday night in College Park, Md.
With the Terrapins (2-0) clinging to a four-point lead in the fourth quarter, the true freshman quarterback led Maryland on a 77-yard touchdown drive, finding the end zone on a 42-yard pass to Shaleak Knotts. Because of a penalty and negative rushing yards, Washington threw for more yards (88) than the length of the drive.
This helped deny the Huskies (1-1) their second straight Week 2 upset, 363 days after they stunned No. 5 Notre Dame last season.
Washington finished the game 19 of 35 for 254 yards and the two touchdowns, with 134 of those yards coming in the fourth quarter. He did have a red-zone fumble on a third-quarter scramble that prevented the Terps from potentially padding their lead earlier.
In his first two career starts, albeit against non-Power Four opponents, Washington has thrown for 512 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions.
NIU’s offense was anchored by its two-headed running back tandem of Chavon Wright (90 yards rushing, seven receiving) and Telly Johnson Jr. (86 rushing yards, 17 receiving), who accounted for 200 of the Huskies’ 271 yards of offense (74 percent).
Johnson got most of his production on a 74-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that cut Maryland’s lead to 13-9. But outside of that, the Terrapins’ defense was up to the task throughout the game.
Maryland notched four sacks and nine tackles for loss, and held NIU QB Josh Holst to 91 yards on 14-of-22 passing.
Washington’s production was quite focused on certain targets in the two halves. Of his five completions and 75 passing yards in the first half, four and 70 of those went to tight end Dorian Fleming.
The Georgia State transfer set up the Terrapins’ first score, a 36-yard field goal from Sean O’Haire, with a 48-yard screen pass he ran to the brink of the red zone.
Fleming then caught Maryland’s first touchdown on a 12-yard bolt from Washington to make it 10-0 Terps midway through the second quarter.
But Fleming was held catchless in the second half. Instead, 113 of Washington’s 179 second-half passing yards went to Knotts (58) and Jalil Farooq (55), both of whom had all their production after halftime.
