PHILADELPHIA _ Perhaps the first two weeks were a bit too easy for the Maryland football team. Perhaps the newly ranked, No. 21 Terps came into Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday a little too confident, despite first-year coach Mike Locksley's message and the memories of last year's 21-point home loss to Temple.
Maybe the Owls are a lot better than Syracuse, or Maryland might not be as good many started to believe.
The result was a disheartening 20-17 loss that will likely knock the Terps out of the Top 25 _ the fifth straight defeat for Maryland after being ranked _ and takes a lot of steam out of the build-up for the Sept. 27 matchup with Penn State in College Park.
Trailing 20-15 with just under five minutes to go, a 55-yard punt return by senior DJ Turner gave Maryland possession at the Temple 4-yard line. But redshirt sophomore Anthony McFarland Jr. was stopped on successive plays from the 1, giving the Owls the ball back with 3:27 left.
It appeared to be the last of several great scoring chances the Terps (2-1) had throughout the game, including another fourth down from the 1 early that ended with similar results for McFarland. Maryland was playing without senior guard Terrance Davis, who was injured late in the first half.
But the Terps got another opportunity.
Maryland forced the Owls (2-0) to punt from their own end zone with a little over three minutes left. After getting a gift in the first half for their only points when a bad snap led to a safety, this time a 7-yard punt gave the Terps the ball at the Temple 10.
Graduate transfer quarterback Josh Jackson, who was off target for much of the afternoon, overthrew tight end Chigoziem Okonkwo on first down. After a motion penalty pushed the ball back to the 12 on second-and-7, Jackson threw into triple coverage. On fourth down, Turner caught the ball out of bounds at the back of the end zone.
Temple ended the game by giving Maryland its second safety.
Jackson had helped the Terps become the nation's top-scoring offense with 71 points per game in victories over Howard (79-0) and Syracuse (63-20). But he finished 15 for 38 for 183 yards and a touchdown, was intercepted once and was sacked four times.
After the offense failed to score in the first half _ Maryland's only points came on a safety and Temple led 7-2 at halftime _ Jackson recovered to give the Terps the lead. But it was short-lived as Temple redshirt sophomore Jadan Blue scored a touchdown on a 79-yard catch-and-run on the next play from scrimmage.
After completing 36 of 62 passes for 541 yards and seven touchdowns while being intercepted once and sacked once over the first two games, Jackson seemed out of sync from the start. He was intercepted on Maryland's opening possession, setting the tone for the game.
Trailing 7-0 after the Owls turned the interception into a four-play, 59-yard drive that ended with a 29-yard touchdown pass from redshirt junior Anthony Russo to senior wideout Isaiah Wright, the Terps had a couple of scoring chances.
After Maryland's second possession became a three-and-out, the ensuing punt hit an Owl and was recovered by Maryland safety Antoine Brooks Jr. before being returned to the Temple 19. McFarland immediately got down to the 4.
But the drive stalled with McFarland tripped over the leg of an offensive lineman on third-and-goal from the 2, and then was stuffed on fourth down inside the 1.
Maryland scored its first points when the defense forced Temple to punt from inside its 10, and a bad snap and botched recovery led to the ball going out of the back of the end zone for a safety.
The Terps immediately got a 30-yard run by Javon Leake to the Temple 30, but the drive stalled there. Sophomore kicker Joseph Petrino, who made his first 11 field goal tries and 12 of 14 last season, missed his first attempt of the year from 42 yards out.
The only other legitimate scoring chance for Maryland in the half came early in the second quarter when the Terps drove easily from their own 27 to the Temple 16.
On third-and-3, Maryland inexplicably passed despite Jackson's troubles. It fell incomplete. On fourth down, Maryland faked a field goal and the Owls snuffed it out quickly for a 10-yard loss. Neither team came close to scoring the rest of the half, finishing a combined 2 for 19 on third down. The Terps were 2 for 12.
Aside from the problems on offense, Maryland had some other issues, including having a potential first-half interception by sophomore linebacker Ayinde Eley negated by the Terps having 12 men on the field.
