Taulia Tagovailoa threw for 391 yards and four first-half touchdowns and added a touchdown run in the second half as Maryland cruised to a 56-21 victory over host Charlotte on Saturday.
Tagovailoa, who finished 27-of-31 passing with an interception, threw scoring passes of 39, 14, 45 and 16 yards in the first half for the Terrapins (2-0). While his four touchdown passes were a career best, his 391 passing yards were three shy of his career high, which he set against Minnesota in 2020.
Jacob Copeland had four catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns, while Jeshaun Jones added six receptions for 71 yards and two scores. Thirteen Terrapins caught at least one pass en route to amassing 617 yards of total offense.
Colby McDonald rushed for a team-high 61 yards, including a 49-yard touchdown run, on four carries and Antwain Littleton took his lone carry 59 yards for a touchdown for the Terrapins.
After Maryland took a 7-0 on its first possession on Tagovailoa’s 39-yard touchdown pass to Copeland less than two minutes into the game, Charlotte (0-3) responded with Xavier Williams’ 28-yard scoring toss to Grant DuBose with 5:58 left in the first quarter.
Maryland took the lead for good on Tagovailoa’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Jones just 30 seconds later before Littleton pushed the lead to 21-7 with a 59-yard touchdown run with 1:16 left in the opening quarter.
After Charlotte pulled to within 21-14 on Williams’ 19-yard pass to Victor Tucker just 35 second into the second quarter, Maryland countered with Tagovailoa’s 45-yard touchdown pass to Copeland to make it 28-14 just 90 seconds later.
Tagovailoa threw his fourth touchdown of the first half when he hit Jones on a 16-yard strike for a 35-14 lead with 4:47 left in the second quarter.
Tagovailoa finished the first half 20-of-22 passing for 305 yards with four touchdowns and an interception before adding a 4-yard touchdown run that gave the Terrapins a 42-14 lead with 6:48 left in the third quarter.
McDonald’s 49-yard run made it 49-14 with 3:48 before backup quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Octavian Smith in the fourth quarter.
Williams threw for 191 yards with two touchdowns and on 19-of-35 passing for the 49ers. Tucker had 10 catches for 67 yards and two touchdowns and DuBose added eight receptions for 73 yards and a score.
–Field Level Media