COLLEGE PARK — If there was a theme to Maryland's 28-17 victory over Michigan State on Saturday night, it was how the Terps played behind one of its seniors on offense and played for another of its seniors on defense.
The return of quarterback Perry Hills might have overshadowed the absence of cornerback and return specialist Will Likely, given that Hills was instrumental in helping Maryland (5-2, 2-2) end its two-game losing streak and give first-year coach DJ Durkin his first memorable Big Ten victory.
It didn't seem to matter that the Spartans played much like they have in what has become a shocking five-game losing streak for a team that reached the College Football Playoff last season. Michigan State (2-5, 0-4) self-destructed early and got run over late.
What Durkin and his players wanted to talk about was how the offense — if not the whole team — took the lead of Hills, who completed 21 of 27 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns while the defense took the reins from Likely, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against Minnesota last week.
"There's a whole lot of emotions going on right now," Durkin said after the game. "Our leader was back, Perry, and that sparked a little bit. Will Likely, we probably couldn't spend enough time talking about what he means to this program, to this university and what he's done in his career here.
"...You got a guy like that and you got guys like Trey Edmunds and Denzel Conyers [seniors who also sustained serious injuries this season]. There's some guys who really put it on the line for their teammates. They're seniors that right now we're without. So I think a lot of that goes into that. It's all how you hold in your emotions."
Durkin didn't disclose Likely's situation to the media until Friday afternoon, in part because he didn't want the story to become a distraction for his younger players, especially those trying to replace Likely on defense.
"You can turn anything into a positive or negative," Durkin said. "To lose Will Likely on this team, you would think [would] just deflate the sails — everyone['s] head down. Or you take the response of, 'Let's not let this guy down.' We love him so much that we're going to make sure we don't make it all for naught. We're going to play hard for him and that's the approach they took."
Early in the game, the Terps also lost sophomore safety Darnell Savage Jr. with an apparent leg injury after Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke slid into Savage on the sideline. Durkin said that Savage tried to talk his way back on the field later in the game, but was held out for precautionary reasons.
In his place, Durkin used true freshman Qwuantrezz Knight, who finished with six tackles and was one of "12 to 15 true freshman that are playing significant snaps for us right now," according to Durkin. True freshman cornerback Elijah Daniels was part of the rotation of players used to make up for Likely's absence.
"I thought we had a lot of young guys step up in his spot — RaVon [Davis, a sophomore who had played in junior college last year], the Daniels brothers [defensive backs Elijah and Elisha], and Qwuantrezz was out there playing," said senior linebacker Shane Cockerille [Gilman], who finished with a career-high 15 tackles. "They're all a lot of guys we're counting on. Will's a good player, a tough player to be out. Those guys came and filled his shoes really well."
While their inexperience showed at times, Durkin said that his coaching staff "did a good job not freaking out on them, just coaching and correcting what needed to be corrected. And they made the corrections…My whole thing is play hard, play fast, and you'll make up for that stuff. I thought they did a good job."
Notes: Running back Lorenzo Harrison, who earlier this season became the first Maryland freshman ever to score touchdowns in his first four games, continued the impressive start to his college career with career-highs of 105 yards and 17 carries and scored his fifth rushing touchdown of the season. ... Maryland plays Indiana (3-4, 1-3), which lost at Northwestern 24-14, Saturday in Bloomington. The Hoosiers have lost three straight games. Maryland has split its first two meetings with Indiana, with each team winning on the road.
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