Max Brosmer’s 320 yards stoke Gophers to 48-23 homecoming victory over Maryland

P.J. Fleck had an inkling that his Gophers football team would come out strong against Maryland on Saturday. Just six days earlier and coming off their bye week, the Gophers practiced at Huntington Bank Stadium and impressed their coach with their intensity.

“If you were at practice this week, it was like holding them back,” Fleck said. “They came off that rest week in the bye week, and they were like champing at the bit to practice on Sunday night. … I had to cut a few periods because they were going so hard. They were getting after it.”

On Saturday, the Gophers channeled that energy, surging to a 21-point first quarter and overwhelming the Terrapins 48-23 in front of a homecoming crowd of 48,696. The victory was the third in a row for Minnesota (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) and moved the Gophers into the upper half of the standings in the 18-team conference.

“We’re starting to feel it the past three games,” Gophers quarterback Max Brosmer said.

No one is feeling it more than Brosmer, the graduate transfer from New Hampshire who completed 26 of 33 passes for 320 yards and four touchdowns Saturday. Brosmer led touchdown drives of 58 and 65 yards in the first quarter, pushed his team 49 yards in the final 28 seconds of the second quarter for a field goal and drove his team 75 yards to start the third quarter, delivering the dagger in the form of a 41-10 lead.

In his past three games, Brosmer has completed 75.3% of his passes for 682 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions. He also has rushed for three TDs in that span.

“It’s execution,” Fleck said. “Our wideouts made some great catches, and Max made some great throws. Max didn’t get sacked all night. You keep him clean back there, and he can do what he just did.”

The beneficiaries of Brosmer’s big night were wide receivers Daniel Jackson and Elijah Spencer. Jackson caught nine passes for 117 yards and two TDs, while Spencer caught six passes for 99 yards and two TDs.

BOXSCORE: Gophers 48, Maryland 23

Maryland cut Minnesota’s lead to 31-10 on quarterback Billy Edwards Jr.’s 3-yard TD run with 28 seconds left in the second quarter. The Gophers needed to restore their dominance, and Brosmer led the way.

With the Gopher starting from the Minnesota 35 after Maryland’s kickoff went out of bounds, Brosmer found tight end Jameson Geers, who made a leaping catch for a 23-yard gain to the Maryland 35 with 16 seconds left. After a spike and an incompletion, Brosmer hit Jackson on the sideline for a 19-yard gain to the 16 with 7 seconds left, setting up Dragan Kesich’s 34-yard field goal for a 34-10 lead.

The Gophers got the ball to start the second half, and five plays later, they were in the end zone when Brosmer hit a wide-open Spencer for a 25-yard TD pass and 31-point lead.

“I wanted to win the middle eight,” Fleck said, referring to the last four minutes of the second quarter and the first four of the third. “I think we did that well.”

This victory was built by the Gophers defense, too, and it sent a message right away.

Maryland (4-4, 1-4) reached the Gophers 40-yard line and went for it on fourth-and-1. Linebacker Maverick Baranowski and safety Kerry Brown combined to stuff running back Roman Hemby for a 2-yard loss, and the Gophers offense cashed that in for a touchdown.

After a second long Minnesota TD drive, cornerback Justin Walley read quarterback Billy Edwards Jr.’s eyes and jumped a route, intercepting the pass and racing 32 yards into the end zone for a 21-0 lead.

“It’s a feeling I ain’t felt in a long time — high school, I guess,’’ Walley said.

True freshman phenom Koi Perich got in on the action, too, picking off Edwards and returning it 45 yards to set up a Gophers field goal for a 24-0 lead.

“Our playmakers were going to have to outplay their playmakers,” Fleck said.

And they did. Edwards, who averaged a Big Ten-best 301.9 passing yards per game, was held to 201 yards on 19-for-35 passing. Maryland receiver Tai Felton, who led the Big Ten with 64 catches, had nine catches for 104 yards but never entered the end zone.

“Throughout every situation we were placed in, we did a phenomenal job shutting it down,” defensive back Jack Henderson said.

The Gophers had their biggest lead, 48-10, on Darius Taylor’s 51-yard TD run on the first play of the fourth quarter before Maryland scored two late TDs, which Fleck didn’t like. But overall, the Gophers got what they needed.

“We executed, we attacked,” he said.