Close wasn’t quite enough for Maryland football.

The Terps drew within one score of top-ranked Oregon late in the first half, but the Ducks pulled away in the second half to cruise to a 39-18 victory Saturday night at Autzen Stadium in Eugene.

Maryland narrowed the gap to 14-10 with 3:17 left in the second quarter after redshirt junior running back Roman Hemby, an Edgewood resident and John Carroll graduate, scored on a 1-yard rush. But that’s the closest the team would get as Oregon scored 15 unanswered points spanning the second and third quarters and outscored the Terps, 18-8, in the second half.

The team has lost four of its past five games and needs to win two of its last three to earn an invite to a bowl. The ups and downs of the current season are taking a toll on coach Mike Locksley.

“We’re just not playing to our potential,” he said. “We’re not playing smart, and it’s so frustrating when you’re watching because you see the plays that are there that we have to make, and we’re really close, and this is the frustration that I have. It’s not about the effort, it’s not about the way these guys prepare, it’s not about the way they practice. We’ve got to get it executed, and that to me is consistency.”

Redshirt junior quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. completed 22 of 44 passes for 206 yards and a 3-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Octavian Smith Jr.

But Edwards was intercepted twice for the second consecutive game, strip-sacked by Oregon senior defensive end Jordan Burch for a fumble that senior cornerback Brandon Johnson returned 62 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter and replaced by redshirt sophomore MJ Morris for the second straight contest.The Terps (4-5, 1-5 Big Ten) dropped their sixth consecutive game against a No. 1 opponent since upsetting UCLA, 7-0, on Sept. 24, 1955. They have also lost their last 17 regular-season matchups against ranked teams since upsetting No. 21 Syracuse, 63-20, on Sept. 7, 2019, and 11 straight games after a bye week.

Senior quarterback Dillon Gabriel connected on 23 of 34 passes for 183 yards and three touchdowns. His 3-yard lob to redshirt freshman Gernorris Wilson, an offensive lineman lined up at tight end, with 7:48 left in the third quarter was Gabriel’s 179th total touchdown of his career and broke a tie with Case Keenum for the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision record for all-time touchdowns.

Here are three observations from Saturday night’s game.

The offense matched Oregon in almost every area — except the most important one: For at least the first half, Maryland appeared to keep pace with one of the most prolific offenses in the country this fall.

By halftime, the Terps owned slight edges in first downs (11-10) and rushing yards (46-36) and dominated time of possession (18:50 to 11:10). The Ducks were more efficient on third down (62.5% to 33.3% for Maryland) and had a small lead in passing yards (128-115).

Ultimately however, the most significant sign of an offense’s production is points, and that’s where the Terps faltered. The first four times they crossed midfield, they turned the ball over twice (once on downs) and came away with only 10 points.

Edwards shouldered the blame for his two interceptions and one fumble and for not directing the offense when the unit had chances to reach the end zone.

“In the first half, we put ourselves in some good opportunities there to come away with points, but when you’re playing the No. 1 team in the country, you’ve got to be able to score touchdowns,” he said. “And when you get opportunities in the red area, you’ve got to be able to capitalize on them. … We’ve got to be better, especially when we’re playing teams like this.”

Meanwhile, Oregon scored touchdowns on their first three drives into Maryland territory and added a field goal and a touchdown in the fourth quarter to cement the win. Perhaps that explains why the Ducks are the No. 1 team in the nation while the Terps are desperate to remain eligible for a bowl.

The defense played its heart out, but eventually wilted: Maryland’s much-beleaguered unit kept up with one of the most potent offenses in the NCAA — until it couldn’t.

The Terps surrendered just 36 rushing yards in the first half to Oregon, which entered the game averaging 168.1 yards for the season. The defense had done just enough to keep Gabriel contained in the first 30 minutes with the pass rush applying some pressure without getting sacks and the secondary denying the Ducks the kind of explosive plays they have become known for.

But after so much bending, the defense broke in the second half. The rushing offense churned out 144 yards, and Gabriel threw two touchdown passes. Oregon also got some help when Maryland redshirt sophomore cornerback Perry Fisher was flagged for a blatant pass interference that contributed to Gabriel’s touchdown pass to Wilson.

Locksley said the challenge for the coaching staff is trying to get the offense, defense and special teams to execute at the same time. Senior safety Dante Trader Jr., a McDonogh graduate who finished with nine tackles and one pass breakup, said the defense has to fulfill its end of the deal.

“Every week, we just try to be better than last week,” he said. “We try to be better than the last game when we showed tendencies of not aligning and not playing complementary [football] like we did today. We put them in situations, they put us in situations, and special teams puts us in situations. We can all look at each other and point the finger, but we’ve got to be accountable.”

The Terps put up a valiant effort, but Oregon refused to be suppressed for that long.

Special teams wasn’t very special: The special teams unit usually stands out for highlights or lowlights. Saturday night was more of the latter.

On the fourth play of the game, redshirt senior defensive back Rex Fleming moved early in the left tackle spot, moving Maryland 5 yards back in an obvious punting situation on fourth down. That mistake was mitigated by redshirt sophomore punter Bryce McFerson drawing a roughing the kicker penalty on Oregon redshirt freshman defensive back Daylen Austin that led to a first down.

On the same drive, sophomore defensive lineman Dillon Fontus was flagged for a false start that pushed redshirt junior Jack Howes’ field goal attempt from 32 to 37 yards, which Howes converted. Maryland also failed to recover a muffed punt by Oregon in the first half.

But the Terps’ biggest gaffe on special teams occurred on a fourth-and-3 by the Ducks on their own 22-yard line. They snapped the ball directly to the 6-foot-6, 295-pound Burch, who ran around the left end and rumbled 36 yards to Maryland’s 42 for a first down.

Five plays later, Gabriel hit Wilson for that 3-yard touchdown, and Oregon capped the drive with a successful 2-point conversion. So instead of trailing 21-10, the Terps were mired in a 29-10 deficit that eventually proved too deep of a hole.

The significance of that play wasn’t lost on Locksley.

“We had a missed tackle on the fake punt,” he said. “You get the tackle there on the fake punt, and now all of a sudden, maybe it’s not that good of a trick play. Their guys executed it and made the play, and our guys didn’t. We’ve got to figure out how to make that play.”

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