As Maryland warmed up before its game against Minnesota Oct. 15, freshman quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome took the majority of the snaps at quarterback as the Terps walked through their offense. Fears about senior quarterback Perry Hills' shoulder injury, which he re-aggravated Oct. 8 at Penn State, had indeed been realized and Pigrome would make the first start of his career.
Minnesota exploited the young quarterback's weaknesses, forcing Maryland into third and long situations all day and making Pigrome -- who is raw in terms of accuracy, touch, throwing downfield and managing the offense from the pocket -- beat them. The Terps also didn't help themselves, committing four holding penalties in the first half that cut off potentially promising drives.
Maryland had 75 yards of penalties, punted seven times and turned the ball over four times as part of its 31-10 loss to the Golden Gophers before an announced 41,465 fans at Maryland Stadium. The Terps had 100 yards of total offense during the first three quarters, before Minnesota's defense softened up.
