COLLEGE PARK — The post-Taulia Tagovailoa era for Maryland football began as well as coach Mike Locksley could have hoped.

Billy Edwards Jr. shepherded a largely untested offense to more than 600 yards and three touchdowns, and an experienced defense overwhelmed a middling opponent as the Terps waltzed to a 50-7 victory over visiting UConn in the season opener for both schools Saturday afternoon before an announced 35,421 at SECU Stadium.

Maryland, which reached the 50-point plateau for the first time since a 56-21 throttling at Charlotte on Sept. 10, 2022, did what it was expected to do against a Huskies team that went 3-9 last fall and 9-16 in its first two years under former NFL coach Jim Mora. UConn dropped to 1-3 in its series with the Terps, with that lone win occurring Sept. 15, 2012.

Maryland’s 13th consecutive win against a nonconference opponent in season openers (which trails only Michigan State’s run of 24 straight) got a significant lift from Edwards. Locked into a competition with redshirt sophomores MJ Morris and Cameron Edge in the preseason, the 6-foot-3, 222-pound redshirt junior earned Locksley’s blessing to succeed Tagovailoa, who had started the past four years en route to becoming the Big Ten’s all-time leader in passing yards.

Edwards validated Locksley’s decision by completing 20 of 27 passes for 311 yards and two touchdowns and carrying the ball five times for 39 yards. Senior wide receiver Tai Felton proved to be Edwards’ favorite target as he caught seven balls for 178 yards and two touchdowns, including a 4-yard reception that he turned into a 75-yard sprint down the right sideline with two seconds left in the third quarter.

Edwards opted for more short-yardage throws on crossing routes and dump-offs to the flat than passes to test the Huskies’ defensive backfield, but the offense was forced to punt only twice under his direction (once in each half).

Felton’s 75-yard touchdown play — the program’s first since Oct. 30, 2020, when Jeshaun Jones took a Tagovailoa pass 76 yards to the end zone — ended the day for Edwards.

The 6-1, 209-pound Morris, a North Carolina State transfer, helmed Maryland for three possessions. But the team punted on the first two, and Morris absorbed a late hit by UConn senior safety Rante Jones that forced him to the sideline with 12:58 left in the fourth quarter. Jones was penalized for targeting the head and neck area and was ejected. Edwards also took a shot to the head from Huskies defensive back Jordan Wright while sliding at the end of a run in the second quarter, leading to Wright being called for targeting and being disqualified.

OH MY

No surprise there was a targeting call here pic.twitter.com/P4ev7xQp2E

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) August 31, 2024

Morris was replaced by the 6-foot, 225-pound Edge, who completed all three of his throws for 49 yards including a 24-yard swing pass to freshman running back Josiah McLaurin for a touchdown with 9:26 remaining.

To alleviate pressure on Edwards, the offense leaned on a heavy dose of running the ball. Redshirt junior running back Roman Hemby, an Edgewood native and John Carroll graduate, led the way with 66 yards and one touchdown on 14 attempts, and redshirt freshman Nolan Ray added four carries for 57 yards, including a 48-yard scamper to the end zone that included five missed tackles by UConn defenders and staked Maryland to a 14-0 advantage with less than seven minutes to go in the first quarter.

The offense finished the opening frame with 131 rushing yards — the unit’s highest total since Nov. 17, 2018, when the squad gained 148 yards on the ground in an eventual 52-51 overtime loss to Ohio State. For the game, the Terps averaged 5.4 yards per carry with 248 yards on 46 attempts.

If the offense was methodical, the defense was stifling. Although the Terps failed to pitch their first shutout over a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent since a 37-0 rout of Rutgers on Nov. 27, 2002, and their fourth under Locksley, they held the Huskies to just 103 yards of offense in the first half and surrendered only 2 of 7 conversions on third down.

Maryland, which returned seven starters from last year’s unit that enjoyed its most productive season since 2010, did not allow UConn to cross midfield until its fifth series of the game, and that possession ended when graduate student kicker Chris Freeman, an Indiana transfer, hooked a 43-yard field goal attempt wide left with less than five minutes left in the second quarter.

After redshirt junior kicker Jack Howes converted a 33-yard field goal to give the Terps a 20-0 lead with 43 seconds remaining, redshirt senior safety Glendon Miller intercepted a throw by Huskies sophomore quarterback and Wisconsin transfer Nick Evers. That led to Howes’ third field goal of the first half, this time from 23 yards.

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The defense ended a UConn drive that reached the Terps’ 17-yard line with less than six minutes left in the third quarter when fifth-year senior middle linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II intercepted a pass by graduate student quarterback Joe Fagnano, who had replaced Evers earlier in the period.

Fagnano, a Maine transfer, did connect with redshirt senior wide receiver and Purdue transfer TJ Sheffield for a 27-yard touchdown with 16 seconds left in the third quarter. But the game was already out of hand by that point.

Even special teams got into the act. Sheffield mishandled a punt, and redshirt freshman wide receiver Ricardo Cooper Jr., a Baltimore resident and Calvert Hall graduate, pounced on the loose ball at the Huskies’ 19-yard line with 2:41 left in the game. That led to a 9-yard touchdown run by freshman running back DeJuan Williams, a Baltimore resident and St. Frances graduate.

This article will be updated.

Big Ten opener

Michigan State at Maryland

Saturday, 3:30 p.m.

TV: BTN

Radio: 105.7 FM