Late in No. 2 Ohio State’s 73-14 romp over Maryland last Saturday, the Fox broadcast crew appeared to insinuate that the Buckeyes were running up the score a bit (even with second- and third-string backups in) in part because they believed that the Terps, or someone affiliated with the program, had tipped off the NCAA about star defensive end Chase Young’s controversial loan from a family friend. The comments were far from the only ones, particularly on social media and the dark corners of message boards, to suggest the same.
While we learned Wednesday afternoon that the Heisman Trophy candidate was being reinstated just in time for OSU’s upcoming showdown with division rival Penn State, the rumors of who actually made this an issue still haven’t surfaced. That said, we might have an idea who it isn’t and that would be the team that the Buckeyes just played.
Per AL.com’s John Talty, the Terrapins were not the ones behind turning in Young and that they’ve even made sure that message has been conveyed to AD Gene Smith and others in Columbus:
Despite report Ohio State is "suspicious" of Maryland's involvement in Chase Young scandal, I've been told Maryland had nothing to do with it and has made that clear to OSU. Also told Young's uncle posted in a FB group UMD wasn't involved and the person who did it is "known."
— John Talty (@JTalty) November 12, 2019
Much of the speculation surrounding UMD being the tipster was on Young’s former high school head coach Elijah Brooks, who is now part of Mike Locksley’s staff and also made clear in a Twitter statement late Tuesday that he was not behind the rumors.
There’s two sides of the coin to this story as a result from the way we look it. Obviously it looks like Maryland isn’t the source of Young’s NCAA troubles like many had speculated but it also kind of makes clear that the Terps football team is just that much worse in retrospect given the way the game played out on Saturday if Ohio State knew that somebody else was responsible for turning the potential No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft in. We’re sure Brooks’ statement is part of the damage control that Locksley and others are undertaking to make sure they don’t get labeled as snitches in this case but based on the score line in the two programs’ meeting at the Horseshoe, it looks like the damage has already been done either way.
The real winner in all of this though? Heck it might be Rutgers, who doesn’t have to worry about sending three guys to block Young during their upcoming meeting as the defensive end will sit out another week before returning against the Nittany Lions.
UPDATE:
Ohio State AD Gene Smith confirmed in a press conference on Wednesday that neither Maryland, Penn State nor any other Big Ten school was responsible for the accusations being sent to the NCAA:
Gene Smith: "The accusations did not come from anyone from Maryland, anyone from Penn State, or anyone from the Big Ten Conference."
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) November 13, 2019