Maryland football was dominated on the road by No. 1 Oregon. While the game appeared close at times, the Ducks pulled away in the second half with ease and cemented a 39-18 win.

Oregon was a 24-point favorite Saturday night, according to ESPN BET. The Terps weren’t expected to even keep things close — and the fact they did speaks more about Oregon’s performance than it does their own. Maryland is now 1-5 in conference play.

Here are three takeaways from the outing.

Oregon consistently made things harder for itself

The Ducks are substantially more talented than Maryland. But they consistently shot themselves in the foot and let the game be competitive for longer than it could have been.

Oregon’s follies started nearly immediately, when cornerback Daylen Austin ran into Bryce McFerson and drew a roughing the punter call on fourth-and-8, giving the Terps a fresh set of downs. They ended up scoring a field goal on the drive. Two drives later, Ducks receiver Evan Stewart muffed a punt and was lucky to not give Maryland a free possession inside the red zone.

In the second quarter, after pass interference on fourth-and-7 extended Maryland’s drive, Billy Edwards Jr. was sacked on second down to force what would have been third-and-long. But Derrick Harmon was called for grabbing Edwards’ facemask, and Maryland got yet another fresh set of downs. Later in the same drive, a third-down pass interference in the end zone gave the Terps four more tries inside the 10-yard line. The same problem emerged again in the fourth quarter, when Octavion Smith Jr. was held in the corner of the endzone on third down.

The Ducks finished with 12 penalties, costing them 95 yards, both season-high marks.

Dillon Gabriel had plenty of time to throw the ball — Maryland didn’t record a sack all afternoon — but his receivers struggled with drops early and often.

Maryland’s secondary stepped up the occasion

Oregon was without star receiver Tez Johnson, who leads the team in receptions (64) and receiving yards (649) by wide margins. Its remaining receivers struggled with drops throughout the night. But credit where credit is due: the Terps’ secondary put forth a valiant effort on the road against the No. 1 team in the country.

Gabriel’s night will be best remembered for breaking the NCAA career total touchdowns record. But he ended the game with season-lows in passing yards (183) and yards per attempt (5.4). The deep ball — something that’s haunted the Terps all season — was not a factor in Oregon’s offense, as it had just two completions longer than 20 yards and none longer than 30.

The best defensive-back play of the game came from Dante Trader Jr., when he got his arm around tight end Terrance Ferguson’s body and broke up an endzone shot in the fourth quarter.

Freshman cornerback La’Khi Roland, who had just 15 defensive snaps this season before Saturday, got the starting nod and was a notable member of the secondary rotation, especially in the first half. Safety Lavain Scruggs also recorded a pass breakup, while Jalen Huskey led the team with 10 tackles (four solo) and added 0.5 tackles for loss.

Tai Felton tied Maryland’s single-season receptions mark

The biggest bright spot from Maryland’s offense was, as it’s been for much of the year, Tai Felton. On a day where Edwards struggled with turnovers and the run game was nonexistent, Felton led the team with seven catches for 72 yards, including Maryland’s longest play of the game (34 yards).

His final reception Saturday was his 80th of the season, which tied the Terps’ single-season record set by D.J. Moore in 2017. With three games left in the season, it’s all but certain Felton will top Moore’s mark.

Felton is also up to 979 receiving yards on the season, the fourth-most ever by a Terp in one campaign. He needs 261 yards over the next three games to break Marcus Badgett’s record (1,240 in 1992) — and just 76 yards to move into second place, currently occupied by Torrey Smith (1,055 in 2010).