Even after being thoroughly outplayed for three-and-a-half quarters Saturday, Maryland football had a chance to get back into the game, as quarterback Kasim Hill led the team into Temple territory with under five minutes to go.

But with the Terps in need of a touchdown to narrow the deficit to seven, Hill made a rushed throw for a pick-six, squashing any hope of a comeback — or a respectable scoreline.

While interim head coach Matt Canada claimed total responsibility for the 35-14 loss, the players saw plenty of shortcomings when they sat down Sunday and watched film: a false start on the second play of the game, erratic passing from Hill, receivers not getting open, offensive linemen consistently getting beaten.

Canada called the plays, but his players’ execution — or lack thereof — also played a role in the Terps’ downfall.

“Every player certainly understood what they could have done better, because there are things that could be done better,” Canada said. “I’m not going to sit up here and talk about who played good and you could have done better — I’m not going to do that. We didn’t play good on offense, and it’s Matt Canada’s fault.”

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Throughout Canada’s press conference Monday, he reiterated his gameday sentiment on his own play-calling shortfalls. When asked how he can change that in the future, he smiled and said, “Yeah, I’m going to call the ones that work from now on.”

Maryland had two first downs in the first three quarters, and while the late push led to 11 first downs for the game as a whole, it didn’t yield any offensive points. The Terps averaged 11.8 yards to gain on their 12 third-down attempts, and their run-first offense converted just one.

On the Terps’ lone third-and-short of the game, late in the second quarter, Canada called for a pass play. Hill — who completed seven passes all day — underthrew tight end Chigoziem Okonkwo, and Maryland punted.

Because of its large deficit, Maryland was forced to drop back to pass, abandoning a running attack that carried the team to victory last weekend against Bowling Green. Temple continued to stack the box, daring Hill to connect downfield.

“In the first game, we threw it quite a bit. Second game, we ran it. This last game, we didn’t do anything well,” Canada said. “It’s important to have balance. … I don’t think we’re focusing more to get [the passing game] going. We’re focusing on getting the first first down and moving the football, which we didn’t do on Saturday.”

Injuries to starting tackles Derwin Gray and Damian Prince and running backs Jake Funk and Lorenzo Harrison hindered Maryland’s offense, though Canada wouldn’t admit it.

The head coach announced Monday that Funk will miss this weekend’s Big Ten opener against Minnesota with a broken left hand, but Gray, Prince and Harrison — whose injuries have not been specified — have not been ruled out.

Whether injuries, play-calling or execution were to blame, quickly correcting what led to a 21-point home loss to an AAC foe is crucial for a team that needs every win it can get to reach bowl eligibility.

“I could go through every play on offense in great detail right now from 1 to 52 and tell you what happened,” Canada said. “But I’m going to leave it at ‘it’s my fault.’ I’m in charge.”