COLLEGE PARK – Indiana lost big on Saturday afternoon as Maryland dominated on their home turf by a final score of 44-17.
Here’s our quick reaction on why the Hoosiers could not contain the Terrapins at SECU Stadium.
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1. The secondary gave up big plays early. The Indiana secondary repeated their mistakes committed against Louisville two weeks ago in the first half. On the first play of the game, Taulia Tagovailoa found Jeshaun Jones wide open for 62 yards to open up their drive. Two plays later, Tai Felton was left in the clear for a Maryland touchdown.
It didn’t end there, as Tai Felton was once again left wide open for another passing touchdown to give Maryland a 14-3 lead in the middle of the first quarter.
Maryland had a 21-3 lead after the first quarter, with a 152-23 advantage in total yards. They never looked back.
2. No momentum for the offense. Maryland played some pretty tight defense on Indiana’s receivers, but there was still some missed opportunities by the Indiana offense. It started in the trenches, as the Maryland front got to Tayven Jackson three times for sacks. On plays that Jackson wasn’t sacked, his time to get the ball out was still limited, and he seemed tentative.
Jackson went 17-29 for 113 yards, and Donaven McCulley led the way in receiving with six catches for 79 yards. The lone offensive touchdowns came late in the fourth, when Brendan Sorsby saw some action and found McCulley and Andison Coby in the end zone.
Sorsby was 7-of-11 for 84 yards with two touchdowns, and added five carries for 25 yards. His play might create new quarterback questions going into the bye week.
Indiana got a field goal on their first drive after a long Jaylin Lucas kickoff return, but punted on their next three drives while Maryland scored touchdowns on three of their first four drives.
3. Play-calling, offensive execution, once again. It did not get much better for the Hoosiers tonight with Walt Bell as the signal caller. In the second quarter, Indiana lined up in a heavy setup looking to power their way for a first down on a fourth and one.
The play? A triple option to the right side where Jackson was dropped 11-yards back from the line of scrimmage.
Maryland directed a lot of attention towards Lucas, who had just 30 yards from scrimmage. But Bell’s play calling didn’t find the holes created by the Terps’ extra eyes on Lucas.
In the end, Indiana lost the yardage battle once again, 321 to Maryland’s 472 total yards. 127 of IU’s yards came in the 4th quarter, after the game was well out of hand.
Through their first 15 quarters this season against FBS competition, IU scored just three touchdowns before the two fourth quarter scores during mop-up time.
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