What Worked and What Didn't for the Hoosiers Against Maryland

Written by Andrew Walker

Indiana got beat tonight. This was as good of a game as we’ve seen in a while. Good is a point of view, but in terms of overall entertainment, this game was great. Now to Indiana. Indiana had some truly wonderful moments through the air tonight, but there were just too many mistakes. Defensively, Indiana just couldn’t capitalize on Taulia Tagovailoa’s injury. All the best to Tagovailoa, I hope it isn’t as serious as it appears, but Indiana couldn’t take advantage of a different QB scheme. Let’s take a look at what worked and what didn’t.

What worked

Indiana’s passing attack- The passing game was decently effective Saturday, even if two of those passes ended up being intercepted. Connor Bazelak was able to take some shots downfield and accrue 292 passing yards and three TDs. While impressive, it wasn’t enough. The two interceptions led to 10 points and really hampered his effort.

Hoosiers Receivers- The Hoosier receiving corps did their job today on the other end of Bazelak’s tosses. Three Hoosier receivers hauled in TDs Saturday, including the coming out party for Emery Simmons. The senior wide out accrued six receptions for 99 yards and one TD on the day.

What didn’t work

Indiana’s run game- The ground attack is a good place to start. Shaun Shivers and company just could not get any momentum going. Jaylin Lucas had a good start, but ended up taking several tackles for loss and ended up with -4 yards. Sure, Josh Henderson ran it in for a TD, but the rushing attack was severely lacking today.

The Defense- IU did a decent job against Taulia Tagovailoa and Allen had them in spots to make plays, but they missed tackles. Indiana was able to force a few fumbles from Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa, but Maryland recovered them. After Tagovailoa was hurt, IU’s defense folded against the run and surrendered a fourth quarter lead.