Hapless Hoosiers Shelled By Terrapins 44-17

Written by: TJ Inman

The Indiana Hoosiers and Maryland Terrapins have played very entertaining games for the majority of the time they have clashed in the Big Ten. That was decidedly not the case on Saturday in College Park as Maryland had its way with the Indiana Hoosiers and pulled away for a 44-17 victory to drop IU to 2-3 on the season. IU entered the game needing a positive response after a concerning performance against Akron but Maryland jumped all over the Hoosiers and cruised to a dominant victory.

The Terrapins were led by Taulia Tagovailoa and wide receiver Tai Felton and his three receiving touchdowns as Maryland outgained IU 472-321. Brendan Sorsby was the lone bright spot for IU as he threw for 84 yards with two touchdowns in relief duty at quarterback.

Maryland began with the ball and on the very first play from scrimmage, IU’s defense lost receiver Jeshaun Jones and Tagovailoa completed a pass to him for 62 yards. Two plays later, Tagovailoa found Tai Felton for a 13-yard touchdown to put Maryland ahead 7-0. IU’s Jaylin Lucas ran the kickoff back into Terrapin territory and the Hoosiers marched inside the ten-yard line but a third and short play was stuffed and IU settled for a field goal from Chris Freeman. That was the high-water mark for the Hoosiers. After forcing Maryland to punt, the Hoosiers went backwards on offense and a kick catch interference penalty on IU gave Maryland a short field. On the first play of the possession, Tagovailoa and Felton connected again. This time, it was a 29-yard score to make it 14-3. IU’s offense lost 15 yards on its next three plays and again Maryland had great field possession, this time at the IU 21-yard line. Tagovailoa kept the ball on a read option play and jogged into the end zone untouched to put Maryland ahead 21-3 and in complete control of the game. After both teams punted, IU finally got a bit of traction on offense. The Hoosiers went on a long drive and methodically worked their way into scoring territory but a fourth down pass from Tayven Jackson fell incomplete and ended the scoring threat. IU again had to punt and Maryland’s offense took advantage of another short field as Tagovailoa threw a third touchdown pass to Tai Felton. The extra point was missed and the score was 27-3 at the end of the half. After 30 minutes of football, Indiana had 3.5 yards per play to Maryland’s 8.6 yards per play.

The second half was largely an exercise in running out the clock. IU failed to convert a fake punt and Maryland capitalized with a 44-yard field goal to make it 30-3 in favor of the Terrapins. Tagovailoa threw his fourth touchdown pass, this time to Dillon Wade to make it 37-3 before IU changed to Brendan Sorsby at quarterback. The Hoosiers were finally able to find the end zone as Sorsby threw to Donaven McCulley for a short touchdown to move the score to 37-10. The Terrapins were not done yet, leaving the starters in and throwing on fourth down to get another Tagovailoa passing touchdown. Sorsby flashed potential with his second touchdown pass, this one a nicely thrown ball to Andison Coby to make it 44-17 in the game’s final minute. Indiana looks lost and without any answers as they head into the bye week sitting at 2-3 (0-2). Whether any changes are made within the program, who is calling plays or who is leading the program remains to be seen but today was another dark day for the Indiana Hoosiers and this regime does not appear to have a clue what to do to stop things from continuing to slide backwards. Hoosier Huddle will have continuing coverage of another Indiana defeat and the upcoming bye week.