Hoosiers Overcome Four Turnovers to Beat Maryland 42-28
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Written by Ben Gillard
A week after blowing out Charlotte to start the season 4-0, the Indiana Hoosiers welcomed the Maryland Terrapins to Bloomington for their Big 10 home opener. As head coach Curt Cignetti said in his email to students earlier this week, the Hoosiers “have the chance to do something special,” by becoming the first IU team to start 5-0 since 1967. And do something special they did, defeating Maryland 42-28.
It was far from a perfect game, and weather likely had a lot to do with that. As the remnants of Hurricane Helene could be felt on the field of Memorial Stadium, Kurtis Rourke, who had not been responsible for a turnover all season, threw two interceptions in the first half and fumbled in the 4th quarter. Rourke showed remarkable poise, bouncing back from his early mistakes ending the day 22-33 (67%), with 359 yards and 3 touchdowns. Indiana set a new school record for points in a five-game stretch and the offense racked up 510 yards to Maryland’s 401 yards.
The final score does not reflect just how close the game really was, as Maryland was able to keep pace with IU, especially with the Hoosiers’ 4 turnovers, but to the credit of the IU defense, Maryland was not able to capitalize on a single Indiana turnover today.
It was a perfect start for the Indiana defense as they forced a three-and-out on Maryland’s first two drives and shut them out in the first quarter. Mikail Kamara, CJ West, and Aiden Fisher were all able to get home as the defense was swarming to the ball early. Much of this was helped by the large crowd at Memorial Stadium who brought the energy to a rainy defensive battle that seemed to be decided by who flinched first.
Ultimately it was two big catches by Elijah Sarratt which blew this game open. The first, a 13-yard TD catch from Kurtis Rourke gave the Hoosiers a 28-21 lead. On the very next drive, Sarratt caught a pass from Rourke and turned upfield, for a gain of 36 yards. This set up a 12 yard TD catch from Donaven McCulley, giving the Hoosiers a two-score lead from which they never looked back.
Indiana ended the game in emphatic fashion as the second-team special teams unit blocked a punt in Maryland territory, blowing the lid off of the packed crowd who stuck around for the fourth quarter. On a day where the sun could not be seen in Bloomington, the future is bright for the Hoosiers.
Indiana is now 5-0 for the first time since 1967 and they travel to Evanston to play the Northwestern Wildcats next Saturday at 3:30pm. Hoosier Huddle will have ongoing coverage of another IU victory.
Key Takeaways
Turnovers, Turnovers, Turnovers. This one is obvious, but needs to be fixed soon. The Hoosiers had 4 total turnovers today, including two interceptions and two fumbles. While Maryland was not able to capitalize on these turnovers, you better believe that other teams will.
IU’s run defense continues to be a weakness for this Hoosier team. Maryland had a few drives with a lot of success and they took advantage of Indiana’s hyper-aggressive defensive line, busting open a 75-yard TD run. The Hoosiers settled in and ultimately held Maryland to only 112 rushing yards but being more physical on the line will be a point of emphasis this week for Curt Cignetti.
This team is gritty and they find ways to win. All season we have been asking how the Hoosiers will respond to adversity. Well, they faced a lot of adversity today on both sides of the ball, and found a way to come out with a 42-28 victory.