Maryland’s defense had certainly shown some leaks at times this year entering its matchup at Indiana Oct. 29. The Terps gave up 455 yards of offense at Central Florida Sept. 17, 372 yards rushing at Penn State Oct. 8 and 270 yards rushing against Michigan State Oct. 22. They had also lost two key seniors – safety Denzel Conyers and corner Will Likely – to torn ACLs, exposing the team’s inexperienced depth on the back end.
It all came to a head against the Hoosiers, who gained 650 yards of total offense, including 414 on the ground. The Terps' defense couldn’t set the edge and keep contain, their new-look secondary struggled in run support and they were beaten at the line of scrimmage up front. Maryland lost, 42-36, in Bloomington, Ind. to fall to 5-3 overall and 2-3 in Big Ten play. The Terps remain one victory short of bowl eligibility with a daunting schedule ahead.
Indiana running back Devine Redding (17 carries, 130 yards) and powerful quarterback Tyler Natee (18 carries, 111 yards) led the way for the Hoosiers on the ground. Indiana rotated three quarterbacks. Richard Lagow was 16-of-25 for 207 yards, Natee ran between the tackles and Zander Diamont, who scored on a 52-yard run to ice the game late in the fourth quarter, was a chance of pace. Whatever Indiana tried, Maryland couldn’t muster much to stop it outside of two red zone stops in the first half.
