Quick Hitters: Early breakdown and initial thoughts on Maryland

Indiana football got back in the win column on Saturday despite a disappointing four-overtime contest against Akron. Indiana struggled to put up any real fight or emotion the entire game and were sluggish all night.

Indiana, now 2-2, looks to get back on track when it travels to Maryland this weekend for its first true road game of the year.

It’s the first conference matchup since week one.

Here are some early thoughts on Maryland and the matchup.

Taulia Tagovailoa leads a high-powered offense. Tagovailoa is a proven leader and experienced playmaker at the quarterback position in the Big Ten. He’s also one of the top players in the conference. Currently, he leads the Big Ten in passing yards at 1,112. He is also tied for the most touchdown passes (8) in the league, fourth in quarterback rating (148.7) and has only been sacked twice. While Tagovailoa is effective outside of the pocket with his legs, he is lethal when he has a clean pocket and is able to dissect the defense. He does have two rushing touchdowns this season, but he’s not a super willing runner unless the pocket falls apart. Indiana currently has the ninth best passing efficiency defense in the country and it’ll need to be on full display come Saturday.

Indiana needs to protect the ball. We already know that the Indiana football offense sometimes beats itself and coming off of a terribly called and executed game on Saturday, there’s not a lot of confidence it’ll turn around one week later. It’s also no easy task going up against a Maryland defense that ranks amongst the top in the entire country. Through four weeks, Maryland ranks tied for second in turnover margin (2.0) and total turnovers forced (11), fifth in interceptions (7) all while ranking tied for 11th in scoring defense (12.25 pts per game). Maryland is just inside the top-50 in total sacks, however, so the defense is forcing mistakes on the backend, something that could be even more daunting of a task for Indiana come Saturday.

Front seven for Indiana even more critical against 1-2 punch of Terps backfield. While Tagovailoa gets the attention, the rushing attack of Maryland is nothing to look over. In fact, it’s a large reason for the effectiveness passing the ball. Colby McDonald leads the Big Ten in yards per carry among runners with at least 25 attempts. He averages 7.8 yards per carry. He has 204 yards and two touchdowns. Roman Hemby leads the rushing attack, however, with 255 yards and a 5.1 yard per carry average. He also has four touchdowns. While they have just the 10th most attempts in the Big Ten as a team, their 5.1 yard per carry average ranks third. Indiana needs to be able to stop the run with its talented front seven … if so, it’ll at least be able to put some added pressure on the passing attack and force a more one-dimensional offensive game plan.

Halftime score could determine the outcome of the game. This is a critical moment for Indiana in the game. While we’ve discussed how turnover-happy the Maryland defense is, the entire unit is even better come the second half. Maryland has outscored opponents 77-15 in the second half this season. More impressive, the Terps have allowed just 128 points in the second half in the last 17 games — a 7.5 average. This season, they have given up just two second-half touchdowns compared to eight turnovers forced. Indiana saw four of the five second-half possessions before overtime on Saturday look like the following: three plays for three yards, three plays for two yards, three plays for six yards and three plays for zero yards. If Indiana falls behind early and trails by a wide margin entering half two, it’s likely all but over with the inability to consistently move the ball already, now going up against such a stout defense.

SEE ALSO: Indiana football resumes Big Ten play as two-touchdown underdogs against Maryland

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