How it Happened: No. 2 Indiana cruises to 55-10 road victory over Maryland

From SECU Stadium in College Park, Indiana defeated Maryland 55-10 for another dominant Big Ten victory.

This one began the final stretch of the regular season for Indiana, as it finished with three of four games on the road. IU handled business here, as this one marked the third straight win by 25 or more and the second straight by 45 or more.

The Hoosiers improved to 9-0 (6-0) with the win, while the Terrapins dropped to 4-4 (1-4) following the one-sided affair. Indiana outgained Maryland 588-293, with 201 of those coming from quarterback Fernando Mendoza on 14-for-21 passing. Indiana totaled 367 yards on the ground, its highest total of the season, with Kaelon Black as the leading rusher.

Mendoza threw an interception on the first series of the ballgame, and the offense went three-and-out on the ensuing drive, but it was all Hoosiers after that. The defense stepped up throughout the game, resulting in the blowout victory over the Terps.

Indiana continues its perfect season and checks another box ahead of a possible Big Ten championship appearance, as the Hoosiers are 9-0 for the second consecutive season.

With that, here’s how it happened.

Offense responds after questionable start

On the third play from scrimmage, Indiana allowed SECU Stadium to go crazy, as Mendoza threw an interception on third down, which resulted in the Terrapins possessing the ball on the Hoosiers’ 12-yard line.

While Maryland was forced to settle for a field goal, it was a disastrous start for the offense, and it didn’t get much better on the second series of the ballgame. Indiana went three-and-out, including a sack on Mendoza and a tackle for loss on a Roman Hemby draw.

Indiana didn’t look like it was fully prepared, and it certainly drew questions of whether Maryland could hang with the Hoosiers. That obviously wasn’t the case, and the offense’s response was a huge part of that.

On the final four drives of the first half, the Hoosiers scored on each one of them. Mendoza started off the scoring with a 7-yard designed run for a touchdown, while on the ensuing drive Nico Radicic’s 20-yard field goal added to the lead.

With a 10-3 lead, Indiana wasn’t done just yet, as Mendoza led another touchdown drive, this time finding Omar Cooper Jr. for a 22-yard score where Cooper made a beautiful move to get wide open. Add on a 46-yard Radicic field goal and the Hoosiers took a 20-3 lead into the half after a beautiful response from Mendoza and the offense.

It seemed like Maryland had Indiana’s number to begin the ballgame, but as the 290-86 yard discrepancy will tell you, the Hoosiers actually dominated the opening 30 minutes after a rocky start.

Defense dominates throughout first half

For as good as the offense’s response was, Indiana’s defense was even more impressive in the first half. It generated the same kind of quarterback pressure that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing, but its secondary was fantastic as well.

The Terps totaled just 86 yards in the first half, with just two of those coming on the ground. The defensive line was simply punishing Maryland if it decided to run the ball, but it was also applying pressure on Washington on the vast majority of plays.

UMD was able to score the three points following Mendoza’s early interception, but even on that drive, Indiana didn’t allow a first down. It kept making plays throughout the first half, notably interceptions on back-to-back Terrapin drives. Kaiden Turner was first to pick off Washington, followed by Louis Moore, who made a fantastic catch on a deep ball that could’ve ended up as a touchdown.

These two plays halted all momentum that Maryland may have had and jump-started Indiana pulling away from Maryland en route to a dominant win. While the defense did end up allowing a touchdown on UMD’s first drive of the second half, what we saw in the first and second quarters was what Indiana’s defense has done all season long.

It overwhelms the quarterback, dictates what happens in the middle of the field, and has improved in the secondary. Add all that up, and you have an elite defense that set the tone for an impressive second half that resulted in a blowout Indiana victory.

IU breaks it open with impressive stretch in 3rd quarter

With a 20-3 halftime lead, Indiana didn’t need much in the second half to secure a victory, but it had a stretch where it absolutely dominated the action.

With 9:43 left in the third quarter, Black scored a 31-yard touchdown with a burst of speed on the outside to make it 27-10, responding to Maryland’s touchdown to open the second half. But just two plays later, Devan Boykin may have made the play of the game, as he stripped the ball from Washington, recovered the fumble, and then ran the ball 32 yards for a scoop and score.

This was all in the span of three plays, but the Hoosiers refused to quit. On the next play from scrimmage, Washington completed a pass to Octavian Smith, but Jamari Sharpe was there to force another fumble. Byron Baldwin Jr. recovered it to give the Indiana offense the ball deep in Maryland territory.

Two plays after that, Hemby ran the ball 16 yards for another touchdown, giving the Hoosiers a 41-10 advantage with 7:45 left in the third. In a span of one minute and 58 seconds of game time, Indiana was able to score three touchdowns and total two takeaways.

If there was any chance of Maryland coming back after it opened the second half with a score, Indiana put that to rest with impact play after impact play during the middle of the third quarter.

Once again, the Hoosiers cruised to a 40-plus-point victory, and you can thank their stretch of dominance in the third quarter for this one being broken wide open.

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