Maryland football falls flat - again - in blowout homecoming loss vs. Indiana

jmcconn3
3 days ago
3 min read

Maryland football had a chance to make a statement against second-ranked Indiana in its annual homecoming game. Not because it would have been the program’s first win against a top two team in 70 years or its first top-five win in 21 years or its first top-ten win in 18 years – for a program facing an uphill battle with fan support in year seven, Maryland had a chance to move the needle with its on-field results. Instead, Mike Locksley’s team fell flat with students chanting for him to be fired less than 30 minutes in.

The Halloween horrors followed the Maryland Terrapins into the start of November, which extends their losing skid to four in a row coming out of their bye-week, as the #2 ranked Indiana Hoosiers trample the Terps 55-10 on homecoming. Maryland falls to (4-4 overall, 1-4 BIG 10).

Maryland has been desperate to get back in the win column; their last win goes back against Wisconsin back in late September. Despite an early strong start from the Terps defense, including an interception from the redshirt junior defensive back Jamare Glasker, the offense struggled to find its groove before settling for a 24-yard field goal and an early lead, their only lead of the contest.

It'd be a sign of what was to come as the Terps' offense was stagnant nearly all game. The ground game was non-existent all day, recording a total of 37 yards with the majority of those coming in the waning moments of the fourth quarter. They ended the first half with just two rushing yards.

“We just really haven’t been efficient in the run game,” head coach Mike Locksley said. “We’re not young, we’re just inexperienced, and so we have a tremendous amount of experience as coaches, and I think what we have to do is figure out what we need to do to get the run game going.”

Maryland after a slow first half, came out of halftime with a completely different energy, with quarterback Malik Washington connecting with running back DeJuan Williams for a 55-yard touchdown, cutting the lead to just 10. Momentum seemed to turn for Maryland.

Just after Maryland’s one and only touchdown, Indiana went on to trounce the Terps with 35 unanswered points.

Locksley historically has had trouble getting into the win column following a bye week, with his record now 0-11 since the beginning of his tenure in 2019.

Washington didn’t have his finest performance of the season, throwing two interceptions and a fumble which led to a scoop and score for the Hoosiers in the third quarter.

“Yeah it was just tough,” Washington said. “You know, sometimes that’s the way the cards go. We couldn’t really get into a rhythm offensively and weren’t helping out our defense by having short drives.”

The Indiana ground game had their way with the Terps defense, rushing for 367-yards and four touchdowns. The 367-rushing yards was the most that the Terps defense has given up since 2021, when they allowed 326 against Minnesota.

“That’s tough, that’s a lot of rushing yards,” defensive lineman Cam Rice said. “Especially as a defensive lineman, you never want to allow a team to rush like that on you. We’ve got to stay gap-sound, reset the line of scrimmage, and make tackles.”

Turnovers were a struggle for all day, racking up five total for Maryland with a pair of interceptions and three fumbles just never gave them a chance.

“We were number one in the country in turnover margins,” Locksley said. “We’ve been a really good team on offense and protecting the ball. When you play the number two team in the country, in the third quarter they have turned it over three consecutive times, this is what happens.”

Maryland football will look for redemption next Saturday against Rutgers on the road.

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