The Maryland Terrapins (3-1, 1-1) will play their first road conference game of the season against the Indiana Hoosiers (4-0, 1-0).
The Terps are coming off a 38-20 win over FCS Villanova. Tai Felton continues to have a remarkable season at receiver. He posted a career-high 14 catches for 157 yards and added a touchdown on Saturday. Felton leads the Big Ten in receiving yards with 604 and ranks third in the country. Maryland has won two straight after a tough 27-24 loss to Michigan State at home in Week 2. The Terps are looking to win two consecutive games in Bloomington for the first time ever.
“Maryland has a lot of good players, a lot of good athletes,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said of the Terps. “They’re a good football team. They’re very well-coached. It will be a tremendous challenge. It’s the best football team we’ve seen up to this point.”
Cignetti has also been impressed with the play of Terps quarterback Billy Edwards Jr, who went 28-of-32 with 328 yards, and threw two touchdowns, and a pick in Saturday’s win.
“I’ve known Billy Edwards for a while,” he said of Maryland’s QB1. “My first year at JMU he was a guy we had targeted. He’s got a lot of snaps under his belt. They’ll also run him, and obviously he’s a threat when he gets out of the pocket as well as when he drops back and escapes the pocket.”
“They play hard. They have a lot of really good pieces,” Indiana WR Myles Price added. “They play good football. They’ve been playing good football and it’s really going to be about how we execute.”
"I think we're all excited to play on the road in the Big Ten," Edwards Jr said. "You're always gonna play great teams, great opponents, and in great environments. Since it's a noon game, it'll be wake up and roll, and I think we're all very excited for the opportunity."
Edwards Jr was also very bullish on the 4-0 Hoosiers.
"I think you've seen them every week just get a little bit better and get more comfortable with each other, and they're playing really good."
Center Josh Kaltenberger is also looking forward to the challenge of playing on the road in the Big Ten and is using the mistakes the Terps' made in their conference opener as fuel.
"It's super important for us to go out and win this game, especially after what happened in our first conference game," Kaltenberger said. "We did some things [against Michigan State] to beat ourselves. "We've grown up a lot since that game, and I feel like grew a lot during the second half of the Virginia game.
Indiana, picked to finish second to last in the Big Ten by the media, has looked very impressive under first-year head coach Cigentti. He comes from James Madison, where he led the Dukes to an impressive 11-win season in 2023. IU’s offense put up gaudy numbers on FIU, Western Illinois, and Charlotte, in what was a weak non-conference schedule. Their lone conference win so far was a 42-13 thrashing of a young UCLA team in Pasadena. Maryland will be Indiana’s first true test of the season. Indiana will look to stop a three-game skid against the Terps, with their last win coming in 2020 which turned out to be the final game of Michael Penix Jr’s Indiana career. The Hoosiers are 4-0 for the first time since 2020, and just the second time since 1991.
"Curt Cignetti has done a tremendous job with that team," said Maryland head coach Mike Locksley. "What stands out about them is that they are not going to give us this game. We have to go out there and beat them. Some of our complimentary players on offense are going to have to step up for us to win this game."
IU quarterback Kurtis Rourke is off to a great start. His 75.7% completion percentage and 1,013 yards are both good for third in the conference. His eight touchdown passes are tied for second in the Big Ten with four other quarterbacks. Rourke is in his sixth season of college football after spending five at Ohio.
The game will kick off at 12:00 EST on the Big Ten Network from Memorial Stadium in Bloomington. Indiana is currently a seven-point favorite.
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