After dispatching their FCS opponent Villanova yesterday, the University of Maryland Terrapins can turn their attention to facing the Hoosiers in Indiana next Saturday.
The Terps will arrive in Bloomington at 3-1.
The Hoosiers are 4-0, with wins over Florida International (31-7), Western Illinois (77-3), @ UCLA (42-13), and Charlotte (52-13).
ESPN’s Match-Up Predictor gives Indiana a 66.9% chance of winning.
Thoughts On Yesterday
Villanova entered #5 overall in the FCS, but MD controlled the action as they should have against an FCS school.
Great job from the Terps coming out and scoring on their first four drives.
After Villanova started the 3rd Quarter with a FG and followed that up with recovering an onsides kick and scoring again; the Terps immediately answered with another 75 yard TD drive.
That – and coupled with the Terps 2nd half at UVA – are good signs.
Billy Edwards was strong once again, completing 28 of his 32 attempts for 328 yards, and 2 scores.
A number of his attempts had some real smoke. There are no more questions about his ability to pass.
Tai Felton had another big day, with 14 catches, 157 yards, and a TD.
Through four games, the Sr. WR now has 41 grabs. At the minimum, he’s playing at an All-Conference level.
I went into yesterday hoping that we’d see others outside of Felton get a bit more involved.
The first name I was thinking about was RB Roman Hemby.
With good run blocking in-front of him, Hemby had a nice day. 14 carries, 67 yards, and a score.
Hemby is of course known for his speed. Yesterday, he ran through contact multiple times.
Hemby was very explosive two years ago.
We haven’t seen that same production yet.
I’d continue to try find ways to get him the ball in space.
Colby McDonald, and Nolan Ray combined for 10 more carries.
Very comfortable with them as well. It’s a quality RB room for MD.
Another new wrinkle for the MD running game going forward could be MJ Morris.
The QB got sometime yesterday, and had a 14 yard run for a TD when he found the edge.
As we mentioned, Felton had 14 catches.
The other Terrapins combined for 15 more.
Kaden Prather having 6 catches, 57 yards, and a score.
Prather, TE’s Preston Howard, Dylan Wade, WR Octavian Smith.
I think it’s important that MD gets regular production from this group.
Felton is clearly going to command more and more attention.
The Terps have been creative in finding ways to put the ball in his hands.
Take advantage of the attention to Felton, and further spread out the wealth.
The Terps had 3 sacks, and 6 tackles for loss.
Sophomore LB Michael Harris had career sack #1.
Senior DL Tommy Akingbesote and Taizse Johnson overwhelmed the Wildcards with their size.
Indiana And What Follows
When the season began, ESPN was giving MD as 63% chance of winning at Indiana.
As we said above, ESPN now has Indiana as a 66.9% favorite in this Week 5 match-up.
That’s a significant swing.
MD is being dinged for losing to Michigan State at home.
Indiana is getting a bump for being undefeated, and beating up UCLA on the road.
This is an important game for both programs.
Michigan State was a swing game, but a game MD was expected to win at home.
Losing that game has you chasing that game all year.
At Indiana represents another swing game for MD.
You are playing a Conference opponent with comparable talent.
MD probably has a more talented roster overall, but it’s comparable. These are programs in the same weight class.
The Terps don’t want to fall to 0-2 in Conference play.
Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti is in his first year with the Hoosiers after doing a great job at James Madison.
Cignetti was with JMU for 5 years. During the first three years of his tenure, JMU was still at the FCS level, and they were a Top 3 team each year.
After moving to the FBS level for ’22, JMU went 19-4 the last two seasons, being ranked to end last year.
That was extremely impressive.
Indiana brought in a bunch of transfers, including several of Cignetti’s former JMU players.
The most important transfer added was QB Kurtis Rourke, who was the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year in 2022.
Rourke has started hot as a Hoosier, with 8 TD’s and 0 picks in his first four games.
RB Justice Ellison has 290 yards, and 4 scores, after spending the previous 4 years at Wake Forest.
RB’s TySon Lawton, and Elijah Green have combined for 9 TD’s.
Four Indiana WR’s (Elijah Sarratt, Omar Cooper, Myles Price, Miles Cooper) have at-least 12 receptions.
Sarratt – a JMU transfer – leads with 15 grabs for 250 yards.
Indiana has 12 sacks through 4 games, with JMU transfer DL Mikail Kamara leading with 3.
Four picks so far for the Hoosiers, with CB Amare Ferrell leading with two.
Punter James Evans was on the All Big Ten Preseason Conference Team.
Phil Steele had LB Aiden Fisher on his 4th Team All Big Ten Preseason Conference Team.
He currently leads Indiana in tackles.
If Maryland wins, they’d be 4-1 overall, 1-1 in the Big Ten entering their bye.
They’d have won their last 3 games, with extra time to prepare for Northwestern who they’ll face Oct. 11th.
ESPN’s Match-Up Predictor currently has MD as 86.9% favorite in that game.
Without looking too far ahead, the Terps could be 5-1 overall, 2-1 in league play, and preparing to host USC for Homecoming Oct. 19th.
That’s what’s available to the Terps.
The flip-side is if Maryland loses in Bloomington, that would have the Terps at 3-2, and 0-2 in Conference play.
And not just 0-2 in league play, but 0-2 against teams (Michigan State, and Indiana) they beat by a combined 75-26 margin in 2023.
Losing both of those games this year against Head Coach’s in their first years with their new programs would be a tough look.
Maryland has to avoid beating themselves vs Indiana (8 penalties for 89 yards vs. Villanova, plus 2 turnovers).
I’ve heard multiple analysts say that Indiana is playing clean football. They weren’t against UCLA (14 penalties, 127 yards), but were able to dominate that game anyway.
One reason Indiana controlled UCLA, was that they were 9 of 12 on 3rd down, while UCLA was 2 of 8.
The Hoosiers also were able to hold the Bruins to 96 rushing yards.
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