Indiana will travel to College Park for just their second true road test of the season, after a comfortable handling of Rutgers on homecoming weekend, Indiana takes on the Maryland Terrapins with the hopes of getting yet another game closer to bowl eligibility. Head coach Michael Locksley and his ball club are returning back from the Hoosier state after an unfruitful outing against Purdue and their backup quarterback Jack Plummer.

How to Watch: Indiana Hoosiers versus Maryland Terrapins

WhoWeek 8: Indiana Hoosiers versus Rutgers Scarlet Knights
When3:30 PM ET / Saturday, October 19, 2019
WhereMaryland Stadium – College Park, Md.
TicketsFind the Lowest Ticket Prices on SeatGeek
WatchBig Ten Network
StatsLive Stats
ListenIU Radio Network
SpreadIndiana -6.5 / Over-Under 59

You can find the latest 2019 Indiana Football schedule (printable) here.

Getting to know Maryland Football

Ranked 11th in our Week 8 Power Rankings, Maryland started off with two very impressive wins at the very beginning of this season. They tallied 79 points in a shutout win against Howard University to open the season. In week two, Maryland took down a ranked Syracuse team handily with a margin of victory of over 40 points. Since then, the story has been a little bit different for Maryland. If you take out their sole Big Ten victory against Rutgers, Maryland has had three revealing losses against Purdue, Penn State, and Temple.

Get to Know the Terrapins

Key Offensive Players

Like many other Big Ten teams, Maryland is dealing with quarterback health issues as well. Graduate transfer Josh Jackson did not play against Purdue after suffering from a mid-foot, high ankle injury against Rutgers.

Veteran QB Tyrrell Pigrome would re-gain the title of starting quarterback for Maryland’s match up with Purdue last week. He had originally lost the role earlier to in the season to Josh Jackson. As a redshirt junior, Pigrome is no stranger to Big Ten football. The situation certainly mimics Indiana’s starting of Michael Penix Jr. over Peyton Ramsey.

With Pigrome, the Terrapins have the opportunity to use a more mobile quarterback than Jackson. On the current season, Pigrome already has 24 rushing attempts and a net of 164 yards on the ground. Pigrome has 389 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions from throwing.

In the backfield, the three main workhorses include Anthony McFarland Jr. who already has eight total offensive touchdowns on the season. Unfortunately for McFarland, he was essentially non-existent against Purdue with just two attempts and he has been dealing with a nagging ankle injury. He is backed by juniors Tayon Fleet-Davis and Javon Leake who got the majority of workload last Saturday. Combined, the Maryland backfield averages 5.6 yards per carry.

WR Dontay Demus Jr. caught 10 receptions from Pigrome against Purdue for a total of 105 yards in the air. He leads the team in both number of receptions, yards (384), and he is tied with TE Tyler Mabry with the most touchdowns this season. Other productive receivers that are looking to bounce back from a quiet day in West Lafayette include receivers Darryl Jones, Chigoziem Okonkwo, and Brian Cobbs.

Key Defensive Players

Maryland is led by their senior linebacker Keandre Jones who currently leads the teams in sacks (5.5) and tackles for loss (9.0). LB Ayinde Eley is Jones’ partner as a linebacker and the 6-foot-3 sophomore currently has 26 solo tackles on the season with 20 assists. Both are reasons why the Terrapins have been able to hold opponents to just 3.3 yards per carry.

Fellow senior Antoine Brooks Jr. is Maryland’s main force in the secondary with a team high 35 solo tackles. The 5-foot-11 defensive back has not yet recorded an interception this season.

Speaking of takeaways, Maryland is coming into the game with a record that Indiana held for quite sometime, which was the longest number of consecutive games with a forced turnover. They currently have 18 consecutive takeaways in their active turnover streak, the 3rd-longest in the country.

Week 8: What to watch for against the Terrapins

1. Expanding the offensive playbook for the Hoosiers

Game after game in the first portion of the season, the Hoosier offense continues to be one of the main points of dialogue with this team. Specifically, the Penix-led Hoosiers are becoming more comfortable with Kalen DeBoer’s offensive game plan. Remember, these Hoosiers were dropping passes in the first game of the season against Ball State. Now the Hoosiers have a better understanding of DeBoer’s scheme and can begin to expand further into more complicated plays.

DeBoer treats the offense as an evolving game plan. The types of plays that he runs in the first quarter, certainly sets up Indiana for the later stages of the game. Against Michigan State, the Hoosiers ran a number of screen passes in the first quarter to force the Spartans to respect the wideout and effectively took away one defender. Let’s see how his offensive game plan grows with the players now able to take on more complicated concepts.

2. Are the Hoosiers for real?

Indiana, now ranked 25th in ESPN’s SP+ ranking, now has the profile of a team that has some of the most sustainable qualities in being successful. The SP+ ranking is not a measure of strength of schedule, but rather a combination of measurements that try to predict the long-term sustainability of a college football team.

— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) October 13, 2019