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Hoosiers Handle Business, Hand Maryland 27-11 Defeat

daddyhoosier

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Aug 31, 2019
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iufb.net
It's becoming a familiar pattern for this Hoosier football team. It wasn't always a thing of beauty but at the end of the day Indiana soundly beat Maryland and improved to 5-1 on the season.

The Hoosiers didn't play particularly well in the first half. They were outgained by the Terrapins 212 to 138 in the first two quarters yet IU took a 7-3 lead into the locker room. Quarterback Michael Penix struggled to get things going, completing only 2 of 15 first half attempts for just 37 yards. And to be honest most of the incompletions weren't even close. Credit Maryland's secondary which really seemed to tighten things up in their coverage after allowing some pretty large windows to throw through in their first three games. But it is doubtful that it was all what Maryland was doing.

Yes Penix has had stretches this year where he has been spectacular but there have been other stretches where he has looked pedestrian. After completing 68.8 percent of his passes in 2019 the Redshirt Sophomore from Tampa is completing just 56.4 percent of his throws in 2020. Obviously it's not fair to pin it all on Penix but it is also not fair to be dismissive and attribute this to everything but number nine.

More on this in a moment.

Defense Steps Up Again
The IU Defense wasn't bad in the first half but it wasn't good either. Maryland was on pace for over 400 yards of total offense and seemingly lived on the Indiana side of the 50 yard line. If it weren't for Taulia Tagovailoa missing two touchdown throws and the Terps missing an early field goal Maryland would have likely been leading at halftime and the game could have taken an entirely different turn.

Be that as it may, Indiana came out in the second half and was much more dominant. They held Maryland to only 88 second half yards and outscored the Terps 20-0 before the visitors scored a late fourth quarter touchdown when the game was already decided.

The disruptive Indiana D tallied 6 tackles for a loss, 3 sacks, 7 quarterback hurries, 3 interceptions and two pass breakups.

Running Success
Indiana was clearly very intent on running the ball today. They pounded it on the ground 48 times compared to just 24 passing attempts and in so doing gained 234 yards and 3 touchdowns. Stevie Scott had 24 carries for 80 yards and all three rushing TDs. With those three scores Scott is now tied with Tevin Coleman for 4th on Indiana's all-time rushing touchdown list (28). He is also tied with Jade Butcher for 4th in scrimmage TDs (30).

In an interesting wrinkle the Hoosiers ran the wildcat with Scott and Freshman Tim Baldwin Jr taking snaps directly from center. They only ran this look a handful of times but found moderate success in doing so. Baldwin Jr had 106 yards on 16 carries filling in for Sampson James who did not play. Baldwin is a smaller and speedier back and provided a welcomed change of pace for the Hoosier running attack. Stevie Scott and Sampson James have similar body types and running styles so if a defense can deal with one they can likely deal with both.

IU ran some more outside zone plays today, including a couple that effectively used cutback lanes to create chunk plays. David Ellis also had 2 or 3 carries on the perimeter including one that resulted in nice positive yardage. After only having 11 runs of 10 or more yards in their first five games the Hoosiers had five such plays today.

Interception U
Indiana already lead the country with 2.6 interceptions per game and that is not likely to change this week as the Hoosiers added three more picks today. Jaylin Williams added his team-leading 4th INT of the year while Tiawan Mullen grabbed his 3rd and Micah McFadden his 2nd. IU now has 16 on the year in just six games.

Penix Health
There has been no official word yet and there won't be any updates until Monday but Penix left the game midway through the 3rd quarter with an apparent right knee injury. After a forgettable first half he came out and was 4 for 4. All of the throws were in rhythm and on target. Penix then clicked off a 24 yard scramble to set up 1st and Goal for the Hoosiers. But after being forced out of bounds Penix let out a yell, ripped off his helmet and looked to be in quite a bit of pain. When he first stood up he was reluctant to put much weight his right leg but ESPN's Dr. Jerry Punch reported that he was seen in the tunnel standing on his own on both feet.

Some have speculated that the knee was already hurt. Recall a couple games back Michigan State Quarterback Rocky Lombardi had an injured plant leg and that certainly affected the accuracy of Lombardi's throws to the point that he was eventually benched for an inexperienced backup. It's just speculation at this point to say that Penix may be dealing with a similar issue but it does help explain why Penix would have been so badly off. Yes he has had some inconsistency but today it almost seemed like something was wrong.

Again this is just an educated guess but I don't necessarily get the impression this is a season ending injury.

Tuttle Time
It was a very small sample size and the play calls were pretty safe but Redshirt Sophomore Jack Tuttle seemed comfortable and prepared to play. Remember that Tuttle was a four-star prospect coming out of high school and was rated in the Top 5 pro-style QBs nationally by Rivals and 247Sports respectively. He transferred from Utah last year and has been somewhat in the background due to how well Peyton Ramsey and Michael Penix have played the last two seasons. But the IU Offense may be in pretty good hands if Penix does indeed does have to miss any time.

Indiana has a firm grip on second place in the Big Ten East and will travel to Madison next week to face Wisconsin, who will be the Hoosiers' fourth ranked opponent of the year.
 
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Good write up on this game. IU's interceptions this year are on a pace we haven't seen before at IU. As long as IU can pressure QBs our defense can get interceptions each game; now they just need to learn how to hang on to the ball.

😂 No kidding, sheesh!
 
I'm glad we finally started running outside with Baldwin. That should increase our chances for longer gains. I have to wonder if we haven't done that with Scott and James is because they don't have breakaway speed.
 
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