Junior running back Tevin Coleman said there wasn’t much the Hoosiers could do differently.
Nearly every time the IU offense began to move the football, something would happen to stall the drive.
A dropped pass. An overthrown ball. Nowhere for a running back to go.
An IU offense that normally prides itself on being able to keep up with almost any opponent was pushed around and had its tempo disrupted.
Sudfeld said IU’s game plan wasn’t the problem in the Hoosiers’ 37-15 loss to Maryland on Saturday.
He said it was a matter of failing to execute the offense when IU needed to the most.
“If you don’t come to play against a team in the Big Ten or college football, they’ll bring it to you,” Sudfeld said. “That’s what happened today.”
IU’s offense only managed to get into the red zone twice Saturday. One of those trips came midway through the fourth quarter when the game had already been decided.
IU Coach Kevin Wilson said the Hoosiers were beat at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
The inability to win the battles at the line meant Sudfeld couldn’t get the offense in rhythm consistently enough to drive down the field.
When asked why Maryland gave IU trouble, Wilson was blunt.
“We kind of got beat up front — beat at the line of scrimmage,” Wilson said. “We expect more. We’re better than that.
“Just got our butts whipped.”
To make matters worse, when IU managed to begin moving the chains, self-inflicted mistakes would stall the offense.
Midway through the third quarter, trailing by 18 points, the Hoosier offense began moving the ball.
Senior running back D’Angelo Roberts rushed for nine yards to get IU to the 50-yard line facing second-and-1.
But on the next play, the Hoosiers were called for a false start to bring up second-and-6.
Two plays later, IU faced fourth-and-1 at the Maryland 41-yard line.
Sudfeld handed Coleman the ball out of shotgun for a designed run to the left, but there was nowhere to go. The Maryland defensive line that recorded seven tackles for loss had already blown up the play.
Three Maryland defenders stood directly in front of Coleman, who said there wasn’t much he could do.
He lost a yard and turned the ball over on downs.
It was that kind of day ?for IU.
“They load everybody in the box and they rushed everybody in,” Coleman said. “We couldn’t even get that ... They got us. They hit us in the mouth and we weren’t expecting them to do that.”
Coleman finished with 122 yards and one late touchdown off of 22 carries.
Sudfeld completed 14-of-37 passes for only 126 yards, zero touchdowns and an interception.
Sudfeld said the Hoosiers’ lack of sharpness was what was most frustrating.
On second-and-7 to start the second half, Sudfeld rolled out to his left and located senior Shane Wynn wide open near the first-down mark.
Wynn dropped the ball.
Later in the third quarter, he nearly found freshman J-Shun Harris down the sideline for what would have been a large gain, if not a potential touchdown.
The pass sailed about a yard too far.
A week after IU seemingly couldn’t make a major mistake against then-No. 18 Missouri, missed opportunities continuously plagued the IU offense.
“It shows that you never have it,” Sudfeld said. “If you’re just literally a hair closer, or better thrown or whatever, then it’s a different game.”
Maryland (4-1, 1-0) entered Saturday’s game ranked last in the Big Ten in total defense, yielding 460 yards per game.
But on a day where the high-powered IU offense looked to take advantage, the Hoosiers only put up 361 total yards.
Only 126 yards came through the air. It was the little mistakes that kept adding up.
IU had two touchdowns called back for penalties. One was a holding call on freshman Laray Smith that took away a Shane Wynn punt ?return.
Another holding call on sophomore Dan Feeney negated a 50-yard Coleman touchdown run.
Sudfeld said he didn’t like the way IU handled itself after beating Missouri. To him, the team didn’t execute or play the way he’s used to seeing them play.
And at the end of the day, it cost the Hoosiers (2-2, 0-1) a potential win in the Big Ten opener.
“There are times we weren’t ourselves,” Sudfeld said. “And today was one of those days.”
