Lets face it, IU football's defense was atrocious in the first half against Maryland on Saturday.
The Hoosiers were facing a bottom of the Big Ten Terrapin team that was playing without its starting quarterback or starting running back. And yet, the Hoosiers surrendered 239 yards in the opening 30 minutes, with 134 of those yards coming on the ground.
Backup running back Javon Leake had acres of green grass on a 60-yard touchdown run.
Maryland receiver Dontay Demus torched junior cornerback Raheem Layne for a 40-yard gain in the second quarter.
Then three plays later, Demus picked on senior corner Andre Brown Jr. with a simple out-route that seemed to confuse Brown, who bit toward the middle. The result was an incredibly easy 15-yard touchdown to give the Terrapins their first lead of the game.
Penalties were IU’s biggest issue early in the ballgame. The team had seven penalties for 70 yards in the first half, but it was penalties against the defense that were the biggest momentum killers. The Hoosiers gifted Maryland 30 yards in pass interference penalties on the opening defensive possession of the game.
However, after giving up 21 points in the first half to the same offense that could only muster 14 against a bad Purdue defense last week, the IU defense stiffened up in spectacular fashion in the second half.
IU only forced one Maryland punt in the first half. They forced three — including a pair of three and outs — in the first trio of Terrapin drives to open the third quarter. After not having a tackle-for-loss in the first half, the Hoosiers had four in the third and fourth quarters, including two critical sacks.
Meanwhile, the IU offense faltered without freshman quarterback Michael Penix Jr. After scoring 24 points in the first half, the Hoosiers failed to have more than one successful drive in the game’s final 30 minutes The team only scored 10 points in the final two quarters of football.
It became abundantly clear that the only way Tom Allen’s team was going to come home to Bloomington with a win was going to be if the defense finished strong and won the game for the Hoosiers.
And that’s exactly what the IU defense did. In the game’s final 15 minutes, the Terps had two possessions with the chance to tie the game with a field goal or take the lead with a touchdown. IU responded to the challenge by forcing a punt and recovering a fumble on what at the time looked like a game clinching play.
But after the Hoosier offense couldn’t score the game ending touchdown, the defense trotted back on the field with a six point lead.
The response? A sophomore Reese Taylor pick to seal any doubt. IU didn’t force a takeaway for the first 55 minutes of the game, then forced not one, but two to seal Tom Allen’s third Big Ten road win as the IU head coach.
IU was expected to win Saturday, but the general thought was it would be because of Penix’ arm leading a dynamic offense. While junior quarterback Peyton Ramsey had some really nice moments after Penix got hurt, it was the defense that unexpectedly led the team to its fifth win of the season.
“You grow when your defense has to be on the field,” Allen said. “The defense grows in confidence because of tonight. The team has to learn how to win, and I think we took a step in the right direction with that tonight.”
