COLLEGE PARK, Md. — IU football trotted onto the field and showed a new wrinkle to its offense that has rarely been seen so far this season on its first play of the game.
Redshirt-freshman quarterback Michael Penix Jr. took the snap and put the ball in the stomach of sophomore running back Stevie Scott III like he’s done countless times this season. The wrinkle, he actually pulled the ball out and ran with it for an opening 17-yard rush.
IU tried the same play right before the end of the first quarter but with a much different outcome. Instead of a 17-yard rush, Penix was crunched on a two-yard rush and gingerly got up shaking his arm as it hung at his side as the play clock hit zero ending the first quarter.
Penix would throw two more passes — his last one being an interception in the end zone — before heading to the locker room and not returning.
As junior quarterback Peyton Ramsey slid on his helmet to lead the Hoosier offense onto the field in the second quarter only up seven points, he knew his preparation would allow him to seamlessly step into the game and earn IU it’s fifth win of the season 34-28 over Maryland.
“Sure it’s hard, but you prepare every single week like you’re going to be the guy,” Ramsey said. “You never know when your number is going to be called. Sure it’s been hard, but there are a lot of really good guys in that locker room who we all fight for every single day, and they make my job easier.”
Ramsey was thrust into one of the most important games for IU this season and delivered for the Hoosiers. Ramsey did whatever was needed to avenge IU’s 2017 42-39 loss in College Park, Maryland, that ultimately left the Hoosiers one game shy of bowl-eligibility.
The two-year starter completed 20-of-27 passes for 193 yards, one touchdown and added 47 yards rushing as well.
Even as IU’s defense faltered at times throughout the game giving up big plays to the Terrapins offense, Ramsey never let the Hoosiers fall too far behind. IU trailed once all game, but the deficit was quickly erased as the Hoosiers marched down the field in less than four minutes to retake the lead on a 26 yard touchdown pass to fifth-year receiver Nick Westbrook at the end of the first half.
“I’m so proud of Peyton Ramsey,”IU head coach Tom Allen said. “What an absolute awesome young man, just was ready to play when called upon. He proved his value to his teammates today by preparing the way he prepared, to play the way he did, and execute at a high level.”
Ramsey’s energy and focus was infectious to his teammates.
On a 3rd-and-13 in the fourth quarter, Ramsey decided he was going to will his team to victory as he tucked the ball and scrambled, breaking a tackle before absorbing a big hit that pushed him over the first down marker.
“That’s why I love him,” sophomore running back Stevie Scott said with a wide smile. “He can make a bad play turn into a good play just with his feet. I just love that he can scramble and get out of certain situations and just keep the chains moving. I just love when Peyton’s at quarterback.”
Ramsey’s fight inspired the rest of the team to take another step late in the game.
With the game hanging in the balance, the Hoosier defense fed off Ramsey’s infectious energy he brought to the offensive side of the ball and answered all the questions that have been asked about their ability to finish.
With just under four minutes remaining in the game, Juwan Burgess read Maryland’s screen pass to sophomore running back Anthony Leake and popped the ball loose, recovering the fumble that would result in an IU field goal to take a six point lead.
On the next drive, it was the former Indiana Mr. Football award winner who performed IU’s finisher. Reese Taylor shut the door, rising up to grab the game-ending interception as the Hoosiers poured onto the field to celebrate.
IU was everything Allen wanted it to be in a tough road matchup that now puts the Hoosiers on the brink of a bowl game for the first time since 2016, and it can be all traced back to Ramsey.
“He’s a man,” Allen said. “He’s not a young man — he’s turned into a man.”
