Running back Brandon Ross runs for a touchdown during Maryland’s 47-28 loss to Indiana at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium on Nov. 21, 2015.
Terrapins football defensive coordinator Keith Dudzinski couldn’t believe his eyes. He threw his arms up in disbelief. What was going on?
In recent weeks, the Terps offense had made a habit of wasting solid efforts from the defense. But on a day that running back Brandon Ross rushed for a career-high 250 yards — the fourth-most in a single game in program history — and three touchdowns, the defense couldn’t carry its weight.
Indiana quarterback Nate Sudfeld threw for 389 yards and four touchdowns, including the six-yard strike early in the third quarter to wide receiver Mitchell Paige that pushed the Hoosiers’ lead to nine and left Dudzinski befuddled.
Saturday began with celebration. The Terps honored their 15 seniors, awarding them flowers and a framed jersey. They shook hands with interim coach Mike Locksley and Athletic Director Kevin Anderson, but about four hours later, the game ended like each of the Terps’ past seven games: heartbreak, this time in the form of a 47-28 loss.
“I couldn’t script it any better, my last game at Byrd Stadium to have that kind of performance,” Ross said. “I wish we would’ve got the win. But personally it felt good to have that kind of game and jumpstart the offense.”
Indiana entered the contest needing a win to keep its chances of earning bowl eligibility alive, but it had no answer for Ross early.
The senior took the Terps’ second play from scrimmage 79 yards untouched to the end zone. He added another score on the next possession to push the Terps’ lead to 14-3 before quarterback
Caleb Rowe found wide receiver Malcolm Culmer for a 14-yard touchdown less than two minutes later.
It was all downhill from there.
Sudfeld picked apart a Terps secondary that had made strides in recent weeks. He engineered three consecutive touchdown drives, and entered the half with a 238 passing yards on 13 completions.
Rowe, meanwhile, started overthrowing receivers, and the Terps (2-9, 0-7 Big Ten) went into the half trailing 30-21 despite taking a 18-point lead less than 10 minutes into the game.
“Some guys go into panic mode when that starts to happen,” left guard Ryan Doyle said. “So as an offensive line, we tried to keep everyone with level heads.”
Ross added a 75-yard touchdown run on the second play of the third quarter, but he couldn’t help the Terps keep up with the blistering Indiana offense by himself. The Hoosiers (5-6, 1-6) scored 17 consecutive points, putting the Terps in a big hole before the start of the fourth quarter.
“We’ve done a pretty good job the last three weeks on the defensive side of the ball of attacking and being aggressive,” Locksley said. “Today didn’t get much pressure. And any time you give a quarterback like their kid an opportunity to stand back, especially in man coverage, he’s a good passer and he took advantage of that.”
Rowe left the game in the second quarter after taking a big hit on a run, ceding the spotlight to quarterback Shane Cockerille. The converted fullback pounded into the front-seven, inching forward with short gain after short gain. But the Hoosiers kept stopping him, and the Terps kept punting.
“Our inability to pass the ball — we were kind of one-dimensional in the second half,” Ross said. “I didn’t really think it was too much of what they did to stop us, whereas us just stopping ourselves.”
