Having lost four of its last five games, Maryland football needed a victory heading into its homecoming matchup with Indiana. Thus far, the Terps have the upper hand — they lead the Hoosiers 28-23 at the end of the first half. Here are the biggest plays of the game to this point.
Indiana took an early 14-0 lead, with its first two possessions ending in touchdown passes from Peyton Ramsey. Darnell Savage made sure the Hoosiers’ third drive ended differently:
No help from the offense? No problem pic.twitter.com/pLVR77AfOP
— Terps Watch (@TerpsWatch) October 28, 2017
Lorenzo Harrison got the lion’s share of the carries to start the game. He showed some familiar elusiveness with a 29-yard run on the Terps’ second drive:
So, did DJ Moore accidentally put on Lorenzo Harrison’s jersey, or what pic.twitter.com/1Gi8p9V3fI — Terps Watch (@TerpsWatch) October 28, 2017
And following Savage’s interception, Harrison wasted no time finding the end zone:
Nah, this is just LoLo being LoLo pic.twitter.com/ZIYKcfH7jR
— Terps Watch (@TerpsWatch) October 28, 2017
After that, the Terps offense went quiet for a while. On second-and-7 from their own six-yard line, Ty Johnson went down in the end zone for a safety, increasing the Hoosiers’ edge to 16-7.
But the defense locked down and kept Maryland in the game. Indiana punted on its next possession, and then tried to punt on the drive after that — only to run into Savage yet again:
Indiana, welcome to the block party pic.twitter.com/CVsJaNr9hA — Terps Watch (@TerpsWatch) October 28, 2017
The Hoosiers got another touchdown pass from Ramsey to widen their advantage to 23-14 with less than four minutes before halftime. But Max Bortenschlager and the Terps weren’t ready to go down quietly. The sophomore gunslinger marched Maryland down the field and hit Taivon Jacobs for the score:
Now it’s a ballgame! pic.twitter.com/YunDvctWea
— Terps Watch (@TerpsWatch) October 28, 2017
That drive took just 1:13 off the clock. Indiana went 3-and-out on its next drive, and with 1:38 left before the end of the half, Maryland decided to speed things up even Moore more.
Before this drive, Maryland’s star receiver DJ Moore had just one catch. But he came up with two huge receptions for the Terps, first to move them into the red zone…
???? Then I’ma throw this money while you catch it with one hand ???? pic.twitter.com/ZmgBcAH5Vn — Terps Watch (@TerpsWatch) October 28, 2017
…and then to get them into the end zone:
Not sure why teams even try to cover DJ Moore tbh pic.twitter.com/yAzDPcEkHx
— Terps Watch (@TerpsWatch) October 28, 2017
Despite its early 14-0 deficit, Maryland ended up with a five-point lead at the half. If Moore, Harrison and co. keep making plays, and Savage can spearhead the defense, the Terps should be able to right the ship and come away with the win in their homecoming game.