College Football Week Nine Preview: Maryland vs Indiana

By: Shane Hector

The Maryland Terrapins take on the Indiana Hoosiers in an interesting Big-Ten matchup.

Maryland ran the ball well against the Spartans last week with over 247 yards rushing. Running backs Ty Johnson and Lorenzo Harrison combined for 100 yards rushing and over two touchdowns over the Spartans. The Hoosiers lost to the Northwestern Wildcats in a 10-point loss. Indiana comes into this game having lost three straight games.

Maryland QB Perry Hills threw for over 200 yards and two touchdowns. Hills will have a tough time throwing the football against the Hoosier’s best DB, Jonathan Crawford, who is tied with the team with one interception and five pass breakups. Crawford can cause some serious problems for Maryland if Hills decides that he wants to pick on him. LB Shane Cockerille will have to come up big and bring some pass rush with his fellow linebackers because the Indiana QB, Richard Lagow, has over 1,973 yards passing and over 12 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. This game is pivotal for Maryland. A win moves them to 6-2 on the season.

Indiana is averaging over 289 yards passing through the passing game behind QB Richard Lagow’s arm. Lagow will have to limit his turnovers versus Maryland as he’s thrown eleven interceptions on the year. DB Jonathan Crawford and LB Tegray Scales will be leading this defense and will have to stop the two star running backs for Maryland, Ty Johnson and Lorenzo Harrison. Scales is leading the team in tackles with 67 tackles and two sacks, one interception, a forced fumble and three QB hits. Scales is an outstanding linebacker who will be bringing the noise against the Maryland offense.

Maryland Keys to Victory:

Create Pressure: Maryland needs to bring the pass rush in order to stifle the pass-happy offense of Indiana

Ground assault: Ty Johnson and Lorenzo Harrison have been carrying this offense and why fix it if ain’t broke?

Indiana Keys to Victory:

Air Assault: Throw the football all day versus the Maryland defense.

Stop the run: Stopping the backfield of Maryland

Win the battle in the trenches: Create some lanes for the linebackers to do their work to get the running backs and the quarterback.

Nick Wilcox
Entering his fourth year as a sports writer. Highlighting NFL, NBA, MLB, College Football and Basketball.

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