Hoosiers in a good spot here, while Maryland is not. Indiana is coming off a bye with Michigan on deck and desperately need a win to stay in bowl contention. Head Coach, Tom Allen, admitted it was the right time for the team to get away for a bit after 3 physical games against Iowa, Penn State, and Minnesota it was good to get some rest, and it looks like a key defensive player in TD Roof will be back to help defend the run first Maryland team.

Maryland is the definition of a one dimensional attack. They run the ball 63.47% of the time, and rank 10th in yards per carry, but they have faced some weak defenses that have inflated those numbers having faced on average a defense ranking 71st. On paper Indiana's defense is ranked #71, but they have only given up over 200 yards once this season. Tom Allen, is a defensive coach and in a bye week should be able to come up with a game plan to stop a one dimensional attack like Maryland. Maryland the last 3 season when they are held to under 200 yards rushing are only 2-18!! One of those 2 wins was against Indiana, but this Indiana offense should give Maryland some issues.

Indiana's QB Peyton Ramsey has completed 68% of his passes and that has been against defenses ranking #46 against the pass. The offense is extremely efficient ranking 33rd, and will play a Maryland defense that ranks 119th in defensie efficiency. Maryland's real strengths are against defending explosive plays where they rank 5th, but that's really Indiana's game plan, and I think it will show up as Indiana will be able to wear down a Maryland team that has to be emotionally beat down at the moment with all the negative surrounding the program I see them losing out and missing a bowl, and it will probably be for the better.

We can't leave out special teams, and penalties where Indiana also has significant edges having the #21 ranked special teams compared to Maryland's #45, and they commit 2.1 fewer penalties per game. Indiana also +3.7% success rate per game compared to Maryland who is -3.2%.