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The Maryland Terrapins take on the Indiana Hoosiers. Check out our college football odds series for our Maryland Indiana prediction and pick.
The Maryland Terrapins missed a huge opportunity this past weekend. They fell to the Purdue Boilermakers at home, 31-29, on a day when Purdue committed a number of turnovers and the Terps couldn't cash them into points. Maryland blew out Virginia Tech in the Pinstripe Bowl and entered the offseason with a lot of momentum. The Terrapins had hoped to develop a lethal offense which could regularly score 35 or more points per game. Yet, against Purdue and most of UM's other opponents this season, the Terps' offense hasn't taken off. Notably, Maryland couldn't torch a bad Michigan State secondary which got carved up by Washington and Ohio State. Maryland won that game because of its defense, but the offense left a lot of points on the field. That has been happening a lot this season, and it's something coach Mike Locksley needs to change. Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa came back for the 2022 season with some athletic and dynamic receivers. The hope was that they would be able to score on demand and make it really hard for Big Ten opponents to keep pace, but that scenario has not emerged in full. Maryland is not going to smother most opponents with its defense; the offense has to be the leading force for the team. This game against Indiana offers a real chance for that to happen.
Indiana has scored at least 21 points in all but one of its games this season. That won't win games against good opponents, but it will keep the Hoosiers competitive. The problem is a defense which has allowed more than 30 points in each of the last three weeks, including 35 against Nebraska. That's just not acceptable for head coach Tom Allen, who was previously Indiana's defensive coordinator before he was promoted to the head coaching position. Illinois is a contender in the Big Ten West. Indiana was able to beat Illinois early in the season, a sign of how talented this team is — not awesomely talented, but good enough to cause trouble for comparably solid opponents when everything works well. Indiana squandered some opportunities last week against Michigan. The Hoosiers were competitive in that game for almost three full quarters, but they allowed a blocked field goal and made some other mistakes which prevented them from making that game a full 60-minute contest which went down to the wire. This team doesn't have a high ceiling, but it has the ability to win games against average opponents such as Maryland.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Maryland-Indiana College Football odds.
College Football Odds: Maryland-Indiana Odds
Maryland Terrapins: -11.5 (-108)
Indiana Hoosiers: +11.5 (-112)
Over: 62.5 (-110)
Under: 62.5 (-110)
Why Maryland Could Cover the Spread
The argument for Maryland is that this offense is a powder keg waiting to explode. Maryland has underachieved on offense in 2022, but one would think that the Terps are eventually going to have a few games in which everything clicks on offense. Given Indiana's defensive struggles, this could be one such game.
Why Indiana Could Cover the Spread
Connor Bazelak is a capable quarterback who will have a much better time dissecting Maryland's defense than Michigan's defense the week before. Playing Michigan last week will make facing Maryland a lot more manageable
Final Maryland-Indiana Prediction & Pick
This is frankly a stay-away game, because it's really hard to evaluate two mediocre teams and how they will react. If you insist on a pick, take Indiana.
Final Maryland-Indiana Prediction & Pick: Indiana +11.5
