Sports

Maryland Blows 18-point Lead In 47-28 Loss To Indiana

November 21, 2015 / 8:08 PM EST / CBS Baltimore

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) -- Brandon Ross never had a game like this. The Maryland senior was picking up huge chunks of yardage and scoring touchdowns, doing his best to help the Terrapins match scores with Indiana.

In the end, though, Maryland's defense was too porous to enable Ross to enjoy a victory in his final college home game.

Ross ran for 250 yards, the fourth-highest total in school history, but the Terrapins blew an early 18-point lead and lost their eighth straight, 47-28 Saturday.

Ross scored on runs of 79, 22 and 75 yards. To put his 250 yards in perspective, it was nearly half his total of the previous 10 games (540).

"I just saw huge holes. That's it," Ross said. "This being my last (home) game, I definitely wanted to go out strong. I wish we would have gotten the win, but personally, it felt good to have that kind of game and really jump-start the offense."

It wasn't enough to keep Maryland (2-9, 0-7) from remaining winless under interim coach Mike Locksley, now 0-5 since taking over for the fired Randy Edsall on Oct. 11.

The Terps played without starting quarterback Perry Hills, who was announced as a late scratch with mononucleosis. His replacement, Caleb Rowe, completed 10 of 19 passes for 88 yards and a touchdown but did not come out of the locker room for the second half.

"Caleb has a concussion," Locksley said. "We went in at halftime and he was ruled out."

Seldom-used Shane Cockerille played the final 30 minutes, going 11 for 22 for 82 yards. With Rowe out, Indiana focused on stopping the run.

"They adjusted and became a more aggressive team," Locksley said. "They blitzed a lot more. This kind of negated the run game."

The ending was disappointing, but the Terrapins could hardly have gotten off to a better start.

After the Hoosiers (5-6, 1-6) kicked a field goal on the opening possession, Ross busted through a hole in the middle of the line and took off on the longest run of his career.

Maryland's next drive covered 87 yards in nine plays, the last of them a 22-yard touchdown run by Ross. Eight minutes into the game, Ross had 116 yards and two TDs.

An Indiana turnover followed, and Rowe turned it onto a 14-yard touchdown pass to Malcolm Culmer for a 21-3 lead with 9 1/2 minutes elapsed.

The Hoosiers didn't blink. Nate Sudfeld threw a 19-yard scoring pass to Mitchell Paige on a third-and-goal, and a 59-yard toss to Andre Booker cut the gap to 21-17.

Indiana then executed a successful onside kick, and Sudfled scored on a 1-yard sneak to put the Hoosiers ahead for good.

Two more field goals followed, the last after Maryland botched a fake punt.

Ross gave Maryland hope with his 75 yard touchdown run in the opening minute of the second half, but Sudfeld responded with TD passes to Paige and Michael Cooper on successive possessions.

The Terrapins' last chance to secure a Big Ten victory is next week at Rutgers.

"We still have one game left and a great opportunity to get a win," Ross said.

Sudfeld went 23 for 35 for 385 yards and four touchdowns Saturday. His final TD pass made it 44-28 early in the third quarter.

Quite by coincidence, Indiana coach Kevin Wilson drew up a scenario before the game that mirrored what actually happened.

"I did make a comment to the team at the hotel this morning, that if it was 28-3 we're up or 21-3 we're down, we've got to keep playing," he said. "I would have preferred the other choice, being up 28-3, but I guess they took the other advice and wanted to go down."

It wasn't a problem.

"There was still a lot of ball to play. We weren't nervous of anything," receiver Simmie Cobbs said.

Cobbs caught nine passes for 192 yards, Paige had two touchdown catches and Devine Redding ran for 130 yards to help the Hoosiers snap a six-game skid.