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Down 31-27 after surrendering a 3-yard touchdown rush to Maryland's backup quarterback, Billy Edwards Jr., Indiana was left with just five and a half minutes to find a response and try to pull out a potential win.

The Hoosiers got a massive return from the electric freshman, Jaylin Lucas, 43 yards to midfield. Set up in an advantageous position, the possibility of another late game-winning drive that had become the marker of some of Indiana's early season victories seemed to be in the cards.

However, when Andison Coby's fumble after a short gain just two plays into the drive handed the ball back to the Terrapin offense, the Hoosiers would never recover. The turnover propelled Maryland to score a game-sealing touchdown and officially put the nail in the Hoosiers' coffin, extending the lead to 38-27 with just over two minutes to go.

Although Indiana would score a touchdown, (and then fail the following two-point conversion), with under a minute to play, the hole proved to be too much to dig out of.

Miscues, whether it be turnovers like the aforementioned late-game fumble or the faulty tackling efforts, are ultimately what characterized the Hoosiers' loss on Saturday.

"The thing that sticks out to me is the minus three turnover margin," Allen said following the result on Saturday. "Turning the ball over three times and not getting any takeaways really was the difference in the game. We played good enough and well enough to win, but not in those areas, so that's what it comes down to in my opinion."

Coming into Saturday's matchup, Indiana sat even on the turnover margin for the season, 10 takeaways and 10 giveaways. The three turnovers surrendered today -- two interceptions and a fumble -- certainly didn't help in their efforts to try and win their first game in a calendar month.

Each of quarterback Connor Bazelak's interceptions came at the start of the half, putting Indiana in yet another hole to try and climb out of. While they were able to do so off of those two in particular, there's no telling how different the result could be without surrendering your first drive of each haul on offense.

"They were the first plays, and it gave them momentum at the start of each half, which is tough," Allen said. "We work so hard on ball security every single day.

"It's just frustrating, without question. We have to do a better job of protecting the football. Takeaways are a big deal on defense, and protecting the ball is a big deal on offense."

Certainly, the trend of slow starts is a disappointing issue on its own, the two interceptions giving way for it to carry over into another week. Somehow, Indiana must find a way to get out of their own in order to turn things around.

"You give the ball away, you know, right out of the gate, it just kinda sets everything off to a negative tone," Allen said.

Perhaps more crucial than the giveaways themselves are the points that Indiana surrendered because of them. Maryland helped themselves to 17 additional points on the extra possessions, taking advantage of the combination of fatigue, advanced field position, and the prevalent tackling issues that have plagued Tom Allen and Chad Wilt's defense all season long.

How Indiana struggles to wrap up and complete tackles all the way to the ground is a development that has seemed to be stagnant for multiple weeks now. At first, it was okay to write off when the Hoosiers struggled to bring down Illinois' Chase Brown, citing that everyone will struggle to do so.

While that may be true as the Illini have propelled to a 6-1 start on the legs of Brown, the Hoosiers' issues have only grown larger. On multiple occasions throughout the evening, Indiana had a chance to bring down a Terrapin player and limit the damage on a certain play.

The execution of such chances, however, too often went by the wayside.

"We know that we're right there, we just have to keep getting after them and keep pressuring them," said senior linebacker Aaron Casey on Saturday. "I think it's just attention to detail, focusing all the way through the play. Being right there and just not executing, not finishing the last part is something that's hurt us, and it's just something we have to do a better job of."

Allen echoed those same thoughts postgame. Whether it was early on or in crucial moments down the stretch, the tackling just didn't click for Indiana on Saturday.

"We had, gosh, several times where we had guys right there, in the right position to make those plays, and they have to finish them," Allen said. "Whether it's some of our corners trying to tackle their big backs, both of their backs are big and physical, that can be a physical mismatch, you still have to play with technique. We've worked extremely hard the last couple of weeks on it, saw some improvement last week, but disappointed with today's."

Allen did cite the athleticism of the Terrapin skill players that made it a challenge, but as well mentioned multiple different plays throughout key scenarios where missed tackles ultimately extended Maryland drives and scoring opportunities.

"There were several plays. There was a third down earlier in the game, where we had the guy two or three yards behind the line and didn't get him on the ground," Allen said. "A couple of them are more of our older guys that we count on to do that."

Defensive miscues aren't the only issue that has plagued Indiana throughout the stretch of their now four-game losing skid, but it's what revealed itself to be the fateful blow on Saturday. For Allen though, it may be the most disheartening with the opportunity they let slip past them.

"Never going to cease to emphasize takeaways and tackling," Allen said. "Not getting enough takeaways and the tackling was not good enough tonight. To me, that's the disappointing part on defense."

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