COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Word got around here, late in the week, that Maryland finally sold out its homecoming game.

It came as a minor surprise. Good tickets remained available as recently as Monday. Mike Locksley’s Terrapins were in the midst of another midseason slump, an unfortunately common feature of his tenure, and yet, by Saturday morning, all seats were accounted for.

The alumni base recently declared America’s largest — with healthy representation in major metropolitan areas up and down the Atlantic seaboard — arrived in force. From D.C., New York and Philadelphia, Indiana football fans made their presence felt in yet another road environment.

The several thousand fans wearing Indiana crimson that stayed through all four quarters of a 55-10 blowout win Saturday roared, as Curt Cignetti led his Hoosiers (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) off the field. They cheered for a team they’ve come to love, one so deeply motivated by its ambitions and so completely bought into Cignetti’s relentless fight for focus that seemingly nothing can break its stride.

“Every single week,” Mikail Kamara said, “we’ve got to make sure there’s no doubt left, at all.”

There could be none remaining, as Indiana strode off into the cool Maryland night having bulldozed its way through another blowout win.

The nation’s leader in margin of victory heading into this weekend will only have improved on that number. This time the methods were different, because the opponent was different and so the challenge was different.

But the result was the same.

Indiana’s defense dominates Maryland

Indiana could have been forgiven a lull. Surely this brand of winning gets boring, or repetitive, or numbing. Kamara’s words, like his team’s performances, suggest otherwise.

Fernando Mendoza (14-of-21 passing, 225 total yards, two touchdowns) started slowly, and so did his offense. Mendoza’s lone interception ended IU’s first drive, and a sack doomed the Hoosiers’ second.

So Bryant Haines’ defense went to work on Malik Washington, the promising but inexperienced freshman Maryland (4-4, 1-4) lines up behind center. Washington has played beyond his years at times this season, helped by offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton’s ability to simplify and smooth for his young quarterback.

Hamilton could do nothing for his freshman QB this day, other than a reassuring arm around the shoulder afterward, and the promise most days aren’t this hard.

Because most defenses aren’t this good. Indiana finished allowing just 293 yards, a healthy chunk of those gained long after the result was beyond doubt.

The Hoosiers flipped their own script — finishing with no sacks and just three tackles for loss, they instead turned Maryland over five times.

That’s as many turnovers as Locksley’s team had committed all season before Saturday.

“The defense has, all year long, risen to the occasion when their backs are against the wall,” Cignetti said. “It wasn’t perfect tonight defensively, trust me. … But there’s a lot of good things there on tape.”

OK, so maybe it wouldn’t be Washington’s arm, or Mendoza’s slow start, or the turnover differential that untracked the freight train this team has become.

Injuries don’t slow down Indiana football

Maybe injuries would do the trick.

Aiden Fisher watched from the sideline.

Drew Evans was a surprise absence, with Cignetti suggesting his starting left guard could miss several weeks.

In the game itself, IU lost Elijah Sarratt (hamstring) and Kaiden Turner (calf), and helped Kahlil Benson (ankle/foot) play his way through pain until his efforts were no longer required.