Tom Allen wants his Indiana team to have plenty of turkey on Thanksgiving. He just doesn’t want his program feeling like a turkey, however, heading into this weekend.

Indiana lost a tough 42-35 game at No. 3 Ohio State on Saturday, the first loss of the season for the Hoosiers. In losing to arguably the best team in the Big Ten, Allen wants his team to get over the difficult loss and bounce back.

His message, he says, is summed up by the word “respond.”

The trap for Indiana is how they respond after losing a game that was there for them, one where they could have very easily come out the winners had their defense been able to come up with a couple of key stops.

It wasn’t a bad loss, not by any stretch for the 4-1 Hoosiers who in many ways outplayed Ohio State on the road. But now against 2-1 Maryland this weekend, the Hoosiers have the opportunity to bounce back against a team that hasn’t played since beating Penn State 35-19 on Nov. 7.

With the loss, Indiana fell from ninth in the AP Top 25 Poll to now-No. 12. The Hoosiers are also ranked 12th according to the recently released College Football Playoff rankings.

It won’t be all business on Thursday as Indiana will take time to gather together for a meal. The team will not be allowing players to return to their homes due to COVID-19.