Change of Direction: Ramsey is IU’s New QB1 as Buccaneers Come to Bloomington
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Peyton Ramsey will lead the IU offense against Charleston Southern Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle.
Written by: TJ Inman
After four uneven offensive performances, Tom Allen and the Indiana Hoosiers announced they are pulling the plug on the two-quarterback system they have employed so far. Peyton Ramsey, a redshirt freshman from Ohio, will be the starter and the unquestioned first-team quarterback moving forward. No more rotation and, for now, no more Richard Lagow, for IU’s offense as they look to steady a unit that has looked explosive at times but lacks an identity and has gone long stretches without being able to produce points.
“You look back at the first four games,” Allen said on Monday, “and at our ability to move the football and score points and build a team around whoever I feel gives us the best opportunity to have success on game day. And I feel like and our staff feels like Peyton Ramsey is the person for that responsibility. So he’s going to be our starting quarterback and Rich will be a great teammate and continue to work really hard and be ready to go when called upon.”
Senior Richard Lagow entered the season as the starter and he was brilliant in the first half against Ohio State. The offense sputtered some in the second half but he still managed to throw for more than 400 yards against the Buckeyes and hopes were high as the Hoosiers moved forward. However, Lagow never really looked consistently sharp again and Peyton Ramsey rallied the team against Virginia and led the Hoosiers to a comfortable victory in Charlottesville. Neither quarterback was needed much against Georgia Southern and then Lagow struggled against Penn State, looking uncomfortable and sailing passes high far too often. With a game against an FCS opponent this week followed by a huge clash against the Michigan Wolverines, the time was right for a change. Tom Allen is confident that Ramsey is ready for the challenge.
“There’s a grit to him. There’s a toughness to him that he’s got a linebacker mentality in how he works and how he handles adversity and all that. I’ve noticed that since he’s been here (during) our leadership training. Those are the kind of things that I always saw that he had in him. Those need to come to the forefront, that’s what leaders do,” Allen said of Ramsey.
The offense will now be strictly geared to Ramsey’s strengths and to his skillset, as opposed to split in between two different styles of players. One would assume Ramsey would also now be getting close to 100% of the first-team reps in practice in hopes of helping him progress and gain better timing with his linemen, tailbacks and receivers. The first for this tweaked offense under a new leader will come this Saturday as Indiana hosts 2-2 Charleston Southern. The game is a makeup contest that was originally scheduled for earlier this season against Florida International. Hurricane Irma prevented FIU from making the trip and the Hoosiers and Buccaneers were able to come to an agreement to play on October 7 in Bloomington.
The Buccaneers are an FCS school with a proud tradition and a recent history of success. They made the FCS playoffs a season ago and have beaten their previous two opponents by a combined score of 124-7. They will lean heavily on their run game and tailbacks Noah Shuler and Terrence Wilson. Each of them are averaging better than 4.5 yards per carry and they have scored seven touchdowns between them. It’s very possible Charleston Southern is equal to, or slightly better than, the Florida International team Indiana would have played in September so this won’t be a cakewalk the Hoosiers can coast through.
That being said, the focus of this game will definitely be on the Hoosiers and the incremental improvements this offense needs to be make before battling the Michigan Wolverines on October 14. Another thing to watch will be the health of IU’s roster, particularly its defense. IU had several players banged up entering Saturday’s contest in State College and they lost more to injury during the course of the game. Facing this amount of attrition relatively early in the season is scary so monitoring who plays and who doesn’t will be an interesting exercise.
Indiana played a dreadfully sloppy opening quarter against a very talented Penn State team and they buried themselves before the first 15 minutes were up. IU fans and coaches will hope to see a consistent offensive performance and a clean, disciplined effort for 60 minutes on Saturday as IU tries to get healthy and build some confidence back up before taking on another top ten opponent in the grind that is the Big Ten East.