Inside the Numbers: Charleston Southern at Indiana

By David Sugarman (@David_Sugarman2)

Despite IU coming off of a 45-14 loss and getting ready to play an FCS level team in Charleston Southern, there is excitement in the air. On Monday Tom Allen announced that Peyton Ramsey will be the starter going forward. No situational snaps, no rotation, Ramsey, largely believed to be the future of the program, is officially the present. As Ramsey prepares for his first start we take a deeper look at this week’s matchup for inside the numbers.

42 - Peyton Ramsey’s longest completion this season is just 42 yards and that involved a big catch and run by Devonte Williams. When Ramsey has been on the field there has been a lack of deep shots. Now the full-time starter, it will be interesting to see how willing they are to let Ramsey loose on shots down field. Charleston Southern to their credit has allowed less than 200 passing yards per game, but given the level of competition, IU may allow Ramsey to take some more risks down field to see what he can do.

3.8 - For all of IU’s troubles in Happy Valley, stopping Heisman frontrunner Saquon Barkley, at least on the ground, wasn’t one of them. IU was able to contain Barkley to 56 yards on 20 carries and since being dominated by J.K. Dobbins on opening night the run defense has been much improved. Despite giving up 181 yards to Dobbins, IU has surrendered just 3.8 yards per carry this season. Charleston Southern is a run first team that averages over five yards a carry so IU will need to continue to tackle well and plug the run.

3.6 - While the run defense was strong Saturday, the run offense is still a work in progress. The IU run game is averaging just 3.6 yards per carry. After a stellar performance against Georgia Southern, Morgan Ellison coughed up the football on his first carry of the day against Penn State. Later in the game Devonte Williams did the same thing and while he was out the last two games, Mike Majette was less than impressive against Ohio State and Virginia. Indiana is averaging less than four yards per carry and desperately need run support. Peyton Ramsey will aid that cause to a certain degree, but even a mobile quarterback needs a reliable running back.

Minus 4 - Through four games Indiana has still struggled to force takeaways and have a minus four turnover margin to show for it. They’re averaging one takeaway per game which is misleading considering three were against Georgia Southern before intercepting Trace McSorley once on Saturday. Now with a new quarterback, and a young one at the helm, this defense will need to create turnovers and momentum for an offense with a young QB and an at best shaky running game. Hopefully the defense can take advantage of Charleston Southern the way they did with Georgia Southern.

4th - People are predicting this game to follow a similar script to the Georgia Southern game for IU, as they should. But IU needs to remain vigilant. The schedule becomes all Big Ten games from here on out and IU can’t afford to let Charleston Southern hang around and give them any kind of belief at this upset. Charleston Southern is outscoring their opponents 44 to 7 in the fourth quarter. All the more reason for Indiana to make sure the game is over by halftime.