Inside The Numbers Week Five: Defense Doing Their Job With Takeaways

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Indiana has been really good at creating takeaways in 2018 Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle

Indiana has been really good at creating takeaways in 2018 Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle

Written By Lauralys Shallow

After a frustrating loss to Michigan State last week, Indiana (3-1) travels to Rutgers (1-3) to play in its first conference road game of the season. While Indiana is the favorite to win the game, the Hoosiers need to prepare well in order to beat Rutgers. Let’s take a closer look at the Rutgers contest on this week’s Inside the Numbers.    

39.0-The Rutgers defense has allowed an average of 39 points per game in its first four matchups this year. After holding Texas State to seven points in its season opener victory, the Rutgers defense has given up over 40 points in its last three losses to Ohio State (52-3), Kansas (55-14) and Buffalo (42-13). Rutgers is tied with Rice for 117th in scoring defense out of 150 FBS football teams. IU has averaged 29.3 points per game through its first four matchups, and the Hoosiers should be able to find the end zone and put up at least 30 points against the Scarlet Knights.

18- IU is tied with 11 other teams for 18th in the country with a +4 turnover margin. Alabama, the top team in the country as well as one of the best defenses, is one of the teams IU is tied with in turnover margin. IU has nine takeaways in four games so far on the year. Of the nine takeaways, five are fumble recoveries and four are interceptions. The defense has done a good job of getting takeaways and IU has scored 31 points off its opponents’ turnovers. The IU offense has been relatively limited in turning over the football, with one lost fumble and four interceptions so far on the year. IU has done a great job protecting the football in the rushing game, but IU needs to do a better job of protecting the ball in the passing game against Rutgers.

55-IU has 55 freshmen on its roster­–31 true, 22 sophomores. Almost 70 percent of IU’s team are underclassmen, making IU the 19th youngest team in the country and the fourth youngest in the Big Ten. Of the 55 freshmen, 24 have seen the field so far in the 2018 season–12 true, 12 redshirt. It will be interesting to see how this young team bounces back from its first loss of the year. This young group needs to regroup and get focused on going to Rutgers and taking care of business. IU is supposed to win this game and needs to win this game to get closer to eligibility. 

11- The last time IU traveled to Rutgers for a noon kickoff game the Hoosiers found themselves down 11 heading into halftime trailing Rutgers 24-13. Rutgers quarterback at the time Giovanni Rescigno threw for a season-high 258 yards and wide out Jawuan Harris had career-highs in receptions (8) and receiving yards (118) for the Scarlet Knights. The Hoosiers scored three touchdowns in the second half to come back and win 33-27, but a different team is traveling to Rutgers this year. IU is a young team, and last week against Michigan State we saw an IU team that was unable to climb back after trailing 28-7 in the third. IU does not want to find itself trailing on the road at Rutgers and have to force its young team to dig itself out of a hole. Rutgers is a hungry team, and IU needs to establish the lead early in order to control the game.