IUFB Opponent Recap- Week Four

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

Indiana comfortably took care of the Georgia Southern Eagles to move to 2-1 on the young season. Several Hoosier opponents joined IU in action on Saturday and Hoosier Huddle recaps each of those games right here.

Previous Opponents

Ohio State – 54 vs. UNLV – 21

The Buckeyes threw for a Big Ten record on Saturday as seven different receivers caught touchdown passes in their 33-point route of UNLV. J.T. Barrett had five of the seven and Dwayne Haskins came in and threw for 228 yards with two touchdowns. In total, the Buckeyes put up 664 yards of offense as they coasted to an easy win. OSU travels to Rutgers for a primetime contest this Saturday.

Virginia – 42 at Boise State – 23

Since the Hoosiers went to Charlottesville and dispatched of the Cavaliers with relative ease, UVA has drilled UConn and on Friday night, they went to Boise and dominated the Broncos on the blue turf. It certainly appears the IU win over this Virginia squad was more impressive than it initially appeared. Kurt Benkert threw for 273 yards with three touchdowns and the Cavaliers added 167 rushing yards while holding Boise State to just 30 yards on the ground. The win moves UVA to 3-1 on the season.

Future Opponents

Penn State – 21 at Iowa - 19

Holy schnikes, what a game this was. The Iowa Hawkeyes are very difficult to defeat at night in Kinnick Stadium, which is one of the most underrated atmospheres in college football. As a quick aside, what they have done with the new cancer treatment hospital that overlooks the stadium and the new tradition between the first and second quarters is wonderful. Kudos to the people who came up with that and I hope it momentarily eases the burden of fighting cancer for those that are doing so in those rooms. Back to football, PSU was up against a tough crowd and a tough defense, trailing by a score of 19-15 as time ticked down. Trace McSorley led the Nittany Lions down the field and threaded a touchdown pass just over the outstretched arms of an Iowa defender to find Juwan Johnson as time expired. Penn State had narrowly escaped, their unbeaten record and spot in the top five intact. Saquon Barkley had a monster day, setting a school-record for all-purpose yards as he ran for 211 yards and caught 12 passes for 94 yards. The PSU offensive line struggled to contain Iowa’s defensive line but it was a game the Nittany Lions deserved to win as they outgained the Hawkeyes 579-273 and held the ball for nearly two-thirds of the contest.

Charleston Southern – 66 vs. Point University – 0

The Buccaneers improved to 1-2 on the season with a blowout victory over something called the Point University Skyhawks. The victory was the first for CSU head coach Mark Tucker and the Bucs had the fourth-most yards in program history with 620 compared to Point’s 98. They will now take on Mississippi Valley State before travelling to Bloomington.

Michigan – 28 at Purdue - 10

The Purdue Boilermakers fought valiantly and battled the Wolverines in front of their sellout crowd at Ross-Ade Stadium. There’s a lot for them to be excited about moving forward. That being said, the national narrative that they were close to knocking off the eighth-ranked Michigan Wolverines is just not accurate. Despite losing Wilton Speight to a scary-looking neck/head injury in the first quarter, Michigan outgained the Boilermakers 423-189, had the ball for 38:59, held Purdue to 0-12 on third down and had 24 first downs compared to just eight for the gold and black. John O’Korn was 18-26 for 270 yards with one touchdown and one interception and Chris Evans surprisingly led the Wolverines in rushing attempts and yards (14 for 97 with two scores). It will be interesting to see how Michigan attacks things on offense in two weeks when they take on the Spartans of Michigan State (UM has this coming week off). Purdue has a unique situation as well. Leading rusher Tario Fuller was out on Saturday and seen wearing a walking boot. If that is a long-term injury, it will be a major blow for their rushing game. It’s also entirely unclear how the quarterback situation will play out. Elijah Sindelar was the more effective of the two but it’s unclear to judge Blough for how things went against the outstanding defense of Michigan. Purdue has the week off before hosting Minnesota.

Michigan State – 18 vs. Notre Dame – 38

“Is Michigan State for real?” That was the question being asked by writers, other Big Ten fanbases and MSU fans themselves. After a 20-point drubbing at the hands of Notre Dame, I’d say we still don’t exactly know the answer. It’s safe to say they won’t be threatening the top three in the Big Ten East but Notre Dame might be really good (look what Georgia did to Mississippi State after narrowly beating the Irish) and MSU wasn’t helpless against ND on Saturday night. The Fighting Irish had 182 yards rushing and 173 yards passing and jumped out to a 28-7 halftime lead but MSU ended up racking up 496 total yards of offense including 340 passing yards from Brian Lewerke. MSU’s rushing defense is better than I thought it would be, there’s no doubt about that but I really still don’t know what to think of their offense. Their next four games are Iowa, at Michigan, at Minnesota and then hosting Indiana so by the time the Hoosiers and Spartans face off on October 21, we’ll know much more about each squad.

Maryland – 10 vs. Central Florida – 38

The Terrapins had a very bad day on Saturday. They were drilled by Central Florida at home in a game that was never really even competitive. Much more importantly, they may have lost freshman quarterback Kasim Hill for a significant period of time, leaving their offense with a gigantic question mark. The Terrapins vaunted run game was held to just 42 yards on 37 carries while the Knights ran for 250 yards on 39 carries, a mark of 6.4 yards per carry. Hill left the game early with what appeared to be a significant knee injury and Max Bortenschlager was sacked five times and threw a pair of interceptions. Caleb Henderson, the transfer from North Carolina, has an injured foot and hasn’t been full strength for quite some time so he was unable to fill in. The Terrapins will hope Hill’s injury isn’t serious and he can return or that Henderson is ready to step in next week when they battle Minnesota. If he’s not able to get healthy, it’s hard to see them winning many more games in 2017.

Rutgers – 17 at Nebraska - 27

The Scarlet Knights fell to 1-3 on the season as they lost in Lincoln, 27-17. Surprisingly, freshman quarterback Johnathan Lewis barely played as the Rutgers offense sputtered all afternoon and Kyle Bolin managed only 126 yards with two interceptions. Tanner Lee wasn’t any better for Nebraska (will broadcasters stop pretending he’s a high-caliber pocket passer?) but the Huskers had 197 rushing yards to Rutgers’ 68. Rutgers has an improved defense and they definitely present a more competent challenge than they have in the past couple of seasons but they still look like one of the bottom feeders in the Big Ten.