Week Four Matchup to Watch: Indiana’s Consistency vs. Akron’s Upset Bid

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

The Indiana Hoosiers play host to the Akron Zips on Saturday night in what IU has decided will be their ‘Black Out’ game as they break out their new “Ghost” uniforms. The Hoosiers are a 17-point favorite against the Zips, but with a handful of Group of Five upsets against Power Five opponents last week, an upset bid could be on the horizon. One of the ingredients to an upset is the team who is favored does not put a consistently good performance together for four quarters. That has been IU’s issue over the last two seasons in close games.

Last week’s 21-14 loss to Louisville was a perfect example of that. IU was outscored 21-0 in the first half, but outscored the Cardinals 14-0 over the final 30 minutes. With a more consistent performance, IU probably takes home that win.

“That's a great focus for us.” Indiana head coach Tom Allen said. “You have to play 60 minutes. We talk about it all the time, and obviously we didn't do it.”

The Hoosiers didn’t put together their best game in the opener against Ohio State and had a lull in the second quarter against Indiana State that allowed them a glimmer of hope going into halftime. Akron is a team that IU is more talented than and should put away early if they can play like they did for the final 30 minutes against Louisville.

“It's about I want to see us come out and play with the confidence that we played with in the second half from the get-go and so to me, it was a noticeable difference without question.” Allen said.

There should be some buzz from the student section on Saturday with the ‘Black Out’ and IU will need to feed off that energy and them keep their foot on the gas until the end of the game.

“So that's my responsibility as a head coach. It gets to that point where we are playing with an edge about us and playing with some confidence and playing with some swagger.” Allen explained.

The Zips come in at 1-2, but could easily be 2-1 or 0-3 if things broke differently. Anytime a Group of Five School feels like they have a shot at a Power Five upset, they will give everything they have. It is up to IU to snuff out that hope early and often.

IU kicks off against the Zips at 7:30pm at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.