Week Six Opponent Recaps

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

Previous Opponents

Florida International – 35 – UTEP - 21
The FIU Golden Panthers improved to 2-4 as they won their second straight game after the firing of former head coach Ron Turner. Alex McGough threw for three touchdowns and Alex Gardner ran for 141 yards and a score. 

Ball State – 21 – Central Michigan – 24
The Cardinals lost a heartbreaker in a critical MAC game, falling to 3-3 and 0-2 in conference play with a 24-21 defeat at Central Michigan. Ball State was driving for the win late but Riley Neal’s pass into the end zone with 1:43 remaining was intercepted and the Chippewas ran out the clock to seal the win. 

Wake Forest – 28 – Syracuse - 9
Wake Forest is now 5-1 after an extremely impressive defensive showing against the previously high-flying Syracuse Orange offense. The Demon Deacons held Syracuse to only 326 yards and they forced a pair of turnovers. They now need only one more win to reach bowl eligibility and they still have home games against Army, Virginia and Boston College left on their schedule. In short, IU turned the ball over five times and still nearly beat a team that will likely win eight games. As frustrating as that loss was (and continues to be), it was far from the embarrassing debacle some were claiming it was.

Michigan State – 14 – BYU – 31
The Michigan State Spartans collapsed in the fourth quarter and lost their third straight game to fall to 2-3. BYU has a very proud program and they are a decent, possibly pretty good, team but it was still a surprise to see them pull away for a comfortable victory. Tyler O’Connor was pulled from this game and Damion Terry may be their quarterback moving forward as the Spartans managed only 206 yards of offense. MSU has a very interesting game against Northwestern this Saturday that could tell us a lot about both teams. Does this take a bit of luster out of IU’s victory over the then-ranked Spartans? To me, it does not. That remains an incredibly meaningful victory that I won’t forget or diminish.

Upcoming Opponents

Maryland – 14 – Penn State – 38
The Hoosiers host Maryland on October 29 in a game that appears to be lined up as a game with significant implications for both sides. The Terrapins lost starting quarterback Perry Hills to a shoulder injury (he’s considered “day-to-day” so he’ll likely be just fine by October 29) and then got obliterated by the Nittany Lions in what was undoubtedly the best performance Penn State has had all season. The Terrapins are now 4-1 and their offense continues to struggle to generate any balance as the passing game is woefully bereft of vertical passing threats. Lorenzo Harrison and Ty Johnson are both explosive playmakers as runners and Maryland’s run game is formidable but a decent defense is going to limit them until they develop a passing attack.

Meanwhile, Penn State improved to 4-2 with the dominant victory and the game was a showcase of what they want their offense to be. They only threw the ball 19 times (McSorley was 10-19 for 152 yards) while running it 62 times for 372 yards. Saquon Barkley had an outstanding day, rushing for 202 yards while McSorley added 81 yards on the ground. PSU added four sacks and ten tackles for loss on the day and they outscored Maryland 14-0 in the second half to pull away.  

Michigan – 78 – Rutgers – 0
What can be said about what’s happened to Rutgers these last two weeks? They were hammered 58-0 by Ohio State. Things got even worse on Saturday evening as Michigan eviscerated the Scarlet Knights 78-0. Rutgers completed one pass for positive yards (six yards!) and gained 34 yards on 36 carries. That’s an average of less than one yard per carry. Michigan ran the ball 56 times for 481 yards and nine rushing touchdowns. It’s a long while with a lot of football to be played before IU plays either of these teams but Rutgers appears to be the worst team in any power five conference and the Hoosiers would likely be double-digit favorites in that away game if they were to play today. Michigan looked every bit like the National Championship contender they were supposed to look like coming into this season. I’ll repeat a joke I saw circulating on Twitter: “Would Rutgers still have invented football if they knew what was coming these past two weeks?”

Purdue – 34 – Illinois – 31
Well, well, well…the Purdue Boilermakers have a Big Ten win. They won in Champaign (the second straight time they’ve done so) in overtime to improve to 3-2 on the season. David Blough threw for 220 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions and the Boilers ran for 231 yards on 41 carries. Markell Jones did not play this game but Brian Lankford-Johnson picked up the slack, rushing for 127 yards. The Illini lost quarterback Wes Lunt in the second quarter to a leg injury but Chayce Crouch stepped in and played quite well, rushing for 137 yards and throwing for 142 yards. In total, Illinois ran for 315 yards as Purdue’s defense continues to be a problem. In addition, David Blough is still a turnover machine. Illinois outgained the Boilers 499-459 but they were only 3-11 on third down and they committed 12 penalties for a total of 125 yards. Purdue hasn’t given up on the season just yet and they have a very interesting home game against the up-and-down Iowa Hawkeyes this coming Saturday.