What Indiana Needs to do on Offense to Knock off No. 8 Penn State

Image: Indiana University Athletics

Written By: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)

After 296 days between games, the Hoosiers are finally ready to kick off the 2020 season this Saturday. They’ll jump right into the deep end with a tough battle against the top-ten ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. Today, we’ll highlight three things the offense must do to snap Penn State’s 6-game head to head win streak and notch just its second victory of all time.

Unleash Penix

It’s been a rocky start to the career of Michael Penix. Two back-to-back season ending injuries have plagued him in his first two seasons and called his durability to question. Now he’s back, with more muscle than ever, and determined to be as productive as he has shown he can be for an entire season. His teammates have noticed how much work the QB1 has put in this offseason, as they elected him one of the team’s captains earlier this week.

“We set these high goals, but they are attainable,” started offensive lineman Harry Crider. “With a leader like Penix back there, as long as we do our job up front as an offensive line, the sky is the limit.”

The pandemic-forced distance made it challenging to develop a perfect relationship with his receivers, but Penix is confident they did everything they could to stay on the same page, even if that had to be virtually.

“We were able to stay connected all throughout the summer, so we never fell off. We made sure that was something that we stayed on top of. We always worked out together and made sure we got throws in to keep that connection,” said Penix.

Don’t Be Afraid to Rely on the RBs

Penix brings the explosive elements to the offense, but the experienced consistency will come in the players lined up next to him, running backs Stevie Scott and Sampson James. After flirting with the transfer portal this offseason, James ultimately decided to return to the Hoosiers and will split time with Stevie Scott in the backfield. The duo combined for over 1100 yards and 13 touchdowns during the 2019 season.

Scott enters 2020 needing just 18 yards to become the 14th Hoosier to surpass 2000 rushing yards. He’s eighth in program history with 20 rushing touchdowns and has scored in 12 of his last 16 contests. In all of 2019, he lost just 17 yards. He is one of three Hoosiers (Philyor, Penix, and Scott) to make the Maxwell Award watch list. James had his best games in the latter parts of 2019 after Scott went down with an injury, including a 118-yard performance in the Bucket game – his first career start.

Deboer did a great job of keeping Indiana’s offense balanced in 2019. New offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan should hope to do the same with these two reliable backs.

Limit the Turnovers

Indiana’s goal almost every season is to finally be able to knock off one of the conference’s best opponents: a Michigan, an Ohio State, or a Penn State of the world. They’ve come so close the past couple years, only to ultimately crumble because of a small couple of mistakes. Well Indiana will have another shot at getting that landmark victory this weekend, and for it to happen the offense must not make the small mistakes that have cost them in the past.

“I do think it adds a sense of urgency and a heightened focus to your guys when they know they are playing a team of the caliber of Penn State to open the season in everything that you do,” said Tom Allen on Monday. “Being close is no longer acceptable, the goal, or the objective whatsoever. It is to find a way to finish and win these games.”

To finish and win these games, the offense must not turn the ball over and give Penn State easy chances with opportunistic field position.