What Worked, What Didn't Work in IU's Bucket Game Loss

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The Hoosiers fell 30-16 to Purdue in the Old Oaken Bucket Game on Saturday to end the 2022 season at 4-8 (2-7). The game was disappointing as the Hoosiers looked in control early before a devastating Dexter Williams injury. We take a look at what worked and what did not for the Hoosiers on Saturday 

What worked

Offense with a Mobile Quarterback- Yes, it took way too long for the staff to figure this out, but maybe there is a reason we haven’t heard yet. The Hoosier offense looked stout on the ground with Dexter Williams steering the ship. When he went down, the air left the balloon.

Run Game- The Hoosiers found their run game during the last couple weeks and the improvement along the offensive line was evident. On Saturday the Hoosiers ran for 235 non-sack yards. Had Williams not gotten hurt, the Hoosiers probably top the 300-yard mark on the ground, if not more.

What didn’t

 Red Zone Offense

The Hoosiers left plenty of points on the field on Saturday. On four drives inside the Boilermaker red zone, the Hoosiers came away with just nine points (a field goal and a touchdown) out of a possible 28. That’s not good enough to beat anyone. The Hoosiers had three-straight second half drives that ended inside the Boilermaker 18-yard line. They resulted in no points. Do anything there, even three field goals, and it’s a different game. This aspect of the game has hurt IU all season.

Special Teams

A week after the special teams unit was the difference against Michigan State, it went the other way against Purdue. Charles Campbell missed a field goal and had another blocked taking six points off the board for the Hoosiers. IU averted disaster when Josh Henderson’s pass across the field on a kick return got back to the 25-yard line because of a Purdue penalty. Purdue did a great job of kicking away from Lucas all night. 

Defense

Overall, the Indiana defense did enough to win. They gave up 24 points, but it was the back breaking plays from Purdue on issues IU has had all year that hurt the most. Two Purdue touchdown drives started at their own 18-yard line after big punts from James Evans. It’s happened all year, Evans would pin the opposing offense and the defense lets up a big drive to flip the field or a score.

On the dagger touchdown from Charlie Jones, the man IU could not let beat them, the secondary got lost and Jones was wide open. It’s happened all year from a unit that should have been better.

Game Day Operations

While not directly involved in the loss, the gameday operations at IU drew the ire of IU fans yesterday. Not only were the signs for handicap parking not up (if it were my car that got towed, I’d be raising hell), the powers that be were trying not to let everyone know there were a lot of Purdue fans in the stadium. They played rock music when Purdue scored.

In and around the stadium fans pointed out the faded banners on the side of the stadium that are covered in bird droppings, the lack of hand rails in the main sections and just a general lack of fun surrounding the game day atmosphere in Bloomington.

When the diehards take to Twitter and other social media outlets to say regardless of the outcome on the field, the games are not fun to go to, someone needs to listen.