Three & Out Offense: Week 6 Penn State

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@sammyj108) 

That bye week seemed to last forever.  Well, it is finally game week again
Hoosier Nation and the Hoosiers dive head first into Big Ten play when they
face Penn State Saturday at Memorial Stadium.  The last time out the Hoosier offense looked awful in a 45-28
loss to Missouri.  Hopefully Kevin
Wilson and his staff have worked out whatever kinks there were during the bye
week.  The Hoosiers will have to
play a great game on offense to come out with their first ever victory over the
Nittany Lions.  So let’s get down
to the keys to the game for the Hoosier offense.

1. Rhythm on Offense-
Kevin Wilson’s offense is dependent upon having rhythm and moving the ball
quickly.  When this does not happen
the entire foundation collapses and affects the every aspect of the game.  The defense and special teams are not
good enough for this offense to have 40 second drives that do not result in
points.  This is exactly what
happened in the loss to Missouri and cannot happen again if the Hoosiers want
to pull of the upset on Saturday. 
Indiana needs to get some early first downs and move the ball on short
easy plays instead of trying for the big hitter for a score.  I am not saying don’t take shots if
they are there, just that the Hoosiers need to move the ball instead of a three
and out that cripples the defense with poor field position.

2. Who is going to
play quarterback?- Kevin Wilson
is insistent on saying that there is no controversy with his quarterbacks and I
agree.  The controversy is
over.  It is time to pick one guy
and stick with him through the whole game.  I believe that guy should be Nate Sudfeld, even after his
dreadful performance against the Tigers. 
Why Sudfeld? Well, because he is just an all around better quarter back
than Tre Roberson.  I know people
will come back and say that Roberson brings the threat of the QB run, but the
bottom line is he is not looking like the Tre Roberson we saw before his leg
injury.  Roberson is averaging a
measly 3.8 yards a carry with a long of only 15 yards.  In effect he has been shut down.  The time has come to name a full time
starter and ditch the two-quarterback system, as it has not shown to help this
team.  It just will not work in an
offense like this, especially against a defense as good as Penn State.

3. Score First–
The Hoosiers need to score first in order to win this game.  While we have seen that this team can
erase some deficits and come back on occasion, Indiana is just not built to
fall behind early.  When the
Hoosiers fall behind early they have a knack for becoming one dimensional in
the passing game.  It is of utmost
importance that the Hoosiers score early and as often as possible, whether it
be a touchdown or a field goal (Yes field goals are still part of an offense in
college football), and open up the offense to include a running game.  By no means can the Hoosiers fall
behind this team by a score or two and expect to comeback.  It takes too much energy and reliance on
a defense that has had trouble keeping opponents out of the end zone.

This is a winnable game for the Hoosiers and a chance to
knock off a brand name for the first time in a very long time.  The Hoosiers will need to be almost
perfect on offense to pull it off. 
That means capitalizing on turnovers, fewer dropped passes, and
establishing a run game.  Indiana
has a real shot to start 1-0 in the Big Ten, it just depends on if the offense
comes out with a sense of urgency or not.