The No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers (10-0, 7-0) path to an undefeated regular season is well lit and clear. The Wisconsin Badgers stand in the way Saturday and Indiana is close to a 30-point favorite. The pressure gets compounded with each game and Saturday is Senior Day at Memorial Stadium. A win would give IU 15 home wins in a row. IU will raise the Victory Flag if…
1. Run the Football Effectively
I talked about this in my matchup to watch this week. When Indiana runs the ball well they blow opponents out. The Hoosiers have five games of over 300 yards rushing and have three running backs who can dice up a defense. The Hoosiers do not have to run for 300 yards against the Badgers, but using the run game to create advantageous situations on second and third downs is a must. Getting into manageable money downs will be important for IU to keep drives alive and avoid punting the ball back to Wisconsin.
2. Control Wisconsin’s True Freshman Linebackers
Cooper Catalano and Mason Posa may be the next great Wisconsin linebackers. In the Badgers upset win over then-No. 22 Washington the duo combined for 30 tackles. Wisconsin’s strength is their defense and IU cannot allow this pair to be the wrecking balls that keep Wisconsin within striking distance. The Hoosiers are banged up on the offensive line and Drew Evans will miss Saturday’s game again while Zen Michalski missed all but one play against Penn State and Kahlil Benson looked hobbled by an ankle injury. It’ll be a challenge, but IU can use a quick passing game to keep Wisconsin in check.
3. Put Wisconsin Out of their Misery When You Can
When given the opportunity to put an opponent away, they usually do. That did not happen against Penn State and it nearly came back to haunt IU. The Hoosiers again are playing a team whose season went down the drain early in the season. While Wisconsin beat Washington the game after it was announced head coach Luke Fickell would return to Madison for the 2026 season, they don’t have the talent that Penn State has. IU will have an opportunity to make Wisconsin tap out and they need to capitalize on it for several reasons.
The most important is to move to 11-0, but Wisconsin is also a common opponent between IU, Ohio State and Alabama. The Hoosiers have a chance to bolster their resume with a big win. The Buckeyes shutout the Badgers 34-0 and the Crimson Tide knocked them off 38-14 in Tuscaloosa in September. Can IU beat them by a bigger margin?
4. Be Efficient Scoring
It does not take a genius to see that Wisconsin will want to shorten the game, much like Michigan State did, against Indiana. While the Badgers do not have the playmakers on offense that Michigan State has, the strategy of keeping IU’s offense off the field is never a bad one. If Wisconsin can execute that game plan, IU needs to be efficient in scoring on early drives. Against Michigan State IU scored on their first six drives.
The Hoosiers are averaging a Big Ten best 44.5 points per game and have very few problems scoring. Wisconsin’s defense is allowing 22.3 points per game, but have played better than that number the last two games. What could help the Hoosiers is if the defense can create a few turnovers. Indiana has scored 82 points off of 20 opponent turnovers this season.