After a Win Against Illinois, Indiana is Hungry For Must Win Number Two Against Rutgers

Richard Lagow looks to get going again against Rutgers. Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

The Indiana Hoosiers entered last Saturday’s contest in Champaign knowing they had to win three straight contests in order to reach a third straight bowl game. While the performance wasn’t always pretty, IU did more than enough to accomplish the first part of their task as they downed the Illini in somewhat comfortable fashion. This week, they return to Bloomington for Senior Day, and the second must win game of their season.

“I didn’t think we played our best game,” Tom Allen said on Monday. “But, we did what we needed to do. Really encouraged by the way we closed out the game, being able to – all three phases working together. We get the punt, pin them down on the one, get a three-and-out, and then our offense takes it down and scores with about five minutes to go in the game. So, being able to finish.”

Allen and the Hoosiers were glad to finally be rewarded for their hard work and effort with a victory but they know it’ll take more on Saturday if they are to keep their season alive.

“Excited about having our Senior Day. A lot of the guys we get to recognize that have done a tremendous job and have given a lot to our program. So really excited about our week of preparation that is ahead of us. Excited about the chance to play the Knights. Coach Ash does a tremendous job there. He's rebuilding that program. He's a very good football coach and has recruited well and has guys playing hard. They run the football well and play good defense and have good special teams play. So Coach Ash is a very, very good coach, and those guys will be focused and ready to play and it'll be a great game day for us to be able to have at home.”

The Hoosiers will likely turn to Richard Lagow for a third straight week as Peyton Ramsey continues to try and work back from a nagging injury. “Right now I would say Richard is the starter, and that isn’t going to change. We just got to get to where Peyton is ready to play. I feel like he’s getting closer.”

Lagow was solid against Illinois but Rutgers offers a slight step up in competition and it will be important for the Hoosiers signal-caller to be careful with the ball. The Scarlet Knights have eleven interceptions this season and their young secondary is athletic and will be eager to take advantage of any mistake made by IU’s offense. The Hoosiers hope to continue some of the momentum in the running game that they generated last week as both Cole Gest and Morgan Ellison both had nice outings against the Illini. Rutgers is surrendering more than 4.6 yards per carry and they’ve given up 15 rushing touchdowns.

On the other side of the ball, IU’s defense is coming off one of their better performances in recent seasons as they held Illinois to just 14 points and locked them up for large portions of the game. There was really only one major breakdown all afternoon for the Hoosiers. Gus Edwards has been a breakout star for the Knights at running back and they’ll certainly look to pound the ball as much as possible this Saturday. This is partially due to their success on the ground and partially due to their inability to succeed in the passing game. Giovanni Rescigno is completing only 47 percent of his passes since taking over for Kyle Bolin and he only has two touchdown passes on the season. The Hoosiers defensive line dominated the proceedings on Saturday and they’ll be hoping to do the same against the Scarlet Knights.

22 seniors will be participating in Senior Day festivities and playing their final home game in Bloomington. In addition, the Hoosiers will be honoring the 1968 Rose Bowl team’s 50th anniversary. A victory for the cream and crimson would improve them to 5-6 and take them to West Lafayette with a chance to earn a bowl game on the season’s final regular season day. The stakes are high and the margin for error is zero.

“Our word for this week is ‘hungry’,” Allen said. “I want a hungry team to take the field on Saturday against Rutgers. I think that experiencing that success on the road, getting a Big Ten win, increases that hunger to be able to want to have that feeling again after the game is over, and play really well doing it.”