Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

After the Hoosiers 24-17 loss to the Scarlet Knights 11 days ago head coach Tom Allen mentioned that all positions on the team would be re-evaluated, including who starts at quarterback. Allen followed up on that though on Monday following Indiana’s bye week.

“We will move forward with that (quarterback) position. I guess we'll have to see how that plays itself out when it comes to game day.” Allen said.

The Hoosiers enter Saturday’s game with No. 16 Penn State at 3-5 (1-4) with just four games remaining. Junior Connor Bazelak has been the starter through Indiana’s first eight games and has put up decent numbers on paper. Bazelak has thrown for 2,099 yards and 12 touchdowns, but a deeper dive into the numbers is revealing.

In IU’s five losses in 2022 Bazelak has completed just 53.8-percent of his passes for 1,208 yards with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions. In the Hoosiers three wins he is completing passes at 56.6-percent, which is still not great, but he has thrown just two interceptions to his five touchdown passes.

Taking care of the football was a priority characteristic in winning the job out of camp and is the issue that is opening the door again for someone else.

“Well, I think the biggest thing is there's been times that, you know, our position or, you know, the quarterback position has played good football.” Offensive coordinator Walt Bell said. “We've had some ball control issues, you know, and so we're gonna have a good week of practice, you know, evaluate who's doing the best job, you know, and then make a decision from there.”

The Hoosiers have three other scholarship quarterbacks on the roster in Jack Tuttle, Dexter Williams and Brenden Sorsby. While still a team captain, Tuttle is likely out of this competition because he announced his intentions to transfer after the season and Sorsby is just a true freshman. That leaves Williams as the player who is likely pushing Bazelak for the starting job. Williams is in his third full season with the program and has not seen the field.

Williams, who missed the 2021 season with an ACL injury, has flashed during practice and would give the Hoosiers the dual-threat quarterback that Tom Allen has wanted to run his offense.

“The biggest thing for me is continuing to clean up his pocket fundamentals and throwing base.” Indiana offensive coordinator Walt Bell said of Williams. “Those are little things that we get a chance to do every single day. He’s getting to refine his skills. He’s gonna be a really good football player. As the reps get smaller you got to make the most of the concentrated periods. If he prepares every day and studies every day, he’s going to be a guy that has a chance to be a really good player when called upon.”

Just like in fall camp the Hoosier staff is not going to spill the beans before warmups on Saturday against Penn State and Tom Allen made that clear.

“I'm just saying that you'll have to wait till Saturday to see who our starting quarterback is going to be, so...”

We’ll see on Saturday.

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