Keys to a Bucket Game Victory For Indiana

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Rivalry Week is the best week in college football. Fans can throw out the records and just get into their team’s game with their rival school. The Hoosiers have one of the better rivalries in the Big Ten with Purdue in the Old Oaken Bucket Game, a tradition that dates back to 1925. This year the Hoosiers are looking to continue their run of dominance over the Boilermakers with a fourth straight Bucket win, a win that would send IU back to a bowl game for the second consecutive season. Here is what the Hoosiers will have to do to beat the Boilermakers.

1. Play a Clean Game

Indiana is coming into the game as a 20.5-point favorite over Purdue, which is a lot considering how lopsided this rivalry has been historically. However, the Hoosiers have won three-straight and are playing at home and cannot let the Boilermakers play Spoilermaker to their bowl hopes. The best way to keep that from happening is to limit mistakes. Purdue is a bad team and if the Hoosiers turn the ball over or commit dumb penalties this game will be closer than it should be.

Over the last four games quarterback Richard Lagow has thrown only two interceptions, he threw 11 in the first seven. The Hoosiers should be able to run the ball and keep pressure off of Lagow, which will make his throws easier. 

The Hoosiers also had fumbling issues in the middle of the season as they lost seven fumbles in the two games prior to last week. It seems as if that issue has been corrected as the Hoosiers did not lose a fumble in the snow up at Michigan. The weather in Bloomington should be a lot better for ball security and fans can bet that ball security continues to be a priority in practice after their five fumble performance against Penn State two weeks ago.

IU has done a decent job this year of limiting the killer penalties. It had seemed like the 15-yard personal foul penalties were a thing of the past until Jonathan Crawford extended a Michigan drive with a crucial late hit last week. These are the infractions IU cannot commit against Purdue. Giving their offense new life on a drive is dangerous and could very well result in six points. With that all said and done, if IU plays a relatively clean game (no turnovers, a few penalties) they should be in the driver’s seat for the win.

2. Limit the Blough-to-Yancey Connection

One of the few bright spots for the Boilermakers this season has been the emergence of the David Blough to DeAngelo Yancey connection in the passing game. Blough leads the Big Ten in passing while Yancey sits atop the league in yards per catch with 20.3. This is just a big play waiting to happen as Blough has the arm strength to throw it over the top while Yancey can run by defenders with his speed. Yancey also can take an underneath pass to the house as well. The Hoosiers will likely stick Rashard Fant on Yancey to try and slow him down. The Hoosiers won’t totally shut Yancey down, but if they can contain him to less than 100 yards, it bog down the Boilermaker offense.

3. Run the Ball

Kevin Wilson wants his teams to be successful with the run game, which will set up his aerial attack. Indiana has been hit or miss with the ground attack this season as they have battled injuries along the line and are missing that explosive or bruising runner they have had in the last few years with Tevin Coleman and Jordan Howard. IU is ranked 10th in the conference in rush offense and are averaging only 3.8 yards per carry as a team. 

The good news for the Hoosiers is that they are facing the 121st ranked rush defense on Saturday. This could be the elixir that the ground attack needs. IU starting running back Devine Redding is 49 yards short of 1,000 for the second consecutive season. With Purdue giving up 246.1 yards per game on the ground, Redding should have that milestone by halftime.

There are some major questions looming about the Hoosier backfield as well, as Mike Majette and Devonte Williams are both nursing ankle injuries and did not play at Michigan. That left Redding and Tyler Natee as the only healthy scholarship backs. So will IU use more of the bacon-and-legs package with Camion Patrick getting some carries as well? Or will we see Ricky Brookins and Alex Rodriguez get a few carries as well.

Any way you slice it, the Hoosiers offense is more efficient when they run the ball to set up the pass. They should be able to do that on Saturday.

4. Capitalize on Takeaways

Purdue has given the ball away to their opponents 30 times so far this season and have a minus-18 turnover margin, so expect some takeaways by the Hoosier defense. The key will be what the Hoosiers do with those takeaways. If IU can score touchdowns off of them, they’ll be in good shape. If they cannot capitalize with points and just waste the possession, Purdue will hang around. 

5. Bring the Fire

The most important thing that the Indiana Hoosiers have to do on Saturday is play with a burning fire in their bellies. We have seen what happens when a team does not show up against a lesser opponent, especially one that can wreck the season and is a huge rival. Purdue will come out with great energy and effort in what will probably be the final game for this coaching staff. They would love nothing more than to wreck IU’s bowl hopes and start a new era with the Bucket in West Lafayette.

The Hoosiers have had a knack for playing down to their opponents this year and need to avoid that by bringing the same focus as they did against Michigan, and Ohio State the last couple of years. If IU plays with more passion than Purdue, this one will not be close.