What (Little) Worked and What Didn't in the Bucket Game Loss

Written by Evan Orris

The disaster of a season came to an end for the Hoosiers on Saturday as they were torn apart by their rivals, Purdue, in a 44-7 loss. After starting the season ranked No. 17 in the nation, Indiana ended the season 2-10, unranked, and with no wins in the Big Ten or a Power Five team. Despite the rough outing, let’s go over the positives of the game.

Positives:

• Grant Gremel made his first career and it’s always awesome to see a quarterback who has committed so much time in the program to get the opportunity. He also threw for 147 yards

• After the abysmal season and poor offensive showing, there should be some coaching shakeups across the board

• The running game, aside from sack yardage, averaged about 4.24 yards per carry

Now, for the long list of negatives.

Negatives:

• Defense allowed 447 yards and 44. Points and only allowed five incompletions to Aiden O’Donnell

• Gremel threw an interception and the Hoosiers lost the turnover battle 1-0

• James Evans struggled punting the ball and only averaged 34.7 yards per punt. Jared Smoler had to replace Evans

• Charles Campbell missed a field goal.

• The offense managed just one touchdown and 205 total yards

• The offensive line allowed seven sacks

• Again, the offensive play calling was questioned, and rightfully so. The Hoosiers could not move the ball against the Boilermakers.

Overall, it was a no-good, terrible, horrible, disgraceful--and whatever term you want to use—season for Indiana. The offseason is a big one for the program. They can either rebuild by firing coaches and adding players via the transfer portal. Or they can stick to mediocrity and return to being the basement dwellers of the Big Ten.