Indiana Hoosier Pregame #8: Is It Safe To Look Yet?

Holy cow sports fans. It’s been a long season so far. What started out as a promising season for our Indiana Hoosiers has turned into one of the most laughable seasons I’ve ever seen. That’s not hyperbole either. It’s not the worst Hoosier team I’ve seen either. If we can’t at least laugh at how bad this offense is, then I don’t want any part of this blog.

No, seriously. I don’t.

Through 4 B1G games (Iowa, Penn State, Michigan State, Ohio State), the Indiana offense has thrown more touchdown passes to the wrong team (3) than it has to it’s own team (1).

Through 4 B1G games, the Indiana offense has produced more touchdowns for its opponents (3) than it has scored itself (2).

These are not jokes. These are statistics, or “stats” if you will. Real, honest stats.

That said, Indiana is not playing a ranked opponent for the first time in 3 games. The Maryland Terrapins present some challenges for the Hoosiers. That said, Indiana is 2-5 and still has to play a very good Michigan team at the Big House. This is a must win if Indiana wants to make a bowl. Lose, and it’s on to basketball coverage.

Let’s see what we’re dealing with.

History and Fun Facts

Winsipedia

History

• Since joining the B1G, Indiana is 5-2 against Maryland.
• The first two meetings between these schools was in 1934 and 1935. Indiana won both.
• Maryland’s first B1G game was against Indiana in 2014 in Bloomington. Maryland went on to win 37-15. I was present at that game. Boy do I wish I hadn’t been.

Fun Facts

• Jim Henson graduated from Maryland. So…that’s neat.
• So did Scott Van Pelt.
• Maryland has 92 undergrad majors.
• Yeah…that’s all you get.

Things to Watch For

1) Can Indiana score?

The answer to this seems to be no. They cannot score. That said, Maryland’s defense is much closer to WKU’s defense than it is Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State, or Iowa. Indiana also put up multiple touchdowns against Cincinnati who does have a solid defense (I hate that I have to refer to Indiana games in relation to how many touchdowns they’ve scored because they’ve scored so few against real competition this year). So can Indiana score on Maryland? Quite possibly. I’ll be watching.

2) Who plays QB?

Tuttle time is week to week just like Penix. I read that as “season over.” Donaven Mcculley is suppose to be the successor. A 4 star recruit we were told. Apparently Donaven isn’t trusted to throw a ball though as the coaching staff thought it was a good idea to trot out walk-on Grant Gremel to throw passes. I mean…I’m just astounded this keeps happening. Indiana seems to be the only place in the country where our 4 star recruits are never ready to play. Ronnie Walker. Beau Robbins. Sampson James. All brought in highly regarded. Hardly ever see or saw the field at Indiana. Now we have a 4 star QB in Mcculley and he can’t be trusted to throw the ball. How does this keep happening? I get recruiting rankings are for the birds, I do. But multiple outlets do rank these guys as “pretty good” and we aren’t exactly Ohio State that is super deep at multiple positions.

So who plays QB? I’ll be watching because it’ll drive me nuts.

3) Is the season over if we lose?

Yes. Definitively it is. There will be no bowl. There will be no excitement. I’ll be happy to watch the bucket game, but just because it’s the bucket game. A loss this week, and it’s on to basketball season for much of the fanbase. You thought the 2^nd half attendance last week was bad, wait till you trot out for the Rutgers game after losing to Maryland. Crickets. Better win now.

The Times, They Aren’t a Changin’

I struggle mightily to put the last few years in perspective for Indiana football. 2 bowl seasons. 2 non bowl seasons. 2 more bowl seasons. Are we on track to do another 2 years of suck, because that’s where it feels like we’re heading, especially given what we lose after this season.

All this deserves context as well. Indiana was miserable in football pretty much since 1993, so having multiple seasons in the last decade where we’re bowling is very great to see. Indiana fans are crazy though. Give them a taste of a season like last year, and it’s sharks in the water. We want to see that every year.

Tom Allen is supposed to be the guy to make that happen to. He earned the contract. He earned the money. He’s supposed to be the guy. Guys like he claims to be can’t just write off seasons though. This is where he keeps earning that contract. Can he pull out 4 out of 5 wins here to end the season? It would certainly say something about him and the team if they did. If Indiana wants to remain out of the B1G cellar conversation, a win this week is imperative.

Game Time: 10/30 – 12:00 PM EST – Big Ten Network