2020 Season in Review: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The Indiana Hoosiers closed out their abbreviated 2020 season with a 26-20 loss to Ole Miss in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 2, 2021 in Tampa.
In a year where COVID dominated the headlines, TheHoosier.com looks back at the season that was, breaking down the bright spots and low points at each position, with an eye toward the future.
Today, we take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly with the Indiana Hoosiers during the 2020 season.
The Good
There were a lot of good things that happened to the Indiana Hoosiers during the 2020 season.
There were the wins over Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State, which had never happened in the same season.
There was the win over Wisconsin, which marked the first time in almost two decades the Hoosiers won in Madison.
There was a team that was ranked in the Top 10, a head coach that became an instant media darling for his celebrations both in the locker room and on the sideline and a team that advanced to another January bowl game.
However, one of the top good things to happen was the play of quarterback Michael Penix before he was lost for the season with a torn ACL against Maryland.
In six games, Penix was 124-of-220 for 1,645 yards, 14 touchdowns and only four interceptions.
Fans will forever remember his pylon plunge against Penn State in the opener, but it was his second half heroics at Ohio State, where he finished with 491 yards that truly showed what he was capable of.
While the injury to Penix was not a good thing, there was some good that came out of the situation as fans got a glimpse at Jack Tuttle, who showed toughness in the win at Wisconsin and then the Outback Bowl loss to Ole Miss.
Against Wisconsin, Tuttle took a pounding and had to leave for the locker room before sprinting back and helping lead the Hoosiers to a 14-6 win. At the Outback Bowl, Tuttle played two-and-a-half quarters with a separated shoulder.
In his two starts and time against Maryland, Tuttle was 44-of-72 for 362 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.
The Bad
What happened to Indiana's rushing attack?
This was a unit that brought back junior Stevie Scott III, who was expected to have a record setting season. In addition, Sampson James was back after showing what he could do against both Purdue and Tennessee in the Gator Bowl last season, David Ellis was back and Tim Baldwin Jr. was highly touted.
However, this was a unit that struggled to get things going early and often during the season.
Sure, some of it can rest on the offensive line and offensive coordinator Nick Sherridan, but, as a whole, Indiana struggled to run the ball.
In eight games, the Hoosiers rushed for 869 yards on 278 carries and found the endzone 12 times. Scott was the featured back, accounting for 561 yards and 10 touchdowns, including two in the Outback Bowl out of the wildcat position.
Sure, Indiana went up against some good defensive fronts this season, especially when they took on Ohio State, but this is a unit that for whatever reason thought it could continue to lineup and run the ball up the middle too many times this season.
Only one time this season did Indiana put together something that resembled a strong running attack and that was against Maryland, as the Hoosiers went for 234 yards on the ground.
Baldwin had 141 yards on the season, of which 106 came against the Terrapins, and James finished the year with 96. Neither scored a touchdown, as Indiana's other two rushing touchdowns came from Penix.
Head coach Tom Allen has vowed, as recently as this last week, that he is determined to fix the rushing attack in 2021.
"We have to find ways to run the football better. I am not going to be too specific about what that is going to look like. I just see us expanding ourselves schematically and doing more things in the run game, being more multiple in the run game, and being able to have multiple types of abilities to attack certain points on the line of scrimmage and how we set those up as well. So, we are going to have an extensive study of that this offseason, and that is going to be huge for our offensive staff and for our program, is to run the football better,” Allen said.
The Ugly
The 26-20 loss to Ole Miss in the Outback Bowl was just plain ugly.
The Hoosiers looked unprepared, and surprisingly, the defense was not up to the task of trying to hold Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral at bay. Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin looked like a genius in the game despite having to recruit players just to play in the Outback Bowl and having a ton of offensive weapons out due to opt outs and injuries.
Coming in, former defensive coordinator Kane Wommack and Allen voiced concern about Corral being able to hurt them with his legs, but it was his arm that did the most damage and Indiana could never adjust.
On the offensive side, Indiana struggled to get any sort of a run game going against a defense that ranked last in the SEC against the run and was among the worst in the nation.
The loss took some of the shine off what had been a remarkable season for the Hoosiers.
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