Last Saturday, Indiana head football coach Tom Allen finally got his signature victory in his fourth full season in this role with the Hoosiers, defeating Penn State 36-35 in an overtime thriller at home.
Now, Indiana (1-0, 1-0 B1G) looks to build on its momentum on the road in Piscataway, NJ against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (1-0, 1-0 B1G) on Saturday, Oct. 31. Learn everything you need to know leading up to the matchup here:
Last Time They Played
Indiana and Rutgers last squared off on Oct. 12 last season, with the Hoosiers shutting out the Scarlet Knights at home, 35-0. On the first offensive snap of the game, Rutgers quarterback Johnny Langan fumbled the ball after being sacked by defensive lineman Demarcus Elliott. The ball was picked up by Reakwon Jones and returned for a touchdown. It was the fastest touchdown scored in Memorial Stadium history.
The fumble lost by Langan was only the beginning of a tough afternoon under center for the Scarlet Knights. Langan only finished with one passing yard on just five completions for the game. The Indiana defense allowed just 75 yards of total offense to Rutgers.
As for Indiana, the story on offense came from the Hoosiers’ trio of dynamic playmakers: quarterback Michael Penix Jr., running back Stevie Scott III, and wide receiver Whop Philyor. Penix finished with 282 passing yards and three touchdowns through the air, Scott III finished with a season-high 164 rushing yards on just 12 carries, and Philyor also finished with a season-high 182 receiving yards on 10 receptions.
The only scoring occurred in the first and third quarters.
Rutgers entered this game with Nunzio Campanile as its interim head football coach, who were routed by Maryland, 48-7, a week prior to their contest with the Hoosiers. The Scarlet Knights fired Chris Ash and offensive coordinator John McNulty midseason on Sept. 29 of last year. While with Rutgers, Ash compiled a record of 8-32 in three-plus seasons as head coach.
The Scarlet Knights went on to finish their 2019 season with a 2-10 record, going winless in the Big Ten and getting shut out four times (Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, Michigan State).
The win for Indiana gave the Hoosiers a 4-2 overall record and their first conference victory of the season.
Three Key Matchups
Indiana’s “Big Three” on Offense vs. Rutgers Defense
The offensive yard totals from last season’s contest proved that Rutgers struggled to contain the trio of Penix, Scott III, and Philyor. The three playmakers for the Hoosiers combined for 633 yards on offense, compared to the 75 yards Rutgers finished with as a team.
If it wasn’t already established that these three members of the Indiana offense weren’t already a legitimate threat, any argument against this claim was put to rest with their performances against Penn State.
Penix led a seven play, 75-yard drive with 22 seconds remaining against the Nittany Lions to put the Hoosiers within two points, and ran it into the endzone himself to force overtime with the game tied at 28-all. After Penn State scored a touchdown and kicked an extra point to take a 35-28 lead, Penix connected with Philyor on a third and goal play at the Penn State nine-yard line to come within one point. Instead of kicking an extra point in a chance to send the game to a second overtime, Allen decided to go for the win. With all of his options defended well on the two-point conversion play, Penix opted to tuck it and run into the endzone, diving to the pylon for the win.
Scott III also contributed for the Hoosiers with two rushing touchdowns against the Nittany Lions.
Rutgers will need to find ways to contain a combination of the three, or find a way to keep the Indiana offense off the field. The Hoosiers were on the field for 36:18 of time against the Scarlet Knights last season. If the Rutgers offense can control the time of possession against Indiana, this might be their best chance at preventing big offensive games from Penix, Scott III, or Philyor.
Greg Schiano vs. Tom Allen
Both programs are coming off major conference wins, for different reasons.
Indiana’s win over No. 8 Penn State gave the Hoosiers their first win over a ranked opponent in the Allen-era, and since defeating No. 17 Michigan State on Oct. 1, 2016. Even greater, it was the first win over a top-ten program for the Hoosiers since defeating Ohio State on Oct. 10, 1987.
As for Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights defeated Michigan State on the road for their first Big Ten win since 2017. As a team, Rutgers forced the Spartans to turn the ball over seven times. It was the first win for head football coach Greg Schiano in his return to the program. Schiano was the head coach at Rutgers from 2001-11 when the school was a member of the Big East conference. He left Rutgers with a career record of 68-67 at the helm.
For both programs, it will be interesting to see how each team responds following key victories after their first week of action. Rutgers will play three teams ranked in the AP Top 25 over their next four games (No. 17 Indiana, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 13 Michigan). As with Indiana, the Hoosiers have a big matchup against Michigan at home following their contest with Rutgers this weekend.
This is the only game in the Big Ten this week featuring two programs that are still undefeated after the first week of conference-only games. A win this week to advance to 2-0 would be a massive milestone for either program.
Quarterback Play: Penix vs. Vedral
If there is anything to critique about Indiana from an offensive standpoint against Penn State, it would be the Hoosiers’ slow start. Penix struggled to get in sync with his receivers for most of the game, and really didn’t look like the quarterback of old prior to his season-ending injury last November.
Considering it was Penix’s first live action against another opponent in 357 days, it was expected that there could have been some rust out of the gate. However, Penix played best when it mattered most in the fourth quarter last weekend.
On his game-tying drive that forced overtime against the Nittany Lions, Penix threw for 54 yards on five completions (six attempts) and was able to run it in himself for a two-point conversion. In overtime, Penix was able to connect with Philyor on a nine-yard touchdown strike and won the game on another two-point conversion with his legs.
Penix will be challenged by Rutgers senior quarterback Noah Vedral, who transferred from Nebraska in May. Rutgers is the third school Vedral has suited up for in his college career. He began his career at UCF when Scott Frost was the head football coach for the Knights, then followed Frost to Nebraska when he took the same job with the Cornhuskers. After losing the starting quarterback competition to Adrian Martinez, Vedral decided to look at other options.
Vedral beat out Langan and Art Sitkowski to become the top quarterback with the Scarlet Knights. In his first start with Rutgers against Michigan State, Vedral completed 18 of 29 passes for 169 passing yards, one passing touchdown, and threw one interception.
Vedral will compete against an Indiana defense that allowed 488 total yards to the Nittany Lions, but did force three turnovers in the contest.
How to Watch
The No. 17 Indiana Hoosiers will head on the road to SHI Stadium in Piscataway, NJ to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at 3:30 PM ET. The game will air on FS1.
Indiana opens up as a 11.5 point favorite, with the over/under for total points currently slated at 58.5. The expected forecast at kickoff is 49 degrees with sunny skies.
Indiana leads the all-time series 4-2, with Indiana winning all four games the past four consecutive seasons.
TheHoosier.com will have continued coverage leading up to kickoff, throughout, and following the game. Be sure to follow along all season as Indiana battles Rutgers on the road this weekend.
----
• Talk about it inside The Hoops Forum or The Football Forum
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Follow us on Twitter: @IndianaRivals
• Like us on Facebook.
