After another blowout win against a less-than-stellar opponent Saturday, Indiana finds itself in a position similar to the one it was in the week before Ohio State. But the Michigan State game might tell more about the Hoosiers than their big loss to the Buckeyes.
After another blowout victory against Connecticut, a borderline FBS opponent, it’s tough to not feel like the clock has been turned back two weeks and the Hoosiers are preparing for another measuring stick type of game.
IU’s 52-0 victory against Eastern Illinois in week two was the largest shutout victory for Indiana since 1944. That was before Mike Penix’s injury was announced and before much of the fanbase became deflated by what was to come – a 51-10 loss to No. 6 Ohio State.
Now, the Hoosiers have a chance to redirect that trajectory with what is shaping up to be a repeat week of preparation between weeks four and five that mirrors the week between weeks two and three, with Michigan State next up on the schedule.
“We definitely need to turn it up this week – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, every single day,” Indiana defensive lineman Michael Ziemba said Saturday after IU’s 38-3 win over Connecticut. “Michigan State’s a great team, and we’re going to have that sense of urgency.”
That sense of urgency wasn’t there in the week before Ohio State. Several players confirmed that after the Buckeyes outplayed them in every phase of the game. Linebacker Reakwon Jones didn’t like the effort from his team during the game, and wide receiver Donavan Hale said it wasn’t the best week of practice. Defensive end Allen Stallings echoed that the week afterward.
That had many people around the program wondering how the team couldn’t have its best week of practice before playing a top-10 team in the country. Tight end Peyton Hendershot provided the only answer.
“We were 2-0, and we just beat a team 52-0. We just thought we were really good, I guess,” he said.
That makes sense. For the most part, everything Indiana was doing was working, including its redshirt freshman quarterback, who’s missed the last two games and whose health is in question for the Michigan State game. And whatever weaknesses IU showed in those first two games – tackling, running game, just one takeaway – they were able to mask by exploiting the weaknesses of teams whose strengths were equal to IU’s weaknesses.
Indiana has a chance to reverse that complacency next week against Michigan State. The Spartans are no Ohio State. The same week IU lost to Ohio State, Michigan State lost to a much-less-talented Arizona State team, and the Spartans’ offense is far behind its defense.
The advantage that Indiana has on the previous version of itself is that it already knows just how glaring its tackling issues are and where its running game has found success and where it has fallen flat. It knows that it has the depth to compete with top teams in the Big Ten, but it also knows complacency reverts it to the Indiana teams of old – the ones that lost to Bowling Green and played close against Indiana State. The teams that didn’t have a state-of-the-art locker room, a renovated, closed-off stadium or two of the best recruiting classes in the country.
To this point, no one knows exactly how good Indiana is. It’s somewhere in the middle of bottom of the FBS and College Football Playoff-contending. Depending on how the Hoosiers play Michigan State, that answer will be narrowed down greatly.
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