Published Nov 5, 2022
Indiana’s inconsistency prevents any and all progress
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Kevin Vera  •  Hoosier Huddle
Staff Writer
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Indiana suffered another frustrating loss on Saturday falling 45-14 to Penn State. While there weren't many expectations going into this game for Indiana, the same mistakes that have kept Indiana stagnant all season were exposed to the highest possible degree against Penn State.

Indiana continues on a downward spiral, and questions need to be answered on how to improve instead of staying in the same spot; a spot that finds them a bad football program with no light at the end of the tunnel.

The latest matchup with the Nittany Lions saw three different quarterbacks play. Jack Tuttle left the game in the second quarter with an undisclosed injury leaving Indiana to go to their backup; true freshman Brendan Sorsby. Indiana listed Sorsby as the second-string quarterback coming into today's game.

The third-string quarterback for the game was Dexter Williams who, on paper, should have been the backup quarterback coming into Saturday. Williams is a 6'1", 200-pound quarterback that was rated a three-star recruit in high school. Williams is arguably the future starting quarterback for the Hoosiers after showing a lot of mobility and athleticism. The dual-threat quarterback has the talent to run and the potential to pass the football at a level that hasn't been seen in an Indiana quarterback since Michael Penix Jr.


The decision to go with Sorsby was a lose-lose situation on several levels. Sorsby, a true freshman, went out and threw a total of 6 passing attempts and only recorded 8 passing yards. Considering the circumstances of how the season has gone, that is only a recipe for a crushed spirit in the young quarterback.

Offensive line play didn't make things easier, and that's been the case all season long. Penn State was able to record a total of six sacks and 16 tackles for loss. The coaching change that many people wanted has already been made, so where does Indiana go from here?

This has been Indiana’s main issue all season long and the performance of the offensive line against Penn State was one of the worst display's all season. It doesn't matter who's the quarterback for Indiana. If the Hoosiers are unable to protect the quarterback, nobody is going to have success at the position.

“It’s really difficult upfront," Allen said. "Not giving our backs a chance to get seams to run through and the quarterbacks time to throw. That to me is really the bottom line. We have to really focus on continuing to work on getting better there because it's not good enough."

Another phase of the game that hurt the Hoosiers was the secondary unit. Allen made sure to mention at the beginning of the year that the secondary unit could be Indiana’s strongest on the entire team. Against Penn State, Indiana allowed 304 passing yards and now ranks in the bottom five in passing yards allowed in the Big Ten.

This was a part of the team that Allen and the rest of the staff spoke very highly of, but they simply have not lived up to expectations. Indiana had five total penalties called against them, three out of the five were against the secondary, including a personal foul, unnecessary roughness call against Tiawan Mullen. Allen said that the secondary just simply has to make plays for the team.

“We have to get the ball out," Allen said. "That's frustrating to me, obviously at this point in the season. We've been working on tackling like crazy and the guys are being put in spots to make plays and we have to make them. Frustrating, it's very frustrating to have guys in those spots and not be able to come up with a play that can change the game.”

These problems have transpired all season for Indiana and there seems to be no scenario where these things are improved. As the weeks go by, it seems to be the same thing every game for Indiana. Indiana hasn't been able to improve for almost two whole seasons. There needs to be significant change if Indiana wants to emulate its 2020 magic.

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