As Indiana comes off its most momentum-shifting game of the season to this point, it will travel to play Nebraska, who has been shaky at best in the face of some high expectations for the 2019 season.
These are 10 things to know about Nebraska before Saturday.
Maurice Washington is "not part of the team" moving forward
Nebraska sophomore running back Maurice Washington has seen his sophomore season take quite a turn in 2019, and the latest addition to his downward trajectory came in the form of head coach Scott Frost telling local media that Washington is "not part of the team" this weekend, that he doesn't "see him being part of the plans for the immediate future" at Nebraska and that his long-term future is "to be determined."
Frost did clarify that the disciplinary action is not related to the legal proceedings playing out in California courts, where he faces a felony charge of possession of content containing sexual conduct by his former girlfriend, who was underage at the time of the recording. That case was delayed to Dec. 12 on Thursday after the charges were made in February, and Frost had said Washington would play for Nebraska until the case was resolved.
Washington was sidelined during the first half of Nebraska's season-opener as punishment for the cause of legal proceedings, and he was also sidelined for the first half of Nebraska's second game for violating team rules.
Washington is a dynamic back who recorded 676 yards from scrimmage as a freshman, and through six consecutive halves of play this year, recorded 417 yards (9.7 yards per touch) before suffering a head injury and only gaining 43 yards on 19 touches.
Injury report
There are three injuries Nebraska fans are watching closely – quarterback Adrian Martinez, wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson and kicker Barrett Pickering.
Martinez is dealing with a left knee injury that kept him out of Nebraska's big loss to Minnesota before its bye week. Sophomore UCF transfer and dual-threat quarterback Noah Vedral replaced Martinez and went 14-for-23 for 135 yards and carried the ball a team-high 15 times for a team-high 49 yards.
There's really no update on Martinez's status, which means he will likely be a game-time decision, similarly to Mike Penix for Indiana.
Freshman receiver Wan'Dale Robinson is the most electric player in the Nebraska offense. He came to Nebraska out of Kentucky as the top-rated all-purpose back and a top-100 prospect in the 2019 class and was recruited by nearly every program in the nation. He can do anything within an offense, and he showed that against Illinois, when he caught eight passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns and carried the ball 19 times for 89 yards and a score.
Robinson was carted off the field with a lower leg injury during the Minnesota game a couple weeks ago and the most recent update on his status was that he was seen in street clothes during practice Tuesday, according to JournalStar.com.
Pickering has not attempted a kick this season, which has left Nebraska as the worst placekicking team in the Big Ten. More is said about that later, but Pickering was seen in full pads at practice Tuesday, though he has major limitations on how often and how far he can kick.
Applying pressure to Adrian Martinez
Many things have been said about Nebraska sophomore quarterback Adrian Martinez regarding whether or not he can get Nebraska to where it wants to be, but what must be said about Martinez is that he is the most dangerous quarterback remaining on Indiana's schedule – save for maybe Penn State's Sean Clifford.
Where Martinez can really hurt an Indiana defense is with his legs. He's recorded double-digit rushing attempts in five of Nebraska's six games and hit the 100-yard mark against Illinois, when Martinez torched the Illini for 445 total yards.
If Indiana can maintain a spy on Martinez, which would likely be Micah McFadden and Cam Jones, and keep him in the pocket while giving pressure, the Hoosiers could find some success.
Teams haven't found it too difficult to apply pressure to Martinez. He's been considered under pressure by Pro Football Focus on 56 of 186 dropbacks this year, and only 27 of those dropbacks featured blitzes. And when he's under pressure, there is a clear disparity in his game, as his completion percentage drops from 65 to 42 and his NFL quarterback ratings drops from 101.9 to 40.3. He's also not thrown a touchdown while under pressure this season.
While it's easy to say a team should get pressure on the quarterback, Nebraska's offensive line has proven susceptible to pass rush, and Indiana is one of two teams (Penn State) to have two pass rushers – Demarcus Elliot and Jerome Johnson – in the top-10 most "productive" pass rushers with at least 100 rushes in the Big Ten, according to PFF.
Kicking has been a major issue
Last week, Indiana played against a Maryland team that has its own problems at placekicker, as its star kicker has been injured, therefore causing Maryland to attempt just two kicks all season before not getting in position to attempt one agains tIndiana.
Nebraska, however, has a whole other slate of issues in the kicking game. Sophomore kicker Barrett Pickering has been dealing with an injury that's kept him out of play for the entire season, and in his place, Nebraska has tried three kickers who have gone a combined 4-of-10 and missed two extra points. The Huskers have gone as far as adding a walk-on who played club soccer at Nebraska in an attempt to replace Pickering.
The sophomore kicker was seen in full pads on Tuesday and is said to be kicking around 20 kicks per day with limitations on the distances. It seems like he might not be ready for Nebraska's game against Indiana.
Struggles against rushing attacks
Since entering Big Ten play, Nebraska has allowed 12 rushing touchdowns and an average of 268 yards rushing in four games – Illinois, Ohio State, Northwestern and Minnesota. Its rushing defense now ranks No. 12 in the Big Ten above only Illinois and Rutgers.
While Indiana's rushing attack ranks No. 11 in the conference, it has begun to find its stride since finding some chunk yardage against Michigan State on the road. Stevie Scott has pushed his way to fifth in the conference in rushing (79 yards per game) and has eclipsed 100 yards in each of his last two games.
What bodes well for Indiana's rushing attack is that the Hoosiers like to get on the edges with Scott, and some of the worst rushing defenders in the Nebraska defense are its defensive ends and edge linebackers. Agains tNebraska, Illinois averaged more than 12 yards off the right tackle, and Northwestern averaged more than seven. Indiana averages 7.1.
Who will carry the ball for Nebraska?
It's going to be a heavy dose of Nebraska's lead running back Dedrick Mills on Saturday. With Maurice Washington not playing, Adrian Martinez recovering from a knee injury and Wan''Dale Robinson – who is actually a receiver but has carried the ball 49 times – dealing with injuries as well, Mills appears to be the healthiest ball carrier for Nebraska.
That's not a major issue for Nebraska. Mills has been decent in the backfield, averaging 4.8 yards per carry on 76 carries and scoring seven touchdowns on the ground. But he doesn't get involved in the passing game as often as Washington or Robinson though, and with Wyatt Mazour, the running back behind Washington, also questionable with an injury, Nebraska might need to turn to 2019 three-star running back Rahmir Johnson, who played with Rutgers quarterback Johnny Rangan and new head coach Nunzio Campanile at Bergen Catholic.
Brody Belt also broke off a 22-yard run against Minnesota in Nebraska's last game.
Nebraska's weak pass rush
Nebraska ranks 10th in the conference in sacks recorded, with 16, and while defensive end Khalil Davis was expected to be the team's best pass rusher this year, it's actually been defensive tackle Carlos Davis, who is sent in pass rush most often and has four sacks. The duo along the line is really the only threat in pass rush, though, and accounts for nearly half of Nebraska's sacks.
Butterfinger Huskers
Nebraska is tied with Michigan for the most fumbles lost in the Big Ten, with nine. The Huskers had a tough time with fumbles in the beginning of the season, putting the ball on the ground each of their first four games, including four times against Illinois. But Nebraska hasn't fumbled for three weeks now, and it actually hasn't turned the ball over at all in the last two games, since Adrian Martinez threw three interceptions against Ohio State.
Indiana hasn't been one to force takeaways this year, but it is coming off its first game forcing more than one turnover and has forced a fumble in each of the last two games.
Renewing a short series
Nebraska has been in the Big Ten sine 2011, but this game in Lincoln will be the first time Indiana has played at Nebraska since 1977. Indiana's 27-22 loss to Nebraska in 2016 was the first time the two teams had played each other since 1978.
Indiana has won nine times, Nebraska has won eight times, and the two teams have tied three ties. Indiana hasn't beaten Nebraska since 1959.
The last meeting
In 2016, Kevin Wilson was in his last year as head coach and Tom Allen was revamping the Indiana defense into what would become the most improved defense in the country. Richard Lagow was the quarterback, Devine Redding was the running back and Zander Diamont and Tyler Natee had just introduced the new wildcat-esque package to the Indiana offense.
Nebraska was ranked No. 10 in the country , and preseason talks had considered Tommy Armstrong as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate, which would later be extinguished by some lingering injuries.
The top highlight of the game was when Armstrong threw deep to Brandon Riley, and the pass was deflected by Marcelino Ball but then deflected again back to Riley for a big gain that led to a 10-0 lead for Nebraska. Richard Lagow then threw a pick-six to go down 17-0 in the first quarter.
Indiana just couldn't catch up, though the defense stayed tight.
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