It has been a rough start to the season for Indiana and starting quarterback Michael Penix. But on Monday, head coach Tom Allen put to rest any questions regarding Penix's starting position.
“Michael Penix is our starting quarterback and I believe in him with one hundred percent of my heart," Allen said.
Indiana (1-2) is coming off of a second ranked loss this season. In week one, IU lost 34-6 against No 18 Iowa and last weekend it was a 38-24 loss to No. 8 Cincinnati.
Penix had X-rays and an MRI on his right (non-throwing) wrist after the Cincinnati loss.
"Both came back good, so he (Penix) should be fine physically from that," Allen added.
Against Iowa, Penix was 14-of-31 for 156 yards and three interceptions.
On Saturday, Penix was 17-of-40 passing for 224 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. One came in the end zone while Indiana was in Cincinnati territory and another one was a forced pass while he was rolling out, down six with 3:39 to play. That was in Indiana's territory.
On the season, he has 448 yards passing with four touchdowns and six interceptions. He also has a career low 48 completion percentage to go along with a career low quarterback rating of 92.9.
"I think it's like anything else, you always have to go back and evaluate," Allen said. "I said we would and we did, and you said it, he made some really good plays. Made some really good throws that not many guys could make. But the mistakes were costly. It's about protecting the football and he knows it."
While Penix has struggled in big time moments this season, not many teams have played two ranked opponents with as talented as defenses as Iowa and Cincinnati. Penix is also coming off of a second torn ACL season-ending injury and a third straight season-ending injury. Getting adjusted to being back on the field takes time.
"Yeah, I do think it's getting comfortable. You go through -- like you said, honestly these are evaluations ourselves we go through," Allen added. "So to me, I felt like there was a lot of times where he looked more like himself than he did even the first two games for sure.
"But then when you have those moments and you go through the mistakes and the interceptions is really basically what we're talking about, but I don't think there's any question, when you haven't gotten off to the start that you wanted to get off to as a player, that affects your confidence a little bit. I don't think that -- just feeling comfortable in the pocket and other things, he definitely feels more comfortable with his knee. I think there's no question about that. You take hits, you get up, you run, you get tackled, you do this and you feel better about it as you go through."
Indiana gets back to the field on Saturday when it faces off on the road against Western Kentucky.
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