Hoosiers Put It Together, Missouri Awaits

Ben Fishman
College Sports 24/7
9/15/13

-Bloomington IN
    That’s how it’s supposed to look. Were you paying attention Hoosier fans?
That’s how the Indiana football train is supposed to roll along, and if it keeps up like that, then this could be a magical season.
    How about this stat from Saturday? The Hoosiers defense, who looked like they couldn’t stop a peewee squad against Navy, gave up just one touchdown against a Bowling Green team that came in averaging 37.5 points and 486 yards of total offense. That’s what the Indiana defense must do every week. It’s great and all to have it in week three, but now they need to have it in week four-December.
    The defense was told it had to just be consistent. They were told that the Navy game had to be a lesson and that it couldn’t happen again. If this is going to be the first IU team to make it to a bowl game since 2007, the defense had to improve. They rose to the occasion on Saturday, and the Hoosiers as a whole would have given up nothing but a field goal should a blocked punt not have been returned for a touchdown.
    On offense, it was more of the same for Indiana. If you aren’t having fun watching Indiana move the ball down the field, then you aren’t a football fan. Indiana is 6th in the country in scoring and 3rd in total offense, right behind Texas A&M and Oregon. Nate Sudfeld, a sophomore, got the first start of his career and passed for 363 yards, while receiver Cody Latimer had a career day hauling in 137 yards.
    The weapons that Indiana has on offense make most defenses cringe as Kevin Wilson has been adept at using them all. Now the fun starts. Indiana will welcome an SEC team to Memorial Stadium next Saturday.
    Missouri comes to town having won two in a row themselves and will be fresh, coming off a bye week. Quarterback James Franklin has looked stellar in two early season victories over Murray State and Toledo, but will have a huge challenge ahead in Indiana’s secondary.
    The Hoosiers have a huge chance ahead of them. Beating Missouri would give Indiana momentum heading into their bye week before Penn State comes to town on October 5th. Indiana officials are expecting a crowd close to 50,000 for the primetime matchup next Saturday, which puts IU in the spotlight nationally for the first time since the Wisconsin game last year.
    If Indiana can come away with a huge victory over the Tigers, they’ll be halfway towards securing that bowl bid. And that one, will be special.