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Naturalhoosier

Indiana vs Rutgers Game Thread

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Homecoming is on Saturday and the Scarlet Knights head to Bloomington.  Judging by the articles I've read, it sounds like Suds will be back but Howard will sit another week and rest up.  Rutgers will have their coach return from a three game suspension and they were one spike away from a potential upset.  Personally, I'm over the emotional freefall that was the result at State College.  I'm ready to take down a knight!  

 

Go Hoosiers!

 

#BouncebackWeek

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I noticed at the start of the season that Sudfeld was somewhat slow getting back into the offensive flow after sitting out 2014's last 6 games and the off season. I expect it will take a little while for him to get his rhythm back. Maybe he'll be in good form by the 3rd series. I am more worried about the lack of a running game. I am not sure what Rutger's run defense is like. Hopefully Redding can show some improvement.

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Where is Tommy Mister when you need him? I wish he would have stayed, we could use him right now that Howard is hurt.


Agreed but if you don't have the patience and don't perform in preseason. Then you find yourself getting overlooked and then not having patience in a system can really screw things up and you find yourself wanting to transfer. Sucks

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This is a real must win. A bowl team wins this game, while we may be able to pull together 6 wins even without it (though, it will be tough) the reality is that Rutgers is a weak team that we are genuinely better than and it's homecoming.

 

I think Suds will be back and it's always hard to tell with RBs. His injury may be worse or there is just too much of a drop in his performance with the injury. I really hope Howard still gets his chance to shine, and am glad we have more than just the 1 year with him. The question will be whether the coaching staff notices we still have injuries and changes the game plan. Maybe the lack of faith in Redding was justified last week, but the amount of early passing plays with Zander despite not connecting them was astounding. Though, if no Suds then we're looking at Cameron this week not Zander.

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I still have more faith in Redding than others. It takes a special back (TeCo) to play with Diamont and still dominate. Redding is no Teco, and he's not even a Howard, but he's still a good back. I think with a capable passing game, hopefully led by Nate, Redding will prove to be a solid back Saturday.

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I still have more faith in Redding than others. It takes a special back (TeCo) to play with Diamont and still dominate. Redding is no Teco, and he's not even a Howard, but he's still a good back. I think with a capable passing game, hopefully led by Nate, Redding will prove to be a solid back Saturday.

I don't disagree Redding is a good back, I think his routes were poorly designed for his talents and with Diamont getting no respect on the pass he ended up facing more pressure than Howard has in other games. The fault was not with Redding himself as far as I could tell, but that doesn't mean it wasn't the correct decision not to trust his abilities in the last game (boom triple negative). Whomever is playing, I hope we're using a better mix of plays designed for the players strengths. Cameron is a better passer than Diamont or at least he has the tools to be, so a more pass focused game with him may be passable.

 

The whole game does come down to who plays though, which makes it hard to anticipate and talk about. With the players on the field in the second half of last week? I think even Rutgers would be too much (and we would really need to worry about Suds). With either Suds or Howard back? Totally different ball game. 

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I am worried this is the time of year we tank from here on out. We need a HEALTHY SUDS desperately. Our only real hope. We need Howard back almost equally bad.

 

History is not kind to our football team once the B1G starts and we've got a hobbled QB and our stud RB who probably won't play.  2 consecutive losses and as the late Yogi Berra reportedly said "It's de ja vu all over again!"  I have a very uneasy feeling for Saturday's game.  It's an absolute must win, not just towards the goal of being bowl eligible, but to salvage the entire season.  Should we lose to Rutgers and fall to 4 - 3, I'm afraid the Oaken Bucket game will be the only thing we're looking forward to for the remainder of the season.

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I really hate to label this a "must win" game, but it is what it is.  We are almost true to form this year.  The only difference being we didn't tank one of the non conference games. (but we sure tried hard to tank the first one.)  Win here, and I think a bowl game is in our future.  Lose this Saturday, and I think we are looking at a 5 win season, and a new coach next year. 

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I think Sudfeld will be back. Wilson said he was cleared to play last week. As far as Howard, its hard to say. Even after his injury against OSU he still came back played a series or two. If he is back it may be in a limited role, like every other series or down.

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I think Sudfeld will be back. Wilson said he was cleared to play last week. As far as Howard, its hard to say. Even after his injury against OSU he still came back played a series or two. If he is back it may be in a limited role, like every other series or down.

Yet he didn't come back when his backup went down during a still winnable game this past week. It's impossible for anyone who isn't in the practices to say whether he's ready to return. We need to remember "cleared to play" is a minimum bar, it has a vastly different meaning than "ready to play".

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I don't want to say this is a must win, but we have to win two of the three games vs Rutgers, Maryland, and Purdue in order to go bowling and honestly there is no excuse for us to not win all three of those. 

 

I don't like tossing around the term must win unless that's exactly what it is, a must win and we aren't quite there yet but a vital game none the less. 

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I don't want to say this is a must win, but we have to win two of the three games vs Rutgers, Maryland, and Purdue in order to go bowling and honestly there is no excuse for us to not win all three of those. 

 

I don't like tossing around the term must win unless that's exactly what it is, a must win and we aren't quite there yet but a vital game none the less. 

I agree in terms of scheduling, we can technically afford the loss. But, for a number of reasons, I think "must win" is an appropriate analysis. First, we're on a 2-game losing streak right now. Rutgers at home is the best opportunity to snap the streak. If we lose this, we go into the hardest 3 game stretch on a 3-game slide. Much harder to break the funk then. So, let's say we slide our way through 3 very tough games and end up going to MD and Purdue on a 6 game losing streak, unable to relax because a loss means no bowl game.

 

Say nothing for the numbers, for the player's mentality and for them not to feel like it's "Indiana as usual" Rutgers is a must win. I'm not ready to put my hopes on winning out our last two games on the road, even if they are two of the weakest teams in the Big Ten.

 

All that having been said? Wilson said this afternoon Howard and Suds were practicing at least a little. That gives me enough hope to make it through the week. Rutgers should be a win with either one.

 

Plus, I don't entirely buy that Maryland is such a bad team we can count on them to be an easy win. They've lost quite a few games, but lost those games to good teams. Their worst loss is Bowling Green who aren't bad this year. Next West Ginny, who has put up strong showings against very good teams their last two games. OSU and Michigan? Who isn't going to have those losses on their record this year? After this weekend when they play Penn State we'll have a better idea of who the team really is. 

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I'm preaching to the choir here, but the number of tickets available for this game is absolutely pathetic. You can check it out on our ticket section on iuhoosiers.com. We will probably have a decent walk up crowd because it's homecoming, but we are going into a game favored, and shooting for 5-2 and there will probably be 10,000 empty seats. I'm sure the tradition of people "coming home" to sit in the parking lot will continue. After all, we "filled" the stadium for one game. That's good enough, right?

Beat Rutgers.

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I'm preaching to the choir here, but the number of tickets available for this game is absolutely pathetic. You can check it out on our ticket section on iuhoosiers.com. We will probably have a decent walk up crowd because it's homecoming, but we are going into a game favored, and shooting for 5-2 and there will probably be 10,000 empty seats. I'm sure the tradition of people "coming home" to sit in the parking lot will continue. After all, we "filled" the stadium for one game. That's good enough, right?

Beat Rutgers.


The product on the field will put butts in the seat. Everyone is expecting the Big Ten swoon we are so accustomed to from the past. Had we beat OSU or PSU, things would be different. As it stands, who have we really beat?

Plus that product @PSU was virtually unwatchable except for superfans like us here at BTB.

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