(Photo Credit: SaJorden Miller / The SkyBoat)
When Saturday, October 15,2016
The Indiana Hoosiers are welcoming the Nebraska Cornhuskers into town for their homecoming game. This will be the first time the Hoosiers and Huskers have gotten around to playing one another in football as conference rivals. It will be a test for unbeaten Nebraska as Indian held their own with Ohio State earlier this seasn and defeated Michigan State in an overtime game.
What Nebraska brings to the table
Nebraska comes in ranked No. 10 In the AP Top 25 and fresh off of a bye-week. They are ranked 36th in Defense, just one spot behind their opponent Indiana. Nebraska’s defensive effort tightens up when their opponents get into scoring range. The Huskers come in with an excellent turnover margin. While Nebraska has a hold on giving up big plays and does very good job at getting to the quarterback, the rushing attack has been obsolete the last few games, but could have its way with the Indiana who’s rushing defense ranks 71st in FBS.
Offensively, the Huskers have been effective albeit quite a bit banged up coming out of the bye week. Quarterback Tommy Armstrong leads a passing offense that is ranked 16th overall but is dealing with a minor injury. The Huskers leading receiver in all receiving categories, Jordan Westkamp, is dealing with an injury that is keeping him out of Saturdays game, as well as starting tight end Cethan Carter, who is ranked fourth on the team in targets and yards.
Indiana will have to contain Armstrong, who averages 6.4 yards per rush when he decides to tuck the ball and run when the opportunity presents its self. He also leads the team in rushing touchdowns as a dual-threat quarterback, which serves a problem for Indiana after they gave up 137 yards to J.T. Barrett last weekend.
What to look out for from Indiana
Indiana is now 31st against the run and 46th against the pass, as the defense continues to improve as the season goes along. They are still prone to getting victimized by the big play through the air which could be a major problem for their secondary who will be up against Alonzo Moore who is averaging 25.8 yards per catch.
The Hoosiers offensive game, lead by Richard Lagow, has a passing offense that is 3rd in the country. The offense does come with a lot of faults that could be a big advantage for Nebraska, the Hoosiers have a hard time scoring deep into opponent’s territory which continues to deteriorate as the season goes along. A rushing offense that showed so much promise ranks now 70th overall. Due to a lot of injuries on the right side of the offensive line Indiana only has two rushing touchdowns. The running games need to click on all cylinders for the Hooisiers if they want to have a chance of winning on Saturday.
Predictions
Indiana could pull off an upset if they can click on all three phases of the game offense, defense and special teams and it’s their homecoming game so it should give the Hoosiers some more motivation to get a win. I think they could give the Cornhuskers a tough challenge but looking at the stats and how both teams stack up against each other, Nebraska has the clear advantage in this game my prediction is that Nebraska comes out with a win.
