Know Your 2018 Penn State Football Enemy: Indiana Hoosiers

Penn State football will look to continue its success against the Indiana Hoosiers this season during a road trip to Bloomington.

The Nittany Lions have only lost one time against the Indiana Hoosiers in football, and that was in 2013, when Bill O’Brien was attempting to pull a sanction-ridden team out of a dark hole. In the other 20 meetings between the two teams, Penn State has come out with the win, including in 2017 when the Nittany Lions won 45-14 over the Hoosiers at Beaver Stadium.

People may remember that game as the “Saquon Barkley kickoff return game” or the “Daesean Hamilton game.” Both players were phenomenal in that game, as Barkley had two touchdowns (kickoff return and passing) and Hamilton had three touchdowns to go along with 122 receiving yards.

Indiana played two quarterbacks in that 2017 game at Beaver Stadium: Richard Lagow and Peyton Ramsey. Lagow, who was a senior last season, started, but was benched for Ramsey who threw for 78 yards and a TD, while also rushing for 53 yards. Ramsey is a sophomore, and will look to win the starting quarterback job in 2018 against Arizona grad transfer Brandon Dawkins.

While Indiana only went 5-7 in 2017, with only two conference wins, the statistics show that they were better than that. The Hoosiers only lost to Michigan by 7 points (OT) and only lost to Michigan State by eight. While they did wind up losing to Ohio State by 28, they were competitive in the game through halftime.

The Indiana defense only allowed 25.3 points per game in 2017, which was good for 54th in the FBS. In addition, they only allowed 179.7 passing yards per game, which placed 15th in the FBS. Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, they lost eight starters on defense, so expect them to be considerably worse on that side of the ball this season.

On the offensive side of the ball, Indiana lost talented wide receiver Simmie Cobbs and starting tight end Ian Thomas, but will look to replace that production with the return of Nick Westbrook, who was out for the entire 2017 season with an injury. Westbrook, a redshirt junior wide receiver, led Indiana in receiving in 2016.

Furthermore, the Hoosiers were 35th in the FBS in passing yards per game and 106th in the FBS in rushing yards per game during the 2017 season. Indiana will return starting running back Morgan Ellison, a sophomore who ran for 704 yards and six rushing touchdowns on 143 carries during his freshman season. Ellison will attempt to become the next Indiana running back to impress, as they have produced NFL talents Tevin Coleman and Jordan Howard within the past five years.

As Indiana is working through what’s a transition in their program with head coach Tom Allen only entering his second season, I expect James Franklin and the Nittany Lions to have no issue winning their game against the Hoosiers in 2018.