Indiana Football: ESPN analyst predicts Hoosiers to make bowl game

SANTA CLARA, CA - DECEMBER 28: The Indiana Hoosiers band plays before the Foster Farms Bowl game at Levi's Stadium on December 28, 2016 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CA - DECEMBER 28: The Indiana Hoosiers band plays before the Foster Farms Bowl game at Levi's Stadium on December 28, 2016 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

With the football season about to kick into full gear this weekend, ESPN came out with its predictions for all 41 bowl games, which included the Indiana football program.

Despite all but four division one programs, including Indiana football, yet to take the field in 2019, it’s never too early to make predictions for the bowl games that come at the end of the year, and that’s exactly what ESPN did.

Bowl games don’t get underway until Dec 20, but the preseason picks are out for all of the 41 bowl games, and the Hoosiers were included.

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ESPN analysts Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach broke down each possible matchup and

gave their take on which programs would land in which bowl. For IU it was the Quick Lane Bowl. Bonagura predicted the Hoosiers to end up at Ford Field on Dec 26 playing Florida Atlantic University.

Bonagura was the only one of the duo to have the Hoosiers in a bowl game, but altogether the pair included 11 Big Ten teams participating in bowl season.

The Hoosiers head into 2019 with the expectation of not only making it to a bowl game, something they have missed out on in each of the past two seasons, but to make their mark and win a bowl game.

Needing six wins to do so, assuming they remain undefeated in the non-conference, which is something that IU has done almost every season in the past 10 years, three conference wins is all that would be needed to make it to the postseason.

Indiana’s quest begins on Saturday when they face off against Ball State at Lucas Oil Stadium at 12:00 pm EST.