Indiana Football: Analyzing Hoosiers’ chances at a bowl game

Indiana football heads into the bye week at 3-2. Needing just three more wins to become bowl eligible can they get those wins in the Big Ten and go bowling for the first time since 2016?

The Hoosiers almost pulled off the upset of Michigan State this past weekend, but came up just short and now head into their first bye with a 3-2 record. If you would have asked many experts before the year started, that is exactly where the Indiana football program would have been predicted.

There was little chance that Indiana was going to beat Ohio State even at home, but Michigan State was a game that they could have stolen. It was not a surprise that they came away with a loss but to be tied with them late, had to give the Hoosiers some hope for the upset.

Even in the loss they were able to score points against a defense that many believed to be the best in the Big Ten, if not the country. But scoring has never really been a problem for the Indiana football team, is just not giving up more points than they score. The defense let them down again in the loss, but there is still plenty of opportunities for improvement.

Indiana now sits halfway to their goal of making a bowl game and they will try to avoid another letdown like last year when they started 4-1 and finished 5-7.

The good news for the Hoosiers is they have enough winnable games left to have a serious shot at making a bowl game. They just can’t let any opportunities slip through their fingertips, as the last three games for Indiana will be tough.

So will the Hoosiers make a bowl game? We take a look at their last seven opponents and size up their chances to win and if they will be playing a postseason game this for the first time since 2016.