Indiana Football: Analyzing Hoosiers’ chances at a bowl game

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - SEPTEMBER 21: Whop Philyor #1 and Donavan Hale #6 of the Indiana Hoosiers celebrate after a touchdown during the first quarter in the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Memorial Stadium on September 21, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - SEPTEMBER 21: Whop Philyor #1 and Donavan Hale #6 of the Indiana Hoosiers celebrate after a touchdown during the first quarter in the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Memorial Stadium on September 21, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
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PISCATAWAY, NJ – SEPTEMBER 29: Jerome Washington #88 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights has a pass blocked by Reakwon Jones #7 of the Indiana Hoosiers during the fourth quarter at HighPoint.com Stadium on September 29, 2018 in Piscataway, New Jersey. Indiana won 24-17. (Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images)
PISCATAWAY, NJ – SEPTEMBER 29: Jerome Washington #88 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights has a pass blocked by Reakwon Jones #7 of the Indiana Hoosiers during the fourth quarter at HighPoint.com Stadium on September 29, 2018 in Piscataway, New Jersey. Indiana won 24-17. (Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images)

vs Rutgers – October 12th

To put it lightly, Rutgers is bad. They just lost to Michigan 52-0 and fired Chris Ash. Many probably thought he should have been let go before the season even started but the game against the Wolverines finally did him in.

The Scarlet Knights do have some talent on offense in Raheem Blackshear and Isaih Pacheco at running back and Artur Sitkowski at quarterback. But besides that, they are pretty thin. Their line is iffy at best and their defense is not very good either.

This is a game the Hoosiers must win if they want to go to a bowl game. They are better than Rutgers and need to go out and take care of business. The week off should help Indiana lick their wounds from their loss to the Spartans and get back on track.

Playing at home should be a bonus also, as Rutgers is not a good road team. The Scarlet Knights play Maryland this weekend before heading to Bloomington. They could win that game, but more than likely they will be on a four-game losing streak when the face the Hoosiers.

Unless Rutgers feeds off the coaching change, this shouldn’t be a problem for the Hoosiers. They just need to make sure they don’t let Rutgers hang around.

Prediction – Win