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Indiana Football: Are 8 wins possible for the Hoosiers?

By Adam Childs

BLOOMINGTON, IN - OCTOBER 12: Nick Westbrook #15 of the Indiana Hoosiers celebrates after making a touchdown in the first quarter of the game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Memorial Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN - OCTOBER 12: Nick Westbrook #15 of the Indiana Hoosiers celebrates after making a touchdown in the first quarter of the game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Memorial Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images) /
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The Indiana Hoosiers dominated Rutgers on Saturday to get their fourth win. Can they ride that momentum for the rest of the year and reach eight wins?

A week ago we took a look at the Hoosier’s chances to make a bowl game. We thought the Hoosiers could get to seven wins but that would include an upset and a win against a pesky Northwestern team at home. I think most IU fans would be happy with seven wins and a bowl appearance, but could the Hoosiers make it a little more exciting and get to eight wins?

Currently, the Hoosiers sit at 4-2 on the year with their losses being to Ohio State and Michigan State. While Indiana almost upset the Spartans nobody truly expected them to win either one of those games.

They also still must play at Penn State and home against Michigan. The Nittany Lions are going to be very tough to beat in Happy Valley and even though the Wolverines have looked vulnerable at times, they seem to always take care of the teams behind them and until proven otherwise the Hoosiers are behind them. So if you take the two losses the Hoosiers already have and if they lose to Penn State and Michigan that would leave them with four losses.

But could the Hoosiers win the other four games on their schedule? We originally picked them to win three of them, but it looks like the Hoosiers could be favored in every game moving forward.

According to the ESPN matchup predictor, they are now a slight favorite against Maryland and a slight underdog at Nebraska the next week.

The other two games they have are at home against Northwestern and at Purdue. Not guaranteed wins but two teams the Hoosiers match up well against. Win all of those game and suddenly the Hoosiers would be at eight wins, something no one would have expected coming into the season.

A week ago it looked like it could be tough for the Hoosiers to go into Maryland and Nebraska to win, but both teams looked awful on Saturday and the Hoosiers now look like the better team.

The Terrapins have forgotten how to score after exploding onto the scene at the beginning of this year. Nebraska seems to be in a freefall. At least they have a bye before they play Indiana, but they have not looked good.

Next. Indiana's best chance at an upset. dark

So could the Hoosiers get to eight wins? Let’s not get too excited but they have a better than average chance to do it. It would be the first time since 1993 that the Hoosiers got to eight wins. In fact, it has been 12 years since the Hoosiers even got to seven wins. Could this be the year they break through and get to eight and possibly nine with a bowl game?

Indiana still needs to beat the teams they should and win the tougher roads games, but if Saturday proved anything they can take care of business when they have to. With freshman Michael Penix Jr at quarterback, this offense has looked pretty good as he has developed a good rapport with Whop Philyor. If the defense can step up and get enough stops, this team has a great shot at eight wins.

Who at the beginning of the year would have predicted that?

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