Indiana Football: 3 takeaways from win vs Maryland

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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) /

3. Wide Receiver Depth Showed

Don’t get me wrong, the wideouts for Indiana have played well all season long, but on Saturday they showed why depth can sometimes trump talent.

It has been widely known how effective Whop Philyor has been game in and game out, but usually if your star wide receiver is held to just two catches for six yards, a win is not in the formula.

That wasn’t the case for IU, however. It was Peyton Hendershot and Nick Westbrook that stepped up and broke out of their slumps. Hendershot, who was the leading receiver for the Hoosiers for the first couple of weeks, had struggled the past two games with Philyor receiving a lot of the balls. Against Maryland though, Hendershot finished with six catches for 95 yards.

For Nick Westbrook, the former 1,000 yard receiver has yet to really breakthrough but coming out after the bye week, he has found his groove. With 11 catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns combined in the past two weeks, his six catch and 75-yard outing on Saturday was another reminder that he is still one of the top talents in the Big Ten.

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The often times forgotten member of the wide receiving core, Ty Fryfogle, added four catches for 63 yards, continuing to be a frequent ball catcher for either QB.

Overall, nine players caught a pass on Saturday with seven catching two or more balls.

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