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Grading Indiana football's 31-14 loss to Rutgers

michael niziolek, the herald-times
·2 min read
Indiana's Jaylin Lucas (12) runs during the first half of the Indiana versus Rutgers football game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 21. 2023.

BLOOMINGTON — One team clinched bowl eligibility at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

Hint: It wasn't Indiana football.

The Hoosiers dropped their third straight game dropping to 2-5 (0-4 Big Ten) this season against a Rutgers team that will now head to the postseason for the first time since 2014.

Here's the Hoosiers report card for Week 7….

OFFENSE: F

Indiana backup running back Trent Howland showed some nice burst and finally got some carries in meaningful moments. There weren't many other positives. Yes, Indiana's offense was sharp on the opening possession, but it didn't do anything of note until the final three minutes with the game already lost. Brendan Sorsby's one nice throw came against a blown coverage, but he didn't look like the immediate answer to get the Hoosiers offense out of the prolonged slump they are in.

DEFENSE: F

Indiana had some (very) brief moments of success, mostly isolated to the second quarter. They had a red zone stand to force a field goal, held Rutgers to 1 of 5 on third down and forced a turnover on downs. Rutgers dominated the rest of the game by simply running up the middle. Scarlet Knights quarterback Gavin Wimsett attempted maybe one (two at most) passes 10 yards in the air. The Hoosiers simply couldn’t generate enough push to disrupt Rutgers’ plan of attack.

SPECIAL TEAMS: F-

Allowing a special teams touchdown is an automatic fail in my book, and Indiana failed hard on Saturday when they allowed Rutgers to block a punt and return it for a score to start the second quarter.

The Hoosiers allowed multiple unblocked defenders to get through on the play and the blocked kick went right into the hands of defensive back Shaquan Loyal. Rutgers gave some exotic looks on special teams, but the coaches should have burned a timeout with players clearly confused. That would have been enough to earn the poor grade, but Jaylin Lucas fumbled an attempted fair catch at the end of the first half that resulted in a field goal.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on Twitter @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Handing out grades for Indiana football's loss to Rutgers