Indiana football vs. Akron: Scouting report, prediction

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football can’t afford a misstep on Saturday night when it hosts Akron at Memorial Stadium, but it’s hard to view this game as anything else as a tune up for the rest of the Big Ten schedule.

The Hoosiers talent level has improved from last year and this group is more than capable of blowing out a Zips team in the midst of a disastrous stretch that started with a winless season in 2019.

Akron has won six games since then and just two weeks ago struggled to get past an FCS team in Morgan State.

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Indiana will take the win, but the game won’t alter the narrative about the program in desperate need of a win over a Power Five program.

Don’t sugarcoat it: Akron’s offense is bad

Like real bad.

Akron is in the bottom ten in the FBS out of 133 teams in scoring (16.0 points per game), second to last in rushing (42.3 yards per game) and 131st in total offense (262.7 yards per game).

The Zips have yet to put up 300 total yards of offense in a game, an offense that Allen said will try to spread out IU’s defense and try to throw them off with a “lot of misdirection.”

While the passing game is ranked slightly higher, the offensive line has given up 13 sacks (only four teams have given up more) and starting quarterback DJ Irons has already been benched once this season.

That makes this matchup a prime opportunity for IU’s defense to put its stamp on the game.

Could this be the week the Hoosiers force three turnovers? That’s a weekly goal Tom Allen has for his team, but one they have only reached once going back to 2021 (they forced four turnovers in the 2022 opener against Illinois).

“We need more disruptful plays,” Allen said, during his radio show on Wednesday night.

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The secondary will be looking to bounce back from a shaky performance against Louisville. Akron has only seven pass plays this season of 20-yards or more and the quarterbacks are 2-of-12 for 89 yards on pass attempts of 20-yards or more from the line of scrimmage.

Indiana should be able to keep everything in front of them on Saturday night.

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Akron’s strength through three games is a run defense ranked tied for 26th in the FBS (91.7 yards allowed per game). The Zips’ first two opponents averaged less than three yards per carry and even Kentucky struggled.

The Wildcats had had 135 rushing yards, but two carries — a 55-yard run and 45-yard run — accounted for most of that yardage. They averaged 1.6 yards per carry on their 20 other carries.

Defensive end CJ Nunnally and linebacker Bryan McCoy have been leading the way. According to Pro Football Focus, Nunnally has a 90.1 run defense grade that ranks 21st among all defenders in the FBS.

Indiana made a big deal during the preseason about how they would emphasize the run, but haven’t followed through on that.

Some of that had to do with trying to evaluate Tayven Jackson and Brendan Sorsby as passers through the first two weeks of the season. Louisville stacked the box last week to make things difficult for IU’s rushing attack.

Jackson, who was making only his second career start, thrived under the circumstances. He was 24 of 34 with 299 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception. Lucas finished the game with 10 catches (a career high) for 98 yards (two shy of his career high).

It wouldn’t be surprising to see similar stat lines for the two this weekend if Josh Henderson and Christian Turner can’t get going as has been the case this season.

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Names to watch…on the injury list

Indiana has some players it would like to get healthy for when it heads to College Park. The injury report last week included Turner, corners Kobee Minor and Nic Toomer, offensive lineman Matthew Bedford and receiver E.J. Williams.

Turner (ankle) hasn’t been healthy all season.

He only had two carries for nine yards last week and only has 12 carries on the season. It’s probably time to rest the Wake Forest transfer to get him back to 100 percent.

The Hoosiers have relied on a more cautious approach with Bedford, who they tried to hold out last week. He was forced into action against Louisville after his replacement Max Longman suffered an undisclosed injury.

Could IU afford to rest Bedford if Longman isn’t available? It might not be an issue since Allen said Bedford was trending in the right direction earlier in the week, but it’s something to watch.

Indiana really felt Toomer’s absence last week.

He missed the game with an undisclosed injury and Allen hasn’t revealed anything about his status for this weekend. The Stanford transfer was the team’s top corner through the first two weeks and has the most experience at the position for the Hoosiers.

It might make sense to hold him back to ensure he’s in the lineup against a Maryland team averaging 304 passing yards a game.

Prediction: Indiana 38, Akron 10

Kentucky let Akron hang around in a three turnover effort and somehow went into halftime with only a 14-0 lead after allowing only 72 yards of offense. Indiana should win handily, but after an up-and-down start of the season Allen is going to want a cleaner effort and a fast start like it had against Indiana State. This will act as a confidence-builder for a must-win game (for bowl purposes) against Maryland.

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: Previewing Indiana football's Week 4 matchup against Akron