Indiana vs. Rutgers Fearless Prediction, Game Preview

By Pete Fiutak | October 10, 2019 12:49 am CT

Indiana vs. Rutgers fearless prediction and game preview.

Indiana vs. Rutgers Broadcast

Date: Saturday, October 12
Game Time: 12:00 ET
Venue: Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, IN
Network: BTN

Indiana (3-2) vs. Rutgers (1-4) Game Preview

Why Rutgers Will Win

So how’d it all go in the first game of the Nunzio Campanile era?

Okay, so it wasn’t good in he 48-7 loss to Maryland, but this week the Scarlet Knights get an Indiana team that might just have the right problems for this to be a battle.

The Rutgers offensive line isn’t playing poorly – it’s giving the array of quarterbacks time to work – and Indiana isn’t generating enough of a pass rush to be a problem.

The Hoosiers are also having turnover issues – Rutgers has to come up with at least three takeaways and capitalize on them all. Yeah, that’s been a problem so far – the Scarlet Knight D has just three takeaways – but this is the game to turn it loose and take some chances. There IU running game isn’t consistent enough to worry about, so it has to force mistakes from …

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Why Indiana Will Win

Michael Penix.

He might not be 100% healthy, but that didn’t matter a few weeks ago in the loss to Michigan State. Accurate and dangerous when he gets into a groove, he hit 79% of his passes for 286 yards and three scores without a pick in the battle against one of the nation’s better defenses.

On the other side, the defense might not be a rock so far statistically, but it also had to deal with Ohio State and Michigan State – it was more than fine against all the lightweights on the slate.

And that’s Rutgers.

There’s just nothing the Scarlet Knights can consistently rely on to work. The passing game is a disaster with No. 3 quarterback Johnny Langan thrown into the mix with Artur Sitkowski sitting out and Texas Tech transfer McLane Carter being forced to give up football.

Making matters worse is the decision of RB Raheem Blackshear – the team’s most explosive offensive weapons – to sit out and redshirt.

Just a few points should get this done for IU.

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What’s Going To Happen

Indiana might not be perfect, but it’ll be able to score in the first half, and that will be it. The Rutgers offense just doesn’t have any punch or scoring ability. There’s nothing happening deep, the running game won’t be able to take over, and there won’t be enough long drives against an IU team that’s great at controlling the clock.

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