You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson Cast, Galen Claudio joining. Us solo tonight. It is the 20. 6th of October Thursday night Pod here as we get ready for this. Weekend's football action. Indiana travel into Penn. State not exactly A. Great. Place full of wonderful. Memories for. IU to play football, but we're going to talk. About the Game, regardless, as Indiana has got a win. If they don't want the season to
be over. And. They're running out of. Opportunities to do so. Five games left. Three on the road. And one of those games coming up here next. So we'll talk about here in just. A second first. Of all, just a couple reminders. First of all. Hello all of you. Out there who have recently subscribed to the sub. Stack and for those who haven't who are still listening on on on iTunes and and finding our episode listings on Facebook. Or or X. Just a reminder, we have started
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The code Home 23 for your first order. Get 15% off that purchase again. Home Field Apparel Proud Sponsor of the Back Home Network and Crimson Cast. We go ahead and jump in here, Indiana taking on Penn State and. You know, we'll talk a little bit here, I guess, about last. Week's game, now that it's in the rearview mirror. Yeah, that was a very. Very difficult game. And very, just very difficult to. Watch Indiana.
Lose the way that it did to. Rutgers 31 to 14, the final score and, you know, just a game. Where you know essentially by the time the. Fourth quarter started Indiana. Was statistically dead, I think that. Rutgers got to a 99% win. Probability with about 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Indiana just never showed any signs of life. On offense in that fourth quarter of play? Really. Really. Upsetting and disappointing and. You know, not a lot else to say. Beyond what we said in the.
Postgame press, Postgame press conference, right. Postgame Podcast on. Sunday other than you know, in reflection. You know, you look. At that game and you look at the. Position that Indiana was in. I mean, they really needed to win that game. They win that game. They're three and. 4. You know they're ahead of Michigan State. They weirdly at that point. They would have only. Been one game. Back in Maryland in the Big 10. East and at least then you feel like you've got. Some level of.
Balance in what? You have to do down the line every game. Isn't a must? Win at that point. You can. Still reasonably scrape through. And. You know, pick up. The wins that you. Need to get to a bowl? And Indiana loses that game and. Now they're two and five. They're. O and four in conference, and they're staring down the barrel. Of a bunch of. Games that are. You know, on. Paper somewhat winnable. But you look at Indiana's, you know, as a comp to the.
Teams that they're going to be playing. After this. Upcoming week Wisconsin, Illinois. Michigan State you can kind of put aside because of how. Just weird. And bad their season has been. And then? Of course, Purdue. And it feels like all of those teams with with the. Exception really of Michigan State have had. At least a moment. Where it felt like they were doing some positive things. I mean, you know, Purdue. Big blowout. Win at home against. Illinois, they won on the road.
Against Virginia Tech. Illinois. Big win on the road against Maryland. You know which. Is really kind of their only signature, but they also were. Close against. Wisconsin last week you. Know they weren't. They were completely embarrassed by. By Nebraska, you know Wisconsin who's been very up and down. But yeah, they've got wins against Purdue and. Rutgers and Illinois. And they weren't embarrassing. Against Iowa, they just couldn't. Score Indiana doesn't really have any of.
That and it's. It's really disappointing, you know, because. Even if you compare Indiana to Michigan. State who has not looked good at least. Michigan State has been in some games they they only. Lost by 10 to Iowa on the road. They only lost by. Three to Rutgers and were leading. In the fourth quarter. It'll be interesting. To see how they fare in their next. Couple of games they've got. Minnesota on the road, in Nebraska at home. And my biggest? Complaint with Indiana is that
they. You know, if you take the Louisville. Game out. They just haven't been in any of these games in the second-half we. Talked in the preview last week for this Rutgers. Game about. How Indiana was likely. Going to compete in that first half. And then Rutgers would adjust. And Indiana wouldn't and that would be it. And that's pretty much. Exactly what happened. Indiana looked fairly good defensively to start. And then just got. Ground into a pulp.
By Rutgers and and that. You know this is? One of those things that I we've been mentioning on the podcast as much. Focus has been placed. On Indiana's offense. Indiana's defense has. Just been bad. You know, and this is now another. Week where Indiana has. Surrendered at least 30. Points. To a Big 10 opponent and this is. A streak if you go. Back over the last two and a.
Half years now, Indiana has surrendered more than. 30 points to most of the teams that they played in Big 10 play, and that's just not. Getting the job done, I mean. Yes, the offense. Certainly needs to get. Better but. The fact that Indiana gives up 31 to. Rutgers a team that. Only runs the ball. I mean they. They only completed I think 5. Passes in that entire game. As we talked about in the post. Game. That's just. Not that's not acceptable. It's not good and it really makes.
It hard. You know if you, if you. You could have tried to talk yourself prior to the Rutgers. Game Into this team has a shot. And it's really hard to talk yourself. Into it at this point and. You know this is the absolute wrong. Team at the absolute wrong time for Indiana to be in this particular state, Penn State coming off a game. Where they They really did. Kind of embarrass. Themselves on the national stage again. You know they they. Lose it was only an 8 point.
Loss to Ohio State But what was? Embarrassing for Penn. State in this game. Was not the loss. But it was the fact that. You know this? Seemed like a team that potentially. Could have been, you know, able to beat Ohio State. Ohio State has not been that. Impressive so far this year, You know, they they had that skin of their teeth. Victory. Against Notre Dame, they obviously. You know, they they struggled a little bit against Indiana offensively, which was weird to
see. You know, they just, they haven't had the vibe of. The Ohio State. Dominant teams that we've seen over. The course of the last several seasons, you know, So it felt like this was a spot where Penn State. Could have picked them off they. Felt right for the. Picking, but Penn State has just been. Catastrophically bad in these top ten matchups over the course of James Franklin's career. And this was another one where they just. Couldn't get the job done when they needed. To and so.
Penn State. You know to some. Degree, again, has been. Relegated to the second tier of the big. 10 and now has to sit. By and and watch as Ohio State kind of coast through the rest of their. Schedule until the Michigan game. Under normal circumstances you'd. Look at what happened in that Ohio State game and you'd say, well, gosh, your Penn State can't. Compete there? Surely they. Can't compete against Michigan. The flip side, of course.
Being that Michigan seems to be. Completely falling apart thanks to this sign. Stealing scandal that's engulfed. Their program. To the point that it's hard to. Get your head wrapped around what they're even going to look like. Michigan. I mean down. The road. But, but even with all of that, you know Penn State lost the game that they had to win to really make themselves a competitor. And now they find themselves in a position. Where they're going to. You know.
Have to make up style points and that's what worries me about this week. Penn State on the season they're six and. 1. They are looking at a run out with games at home against Indiana this weekend, at Maryland next weekend, Michigan at home. The following week, Rutgers at home the. Week after that, and then at Michigan State, Penn State, and. I think this year really did harbor ambitions of being in the College Football Playoff and. The only way they're.
Going to be able to do that. Is if they. Blow the doors. Off of. Indiana and then. Win. The remainder of their. Games including beating Michigan. At home, which is doable, you know, But I think for now, there's there's so many questions about this Penn State offense and look. We know. Ohio State's defense is very difficult to go up against, but in the eyes of the. Voters the way that. Penn State lost that. Game and the way. That they performed.
Is going to. Disqualify them from serious playoff contention unless they make up a lot of ground here. Over the. Course of this. Next several weeks and. You know, you look at, you know, Penn State's offensive statistics drew aller the very young. Quarterback that they have. A 18 for 40. Two for 100. And 91 yards. And a touchdown like that? That's. Going to be real hard. To justify in terms. Of Oh yeah, we.
You know, we we. Would back Penn State as a team that would look good in the college. Football Playoff rushing wise, you know Penn State's top two backs only carry the ball 9. Times each 48 yards and then 26 yards, they're they're leading. Receiver only at 52 yards receiving. They just, they just didn't look up to the task offensively and so. That's what. Worries me the most about this game. Is that Penn? State is an absolute dire need of a big.
Offensive game and Indiana's defense has just not shown an ability to stop anybody in any phase of the game. You can throw in Indiana, you can. Run on Indiana. You. You really? You know, in almost everything, Indiana has struggled. Defensively, the one place where Indiana hasn't struggled weirdly enough is an allowing, explosive place. Indiana's actually, Quite. Good at limiting opponent explosiveness. The problem? Is that Penn State?
Doesn't rely on explosiveness. They are like one of the least explosive. Teams in college football they may be. The least explosive but. The flip side and just. For definition's sake, and I'm I'm borrowing off of Taylor Layman's cheat here from Bite Sized Bison. So go read this in more detail, but explosiveness is a metric which is. The you know, essentially. The average expected? Points added on successful plays, which means like the more. Yards you can.
Pick up on a. Play whether it's passing or. Running the more explosive it is, and Penn State just isn't really built for that. What they are built. For is very, very. Consistent success. They are. In the top 25 in offensive success. Rate they They score a lot of. Points, I mean, they're ninth in the country and points scored per game, they average about 40 points a game and. You know, you look at, you know what they do really well. In terms of their. Offense.
They're very good. Running the ball. Which that's. Bad news for Indiana, given that they just got. Run all over by Rutgers. And they're very good. At getting points on every drive. They're just, they're not. Great at generating. The the number of drives because they take a lot of time on each of those drives, but they. Also, don't turn the ball over, which is a problem because Indiana. Doesn't turn their opponents.
Over so you. You look at this in totality Penn State. You know while their. Offense has been. Kind of pedestrian, they. They do a good job of. Capitalizing when they do have opportunities and Indiana just does a bad job of defending. What Penn State does well on offense What? You know, so that's. That's to me, the biggest problem is that Penn State has to get a great. Offensive game, and I don't think Indiana's defense has shown themselves. Up to the task.
Of stopping an. Opposition like Penn State, who has a lot of really good players. And the fact that. You've got a young. Quarterback who you know. You tried to rely? On against Ohio State and you failed you. Don't have to do that against Indiana. Because you can just rely on your running. Attack. Conversely, offensively speaking, Indiana one of the worst offenses in the power. Five. And in terms of your rushing success? Points for opportunity
explosiveness. Points per drive one of the worst. Offenses in all of FBS, not just the Power 5. And Penn State is one of the best. Defenses. Their third in the nation in defense, according to S and. P plus their 7th. In the nation, in defense, according. To. Pro Football Focus their. Second, according to FBI. And their first in defensive success rate. Like they really do a good job. Of making you. Miserable offensively, and they. Force a lot of turnovers, their
10th in the country. And turnovers forced. It's. One of the few things Indiana's done well this year is not turn the ball over. An excessive amount on offense. This is the kind of. Game where I really worry about. Indiana turning the ball. Over a bunch. So when I look at this game. I try to figure out, you know, like you're not, you're a reasonable person, isn't walking into this game. Expecting Indiana to win? S&P plus is projecting A. 39 to
9 victory. For Penn State, a 30 point win, which. Might be about right that might. Actually, be conservative. It was certainly Conservative last week. When S&P plus projected a nine point Indiana loss and Indiana ended up losing by what, 17? You know, so I I try instead of. Gosh, Indiana's got to win the game. Because that really doesn't seem like a reasonable stance. I try instead. To focus on. Well, what can Indiana do in this game that might. Help to set themselves up for
the last four. Games which you know if you lose. This game you have. To win the last four and even, I mean even if you're going. To give a bowl. Eligibility which? Probably would be wise, you know, I think. If you. Can win two of your last four after. This one, that's not great. But at least you're treading water at that point. From last season and. As much as people. Are. Upset about the idea that that would be. Acceptable A It's not. Acceptable, but it's better than going backwards.
If you're an IU. Football fan You don't want to be three and nine. You don't want to be two and 10. So you you want to show some level of competitiveness, I think the. Big thing for Indiana in this game. You know they the fact that they had a couple of successful. Drives at the beginning. Of the last two. Games offensively? Is a small something. To. Potentially be happy about. And that is. We're talking incredibly small. Steps here we're talking about.
No, there's no need. Here just be like, oh, everything. 'S turning around because. It's clearly not, but it's also a situation where you can look at it and you can say, well, the fact. That Indiana. Managed to go out and have some level of offensive success early in the first quarter against Michigan in the. First and second quarters. Against Rutgers. You can at least take. Something out of that and I think for IU. As we go into. This Penn State game.
That has to be the goal if you're going to start Brendan Soresby again, which. Appears to be what? Tom Allen is planning on doing. Although who really knows you? You've kind of committed yourself at that point to a more running based attack and that is. Something that Indiana might continue to make some marginal gains in, especially if you think about the offensive line kind of reconfiguring itself. That way you still have the specter of potentially seeing Dexter Williams at some point.
We didn't get a whole lot of of ironclad thoughts on that from Tom Allen, other than that you know these apparently getting. Closer. Closer to what? We're not sure because that we would never be told that, but. But you know, Dexter. Apparently doing better. As far as his performance on on the. Practice. Field. And who knows, this might be a. Game where you?
You could see him for a drive or two, it it's hard to say, but you know Indiana at this point they they need to put some points on the board and I think they need to do it early. They need to make Penn State work a bit in this game because I think. You know if you're going to try to build towards the last four. Games of the year. You have to say to yourself, look as as bad as things have transpired so far this season. You. You put yourself in a position. Where?
You can kind of only go up if you're. If you're even halfway. Competitive for 1/2. Against Penn State, your fans are going to at. Least view that as. A small victory, you know, as part of a much larger. Loss. And. If you can keep Penn State from just rolling over. You and stymieing you and in both phases of play, then you know that gives you a good sense of what that level of. Competition is, and you're not going to have to play that level of competition again.
That's your last. Really Like, horrifically tough. Game of the season, and maybe it sets the table for giving your offense especially. Some confidence as they head into the game the following week, which I think is important. Because Wisconsin is not the same caliber as Penn State. And what, you know, while Indiana's defense will probably struggle against the four and five star caliber talent of a Penn State, they might play better. You would hope.
Against teams that are about a notch or so down of that. And I think Wisconsin certainly falls into that category. So I. You know, I guess. What? I'm leaving this game preview with IS. I'm not. Expecting an Indiana win? And I would, you know, I think the big thing Indiana can do is a not get injured if at all possible. But B, try to set the table for building some confidence internally. You know, we've obviously been very critical. Of Tom Allen. And the coaching staff, but I
agree with. What Allen said in his. Press conference, I think it was either after the game or or it might have been the two. The Monday press conference I forget. Which one? But you know A. Lot of it now is is. Trying to keep your. Team from losing faith. And. Just kind of checking out on the season now. Some would argue that. That might have happened already, but I I, I. Do think that there's you know if you can hit the reset button one more time and and try to get.
Squeeze some juice out of things here, you know, maybe you can reset. And go down the stretch in a positive way, I I'd be surprised. I mean, I. Feel like if. That was going to happen. It would have happened last weekend against Rutgers. And now you got to go into. Essentially, play Penn State at the at the height of their irritation over what happened. In that Michigan game. So this is not the most optimistic of podcasts.
I'll be honest. It was one of those where I didn't even want to invite somebody on because there's not a lot to talk. About other than well. Gosh, the statistics look real bad for. Indiana and. Indiana look real bad last week, and real bad the week before and real bad the week. Before that, and it's almost at this point, it's like there's. Not even that interesting stuff in terms of personnel going on. There's some. Shuffling, going around on
defense. Unfortunately, Noah Pierre looks like he's going to be out for the rest of the season. And on offense, I guess, the quarterback. Situation has finally been settled. And you know, Indiana has been getting some some decent contributions from different running backs, which. Is is interesting to? Watch. And you know, certainly that's. That's not. Something to ignore but. Yeah, you look at. Last week in terms of. Of running. Overall, you know Trent Howland, 9 carries, 54 yards.
That's nice to see. Soresby 11 carries for. 49 yards and a touchdown. That's nice to see. I'd really like to see Jaylen. Lucas, get back into the mix and yeah, it's part of the problem. I think is just opposing teams know they just key on Jaylen Lucas. And they're not going to let him get. Free for yardage. Because they know that he can be damaging and I think the perception is well they.
You know, IU doesn't really have anybody else that can hurt us as much as Jalen. Lucas can at least carrying the ball. And so that that might be something to watch. Can Indiana find a way to get Jalen Lucas back into the ball game? And you know, can you they get him on tracked and special teams because he has certainly not had the year of special teams that you would have. Hoped especially. After the first game, so I think I my.
Pick In this game, I think Indiana loses 45 to 6. I think Penn State might run out of gas, you know. Late in the second-half, I think. Indiana's going to really struggle to score. And, you know, six points. Might that might be too pessimistic, but I also think Penn State's. Going to have something to prove and I think they're going to come out from the very. Beginning of the game, trying to prove it and that is going to create some problems for Indiana. So.
So hopefully Indiana's able to to put a better fight up that I'm predicting at this point. We'll see what happens. And we got a a big. Weekend coming up, obviously as IU gets ready for their. First exhibition. Game in men's basketball. Women's basketball practice is fully. Underway and a bunch of other important. Stuff going on Indiana volleyball going to be in action. Indiana men's soccer going to be in action. Indiana women's soccer going to be in action, so a big weekend
in general. For IU Athletics and we hope that football can hopefully add positive vibes to the party. As they take on Penn State national television Audience noon on. CBS. Always good to have your brand out there, not sure if the actual. On field is going to. Be what Indiana's hoping. For but hey, as I always say, you'd rather be bad. On national television than good with nobody. Watching. That's. Just kind of the rule of.
Sports these days, at least at the college level Anyway, That'll wrap it up. We'll keep this one short. I really appreciate everybody. Listening in thanks to our friends at the Back Home Network. Thanks. To our friends. At home field. Apparel representing sponsor, Be sure to check. Out the Indiana. Women's basketball preview. Podcast by the Crimson Cass Women's Basketball Show that is up on the feed as well. Be sure to check out Scott. 'S interviews with Mike Decorcy.
And Alex Bozich, Some really good. Podcasting there for all those folks I mentioned and everybody else. I'm GAIL and Clavio saying thanks for joining us again here on Crimson Cast. We'll catch you folks. On the flip side, bring back the. Bison so on everybody.