GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 12 • 10
may be determined if Purdue can
manage Coleman to the extent
of not letting him rip off the long
runs. He has had six scoring runs
of over 45 yards in conference
play in 2014.
The Hoosiers' season took a
major negative turn in a Game 6
loss to Iowa. IU was 3-2 and had
already beaten Missouri on the
road, arguably the signature out-
of-conference victory for the Big
Ten this season. While the Hawk
-
eyes jumped out to a 21-0 lead
in the first quarter, the Hoosiers'
problems were far more signifi-
cant than the initial onslaught. In
the contest, starting quarterback
Nate Sudfeld was lost for the sea-
son with a shoulder injury after
throwing for 1,157 yards and six
touchdowns with just three inter-
ceptions in just over five games.
"The loss was devastating
to this team, but as bad as los-
ing Sudfeld was backup Chris
Covington went down to a knee
injury, too, and that was also ex-
tremely problematic," Weaver
said. "(Coach Kevin) Wilson was
forced to go with Zander Di-
amont, who was running the
scout team at the time."
And it has been a struggle
for Diamont, who managed just
103 yards through the air in first
three games total. The last two,
he has managed to reach tri-
ple digits in each outing, but it
hasn't been enough to bring the
Hoosiers a victory.
"He is getting better each
week and has the green light
to do some more things for us,"
Wilson told reporters earlier this
week. "We know he has a long
ways to go, but we need him to
make enough plays for us to have
a chance to win a game against a
team like Purdue."
Senior receiver Shane Wynn
has seen his role as a big-play
receiver diminish after
the change at quarter
-
back, but Hazell knows
he will have to watch
him closely, especially
in special teams.
"He's a dynamic
player, he's quick and
he has a way of find-
ing those seams," Hazell
said about Wynn, who
has taken both a punt
and kickoff to the house during
his Hoosier career. "He catches
everything on the punts. So we've
got to make sure we don't over-
run him on the punt returns but
we also have got to do a good job
of corralling him on the kickoff
returns to make sure he doesn't
get started."
Defensively, the Hoosiers
have improved from last year,
but are still last in the league in
scoring, giving up 38.9 points in
conference games. Yet, yardage
totals are down from last year.
"They play this odd front,
especially on first and second
down, they play a nose and we're
calling them ends that are play-
ing over top our tackles and leav-
ing the guards uncovered," Hazell
said of the IU defensive scheme.
"I think they're probably going to
bring an extra guy for us. If I had
to guess, they will probably play
a little more man coverage. They
have not played a lot of man cov-
erage on first and second downs,
so the question will be what are
they going to do against us early
on first and second down?"
This game is a big one for Wil-
son. He has a 5-26 record in four
seasons in Big Ten play, actually
one game shy of his predecessor
Bill Lynch.
But Weaver thinks Wilson will
get another year, at least, regard-
less of the result Saturday.
"This was a team that looked
headed to the postseason un-
til Sudfeld went down," Weaver
said. "And when you consider
Indiana football has only been
to one bowl game in 20 years, I
think the feeling is they need to
give Wilson more time to get this
figured out, and barring a col-
lapse in the Bucket game, I think
they will."
j
OPPONENT NEWSSTAND
Peegs.com: Coach TV: Wilson talks Bucket game
IndyStar.com: Retaining Bucket would help IU salvage season
IndyStar.com: Wilson makes plea (again) for Hoosiers to show
consistency
IndyStar.com: Wynn's contributions measured by stats and laughs, not
inches
IDSNews.com: Johns: "I need to send Shane Wynn out of here a winner"
IDSNews.com: How much would Sudfeld actually changed things?
Tom Campbell
Despite only winning five conference games in four years at Indiana, Kevin Wilson will likely get
more time to figure things out.
