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106 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED I ndiana gets one big piece of its puzzle back, but loses an even bigger one. The Hoosiers will be ecstatic over the return of quarterback Nate Sud- feld from the injury that cut short his 2014 season and put IU in a difficult spot at the most important position on the field. But at the same time, it'll be impossible to replace star running back Tevin Coleman, one of the best in the country in 2014. Coleman was a veritable one- man show for Indiana, running for more than 2,000 yards, despite be- ing opponents' sole focus; scoring 15 touchdowns; and rushing for more than a hundred yards in all but one of IU's dozen games. But … "As good as Tevin was, Nate Sudfeld was probably the more im- portant player," said Matt Weaver, who covers Indiana for Rivals.com. "They had no one to replace him." That was painfully apparent during the back half of the season, after true freshman Zander Dia- mont was pulled out of redshirt un- der emergency circumstances. IU threw one touchdown in the final six games. Now, though, Sudfeld returns, again in a situation where Indiana can't afford for him to get hurt. With the veteran back under cen- ter, look for Indiana to be far more balanced than it was late last sea- son, when it lost five in a row be- fore sneaking past Purdue at home in the finale. 8/30 INDIANA STATE . . . . . W, 28-10 9/13 at Bowling Green . . . . L, 42-45 9/20 at Missouri . . . . . . . . W, 31-27 9/27 MARYLAND . . . . . . . . L, 15-37 10/4 NORTH TEXAS . . . . . . W, 49-24 10/11 at Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . L, 29-45 10/18 MICHIGAN STATE. . . . L, 17-56 11/1 at Michigan . . . . . . . . L, 10-34 11/8 PENN STATE. . . . . . . . . L, 7-13 11/15 at Rutgers . . . . . . . . . L, 23-45 11/22 at Ohio State . . . . . . . L, 27-42 11/29 PURDUE . . . . . . . . . . . W, 23-16 Who's in Charge? COACH KEVIN WILSON Record at Indiana: 14-34 (four seasons) Record vs. Purdue: 2-2 Indiana Hoosiers 2015 OPPONENT PRE VIE W N OV. 28 • RO S S - A D E S TA D I U M, W E S T L A FAYE T T E • T I M E: T BA • T V: T BA 9/5 S. ILLINOIS 9/12 FIU 9/19 W. KENTUCKY 9/26 at Wake Forest 10/3 OHIO STATE 10/10 at Penn State 10/17 RUTGERS 10/24 at Michigan State 11/7 IOWA 11/14 MICHIGAN 11/21 at Maryland 11/28 at Purdue 2014 Results (4-8) 2015 Schedule OF NOTE: Running back Jordan Howard's 1,587 yards at UAB last season has been topped by only three Indiana running backs in its history: Tevin Coleman (2,036), Vaughn Dunbar (1,805) and Anthony Thompson (1,793 and 1,686). One lies at quarterback, where last year's bowl-game rotation of Jake Ru- dock and C.J. Beathard ended in Ru- dock transferring to Michigan, of all places, for his senior season. Beathard threw just 92 passes in nine appearances last season, but did enough in Iowa's 45-28 TaxSlay- er Bowl loss to Tennessee for Iowa to name him the 2015 starter almost im- mediately afterward. In Beathard, Iowa has committed to the quarterback with the most lively arm, hoping to rely heavily on a pass- ing game that was actually the sec- ond-most productive in Big Ten games last season, throwing for just under 250 yards per game. Now, weapons are a question, be- side solid wide receiver Tevaun Smith and tight end Jake Duzey, once he re- turns from the patellar tendon injury that'll idle him for up to the first month of the season. Iowa hopes running backs Jordan Canzeri and LeShun Daniels will comprise a strong 1-2 punch in its backfield, but like any running game, they'll need help. Iowa lost both its offensive tackles from last season, including first-round NFL pick Brandon Scherff, a bedrock of its offense last season. "For Iowa's offense to be successful, they have to be able to block people," Kakert said. "That might be the big- gest key to the season for them offen- sively." Defensively, Iowa has to improve up front, and that won't be easy as de- fensive tackles Carl Davis and Louis Trinca-Pasat leave a gaping void with their absences and Iowa's linebackers all across the board come off a season in which they struggled. Iowa allowed nearly 200 rushing yards per game in Big Ten games last season, not what it is accustomed to historically. Its Big Ten-best pass defense from a year ago, though, returns almost en- tirely intact, so the Hawkeyes should again be very difficult to throw against. — Brian Neubert