Indiana Football Notebook: Final thoughts, takeaways from week five

The Indiana football program fell 44-17 to Maryland on Saturday afternoon, dropping to 2-3 on the season.

With a bye week upcoming, there are a lot of questions surrounding the program. But, there is also a lot to discuss about Saturday’s blowout loss for Indiana.

There were some key takeaways from Saturday’s performance, so let’s dive in.

Quarterback change incoming?

After naming Tayven Jackson the official starter heading into week three, back-to-back poor starts for the redshirt freshman could make way for a change at the position.

With a struggling offense … again … a change was made midway through the third quarter. Down 27-3, Jackson was benched for fellow redshirt-freshman Brendan Sorsby. Sorsby led Indiana to 14 points while throwing for 84 yards and two touchdowns on 7-of-11 passing.

Jackson was 17-of-29 passing for 113 yards and one interception.

“We needed a spark. (We were) looking for something,” Allen said. “Obviously, we’ve got two quarterbacks that have proven they can play, so felt like Brendan has earned the right to have that opportunity. He (Jackson) knows you’ve got to play well if you want to continue to play your position. So everybody’s in that same boat.

“Brendan came in there and made some plays, but obviously they (Maryland) had some guys subbed out as well.”

Jackson has gone 28-of-55 for 303 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in his last two starts. While the play calling continues to be suspect, the Indiana football offense has clearly struggled.

We’ll see if any changes are made and while the quarterback play hasn’t been great, that’s not the issue.

Offensive production and play calling at an all-time low … and I’m sick of the ‘execution’ talk

Indiana’s play calling with Walt Bell has been heavily scrutinized over the last two years and these first few weeks haven’t changed anyone’s opinion of the offensive coordinator.

To put it simply, the offense has been terrible. Not bad, but terrible. And, all of the ‘execution’ talk that Tom Allen and Walt Bell have stressed over the last few weeks have fallen on deaf ears.

Let’s take a look at some of the drives and key plays for Indiana on Saturday:

A third-and-two play on Maryland’s six yard line for Indiana resulted in a loss of one run. It was Indiana’s first drive and resulted in a field goal.

The next two drives resulted in six plays for -15 yards. Then, two drives later was a 15-play and 79-yard drive that resulted in a fourth-and-six incompletion at Maryland’s 14 yard line. The next drive was a triple-option on fourth-and-one, resulting in a loss of 11 yards.

Indiana had six drives with five or less plays — five of them were punts and one was an interception.

“Well, I think for the fourth downs, where they occurred, you’re just trying to find a way to stay on the field,” Allen said. ” … we were down the way we were and we needed to get something going right away to give us a chance to win the game … I think we need to execute the calls better from what I saw. There were a lot of receivers open, a lot of opportunities to make proper reads and didn’t do that. So to me, that’s really what I saw today. Obviously haven’t watched the film yet. But there’s no question, everything is going to be evaluated, without a doubt. But at the same time, tonight’s game was execution to me.”

Bye week upcoming — what will change? If anything …

The ‘much-needed’ bye week is here and for the Indiana football program, will anything change?

Tom Allen made it clear on Saturday night that everything would be looked at.

“We’re going to use this bye week to make a lot of evaluations on things and find a way to get better,” Allen said. “We’ve got to be productive. We’ve got to look at guys that are making plays and those that are not. At every single position.”

The clear position is at quarterback, but that’s not the route of the struggles. Will Walt Bell be calling plays come the next time Indiana hits the field? We’ll see. It’s clear this offense isn’t getting any better and quite honestly may look worse at times than last year.

Indiana needs to get things figured out in a way that doesn’t let them win games … but just lets them go on the field and be competitive. Think about that. Indiana is 2-18 in the last 20 Big Ten games with an average margin of loss in the 18 games of 22.4 points. 10 losses have been by 20+ points.

Figure it out.

Other Quick Hits:

• No rushing attack again. Indiana had 3.1 yards per carry for 116 yards. This is the fourth time in five weeks that Indiana has averaged 3.1 yards per carry or less. Christian Turner continues to find success, however. He led the team with 15 carries for 61 yards.
• Donaven McCulley was a bright spot. Could it be his breakout game? He had six receptions for 79 yards and one touchdown.
• Indiana held the ball for 17 more minutes than Maryland and totaled 151 less yards on 21 more plays. IU averaged just 4.1 yards per play.
• There was absolutely no defensive pressure. 0 sacks, 0 QB hurries, and just three tackles for loss. No wonder Taulia Tagovailoa was able to finish with a stat line of 24-of-34 for 352 yards and five touchdowns.

Game Highlights: