Quick Hitters: What questions Indiana football needs to answer during bye week

The Indiana football heads into its bye week limping … and with numerous questions to answer.

At 2-3, Indiana is coming off of a blowout loss to Maryland 44-17 and sit at 0-2 in Big Ten play.

The Hoosiers have now limped through the last few weeks and look like an extremely defeated team, despite having a lot of momentum just two weeks ago following a terrific second half against Louisville.

So, what does Indiana need to focus on and what key questions need to be answered this week? Let’s dive in.

What will the offense look like under Rod Carey? I don’t think it was much of a surprise to the fan base to see offensive coordinator Walt Bell be relieved of his duties following Saturday’s loss — it was a constant struggle for the year and a half that Bell had control over the offense. But, where does the offensive unit go from here? Rod Carey takes over the play-calling duties and has a lot of questions to answer — but the key one is what will the offense look like? The identity of the offense heading into this past week was a run-first scheme with an option element included. Well, that failed to work. Through five games this year, Indiana is 13th in scoring offense in the Big Ten and 12th in rushing offense. Indiana’s 3.2 yards per carry this season is ranked 13th and there has been just one game — against FCS Indiana State, when Indiana football has run for more than 3.1 yards a carry.

The Hoosiers have seen some talent come in the quick passing game and with talented players such as Cam Camper, Donaven McCulley, Dequece Carter and others, the wide receiver position shouldn’t be this underutilized. Will Jaylin Lucas be more effective in the passing attack? He has to be. Following his 10-catch, 98-yard game against Louisville, he has totaled just four receptions for two yards in the last two games — going without a reception against Akron.

Who is playing quarterback next week … and the remainder of the season? Look, there is no question Tayven Jackson has struggled in the last two games, but he’s a guy you went with for a reason following two weeks of the season. Now, after just three starts, you’re going to bench him? I don’t think that can happen. Jackson has thrown for 862 yards with a 61.2 percent completion rate this season but has combined for just 28-of-55 for 303 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in the last two games. Jackson was benched in the third quarter against Maryland for Brendan Sorsby — who led the Hoosiers to 14 of the team’s 17 points.

My opinion – you keep Jackson as the starter and you let his talent and strengths dictate the offense. He’s shown potential but it appeared the playbook was too small and didn’t fully allow for the ‘potential’ to really grow. Keep Jackson under center and roll with him the rest of the year. What do you have to lose?

Can the defense bounce back after some shaky performances? After some explosive plays in the first half against Louisville, the second-half performance from the defensive unit for Indiana football was fantastic. Then, it struggled to contain a running quarterback for Akron in DJ Irons. Against Maryland, it was a total letdown. Not only were there explosive plays, the inability to get to the quarterback, or even in the backfield, was a major flaw.

There were zero sacks, QB hurries and only three tackles for loss on Saturday. Indiana gave up 14.7 yards per completion, 8.2 yards per play and a total of 472 yards and five touchdowns. It was clearly the worst performance from the unit this season, but it was a continuation of some trends that started to pop up against Louisville and Akron. There were five passing plays of at least 20 yards and four rushing plays of at least 15 yards. In total, Maryland had 12 plays of over 15+ passing yards or 10+ rushing yards.

Should Christian Turner be the lead back moving forward? After discussing how ineffective the rushing attack has been this season for the Indiana football program, that does comes with an asterisk. Christian Turner has been the lone back who has consistently proven to be able to move the ball on the ground, and that continued against Maryland. He finished with 15 carries for 61 yards, a 4.1 average.

In the last two weeks, Turner has put up 28 carries for 128 yards and one touchdown — good enough for an average of 4.6 yards per carry. He had just 12 carries on the year going into the Akron game, but an injury to Josh Henderson has opened the door for Turner to get a lot of additional touches. He had just 12 carries for 49 yards and one touchdown in the first three weeks. With Henderson potentially sidelined for longer, Turner could be — and should be — a guy who gets a bulk of the carries, with Jaylin Lucas sprinkled in as a change of pace runner or for heavy passing downs.

More: Indiana football set for FOX’s Big Noon kickoff for matchup at Michigan

Other Quick Notes:

• Two full weeks of preparation — will Indiana actually come prepared to put up a fight against Michigan? ‘Execution’ has been the talk of Bloomington for much of the last 10 days … it hasn’t helped. Will this week help? Time will tell.
• What’s up with Cam Camper? After back-to-back weeks of very promising performances, he didn’t receive a target and was off on the sidelines at one point without his helmet. Could be injury related or something else, but one of the two best players on the roster should never go without a catch.
• It’s a critical moment for Indiana this season. There is still a lot of season left, but how this week turns out will determine the rest of the year.
• Was it a breakout game for Donaven McCulley on Saturday? The second-year wideout went for 79 yards and one touchdown on six receptions — his best game since making the transition to wide receiver. With his size, speed and strength, he’s a big potential playmaker for Indiana. Could be a turning point in his development.