O’Connor: Hoosiers face must-win vs. North Texas
By COLLIN O’CONNOR
ISL Correspondent
The beauty of sports is that there is always another chance.
Another play, another game, another season. After last week’s disappointing loss to Maryland, it is safe to assume that the Indiana football team is chomping at the bit to get another go of it this week against the North Texas Mean Green.
Expectations around Bloomington were higher than they have been since coach Kevin Wilson arrived after the Hoosiers notched an impressive win against then-No. 18 Missouri the previous week.
It all fell apart against Maryland. Indiana had trouble stopping the Terrapins from moving the ball — Maryland passed for 361 yards in a 37-15 win over the Hoosiers. Even as the Terrapins’ starting quarterback was forced to leave the game due to an injury, their backup, Caleb Row, completed 12 of 18 passes for 198 yards and a touchdown.
Indiana’s offense struggled, too. Nate Sudfeld passed for just 126 yards and completed fewer than 40 percent of his passes. Tevin Coleman was the lone bright spot as he again rushed for over 100 yards and scored a touchdown.
This week, it will be important for both the offense and defense to find rhythm. The Mean Green comes into the game with a 2-2 record, including a win over Southern Methodist and a 77-3 stomping over Nicholls State a week ago.
And, even though they come in as a non-conference opponent from a non-power six conference, North Texas’ defense leads the nation in sacks and ranks 11th in total rush defense.
Every game from this point is critical if Indiana plans on playing in a bowl game this winter for the first time since 2007. The winnable games have turned into must-wins after the losses to Bowling Green and Maryland, and this is one of them.
