Can Hoosiers adapt without Penix?
Overcome: Indiana’s dream season took a decidedly sharp turn for the worse when quarterback Michael Penix Jr. suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while completing a running play in the third quarter of last Saturday’s win over Maryland. It is the same knee Penix tore up in his true freshman season.
The quarterback job now falls to redshirt freshman Jack Tuttle, a Utah transfer who looked fine in relief against the Terrapins. But is he ready for full-time duty?
Keep it simple:
Solid defense remains Indiana’s calling card this season, and will take on even more importance with Penix on the shelf. The Hoosiers held Maryland to 59 rushing yards, the third time in four games they had limited an opponent to 60 or fewer. And IU leads the nation by forcing an average of three turnovers per game, and its 16 interceptions are three more than any team in college football.
Keys for Wisconsin
Stay healthy. There was no silver lining in Wisconsin’s game against rival Minnesota being canceled last week because of a COVID outbreak among the Golden Gophers. The “no contest” all but ensured that the Badgers would not meet the six-game threshold to qualify for the Big Ten championship game, which already was unlikely after a loss to Northwestern the previous week.
But the extra week off may have allowed Wisconsin to return to full health, especially at the receiver position. The Badgers were missing their two senior starters, Danny Davis (concussion) and Kendric Pryor (upper body), against the Wildcats. Both Davis and Pryor could return this week.
Patch the secondary.
Three games is a small sample size but the Badgers are among the best defenses in the country, ranking fifth nationally by allowing only 166 passing yards per game and first in team defense, at 233 per game. So the foundation is steady for Wisconsin on defense, though losing an NFL-caliber corner in Rachad Wildgoose (leaving to focus on the NFL draft) is hardly an ideal scenario.
Prediction
Wisconsin 28, Indiana 26. Perhaps no team in college football has more to prove this week than Wisconsin, which has had to fight the coronavirus and injuries and a poor performance two weeks ago against Northwestern. This is the Badgers’ redemption game, and luckily for them it is against an Indiana team that will be playing without its MVP in Penix.