Early in the second quarter of Saturday’s 45-29 loss to Iowa, Indiana quarterback Nate Sudfeld made perhaps his best throw of the year, a beautiful 45-yard long ball that found senior wide receiver Shane Wynn perfectly in stride. Wynn dropped it, negating a touchdown that would’ve cut the Hawkeyes lead at the time to 28-21, putting the Hoosiers back in the game after quickly going down 21-0 in the first quarter. Two plays later, Sudfeld was sacked, landed awkwardly on his non-throwing shoulder and didn’t return for the rest of the game.
Now comes news on Monday that the injury Sudfeld sustained will require surgery, thus ending his season. Fans of the Cream and Crimson have to be saying to themselves, “If it’s not one thing, it’s another,” as it relates to the various obstacles that get put in front of this team year-in and year-out which ultimately prevent them from reaching that six-win bowl eligibility threshold. Though the junior signal caller from Modesto, CA hasn’t exactly been lights out this season, he’s shown flashes of brilliance and seemed to be coming into his own from an accuracy perspective as evidenced by the pass he made right before he got hurt.
In the immediate aftermath of Sudfeld’s injury, IU turned to true freshman Chris Covington. The Chicago, IL native was recruited to Bloomington as an athlete and actually played linebacker throughout much of preseason camp. However, he had a standout season at Al Raby High School behind center his senior year, throwing for 1,993 yards and 26 touchdowns while also accounting for 657 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground in a dual-threat role. Suddenly thrust into the limelight, he did what he could on Saturday but was only able to muster 72 yards of total offense (31 passing, 41 rushing) in roughly two and a half quarters of action.
Apart from Tevin Coleman going down, this is a worst-case scenario for the program in terms of getting to six wins. As of right now, Covington is the only quarterback on the IU roster that has seen significant game reps, and for the most part those came on Saturday. Other viable options to turn to are redshirt sophomore Nate Boudreau, who saw limited action in veritable mop-up duty last year. There’s also true freshman Zander Diamont who enrolled in January in order to participate in spring practice and get a bit of a head start, but he probably could use a year of bulking up from his current weight of 175 pounds.
During his weekly Monday press conference, it was hard to gauge head coach Kevin Wilson’s feelings when it came to settling on a starter when Michigan State comes to town. Covington appears to be the frontrunner to maintain the role he assumed in Iowa City when Sudfeld got hurt, but Wilson didn’t appear to rule out going a different route if need be. “…I still think he gives you the best chance to play and to win with, and that’s why we went with him. But we’ll see. He’s a young guy and he’s going to make some young guy mistakes but he’s a calm dude. He’s very talented.” Wilson said at the weekly presser.
What separates Covington from the others is a combination of size and speed. Though he’s comparable in build to Boudreau, with both around 220 pounds, his ability to escape the pocket and contribute to the Hoosiers run game sets him apart. Boudreau and Sudfeld are similar in that they’re both tall pocket passers with a bit less mobility than Covington and Diamont even though they can run when they need to.
Regardless of who lines up under center when the Hoosiers and Spartans clash this coming Saturday, it won’t be pretty if IU comes out defensively the way they did against Iowa. Though they forced an early punt, the rest of the first quarter saw Indiana chasing Hawkeye players en route to big play touchdowns. In the opening 15 minutes of play, they gave up two scores on two plays that covered a combined 132 yards and contributed greatly to the 28-7 hole they found themselves in early.
You may think it was the same old story for this constantly beleaguered unit all game, but in its defense (no pun intended) they were much improved throughout the final three quarters of play. Indiana actually outscored the Hawkeyes 22-17 after the first quarter and held them scoreless in the third while forcing three consecutive punts. I think the biggest issue coming out of the defeat at Kinnick Stadium was the inability to force a single turnover. It becomes that much more difficult to win games when you’re opponent has a 14-0 advantage in points off turnovers as well as a plus-three turnover margin.
Through all of this perceived uncertainty around the quarterback position and which defense is going to show up on a given Saturday, you have the mighty Spartans from East Lansing invading Memorial Stadium. Give the Hoosiers credit for scheduling the Big Ten’s top team for Homecoming. Normally, you see teams try to guarantee themselves a win by playing a patsy during that weekend.
Michigan State’s vaunted defense has shown that it is mortal after all over their first two conference clashes, particularly in the fourth quarter where they’ve been outscored 33-7. Both Nebraska and the Hoosiers’ Old Oaken rivals Purdue had the ball late with a chance to tie or win before MSU interceptions sealed the deal. If Indiana wants to take on the role as a playoff spoiler for the Spartans and hoist the Old Brass Spittoon (the awesome rivalry trophy these two teams annually duel for) for only the third time since 1993, they’ll need to hope that Coleman doesn’t get shut down like Nebraska’s Ameer Abdullah did when he was held 121 yards below his average at the time. They also need to keep the game close going into the final period.
The optimist’s voice in my head is telling me this Indiana team is a mere three wins away from bowl eligibility with four beatable teams on the schedule. Even if they’re unable to shock the Spartans, there’s still a Penn State team that just lost to the embattled Michigan Wolverines, the Maize and Blue themselves who seem ripe for the pickings, conference newcomer Rutgers and Purdue. If Covington can channel his inner J.T. Barrett and the defense that beat Missouri shows up more often than the one that got carved up by Maryland, six wins is more attainable than you think.
The voice of the pessimist is trying feverishly to drown out that of Mr. Optimist by screaming into my cerebrum that this is deja vu all over again. If the Hoosiers don’t beat themselves, something beyond their control like an injury to the starting quarterback Sudfeld is going to rear its ugly head and keep IU at home in December. Covington will struggle and the defense will continue to let opposing players run right by them on the way to the end zone. Oh, and you know you want to see Zander Diamont play just because of the name alone.
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