This weekend the Bearcats travel to Bloomington, Indiana when they take on the Indiana Hoosiers this Saturday at 12 pm on ESPN. Indiana came into the season ranked 17th before their Week 1 match up versus 18th ranked Iowa. The Hawkeyes just dominated the Hoosiers 34-6, a shock to many people in college football, as this was supposed to be one of the closer matchups in Week 1. Junior quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. and the Hoosiers didn’t have the best of starts to his season in that matchup as he went 14-of-31 passing for 156 yards with three interceptions, two in which were returned for scores for the Hawkeye defense. The Hoosiers bounced back with a blowout 56-14 victory over Idaho this past weekend.
The Hoosiers are coming in at 1-1, while the 8th ranked Bearcats sit 2-0 after Blowout victories versus Miami(OH) and Murray State. This was one of the matchups being talked about for the last few months in college football as the Bearcats are coming off of one of their best seasons ever, they were looking to show teams why they deserve to be in talks for the College Football Playoff after being left out last year.
Some things to watch for in this matchup early on for the Bearcats.
Indiana has been hit with a bunch of injuries on the defensive side especially the defensive back room as Christopher Keys is out for the season after suffering a torn ACL over the weekend. Cornerback Jaylin Williams is also banged up after sustaining a injury in week one versus Iowa, but is expected to be back for Saturday’s matchup versus the Bearcats after missing the contest versus Idaho. Safeties Devon Matthews and Jonathan Haynes were both out last week with injuries, but it sounds like Haynes will be out there on Saturday for the Hoosiers. The Hoosiers have moved Noah Pierre from safety where he has seen most of his action to cornerback to add some depth due to the injuries, Pierre is also a big force on special teams as well, blocking a punt in last weeks victory, this is someone to keep a name on as he is looking to be the next man up.
This is big for the Bearcats as Desmond Ridder has been working all offseason on his deep ball and he’s connected on four shots this year for 217 yard and a touchdown already in the first two weeks. Ultimately, I think the Bearcats talented wide receiver room will cause a lot of problems for the Indiana defense as Ridder has a handful of options whether it’s Michael Young, Jr., Alec Pierce, Tyler Scott, Josh Whyle, Leonard Taylor, Tre Tucker or Jadon Thompson. A banged up secondary could lead to some early shots down the field for Ridder and the Bearcats.
