The Hoosiers on the other hand will look to spread the ball around and it starts on offense with D.J. Matthews, a slot receiver who reminds me a lot like a guy in our conference named Nathaniel Dell, as Matthews is a smaller undersized slot receiver but can affect the game in many aspects, but look for Connor Bazelak to get the ball in his hands early in space weather it’s in the run game or the quick screen game, D.J. Matthews will be the top option for the Hoosiers on offense and should see a significant amount of targets as he did last year after Fryfogle got clamped by Sauce Gardner all day. Expect the Hoosiers to try to get the running game established early to free up Matthews, behind super senior Shaun Shivers, who leads the Hoosiers in rushing where he averages nearly 4.8 yards per carry. Look for the Hoosiers to come out and spread the ball around however as they have a set group of playmakers and love to share the ball around offensively weather its D.J. Matthews or Shaun Shivers looks for them to find ways to get the ball into those two guys hands.
“You know this, they are going to spread the ball around, if you remember playing the UCF’s of the world, that is very similar to what they are doing. Their ability to run the football is what creates those difficult situations, and you have a balance of what they are doing,” said Fickell.
However, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and Indiana graduate made his comments about his return to his alma mater a couple weeks ago and said ” I’m an Indiana graduate, last year I saw my first college football game in years, it happened to be Cincinnati vs Indiana. I told him (Fickell) I said coach listen, it was my return to campus, we were up 21-0, I was feeling really good about myself and then everything fell apart so I’m just happy I am on your team now,” said Yormark.
Coach Fickell elaborated on that remark ahead of this week’s contest where he said, “I just wanted to make sure he knew where he was and didn’t lose sight of who is on his team even though you have alma maters those things go in the background a little as you move into new things, and I hope he understood that.”
Expect this game to be closer than people thing however as the Bearcats welcome a very tough Indiana team to Nippert Stadium this Saturday as the Bearcats look to make it 29 in a row at historic Nippert Stadium.
