Hoosiers Blown Out in Season Opener

The Indiana Hoosiers entered the 2021 college football season with plenty of hope after being one of the top teams in the country a season ago.

Indiana had a goal of winning the Big Ten Conference this season, but those hopes might be dashed after Week 1.

Indiana was in Iowa City on Saturday for a Top 25 matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes, and it was a season opener that the Hoosiers will want to forget. This was supposed to be one of the best games of the weekend, but things did not turn out that way in this matchup.

Iowa jumped out to a 14-3 lead at the end of the first quarter, and the Hawkeyes never looked back. The final score was 34-6, but the game actually felt much more lopsided than the final tally would suggest.

Head coach Tom Allen had this to say about his team’s performance on Saturday, “You have to play high-level football out of the gate against a team like this, and we didn’t.”

There was reason to believe that Indiana could be a contender for the College Football Playoff this season, especially after what transpired a season ago. That just wasn’t the case on Saturday as Iowa was more prepared and ready to defend their home turf.

Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. really struggled for the Hoosiers and his play motivated and energized the Iowa Hawkeyes defense in the season opener. Iowa had three interceptions in the victory and had a fourth pick wiped out by a roughing the passer penalty.

Penix went just 14 of 31 for 156 yards in the loss on Saturday, and he never seemed to get comfortable against the aggressive Iowa defense. Running the football didn’t go much better for the Hoosiers as they only managed a pair of field goals.

Indiana will have a chance to bounce back in Week 2 as they take on Idaho, but they could do so as an unranked team. The Hoosiers have spent the last 11 weeks in the AP Top 25 poll, one of the best stretches in program history.

Purdue Picks Up Win

The Purdue Boilermakers are not expected to compete for a Big Ten Championship this season, but they had a much better time of it in the season opener. Purdue was able to pick up a 30-21 win over the Oregon State Beavers, and that should give them some momentum for the next few weeks.

This game was tied at 7-7 at the end of one quarter, but Purdue really took control of this game in the second and third quarters. The Boilermakers held a 16-7 lead heading into the final quarter and were able to play even with Oregon State in the fourth.

Quarterback Jack Plummer had a big day for Purdue in the win, throwing for 313 yards and two touchdowns in the victory. The defense set the tone early in the game for Purdue, but there were some concerns in the fourth quarter.

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