The Indiana Hoosiers are rolling in this weird 2020 football season. They’re 5-1, ranked No.12 and sitting second in the Big Ten East behind No.4 Ohio State after battling with the Buckeyes a few weeks ago.
Everything was going great until starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. ran out of bounds against Maryland last week with 4:36 left to play in the third quarter. He tore his ACL as he went down and is now out for the season.
The Hoosiers were clicking on all cylinders behind Penix this season shocking the football world with their impressive play. The quarterback led the Hoosiers with 1,645 passing yards and 14 touchdowns with 4 interceptions this season and he also rushed for 2 touchdowns.
He started the party off with a season opening successful 2-point conversion in overtime to beat then No.8 Penn State. He again shocked the world by putting up a career-high 491 yards and 5 touchdowns against the Buckeyes in a 42-35 loss.
Even though the Hoosiers were defeated by Ohio State they still have an outside chance of playing for a Big Ten title. Because they have already played six games. They’ve qualified for the game. However, Ohio State, sitting on top of the East, can’t afford to miss any more games due to COVID-19 because they have to play at least 6 games. The Hoosiers just need to take care of business the rest of the way.
Going forward, the Hoosiers will be led by Utah transfer Jack Tuttle. He replaced Penix last week and went 5-for-5 for 31 yards to keep the Hoosiers afloat. Now it’s his ship the rest of the way and traveling up to No.16 Wisconsin will be a load.
This is Penix’s third injury in as many years in Bloomington that he’ll have to bounce back from. As a true freshman in 2018 he tore the same ACL causing him to redshirt. He suffered a clavicle injury last November that required surgery and now this.
Tom Allen spoke about his quarterback on Monday saying, “It’s a tough situation for all of us; heart breaks for Michael. It’s just tough, it’s hard. Really feel for him and all he’s worked to get back and the way he was playing.”
Allen went on to say, “It attacks the core of who you are and how you’re going to respond surely to things that happen that don’t seem fair, and when there’s no really good answer for why. That’s the case here. You basically fall back on what you believe in, you fall back on your faith, you fall back on all the people that care the most about you. And you battle. You fight. You don’t back down. Michael’s got some big-time long-term goals, and it’s going to take tremendous grit to fight through this.”
This is the rough part about playing with the big dogs and being considered one of the best teams in America. Injuries are a part of the game. When they occur do you have the depth to deal with them heads up and keep winning? We’ll see on Saturday when the Hoosiers bump heads with the Badgers.
