BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Big Ten has new friends on the West Coast with Oregon, Southern California, UCLA and Washington now members of the 18-team league.
However, it seems the Big Ten might be hazing its new buddies a little bit when it comes to the football schedule. Or more accurately, the Big Ten’s TV partners are.
Indiana will play Washington at Noon ET on Saturday. No big deal for Indiana’s team and its fans. Noon kickoffs are part of the norm.
However, they’re not part of the norm for the Huskies and the rest of the former Pac-12 schools. It’s a 9 a.m. PT kickoff for them. I’m sure Indiana fans are playing the smallest fiddle of sympathy for Washington’s plight, but it is unfair and it’s unnecessary.
Saturday’s game is being broadcast on Big Ten Network. BTN is also carrying Northwestern-Iowa and Michigan State-Michigan in a Saturday tripleheader with the battle of Michigan in the prime time slot.
Was there any good reason why the Noon ET Indiana-Washington game couldn’t have been flipped with the 3:30 p.m. ET Northwestern-Iowa game? Folks in the Central Time Zone are used to 11 a.m. kickoffs in the same way Eastern Time Zoners are to noon ones.
It’s not the first time the West Coast Big Ten schools have been in the noon slot. UCLA played at Rutgers in the same slot last weekend. The Bruins overcame the early kickoff and beat the Scarlet Knights, 35-32. UCLA wasn’t as fortunate when it played at Penn State in a noon game on Oct. 5. The Nittany Lions won, 27-11.
Washington, Indiana’s opponent on Saturday, played a noon game at Iowa on Oct. 12 and got walloped 40-16. Washington coach Jedd Fisch admitted this week that he underestimated the travel and time adjustment, and he has made adjustments in preparation for the Hoosiers this week.
It just strikes me as odd that the West Coast teams are being put into the noon slot. It can’t be good for TV ratings out on the West Coast. Expanding the league’s TV viewing audience was a big part of the reason the West Coast schools were attractive to the Big Ten in the first place, so why mess with that? It seems elementary to me that the West Coast schools should be in the 3:30 p.m. or later slots if possible.
Again, I’m sure Indiana fans couldn’t care less, but noon kickoffs involving West Coast schools are an unfair advantage for the schools in the Central and Eastern time zones. It’s one thing that the Big Ten schools and their TV partners should come to a fair agreement about next year.
Here are three keys and a prediction for the Washington game:
1. Maximize Tayven Jackson’s Skill Set
I’m not worried about whether Tayven Jackson can play the quarterback position. He played very well in Kurtis Rourke’s place in the second half last week, completing 7 of 8 passes for 91 yards and 2 touchdowns. In games in which Jackson attempted at least 8 passes, he had far and away the best QB rating of his career.
What I do worry about are the plays that are so important to Indiana that are uniquely Rourke-driven. He’s a great RPO quarterback, but I don’t worry about that too much with Jackson, because he’s a threat to run, which should make him effective.
What Rourke does that I’m not sure Jackson has proven he can do with the same consistency are those surgical deep throws. Two receptions come to mind from last week’s game against Nebraska. Rourke is very good on being accurate on those medium-deep sideline patterns where Elijah Sarratt curls to make a sizable gain, often on third down. Those back-shoulder-like throws are a Rourke specialty.
Rourke is also very good at putting a deep ball just high enough for his receiver to make a play on it, but out of the reach of the defender. Witness Omar Cooper Jr.’s 36-yard catch last week. He made a great effort to haul in the pass and coverage was solid, but Rourke’s pass couldn’t have been caught by anyone but Cooper. It was high, but in a good way.
Can Jackson do these things? I think he can, but can he do them with the same consistency? That’s something I’m not so sure about. So I hope the game plan is tailored to make sure Jackson’s strengths are prioritized.
2. Make Jonah Coleman Pay An Early Price
Washington running back Jonah Coleman is quietly having a strong season for the Huskies. He’s fourth in the league rushing at 681 yards and he’s also tied for fourth in yards per carry at a healthy 6.9. He averages nearly 97.3 yards per game.
Believe it or not, he is the first top 10 Big Ten rusher the Hoosiers have faced this season. In fact, he’s the first top 17 Big Ten rusher they’ve faced. Maryland’s Roman Hemby (18th in the Big Ten) is the most productive back Indiana has seen in conference play this season. Hard to believe as November approaches.
No team has prevented Coleman from getting into a rhythm. Even in Iowa’s 40-16 win on Oct. 12, Coleman still managed 80 yards against a stout Hawkeyes defense.
Indiana’s defense has to set the tone. If Coleman can be held to three yards or less on, say, his first five carries, that’s a good way to put doubt in Washington’s mind that he can be as effective as he has been.
3. Keep Washington Doubtful In Red Zone
Washington is tied for seventh in the Big Ten in red zone opportunities with 28. However, the Huskies rank 16th in the league in capitalizing on those opportunities with seven failures to score.
Indiana has been good at keeping opponents from scoring touchdowns in the red zone. The Hoosiers have allowed 8 touchdowns in 15 red zone opportunities for its opponents. That’s tied for third in the Big Ten. It’s also a big reason Indiana hasn’t trailed in a game this season.
It’s a pattern that needs to continue Saturday.
Prediction
I was too conservative in my pick last week and promised I wouldn’t hold back when I got another chance. That was written before the extent of Rourke’s injury was fully known, but I still think Indiana has enough to control this contest on its home turf.
The Indiana running game will be stout, Jackson will hold things down in the passing game, and Washington will have difficulty breaking a confident defense. Indiana will win 31-10 on Saturday.
