Hoosiers anticipate SEC matchup

Indiana is the only school in the Big Ten to face a team from the Southeastern Conference in football this season.

The Missouri Tigers (2-0) will travel to Bloomington to play the Hoosiers at 8 p.m. Saturday. The matchup will be the first meeting of a two-year home-and-home series.

Missouri was 5-7 (2-6) in its inaugural season in the SEC in 2012 — five of the team’s losses were against teams ranked in the top 10 in the country at the time of the matchup.  

Missouri is undefeated this season with wins against Murray State and Toledo. The Tigers’ last game was Sept. 7, giving them two weeks to prepare for IU.

Saturday’s matchup has the potential to be a high-scoring affair. Both the Hoosiers and the Tigers are in the top 10 in the FBS in points per game.

Missouri is led on offense by senior quarterback James Franklin. IU Coach Kevin Wilson said Franklin is a dual-threat quarterback and the player who makes the Tigers’ offense go.

“Most of the time you say dual threat, you’re saying a guy that can run,” Wilson said. “He’s a guy who would rather pass than run.”

Wilson said Missouri’s offense is very balanced. The Tigers are averaging 274 passing and 265 rushing yards per game this season.

Franklin has completed nearly 67 percent of his pass attempts this season for 530 yards and four touchdowns.

“(The) ball’s going to get in space,” Wilson said. “They’re fast at back, several backs playing, including their quarterback who is a run around guy.”

Franklin is one of four Missouri players with at least 100 rushing yards this season. The Tigers are averaging nearly six yards per carry and Missouri has eight rushing touchdowns on the season.  

Even though IU hasn’t faced Missouri since 1992, Wilson is familiar with Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel and the Tigers’ coaching staff. Wilson coached in the Mid-American Conference at Miami (Ohio) from 1990-1998 when Pinkel was the head coach at Toledo.

“Shoot, there are coaches on that staff that when I was an assistant in Miami we were recruiting against them, and they were at Toledo,” he said. “Same guys, they’ve been together forever. The players know what they want to practice and coach.”

In 2001, Pinkel became Missouri’s head coach, and Wilson joined the University of Oklahoma in the following year, where they once again competed, only this time in the Big 12 Conference.

Wilson said Pinkel’s coaching staff has changed some, but the core is the same.  

“It starts with Coach Pinkel, who is a class act, great coach, proven winner, very, very consistent in what he’s done,” he said. “I know their program is bouncing back from what was a disappointing year by their standards and what he’s created.”

Wilson said the Tigers are well-coached and play well in all three phases of the game.

“They’re not going to lose the game,” he said. “You have to beat a team like Missouri.”

Follow reporter Andy Wittry on Twitter @AndyWittryIDS.