The IU football team has been having a rough go at stopping opposing offenses lately.
The Hoosiers (2-5, 0-4) have let up an even 100 points in their last
two games, and an average of 40 points per game on their current
five-game skid.
“I think we got banged up a little bit mentally,” junior safety Nick
Polk said. “But the guys have come together, and we have said we are
going to stick together and pull through this.”
Slowing the landslide of points won’t get any easier this Homecoming
weekend, when the Hoosiers welcome to Bloomington the Northwestern
Wildcats, a team with two dynamic facets to its offensive attack.
The first head on the Wildcats’ offensive front is tailback Tyrell Sutton.
Sutton comes into Saturday’s contest averaging just shy of 100 yards on
the ground per game. But Sutton also comes out of the backfield to make
big catches for NU. The Akron, Ohio, native has 28 grabs for 262 yards
so far this season, with two touchdowns.
Sutton is a smaller back – at 5-foot-9, 205 pounds – than the last two
backs to run over the Hoosiers: Shonn Greene of Iowa and Jason Ford of
Illinois. Greene had 115 yards and a score in Bloomington on Oct. 11,
and Ford had 172 yards and three scores last weekend against IU.
But senior safety Austin Thomas warned Sutton is bigger in person than what paper shows.
“Wait till you see this guy’s legs,” Thomas said. “He’s a thick guy. He
is a little quicker in space than Shonn Greene and Ford, who we played
the other night. But he’s quick; he’s a good back.”
Sutton helps to distract defenses from quarterback C.J. Bachér, who is equally formidable.
After Bachér lit up opposing teams for 3,656 yards, seventh-most in Big
Ten history, Sporting News named the California native the Big Ten’s
“Best Player Under Pressure.”
In seven games, Bachér has tallied solid offensive numbers, including a
112.6 passing efficiency, 1,545 yards through the air with 10
touchdowns. Bachér can also run – he has two rushing scores and 180 net
yards.
