Setting The Scene
•Riding a five-game winning streak, Indiana hosts No. 1/1 Ohio State at Memorial Stadium (52,929; FieldTurf) on Saturday, Oct. 3. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. EDT and RTV6 will broadcast the game. Stay tuned after the game for a special edition of the News at 7, too.
•IU is 0-15 all-time against top-ranked teams, including an 0-5 mark against OSU.
•The last time the Hoosiers faced a No. 1 ranked team came on Oct. 21, 2006, in Columbus. They also lined up against the Buckeyes the last time a No. 1 team traveled to Bloomington on Oct. 31, 1998.
•IU’s staff and players will “go pink” in support of breast cancer awareness.
The Coaches
•Kevin Wilson is in his fifth season as Indiana head coach. During his tenure, the offense has set 43 school records, including points, total yardage, passing yardage and rushing yardage in a single season. Sixteen IU standouts have either moved on to the NFL or received camp invites, highlighted by wide receiver Cody Latimer, the 56th pick by Denver (2014), and running back Tevin Coleman, the 73rd selection by Atlanta (2015).
•Urban Meyer is 42-3 (.933) in his fourth season as Ohio State head coach. Meyer owns a 146-26 (.849) record in his 14th overall year with stints at Bowling Green (2001-02), Utah (2003-04) and Florida (2005-10).
Quick Hits
•Indiana is 4-0 for the first time since 1990 and the sixth time in school history.
•The Hoosiers are on a five-game winning streak, the program’s longest since 1987 (five). The streak is tied for the sixth-longest in program history.
•IU has outscored its opponents 51-0 in the third quarter this season. The Hoosiers own advantages in rushing (72.3-35.0), passing (64.3-38.5) and total yardage (136.5-73.5) in addition to turnover margin (plus-2).
•Indiana leads the Big Ten in total (522.3, 18th nationally) and scoring offense (38.3, 30th), and sits second in rushing (236.5, 21st) and passing offense (285.8, 30th).
•The Hoosiers share the top spot in the Big Ten at plus-6 in turnover margin (T-7th nationally) and are tied for third with four fumble recoveries (T-16th) and eight takeaways (T-28th).
•IU has scored 48 points off of the eight turnovers, including two INT touchdown returns.
•Indiana has recorded at least two takeaways in five of its last six games and at least one in 10 consecutive.
•The Hoosiers have only turned it over twice (one interception and one fumble recovery), which is also tied for the conference lead and fifth nationally.
•IU has had a 100-yard rusher in 16 of their last 17 games, including each game this year.
•Since the start of 2014, Indiana has rushed for 200-plus yards in 14 of 16 games - tied for fifth nationally.
•Dating back to the start of the 2012 campaign, the Hoosiers rank first in the Big Ten in passing yardage, second in total yardage and fourth in rushing yardage per game.
•IU is the only conference team to rank in the top four in passing and rushing over that time.
•A week after true freshman safety Jonathan Crawford shared Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors, Jordan Howard collected co-Offensive Player of the Week accolades following the Wake Forest win.
•Howard became the only FBS player in the last 20 seasons with 140-plus rushing yards in each of his first four games with a program when he logged 168 yards on 33 carries (5.1 average) and a score.
•The junior leads the nation with 675 rushing yards and is 2nd with 168.8 per game (1st in Big Ten) and 111 attempts (2nd), 4th with 743 all-purpose yards (1st) and 6th with 185.8 per game (1st).
•Howard has reached the century mark in eight straight games. Of his 111 carries, 37 (33.3 percent) have resulted in either a first down or a score and 104 (93.7) have gone for positive yardage.
•Since the start of 2013, Howard is 1st nationally among active backs with 3,143 rushing yards, 562 attempts and 10 150-yard games, 2nd with 15 100-yard games, 3rd with 116.4 rushing yards per game and 3,366 yards from scrimmage, 4th with 124.7 yards from scrimmage per game and T-6th with two 200-yard games.
•Forming a formidable 1-2 punch with Howard is sophomore Devine Redding. He owns 237 yards on 65 carries with three touchdowns, including career-highs in yards (79) and rushes (23) in the WKU win.
•Senior Nate Sudfeld leads the Big Ten in yards per attempt (9.1, 20th nationally), is T-1st with his one INT, 2nd in passing yards (16th), passing yards per game (285.8, 23rd), total offense (1,181, 22nd), total offense per game (295.2, 29th), passing efficiency (29th) and TD-INT ratio, and T-3rd in passing TDs (T-29th).
•The Modesto, Calif., native is one of four Hoosiers to surpass 5,000 passing yards and 40 touchdowns.
•Left tackle Jason Spriggs and right guard Dan Feeney have not allowed a sack in 146 called pass attempts. Feeney owns a team-best 29 knockdowns in 344 plays and Spriggs has 23 in 336 plays.
•The line has only allowed two sacks, which leads the conference and is tied for sixth in the country.
•Redshirt junior wide receiver Ricky Jones is the Big Ten leader with 411 yards (15th nationally) and 102.8 per game (20th), T-8th with 18 receptions and 10th with 105.5 all-purpose yards per game.
•Sophomore Simmie Cobbs, Jr., is 9th in the league with 244 yards and T-10th with 17 catches. Cobbs had a career-high seven receptions for a career-best 75 yards with a 6-yard score, his second, in the Wake Forest win.
•The defense picked up six sacks, from five different players, and eight tackles for loss vs. WFU.
•IU’s six sacks are the program’s most since seven at Illinois on Oct. 27, 2012.
•Sophomore linebacker Tegray Scales led the way with a career-high two sacks, while junior defensive tackle Darius Latham added one and a career-best three tackles for loss.
•Senior defensive end Nick Mangieri shares ninth in the Big Ten with his team-leading three sacks.
•Redshirt sophomore linebacker Marcus Oliver is tied for sixth nationally with two forced fumbles. Oliver tops the team and is tied for 13th in the league with 28 tackles.
•Redshirt sophomore cornerback Rashard Fant is second nationally with nine pass breakups.
•Redshirt sophomore Griffin Oakes is tied for the Big Ten lead among kickers with 9.8 points per game and is T-3rd with seven field goals (T-10th nationally). Oakes, who is 10th on the program’s career field goals list, is 7-of-8 in 2015 and 20-of-26 (76.9 percent) overall. He has 22 touchbacks (5th) on 29 kickoffs this year.
