Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/541265
positive reviews, and fullback Matt Gi- achinta looks solid at 6-1, 224 pounds. Whoever wins that job will have a big- time player helping open up holes in center Matt Hugenberg. A 6-5, 294- pound senior, Hugenberg started all 12 games last year, the only Black Knights offensive lineman to do so. DEFENSE The Knights have some difference-makers on defense. Last year, linebacker Jeremy Timpf finished with a team-best 102 tackles, including a very impressive 70 solo stops, and he also intercepted three passes. Mean- while, cornerback Josh Jenkins had four interceptions, eight pass breakups and 12 passes defensed. But the Knights allowed 32.9 points per game, and with three vacancies to fill on the defensive line, it's hard to envision them making the big strides they will need to make in order to be competitive against the better opponents on their 2015 schedule. SPECIAL TEAMS Alex Tardieu put 18 of his 44 punts inside the opponent's 20 last year, and six of his attempts sur- passed 50 yards. But he also had six punts blocked – a number that is likely to raise a few eyebrows in the Lasch Building this summer. Kicker Daniel Grochowski was a bit of an enigma as a junior. He was 1 of 3 from 20-29 yards, but 5 of 9 from 40 yards and beyond, in- cluding a 52-yarder. OUTLOOK Second-year coach Jeff Monken went 38-16 at Georgia South- ern, and he knows the triple option in- side and out, having learned it as an as- sistant coach at Navy. But he's got a big challenge on his hands reviving an Army program that has had only one winning season since 1996. The Knights would be thrilled to see him turn the ta- bles on his former team in December, but first things first. If they want to achieve bowl eligibility, they'll probably need to pull off an upset or two against a schedule that includes Penn State, Duke, Rice, Air Force and Rutgers. That's a big ask for a program that is still in the early stages of its rebuilding process. 2014 RECORD 4-8 (1-7 Big Ten) SERIES RECORD Penn State leads, 17- 1. MOST RECENT MEETING Playing in Bloomington for the second year in a row, the Nittany Lions got a 92-yard touchdown run from Bill Belton and outlasted the Hoosiers, 13-7, on Nov. 8, 2014. OFFENSE There's good news and bad news here. The good: Quarterback Nate Sudfeld is back for his senior year after suffering a shoulder injury last October that essentially torpedoed the Hoosiers' season. Sudfeld has been very effective when healthy and was completing just over 60 percent of his throws with six touchdowns and three interceptions be- fore being knocked out of action against Iowa. But the offense he'll take over this fall will be without Tevin Coleman. That's the bad news. After topping 2,000 yards and averaging 7.5 yards per carry last fall, Coleman is off to the NFL. Nobody is likely to surpass those num- bers, but the Hoosiers did make a nice off-season pickup when they landed Jordan Howard following UAB's decision to dismantle its football program. A 6-1, 225-pounder, Howard rushed for 1,587 yards and 13 touchdowns last year. DEFENSE Indiana has suffered some big losses in both the front and the back ends of its defense, most notably defen- sive lineman Bobby Richardson, the team leader with 5.5 sacks last year. But with the rest of the defensive front re- turning, along with junior linebacker T.J. Simmons, the Hoosiers appear to have the makings of a solid front seven. The key will be to find someone who can rush the passer. With two new starters at cornerback, Indiana will need to put some heat on opposing quarterbacks to prevent big plays. SPECIAL TEAMS Griffin Oakes re- turns after hitting 13 of 18 field goal at- tempts as a freshman last season, in- cluding 4 of 7 from 40 yards and be- yond. Erich Toth averaged 40.7 yards per punt as a junior. OUTLOOK This year's nonconference schedule is a bit softer than usual, in part because Indiana paid South Florida $500,000 to cancel a two-game series. School administrators subsequently filled the hole in this year's schedule with a home game against Florida Inter- national – at an additional cost of $1 million. That could turn out to be money well spent. There's ample reason to be- lieve the Hoosiers will be unbeaten heading into their Big Ten opener, as Wake Forest (3-9 in 2014) is the only Power Five opponent they will face in September. But they could just as easily go winless in October, as their first four Big Ten opponents are Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers and Michigan State. Last year's 1-7 backslide may have been a fluke owing to Sudfeld's injury, but the challenges posed by Indiana's member- ship in the overloaded Big Ten East are all too real. For the Hoosiers, this is the new normal. 2014 RECORD 14-1 (8-0 Big Ten) SERIES RECORD Ohio State leads, 17- 13. MOST RECENT MEETING The Nittany Lions rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit only to fall to the visiting Buck- eyes in double overtime, 31-24, on Oct. 25, 2014. OFFENSE The smart money seems to be on Cardale Jones to win Ohio State's much-scrutinized quarterback battle. A 6-5, 250-pound junior with a cannon for a right arm, Jones is coming off a mag- nificent performance in the 2014 post- W E E K 6 INDIANA N o o n , O c t . 1 0 @ B e av e r St a d i u m W E E K 7 OHIO STATE 8 p. m . , O c t . 17 @ O h i o St a d i u m 2 0 1 5 P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L