Indiana is expected to dominate Western Kentucky, but how exactly will it look?
Coming off a lopsided 55-0 win over Howard last week, Indiana returns to Memorial Stadium for a Week 3 matchup against Western Kentucky. The Hoosiers look to continue to build on early-season momentum by facing another outmatched opponent. Led by efficient quarterback Josh Hoover, Indiana's high-powered attack faces a Hilltoppers team that has really struggled on the defensive side of the ball. It would take a miracle for WKU to overcome the talent gap against IU.
Indiana is expected to roll over Western Kentucky, so here are a few things within the game that just might play out on Sunday.
1. Indiana will score 50+ points
Curt Cignetti's Indiana teams have scored 50 or more points 13 times since he took over in Bloomington. Whenever Indiana is favored by a lot, they show up. They did so against North Texas, winning 52-16, and did so again against Howard, winning 55-0. Now, IU has another matchup where they're favored by a ton — 44.5 points to be exact.
2. Josh Hoover will throw for 3+ touchdowns
During Indiana's Week 1 game against North Texas, Hoover threw four touchdown passes and only had three incompletions. Last week, he threw four more TD passes and only had five incompletions. Through two weeks, Hoover has eight touchdown passes and eight incompletions. He has been on it. He's going up against another porous defense this weekend and he'll find the end zone at least three times again.
3. Indiana will win the turnover battle by at least 2
Right now, Indiana is only +1 in turnover margin but expect that to improve on Saturday. Western Kentucky's defense is quite bad, which bodes well for IU's offense, and on the other side of the ball, Indiana has been opportunistic. Indiana is just much better than WKU, so I expect that to show up in the turnover column.
4. Indiana's defense will hold WKU to 13 or less points
Part of that turnover battle will result in Western Kentucky struggling to score points. Again, Indiana is just much better than the Hilltoppers, so keeping them out of the end zone for most of the day should be achievable.
5. Indiana will have another defensive touchdown
Last week, just a few minutes before halftime, standout linebacker Rolijah Hardy ran under a tipped pass, caught it right at the 20-yard line and jogged into the end zone for a pick six. It was an impressive catch but an easy jaunt for six. It would be very impressive if Hardy could score again, but I think somebody will.
