Freedman
BLOOMINGTON — The cardboard lineup placard handed out to members of the media before the Indiana-Rutgers football game Saturday listed Donaven McCulley as the Hoosiers’ starting quarterback. “Or” Jack Tuttle. “Or” Michael Penix Jr.
Before the afternoon at Memorial Stadium was over, however, the Hoosiers had shifted to “either.” The slinging signal-caller at the end of a demoralizing 38-3 loss to Rutgers was Grant Gremel, the QB from behind Door 4.
Nothing helped. Attendance was announced of 40,171 people at kickoff in 39-degree temperatures with 11 mph winds. But nearing the end, stunned by the debacle, it may have been 4,000.
IU is now 2-8 and at 0-7 is the only winless team in the Big Ten. A rebuilding 5-5 Rutgers appeared rejuvenated.
Always upbeat IU coach Tom Allen was not after watching his team crumble on all fronts while making six turnovers and failing to penetrate the end zone.
In recent weeks, and again after this loss, the words “frustrating” and “disappointing” were prominent in his sentences and as applied overall to a team that in preseason season ranked in the top 25 and coming off an apparent, turn-the-corner performance for the program.
The Hoosiers, with McCulley under center, fumbled on their first offensive play and a mix of interceptions and fumbles followed, whether it was McCulley at QB, Tuttle, who played for the first time since Oct 23, or Gremel. Penix was safe on the sidelines.
Allen said the team did not produce the fight he demands and expects.
“Losing today the way we did showed that,” he said. “Not handling the football right from the first play on. And just execution in that regard. Dropped balls, missed tackles, really nothing positive to say, so very upset about it.”
There was much to be concerned about for IU coaches, players and teams.
Penix and Tuttle injuries brought McCulley to the forefront as a freshman with no experience and he has brought everything that entails the last few weeks, from the promise of great talent to poor judgment mistakes.
“You can’t start the game like that,” McCulley said of his fumble. “It just set the tone for the rest of the game, and it was hard to come back from that. It wasn’t really what Rutgers did. You just have to keep pushing. It’s going to get hard like your life is going to be hard.”
Just about everything Saturday was hard for Indiana.
The Scarlet Knights recovered the McCulley fumble just 21 yards from the end zone and quickly went ahead 7-0. The Hoosiers got within range for a Charles Campbell field goal from 34 yards, but he missed.
For IU’s third series, Tuttle entered. He never looked that comfortable, fumbling once, though he grabbed the bobble, and throwing two interceptions. He departed again with assistance after another injury.
Rutgers led 14-0 at the half, and Indiana seemed possibly only a couple of big plays short of changing the momentum but kept making big mistakes.
“I would say it’s the biggest factor in today’s game,” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said of the turnovers. “It was a heck of a victory.”
IU top running back Stephen Carr was out with an injury, too, and no back-up shone. IU gained 85 yards rushing to Rutgers’ 218.
IU sought to get the ball to playmaking end Ty Fryfogle in space, through the air, on a reverse, on punt returns, but although made five catches, he could not break loose.
Although it was too late, Gremel, a sophomore from Noblesville, got Indiana as close to a touchdown as 1st and goal from the 6-yard line in the fourth quarter by completing six of 12 passes for 53 yards.
This IU lost season has games remaining at home against Minnesota this Saturday and against Purdue in the Old Oaken Bucket game Nov. 27 in West Lafayette. But it’s murky what to expect.
“I understand that that’s our responsibility to be able to play to our standard and the way we want to play each and every time we take the field no matter what they circumstances are,” Allen said.
What he saw in the Rutgers defeat was not acceptable, he said, and he let the players know it with full force in the locker room.
“It was pretty in your face,” Allen said.