IU Focused On Present Heading To Purdue

By: Sam Beishuizen | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Kevin Wilson ended practice Tuesday repeating a short message:

"Win today."

Before the Hoosiers can worry about what Purdue will do Saturday at noon, Indiana's head coach wants the Hoosiers embracing the challenges of the present.

"The beauty of when you're dealing with a rivalry game is that it's all about the preparation that you do during the week," linebackers coach William Inge said. "Coach Wilson challenged everyone that they need to win today before they can win Saturday."

The 118^th meeting between Indiana (5-6, 1-6) and Purdue (2-9, 1-6) could likely end up being decided on the ground, where Indiana excels.

Purdue is allowing opponents to rush for an average of 206.4 yards per game. Indiana, meanwhile, ranks second in the Big Ten with 216.1 rushing yards per game.

Devine Redding rushed for a career-high 130 yards against Maryland last weekend. Redding proved his worth against the Terrapins by picking up short chunks of yards on first down and giving Indiana more manageable distances to work with in second and third downs.

"He's certainly stepped up his game," IU offensive coordinator Kevin Johns said. "But any time you can go from a first-and-10 to a second-and-6, boy it just makes you feel so much better than 2^nd-and-10. We're going to rely on our run game to get us in those 2^nd-and-manageable situations."

Purdue senior cornerbacks Anthony Brown and Frankie Williams have combined for seven interceptions on the season, which makes the Boilermakers a dangerous team to throw against toward either side of the field.

Indiana's run game could carry the bulk of the load, but the Hoosiers will still look to the passing game to create balance and keep Purdue's defense honest.

"They're a good Big Ten defense," senior quarterback Nate Sudfeld said.

Johns said that like Indiana, Purdue may be better than their record shows. They briefly gave No. 3 Iowa trouble last weekend just one week after losing to Northwestern, 21-14. They also lost to Michigan State by just three points on Oct. 3.

"It's going to be a tough challenge," Wilson said. "If you put on the tape and we keep saying that sometimes we're playing good and the record doesn't show it. You put on the tape, watch how hard they're playing in all phases."

But before Indiana can worry about beating Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium, Wilson wants his team beating Purdue 117 miles away in Bloomington.

Wilson's been adamant all season that the Hoosiers need to take every week game-by-game in order to take the next step as a program. He reminded his players of that Tuesday and will likely do the same thing Wednesday and the rest of the practices leading into Saturday's regular-season finale.

Winning in practice leads to winning in the game, Wilson told his players. Then worry about everything else later.

Players Mentioned

Jordan Howard

Devine Redding

Nate Sudfeld

Indiana University Athletics