Indiana takes on Utah in the Foster Farms Bowl on Wednesday night in the Bay Area. Here are three things to know about the matchup.
The Allen Era starts
One of the more surprising things to happen in college football since the end of the regular season was the resignation of Kevin Wilson. Wilson was in the process of taking Indiana to heights it's rarely seen, reaching bowl eligibility for the second straight season, something that hasn't happened in Bloomington in 25 years. But amid athletics department investigations into claims of player mistreatment, Wilson and athletics director Fred Glass had some "philosophical differences" that ended in Wilson leaving the program. And so the Foster Farms Bowl is the team's first game under new coach Tom Allen, who was promoted from defensive coordinator on the same day as Wilson's resignation. Certainly Allen deserves plenty of praise for his turnaround job with the Hoosiers' defense this season, taking a unit that had been downright awful in recent years and turning in some big improvement. Indiana ranks 41st nationally in total defense after ranking 120th in 2015. Can that improvement carry over to the team as a whole, which still needed to beat Purdue in the season's final week just to earn a bowl trip? It starts Wednesday.
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Tough assignment
Indiana had a fine year, but the 6-6 Hoosiers are getting a tall task going up against 19th-ranked Utah, which finished 8-4 in the Pac-12. The Utes beat current No. 9 USC and kept it close with Washington and Colorado, the two teams that played in that conference's title game. Indiana, meanwhile, lost by multiple touchdowns in its games against top-tier Big Ten teams Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan and also lost to middle-of-the-road Big Ten teams Nebraska and Northwestern. The Hoosiers have the explosive offense and the aforementioned improved defense to compete with anyone, but at least on paper, this is a bit of a lopsided matchup.
Look out, Lagow
Utah's greatest strength is its pass rush. The Utes rank just outside the top 10 nationally with 40 sacks on the season, which could provide a big challenge for Indiana quarterback Richard Lagow. Indiana was middling nationally, allowing 26 sacks this season, but Lagow is turnover prone as it is. He threw 16 interceptions this season and had six games with multiple picks. Increased pressure likely won't make things any easier and could fluster Lagow into his all-too-typical turnover tendencies. The good news for Lagow and the Hoosiers, though, is that if the quarterback does get a throw off, the Utes aren't too good at stopping it. Utah has one of the worst passing defenses in the FBS, ranking 104th and allowing 256.8 pass yards a game. Indiana ranks just outside the top 25 when it comes to passing offense, averaging 277.9 pass yards a game. So if Lagow can escape, the chances of gaining some yards via the air are good.