Indiana football at Purdue: 3 keys to retain the Old Oaken Bucket

No. 2 Indiana football is set to make the short trip up north take on rival Purdue for the Old Oaken Bucket Trophy on Friday at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana.

The Hoosiers are looking to go 12-0 while the Boilermakers are looking for their first win in Big Ten play. Here’s the biggest factors to Indiana’s game:

Quarterback Fernando Mendoza

Purdue has allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete 65.1% of their passes for an average of 246 yards per game. Those numbers are worse against some of college football’s best passers:

• Julian Sayin (Ohio State): 81.8%, 303 yards

• Luke Altmyer (Illinois): 86.4%, 390 yards

• CJ Carr (Notre Dame) 83.3%, 223 yards

Mendoza is completing a strong 73% of his passes on the season. He’ll likely have Elijah Sarratt back for the first time in multiple weeks, which could open up the passing game even further with Charlie Becker’s emergence in his absence.

Indiana’s going to need Mendoza to just be himself. Purdue is set to throw a few tricky looks at him, but he’s seen enough football to be able to overcome that by now.

The running back rotation

The Hoosiers’ running game has relied on a 1-2 punch of running backs Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black this season.

Hemby gets the most nods of the two, with 151 attempts on the ground to his name good for 714 yards, an average of 4.7 per carry, and five touchdowns on the ground. Black comes in a relatively close second with 114 carries and 663 yards, good for 5.8 yards per carry and five scores of his own. Lee Beebe Jr., who figured to carve out a role after transferring in from UAB, suffered a season-ending injury against UAB.

Hemby and Black have proven more than enough, with the former being able to create something out of nothing and the latter being an excellent change of pace. Both are strong and prone to picking up even more yards after contact.

They’re poised to give an underrated Purdue defensive front some trouble in West Lafayette. Speaking of which…

Indiana’s defensive line

Indiana’s defensive line has been a menace to opposing Big Ten offensive fronts and the quarterbacks they’re meant to protect all season. The Hoosiers are strong along the interior and edges with guys like Tyrique Tucker, Mario Landino, Mikail Kamara and Stephen Daley all proving capable of getting to the quarterback.

They’re also people-movers capable of creating rushing lanes for the second level, allowing guys like Rolijah Hardy and Aiden Fisher to get pressure.

Purdue’s quarterbacks have been sacked 19 times on the season. Indiana might not get home every possession, but the Hoosiers have to create pressure to keep whoever ends up taking the most snaps from getting too comfortable.