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    IU football game day: Washington at Indiana primer and prediction

    Mike SchumannBy IU Football 2 Comments
    Photo by Seth Tow for TDH

    Indiana, yes, Indiana, suddenly looks invincible.

    And the spotlight on Bloomington has never been brighter.

    For the second straight weekend, Memorial Stadium is sold out.  This time ESPN’s College GameDay is on site.  The Hoosiers are legitimate contenders for the College Football Playoff and the Big Ten Championship Game.  And the defending national runner-ups are in town.

    Here’s everything you need to know about Indiana’s matchup against Washington.

    WASHINGTON (4-3, 2-2) at No. 13 INDIANA (7-0, 4-0)

    • Kickoff:  Noon ET, Saturday
    • Location:  Bloomington, Ind., Memorial Stadium (52,626; field turf)
    • Television: BTN — Guy Haberman (pbp), Yogi Roth (analyst), Rhett Lewis (sideline)
      • College GameDay starts live from Bloomington at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN
    • Stream:  Fox Sports
    • Radio:  IU Football radio network
    • Odds:  Indiana is a 5.5-point favorite
    • Weather at kickoff:  58 degrees, sunny, wind 9 mph, 1% chance of precipitation.
    • Series:  Indiana leads 2-1
    • Tickets:  Use our StubHub affiliate link
    • The Coaches:
      • Curt Cignetti is in his first year as the head coach at IU.  He holds a 126-35 record in his 14th season as a college head coach.
      • Jedd Fisch is 21-25 in his fourth season as a head coach.  This is his first year at Washington.

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    TALE OF THE TAPE 

    THE COMPLETE BIG TEN WEEK NINE SLATE

    FRIDAY, OCT. 25
    Rutgers at USC 11 p.m. FOX

    SATURDAY, OCT. 26
    Washington at Indiana 12 p.m. Big Ten Network
    Nebraska at Ohio State (HC) 12 p.m. FOX
    Northwestern at Iowa (HC) 3:30 p.m. Big Ten Network
    Maryland at Minnesota (HC) 3:30 p.m. FS1
    Illinois at Oregon (HC) 3:30 p.m. CBS
    Michigan State at Michigan 7:30 p.m. Big Ten Network
    Penn State at Wisconsin (HC) 7:30 p.m. NBC

    WASHINGTON 2024 RESULTS

    Aug. 31 WEBER STATE (BTN) W, 35-3
    Sept. 7 EASTERN MICHIGAN (BTN) W, 30-9
    Sept. 14 vs. WSU at Lumen Field (Peacock) L, 24-19
    Sept. 21 NORTHWESTERN (FS1) W, 24-5
    Sept. 27 at Rutgers (FOX) L, 21-18
    Oct. 5 #10 MICHIGAN (NBC) W, 27-17
    Oct. 12 at Iowa (FOX) L, 40-16

    WASHINGTON NOTES AND NUMBERS

    (Via Washington Athletics)

    One main storyline for the 2024 UW football team has been about the amount of change that has occurred since the end of the 2023 season. In fact, UW has just two returning, regular starters back from ’23 (LB Alphonzo Tuputala and CB Elijah Jackson), and the Huskies lost 41 letterwinners off of last year’s team, while adding 59 new players to the roster since the end of last season. On the depth chart for the season-opener in 2023, 44 players were listed on offense and defense. Just 11 of those 44 are still on the Husky roster (and just two of those 11 are on offense). In the season-opener vs. Weber State, a total of 34 players saw their first action in a Washington uniform. Nine of those 34 were true freshman.

    Much has been made of the UW coaching staff’s NFL connections, including that coordinators Steve Belichick (Bill) and Brennan Carroll (Pete), as well as analyst Luke Del Rio (Jack) and GA Jake Lynch (John), are all sons of prominent NFL coaches and GMs.

    Washington and Indiana have played just three times in the two programs’ histories. Indiana holds a 2-1 advantage, with a pair of victories in the 1970s. UW’s lone win in the series came in Seattle in 2003.

    Washington ranks No. 3 in FBS in pass efficiency defense, No. 8 in total defense, and No. 16 in scoring defense.

    UW opponents are averaging 4.70 yards per pass attempt and 4.44 per play, No. 2 and No. 8 in FBS, respectively.

    Among active FBS players, UW QB Will Rogers III ranks No. 1 in career attempts (2,088) and completions (1,454); and No. 2 in passing yards (14,135), TDs (107) and completion percentage (.696).  Rogers is just the 14th player in FBS history to pass for 14,000-plus yards.

    UW RB Jonah Coleman is tied for No. 3 in FBS with 34 scrimmage plays of 10 yards or longer, and tied for second with 27 rushes of 10-plus yards.

    WR Denzel Boston leads the Big Ten and is No. 2 in FBS with nine touchdown receptions.  Nine receiving TDs is tied for 8th-most in UW single-season history.

    Washington has won 18 consecutive home games, longest in modern school history (the longest, 45 games, was from 1908-1917, part of UW’s NCAA-record 64-game unbeaten streak).  They are 0-3 on the road this season.

    UW has just three turnovers through six games.  Only one FBS team with six games played this season has fewer.

    PREDICTIONS

    Washington has been a tale of two teams, home and away.  This will be their most formidable road challenge to date, at a 9 a.m. PT kickoff time, no less.  But Indiana does have some adversity.  They’ll look to backup quarterback Tayven Jackson to replace Heisman contender Kurtis Rourke and keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive.  Coming off a 56-7 win over Nebraska, expectations are sky high for IU.  But this could still be interesting late.

    TDH PREDICTION:  INDIANA 34  WASHINGTON 26

    • ESPN SP+ (Computer):  Indiana 32 Washington 22 (73% win probability)
    • ESPN FPI (Computer):  Indiana has an 83.8% chance to win.

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