After leading Indiana to two straight Big Ten road wins, it was a reasonable question to at least ask.
A reporter made this inquiry of IU head football coach Tom Allen at his regular Monday press conference:
“The way Peyton (Ramsey) has played the last couple of weeks, does it make you reevaluate the way you handle the quarterback position?”
Allen didn’t hesitate in his response.
“First of all, Mike (Penix) is our starter,” Allen said.
With that out of the way, the Hoosier head coach immediately transitioned to the play of Ramsey.
“Peyton’s done a phenomenal job, but if Mike can’t go, Peyton’s going to go, and as we all know, Peyton’s going to do a great job,” Allen said. “So we feel really good about that.
“That’s kind of the approach we have with that position. I have absolute confidence in Peyton Ramsey. We don’t know exactly yet what this week will hold, who will be the starter, but whoever it is, we’ll be ready, and they’ll play well. So that’s all I do know.”
In his last two games, Ramsey is 47-for-67 (70 percent) throwing the football with 544 yards, 3 touchdowns and an interception. The Ohio native has added another 88 yards rushing and another touchdown running the football on 17 carries (5.1 yards per attempt).
Ramsey’s season to date numbers are even more impressive in some respects. The school’s all-time completion percentage leader has been successful on better than 72 percent of his throws for 1,192 yards and 8 touchdowns.
While Allen has made it clear that Penix is the team’s starter, it isn’t clear whether he will start on Saturday night against Northwestern. Allen was quizzed on when we might learn more about Penix’s status for this weekend’s game.
“Not sure yet,” Allen said. “We’ll know more from the physical perspective as the week unfolds. It could be a Thursday decision, could be game time. It will be one of those two, I would expect, by Thursday or Friday or Saturday.”
While it will be another week of waiting and wondering who will start at quarterback against Northwestern, national recognition has rolled in for Ramsey after his big day against Nebraska.
Indiana announced the news today via iuhoosiers.com:
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana redshirt junior Peyton Ramsey is one of eight members of the Davey O’Brien’s Foundation “Great 8” quarterbacks of the week and one of eight Manning Award “Stars of the Week.”
Ramsey led the bowl-eligible Hoosiers (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten) to a 38-31 victory at Nebraska on Saturday. He went 27-for-40 (67.5 percent) for a career-high 351 yards, his fourth 300-yard game, with two passing touchdowns and one rushing TD.
It marked his 12th career multi-passing touchdown game, and the seventh game of his career with a passing and a rushing score. The Cincinnati native added 42 rushing yards for a career-high 393 total yards.
Fans can now go to the Allstate Sugar Bowl Facebook page to vote for what they think was the best performance from this past weekend. When voting closes on Thursday at noon ET, the top vote-getter will be announced as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week.
IU is off to its best eight-game start since opening with a 7-1 mark in 1993. Indiana has won three-straight conference games for the first time since a four-game winning streak in 1993.
Up next, the Hoosiers host Northwestern at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2. It is the first November night game in Memorial Stadium history. FS1 will broadcast the game.
Tickets for the Hoosiers’ two remaining home games are available by clicking here, by phone at 1-866-IUSPORTS or in person at the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall Ticket Office.
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