Kevin Wilson

Kevin Wilson has his Indiana program on the upswing, and the Hoosiers could take the next step in 2014 and qualify for the postseason.

(Associated Press)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- As part of ranking and analyzing the 12 Ohio State regular-season opponents for 2014, we'll ask five questions of a writer who knows each team best. For Indiana, No. 8 on our list of the Buckeyes' foes for 2014, we turn the Bloomington Herald-Times' Dustin Dopirak.

1. The general feeling is that Kevin Wilson has Indiana on the right track. What are reasonable expectations for this season, and are the Hoosiers a rising team in the Big Ten?

Are they rising? Yes. Exactly how fast they're rising is a different question. The climbing will always be steep for Indiana, simply because the Hoosiers don't have a lot of historical success or, comparatively, the war chest that Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, etc. do. They're never going to be able to recruit with the superpowers. They're always going to need a lot of breaks to go their way and historically, fate has been pretty cruel to the Hoosiers. (For the latest example, see the fumbled lateral against Minnesota that cost them a bowl trip.)

Simply being part of the Big Ten East is going to make their lives difficult for some time. All of that being said, they are making strides. The morale around the program is as high as I've ever seen it and the quality of player they're recruiting keeps getting incrementally better. In the 2013 recruiting class, they got four four-star recruits, three of which had been committed elsewhere in defensive tackle Darius Latham (Wisconsin), safety Antonio Allen (Mississippi) and defensive end David Kenney (Iowa). Those guys are all on defense, which suggests that Big Ten worst defense has to get better at some point. And the offense has been one of the Big Ten's most potent. It might take a small step back this year, but they'll still score a lot of points.

As hinted earlier, there is still something of a ceiling on them. Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State are still going to be pretty close to impossible for them to beat. It certainly won't be easy for them to beat Penn State again. Iowa and Missouri are going to be tough. Rutgers and Maryland are beatable, as are Purdue, North Texas, Bowling Green and Indiana State, but obviously, Indiana still isn't in a position to consider any of those wins as locks. I think 8-4 is the ceiling, 7-5 is highly optimistic, 6-6 is a realistic hope, and 5-7 is a disappointment but not an abject failure. They can get better and still miss a bowl game, and I don't think that would be a reason to start panicking about the Kevin Wilson era. Indiana has to always be patient because, well, it's Indiana.

2. Indiana has been known to rack up the offensive yardage. Will that continue this season despite the transfer of quarterback Tre Roberson?

Probably. Roberson's loss is big not so much because they have any deficiency at quarterback without him — although the lack of depth is a pretty substantial concern and if the unspeakable happens to Nate Sudfeld, well, there's going to be major problems — but it's more because they lost a lot of weapons on the offensive side of the ball and Roberson's dynamism as both a runner and passer would have given them another needed option. It would have been much easier for Indiana to win without him when it still had Cody Latimer, Kofi Hughes, Ted Bolser and Stephen Houston. Tevin Coleman still gives the Hoosiers a game-breaking tailback and wide receiver Shane Wynn is capable of the big play, and the Hoosiers have some young talented wide receivers including incoming freshman Dominique Booth. But there isn't much proven at receiver after Wynn and that could make the passing game less potent even though Sudfeld is getting better individually. Every once in a while, the Hoosiers could count on Tre Roberson to fake a handoff and go the distance. They're going to miss that even more this year now that it will be a little harder to get big plays through the air.

3. Is Nate Sudfeld up to the task to carry the load at quarterback?

The short answer is yes. Every time I see Sudfeld throw the ball, he looks better. There isn't a throw he can't make. He's strong, he's accurate, and the way the ball comes out of his hand right now gives you the impression that he can put the ball wherever on the field he wants to. He has control of the ball to that degree. His athleticism is average (though no worse than average) and you could make an argument that Braxton Miller, Connor Cook and Devin Gardner are better all-around quarterbacks, but I think the only pure passer in the Big Ten who is even in Sudfeld's category is Christian Hackenberg. He's an extremely intelligent quarterback, and I think he'll be a lot more confident knowing that he's not going to be pulled when he has a bad outing. That being said, I think Indiana's concern is that a lot of games this season will play out like the Spring Game when he and Roberson were playing on different teams. Roberson had Shane Wynn, Sudfeld didn't. Sudfeld completed 29 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown and lost, because as accurate as he was, his receivers didn't get a lot after the catch. Roberson only completed 10 passes, but got 176 yards out of that and won in large part because Wynn turned five catches into 141 yards. Sudfeld will obviously have Wynn and Wynn has a chance to have a great season, but if a 5-foot-7, 167 pounder is the only receiver you can count on to make big plays, you've got issues. Someone else has to step up as a receiver if the Hoosiers are to get the most out of Sudfeld.

4. How much can new defensive coordinator Brian Knorr impact a defensive unit that finished 114th nationally in scoring defense?



Don't forget 120th in total defense, 118th against the pass and 115th against the run. He's obviously not going to turn them into Michigan State overnight or any time soon for that matter. And he doesn't have to. Even with the weapons lost, the Hoosiers still should be fairly potent on offense. If they had, say, the No. 9 or 10 defense in the Big Ten last season as opposed to the worst, they would have been a bowl team for sure and that kind of improvement this year should also put them in the postseason. There was, of course, a huge statistical difference between them and the No. 9 defense in the country, so can't say for sure that will happen, but switching to a 3-4 as Knorr is doing at least mixes things up and allows them to do more with misdirection and pass rush coming from different directions. Adding some element of surprise to the situation that could help make up for the lack of overwhelming talent. Also, though, the talent is getting better. Again, there aren't any first-round picks on that side of the ball right now, but guys like Darius Latham, Antonio Allen, Ralph Green and Nick Mangieri represent at least a slightly higher quality athlete on that side of the ball than Indiana is used to having. Most of that talent is young, but it is developing. The combination of more intricate scheme and better talent should make an impact. It needs to make a huge impact for Indiana to actually have a decent defense, but just making them a little less awful will make a difference.

5. Are there any emerging Indiana players who could be household names in the Big Ten this year? Why?

If Nate Sudfeld, Tevin Coleman and Shane Wynn aren't household names yet, they will be. As I said before, Sudfeld may be the best pure passer in the Big Ten. Coleman is as explosive a weapon at tailback as there is in the conference, and Shane Wynn could be this year's Jeremy Gallon. If those guys already have too much name recognition to count in this discussion, then I'd say tailback Laray Smith, Dominique Booth and Jordan Fuchs have a chance to enter the discussion. Smith is a speedster at running back who could step in as a backup for Coleman and provide another home run threat. Booth was a huge in-state recruit for IU — he had been committed to Tennessee — and he has a chance to start immediately and be one of Indiana's top receivers. He's only 6-feet tall, but has great hands, is very strong for his age and is good at getting open. And Jordan Fuchs is a former basketball player who could give IU the athletic pass catcher at tight end that they lost with Ted Bolser moving on. On the defensive side of the ball, there's a chance Antonio Allen and Darius Latham could have breakout seasons as previously mentioned. Allen was starting to get comfortable before his ACL tear last season and Latham was hard to block on the defensive line in spring ball. Ralph Green will be IU's nosetackle and he could perform well there. I think Nick Mangieri and David Kenney could benefit from rushing from a stand-up position and sophomore linebackers Marcus Oilver, T.J. Simmons and Clyde Newton might also be helped by the 3-4 move. Not sure if all of these guys will be household names, but several of them could be.

Ranking the Ohio State 2014 opponents

No. 12 Kent State, 0.5 percent chance: Breakdown -- 5 expert questions

No. 11 Rutgers, 2 percent chance: Breakdown -- 5 expert questions

No. 10 Illinois, 2 percent chance: Breakdown -- 5 expert questions

No. 9 Minnesota, 3 percent chance: Breakdown -- 5 expert questions

No. 8 Indiana, 3 percent chance: Breakdown -- 5 expert questions