How to Watch Indiana's Football Game with Minnesota on Saturday
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It's the final home game of the season for Indiana on Saturday, when the Hoosiers take on Minnesota at Memorial Stadium. It's Senior Day, too, with many Indiana players suiting up for the final home game of their career.
Indiana is hoping to snap a six-game losing streak, and will try to do that once again with true freshman Donaven McCulley at quarterback. Indiana's offense has struggled all season, mostly because of a slew of injuries at the QB position, first with Michael Penix Jr., who was injured in the Oct. 2 loss at Penn State, and then Jack Tuttle, who sprained a foot in the Oct. 23 Ohio State loss and then went down again last week against Rutgers.
The game starts at 3:30 p.m. ET and is televised on the Big Ten Network. It's another Saturday where there are TWO games on BTN at the same time, so it's important that you figure it out in advance which channel the game is on with your cable or satellite system.
If you're in Indiana, the Hoosiers are probably on the main BTN channel, but if you're out of state, you might be out of luck. So be warned. Most of the nation will see Michigan-Maryland on the main channel.
Here's how to watch Indiana's game with the Minnesota Golden Gophers, with gametime and TV information, the latest on the point spread and information on the coaches and the game.
- *** LIVE BLOG: And once the game starts, follow all the action on our live blog. To read that story, CLICK HERE
How to watch Minnesota Golden Gophers at Indiana Hoosiers
- Who: Minnesota Golden Gophers at Indiana Hoosiers
- When: 3:30 p.m. ET
- Where: Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Ind.
- TV: Big Ten Network
- Stream: Fubo.tv CLICK HERE
- TV Announcers: : Chris Vosters (play-by-play) & J Leman (analyst)
- Radio: IU Radio Network; Sirius 78, XM 175, SXM App 983
- Radio Announcers: Don Fischer (play-by-play), Buck Suhr (analyst) & Joe Smith.
- Point spread: Minnesota is a 7.5-point favorite over Indiana, according to the SISportsbook.com website on Saturday morning. The over/under is 43.5.
- This year's records: Minnesota is 6-4 on the season and 4-3 in the Big Ten. Indiana is 2-8 overall, 0-7 in the Big Ten.
- Last season's records: Indiana was 6-2 overall, and 6-1 in the Big Ten, losing to Ole Miss 26-20 in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla; Minnesota was 3-4 overall, and 3-4 in the Big Ten and did not play in a bowl game.
- Series history: Minnesota leads the all-time series 39-26-3. This is the first game in Bloomington since Nov. 2, 2013. Minnesota won that game 42-39, and has won three in a row in the series, and five of the past six meetings.
- Last meeting: Minnesota won 38-31 in Minneapolis the last time the two teams met on Oct. 26, 2018. Tanner Morgan, who is still Minnesota's quarterback three years later, was 17-for-24 passing that day for 302 yards and three touchdown passes. Peyton Ramsey was Indiana's quarterback in that game and threw for 232 yards and two touchdowns, but also had two interceptions.
- Coaches: Tom Allen is in his fifth season as the head coach at Indiana. He is 26-30 (.464) in his fifth season as Indiana's head football coach. His 24 wins over his first four years are the most for an IU head coach during that time period. P.J. Fleck is in his fifth season at Minnesota. He has a 32-23 record and is 19-22 in Big Ten games. He coaches at Western Michigan for four years previously, and has a 62-45 overall record.
- Rankings: Neither team is ranked. The Hoosiers were No. 17 in both polls in the preseason, and it was the first time that Indiana had been ranked in the preseason AP poll since 1969. They fell out of the top-25 after the season-opening loss to Iowa. In the Sagarin computer rankings, Indiana is ranked No. 85 and Minnesota is No. 37.
- Weather: According to weather.com, the forecast calls for cloudy skies and the temperature at kickoff is expected to be 48 degrees.
Three things I want to see from Indiana
1. Handle Minnesota's massive offensive line
Even though Minnesota has dealt with injuries at the running back position all year, they're still committed to running the ball down your throat every game. For starters, they have a huge offensive line, with the goal of dominating the line of scrimmage on every battle.
"They're 6-foot-9, 350 pounds. They have really big humans up front blocking. I don't know, they might be the biggest offensive line in the country,'' Indiana defensive coordinator Charlton Warren said. "I think that's what makes their scheme tough.
"One, they're committed to it. They have their identity, and they get a lot of beef up front and try to knock you off the ball and wear you down and there's gains of one and gains of two and then gains of five. They just try to wear you down, so we've got to do a great job of holding our edges, and finding ways to get them behind the sticks.''
2. Get some production from Donaven McCulley
Donaven McCulley has been pressed into action far too soon in his Indiana career, and the true freshman from Larwence North has struggled to move the Indiana offense. He's just 32-of-75 passing so far (42.7 percent) and has thrown for 457 yards in his five games. He needs to do more on Saturday against Minnesota.
"It's a challenge to play quarterback in this league regardless of your experience based on the quality of opponents that you play, and certainly when you couple that with getting here in June and not having quite the time on task,'' Indiana offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan said of McCulley. "There are things that happened in the game on Saturday that shouldn't occur whether you were here for six months or three years, and those are the things we focus on.
"Certainly we recognize these ups and downs throughout the course of the game, but we can handle a snap. We can handle an exchange. It has nothing to do with our opponent or the quality of the teams or the players that you go against.''
3. Finish with a maximum amount of pride
No one expected this season to go this way. Not Tom Allen, not the players, not the fans, and definitely not me. But still, it's the final home game of the year and for a lot of guys who have donated their blood, sweat and tears to this program the last few years, it would be great for them to go out in style.
Last week's 38-3 loss at home to Rutgers was a flat-out embarrassment for everyone involved. There's no way a repeat of that can happen. Pride has to be a factor at some point.
I know they're short-handed when it comes to talent, but the 11 guys on the field for every play need to give maximum effort — on every snap.
Related stories on Indiana football
- UPDATED BIG TEN POINT SPREADS: We're heading down the home stretch in the Big Ten football race, and there are several high-profile games this weekend. There's been some subtle movements in the point spreads this week, but the over/unders have jumped a lot. Here's the latest. CLICK HERE
- SENIOR DAY: For the seniors on Indiana's football team, they've been along for a ride where the program has reached lofty heights not seen in a long time. Despite this disappointing 2021 season, they want to go out on a high note in the final home game of the year on Saturday against Minnesota. CLICK HERE
- WHAT NICK SHERIDAN SAID: Indiana offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan understands that true freshman Donaven McCulley is a young and inexperienced quarterback, but he says there were no excuses for some of the blunders that took place in Saturday's ugly 38-3 loss to Rutgers. CLICK HERE
- WHAT CHARLTON WARREN SAID: After Indiana's 38-3 loss to Rutgers, Indiana defensive coordinator Charlton Warren talked about how depth on the defensive line is still a problem, how Cam Jones' absence affected the run defense and the challenges that lie ahead with Minnesota. CLICK HERE
