BREAKING: Injury may force QB Michael Penix Jr. out of Ohio State game

This story was updated at 12:22 p.m. Thursday

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Redshirt freshman quarterback Michael Penix Jr. has electrified Indiana's offense the first two weeks of the season, but an undisclosed injury may keep him out of Saturday's huge Big Ten opener against No. 6-ranked Ohio State, Indiana coach Tom Allen said Thursday.

Penix played almost all of the first half of last week's 52-0 blowout victory over Eastern Illinois. He completed 14 of 20 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns. When he came out of the game with 1:07 left in the second quarter and Indiana already ahead 28-0, it looked liked Indiana coach Tom Allen was simply wanting to get backup Peyton Ramsey some work in the 2-minute drill. Allen even said so in his postgame news conference.

Penix never returned to the game, but no one thought anything of it because reserves at almost every position played the entire second half in the easy win.

"We won’t know anything until game time,'' Indiana coach Tom Allen said Thursday morning at Memorial Stadium after practice. "He's working through some things right now and we're not 100 percent sure. I'm not going to give you specifics, but it's also not going to be a long-term thing. He just wasn't feeling right.''

Penix has been able to practice "a little bit,'' Allen said "The bottom line is you never know, and that's what I said from the beginning when we made the decision (about the starting quarterback), that everyone is going to have to be ready to play every single week. You have to be able to rise up and be ready to play.''

No definitive word on the availability of Indiana starting quarterback Michael Penix for this week's B1G game against Ohio State. Tom Allen said it will be a game day decision. #iufb pic.twitter.com/ITYriPhFfz
— Jim Coyle (@jimcoyleISB) September 12, 2019

Penix appeared fine after the game and at his 10-minute media availability on Monday afternoon, and there was no mention about getting hit — or hurt — during either interview. Allen confirmed Thursday that he didn't think Penix was hurt during Saturday's game.

Penix was a huge recruiting get for Allen and his staff, beating out Florida State and others for the Tampa, Fla., native's services after he decommitted from Tennessee. He got a taste of action a year ago and appeared primed to take over as the starter for Ramsey, but he tore his ACL in an October game with Penn State.

He worked hard in rehab to be 100 percent by fall camp, and he said he was. He's been throwing and running like he was ready to go, so this news comes as a shock, especially on the eve of one of the most anticipated games for Indiana in many years.

Penix has already thrown for 523 yards and 3 touchdowns this season, and ranks in the top 10 nationally in several quaterback efficiency rankings. He beat out Ramsey in fall camp because he has a huge arm and can stretch the field, so if he can't go against Ohio State's highly regarded defense, it is a problem for the Hoosiers.

"Any time you have a thing like this, you have to dive into rehab and he's done that,'' Allen said.

Ramsey started every game a year ago and actually posted some lofty numbers in the 49-26 loss to Ohio State a year ago. He was 26-for-49 passing for 322 yards. Allen was asked if last year's performance would be a confidence booster for Ramsey.

"No question. And he's from Ohio, so that's enough said,'' Allen said of the Cincinnati native. "I feel great about Peyton playing. He's won a lot of games for us here.''

Ramsey played well last Saturday in relief of Penix. He was 13-for-14 passing for 226 yards, including a 64-yard pass-and-run by Ronnie Walker Jr. on his first play of the game in the second quarter.

If Penix is a no-go, Utah transfer Jack Tuttle will back up Ramsey. He got spot duty in last Saturday's game too, completing 3 of 7 passes for 18 yards.

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