Report Card: Indiana Defense Thrives, Offense Struggles in Michigan State Win

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The Hoosiers continued to roll this weekend, shutting out Michigan State 24-0 on the road.

It wasn't the prettiest of ball games, and head coach Tom Allen knows that, but he was still proud of the way his team got the victory.

"I am just really proud of our guys to come here, it has been a tough place for us to win over the years, and to get a shutout here is pretty special," Allen said. "That does not happen very often and to get our fifth Big Ten win in a row, fourth of the season, it is a pretty awesome thing."

Here's my report card after Saturday's win, the first over Michigan State since 2016 as the Hoosiers regained the Old Brass Spittoon.

Pass Offense: B-minus

The passing numbers look pretty good from Saturday, and that's mostly from the performance of Indiana wide receiver Ty Fryfogle.

Fryfogle had a career day, catching 11 balls for 200 yards and two touchdowns.

The Penix to Fryfogle connection has been lethal for two weeks now, but Indiana's offense just didn't look the same on Saturday.

Penix finished the game 25-for-38 with 320 passing yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw two interceptions.

The Hoosiers also struggled to throw the ball in the red zone, an area where they were perfect through the first three weeks of the season.

Penix and Allen both admitted they weren't happy with the offense, so the pass game comes away with a B-minus.

Rush Offense: B

Stevie Scott found the end zone once again, taking an 8-yard rush up the middle for Indiana's first score. Scott finished with 23 carries for 84 yards and that score. Sampson James got 10 carries for 22 yards, and Tim Baldwin Jr. even got some action with three carries for 18 yards.

It wasn't anything groundbreaking, but with Caleb Jones and Mike Katic out along the offensive line, the Hoosiers were able to do enough in the run game to make Michigan State respect it.

Rush Defense: A

The defensive line impressed once again for Indiana. Michigan State used six rushers on Saturday, and they all only combined for 60 total yards.

Micah McFadden and James Miller led the way in tackling with nine and six, respectively.

The Spartans' longest play was when backup quarterback Payton Thorne came in and broke a run for 38 yards, which Allen was still mad about postgame, but other than that, the Hoosiers dominated in the trenches once again.

Pass Defense: A

The Indiana secondary continues to fly around and make plays. The two Michigan State quarterbacks combined for just 131 yards passing.

Tiawan Mullen picked off Rocky Lombardi twice in the first half, and Reese Taylor picked off Thorne in the fourth quarter.

Only one receiver for the Spartans had over two receptions, so the Hoosiers' secondary really shut down any passing attack Michigan State tried to throw at them.

Special Teams: C

For the first time this season, Charles Campbell missed a field goal. He hit a 21-yarder early in the game, but missed one from 41 yards later.

On one of Indiana's punts, the snap was super high for Haydon Whitehead, but he was luckily able to leap up and grab it to get the punt off.

Aside from a decent punt return from Taylor for 18 yards, Indiana's special teams didn't look the sharpest, and Allen admitted he wasn't pleased with how they played in that phase.

Coaching: B-plus

The attitude, spirit and leadership of Allen will always go unmatched. He has his Hoosiers 4-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1987.

Kane Wommack continued to call a great game and have his defense performing at a high level.

The only reason the grade isn't an A is because how the offense looked. Nick Sheridan won't be pleased with how they executed for a majority of that game, and he won't be shy to take some of the blame for it.

Intangibles: A

The spirit and fight of this team has all of Hoosier Nation on the edge of their seats to see what this team is capable of.

One of the more exciting things about Saturday's game was that Indiana shutout a Big Team 24-0, but it still felt like Indiana underperformed for most of the game.

That just shows that the expectation and confidence in this program is growing and growing, and it's about to get put to test very soon in the coming weeks.