On Saturday when No. 18-ranked Southern California pays its first visit to Bloomington, Indiana, since 1981, the No. 9 and defending national champion Hoosiers will look to score their first-ever win over the Trojans.
Indiana (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten Conference) is 0-4 all-time against USC (7-2, 4-2), though the programs have not played since 1982. Back then, the Hoosiers were in the 15th year of a 58-year stretch between Big Ten titles.
On Saturday, they are playing to keep their hopes of back-to-back conference championships alive. Indiana sits alone in second place in the Big Ten standings, one game behind undefeated UCLA.
USC, meanwhile, is mired in a six-team logjam of teams tied for third heading into Week 11.
The Trojans come in looking to gain some ground and stay in the muddled mix for a berth in next month’s Big Ten Championship Game. USC resurrected its title aspirations on Halloween with a 30-18 win over Ohio State.
A 69-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jayden Maiava to receiver Trent Mosley less than one minute into the contest set the tone. The Trojans will now look to generate similar explosive plays on Saturday, as tight end Tucker Ashcraft told reporters following Tuesday’s evening practice.
“Just take advantage of all our opportunities. Find the space in their zones, and make big plays,” he said.
Doing so has proven difficult against the Indiana defense. The Hoosiers have allowed only 25 plays of 20 yards or more, 13th-fewest in the nation, and three plays of 40-plus yards, tied for fifth-fewest.
Defense has kept Indiana near the top of the Big Ten despite scoring struggles in recent weeks. The Hoosiers have not scored more than 20 points in regulation in any of their last four contests.
In that same stretch, however, they have not allowed more than 19 points. No opponent has scored more than 23 points on Indiana this season.
“There’s a lot of continuity in terms of guys who’ve been in that system for multiple years,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “It will be one of the deepest (defensive lines) we’ve played in terms of the number of guys they have (who) can contribute…They’ve got the full two-deep and then some.”
Among the categories in which the Indiana defense has shined is third-down efficiency, holding opponents to 31.6% conversions. Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti likewise praised USC for its performance on third downs defensively, limiting teams to 35.9% conversions.
The combination of defensive potential and up-and-down offensive production for both teams, with USC just two games removed from 24-7 loss at Wisconsin, could make for another low-scoring affair.
“A lot of our problems have been general execution,” Cignetti said of his team’s offensive inconsistency. “For the most part, it’s been missed opportunities. Last week (a 23-16 overtime win over Minnesota on Oct. 31), it was a combination of six offensive penalties.”
The flags Indiana received against the Golden Gophers were anomalous compared with how the Hoosiers have performed the rest of the season. Indiana is the nation’s sixth-least penalized team, averaging 4.2 per game for 34.8 yards.