Indiana Football Bye Week Stock Report: Who’s trending up? Who’s trending down?

The Indiana football program has hit a low point on the season, falling to Maryland last weekend 44-17. Following the loss, offensive coordinator Walt Bell was fired, giving way for Rod Carey as the new offensive coordinator.

Indiana, now sitting at 2-3, heads into its bye week looking to improve in many ways as well as answer numerous questions.

So, after week five of the season for Indiana, who is trending up? Who’s trending down? We take a look at some players and position groups here.

TRENDING UP

Christian Turner: Turner has been the lone back who has consistently proven to be able to move the ball on the ground, and that continued against Maryland. He finished with 15 carries for 61 yards, a 4.1 average. It’s been a productive two-week span for the transfer back, who has totaled 28 carries for 128 yards and one touchdown — good enough for an average of 4.6 yards per carry. He had just 12 carries on the year going into the Akron game, but an injury to Josh Henderson has opened the door for Turner to get a lot of additional touches. He had just 12 carries for 49 yards and one touchdown in the first three weeks.

“CT (Christian Turner) is a very good running back, and he’s gonna be in the NFL someday,” Indiana quarterback Tayven Jackson said last week. “Him being a veteran and playing a lot of years in college football, that gives me confidence back there in run blocks and giving him the ball up the gut. He’s a phenomenal back and I’m just happy that he’s on our team.”

With Henderson potentially sidelined for longer, Turner could be — and should be — a guy who gets a bulk of the carries, with Jaylin Lucas sprinkled in as a change of pace runner or for heavy passing downs.

Related: Christian Turner could be spark needed for sluggish Indiana football rushing attack

Donaven McCulley: While the passing attack for Indiana has been inconsistent, one player trending up is Donaven McCulley. And, Saturday could’ve been his breakout game. The second-year wideout went for six receptions for 79 yards and one touchdown. It was his best performance since making the transition from QB to wide receiver. He has tremendous size, speed and strength at the position that makes him ideal for a playmaking role in this offense.

He’s caught at least three passes in four straight games and has now proven to be a consistent option for Tayven Jackson in the passing game. But, this last week could be a turning point in his development.

TRENDING DOWN

Tayven Jackson: It has been a rough stretch for the redshirt freshman quarterback. Following a difficult first half against Maryland, Jackson was benched for Brendan Sorsby. Now, it’s a question as to which player will be under center next week against Michigan. Jackson was just 17-of-29 passing for 113 yards and one interception last week. While he did lead the offense on a few good drives, it resulted in just three points. Sorsrby came in and led Indiana to two touchdowns.

“We needed a spark. (We were) looking for something,” IU head coach Allen said. “Obviously, we’ve got two quarterbacks that have proven they can play, so felt like Brendan has earned the right to have that opportunity. He (Jackson) knows you’ve got to play well if you want to continue to play your position. So everybody’s in that same boat.

MOST TO PROVE

Rod Carey: While the offense can’t get *any* worse, there are a lot of questions about what this offense will look like with Carey calling plays. Carey spent time at Northern Illinois and Temple. During his time as an offensive coordinator and head coach at Northern Illinois, his offense was ranked in the top three of the MAC for four of his seven years. His rushing offense also topped the league for four seasons.

He takes over an offense that has struggled and seems to be regressing. Indiana had six drives with five or less plays against Maryland — five of them were punts and one was an interception.

The Hoosiers finished with 321 total yards — 205 passing and 116 rushing. It was another poor offensive performance from Indiana resulting in 4.1 yards per play, 3.1 yards per carry average, 5-of-17 on third downs and three sacks.

Through five games this year, the Indiana football program is averaging 20.8 points per game, 13th in the Big Ten. Against FBS opponents, Indiana is averaging just 12.8 points per game in regulation. Indiana scored 12 of its 29 points against Akron in week four, in four overtime periods.

“There are probably some things that we have done that we need to do more of that has been successful. This is the cheap seats version of it: you see something that you’ve done good, and we just need to do more of it. You see something that hasn’t been productive, you just don’t do that anymore,” Carey said on Wednesday. “That’s the cheap seats version and is what we have been spending our time trying to identify as a staff. That is one of the little things we can do.

“There’s nothing you can do midseason as far as setup. The setup is the setup, the offense is the offense. What you’re trying to do is get us to run those plays better and maybe do it with a little different flare here and there. That’s about all you can do. I’m excited about it and I think the guys are, too, being with the offense the last two days and the offensive staff. We’ve had flashes, so we need to make those flashes more permanent light on type deal.”

SEE ALSO: Indiana football head coach Tom Allen explains decision to make a change at offensive coordinator

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