With 4 wins, Indiana doesn’t have bowl eligibility to play for Saturday.

But that’s of little relevance to the Hoosiers now, considering a win against Purdue in the Old Oaken Bucket game would keep their bitter rivals from a share of the Big Ten West title. That alone is plenty of motivation to get up for the game.

Indiana also can gain a bit more momentum heading into the offseason, after its come-from-behind victory — IU trailed by 17 midway through the 3rd quarter — at Michigan State on Saturday. It ended a stretch that had seen the Hoosiers win only 1 of their previous 16 Big Ten games. But Indiana is still a 10-point home underdog to the Boilermakers in Memorial Stadium, so it’ll take another big effort to upend the visitors from the north.

Let’s take a look at 5 ways IU could spoil Purdue’s party:

Run the ball

The insertion of Dexter Williams II as Indiana’s starting quarterback completely changed the Hoosiers’ rushing attack, forcing the Spartans to pay attention to multiple potential ball-carriers in the backfield.

And that overwhelmed Michigan State’s defense. Indiana rushed for a season-high 257 yards on 44 carries (it was 284 yards sans the 3 sacks of Williams), including a 79-yarder from Shaun Shivers for a touchdown. The score was a good example what Williams brings to the offense. On an option, he handed the ball on an inside counter to Shivers, with left tackle Luke Haggard pulling to provide the clear-out block on the right side. But because Williams was a threat to keep the ball, the left side of the defense, where Haggard had been, was forced to stay home. The shift gave IU an extra blocker vs. fewer defenders and sprung Shivers for an untouched TD.

Purdue will have to deal with the same kind of misdirection on Saturday. Although the Boilermakers’ rush defense has been decent this season, 8th in the Big Ten allowing 120.9 yards per game, it has not faced a true option attack.

More Dexter passing

As Williams settles in to his starting role, perhaps he’ll get more comfortable in the passing game. Against MSU, he didn’t need to be, as the 3rd-year sophomore completed only 2-of-7 passes for 31 yards. He dropped back a few other times, as well, but was sacked on 3 snaps.

Purdue’s passing defense can be exploited — it ranks 10th in the league, allowing 219.4 yards per game — so the Hoosiers might consider taking more shots down the field. It’s unlikely that Tom Allen simply unleashes Williams as a passer in only his 2nd start, but it wouldn’t be shocking either to see him get a bigger opportunity in the passing game. And it might be necessary to score an upset Saturday.

Special teams play

The biggest play of the day for Indiana in East Lansing came on special teams, when dynamic freshman Jaylin Lucas scored on an 88-yard kickoff return immediately after the Spartans had regained a 17-point lead with about 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.

After getting great blocking up front, Lucas burst through the hole, then accelerated untouched past the couple remaining Spartans for the score, his 2nd on a kick return this season.

Indiana might not need Lucas to score vs. Purdue to earn the win, but if he could give the Hoosiers a short field at a critical moment, it would certainly help out an offense that is largely one-dimensional right now. And it would be an area where IU could level the playing field against a Purdue team that has done almost nothing in the return game this season.

Turn Aidan O’Connell over

Saturday’s game against Northwestern broke a string of 7 consecutive games in which Aidan O’Connell had thrown at least 1 interception. And it’s not as if he was sharp against the Wildcats, as he missed several open throws — ones he had generally hit during his career — and finished with only 159 yards on 16-of-25 passing with 2 touchdowns in the Boilermakers’ 17-9 win.

If Indiana can interrupt O’Connell’s timing, then the Hoosiers can turn him over. IU intercepted Payton Thorne once on Saturday and it was a huge one, coming on the next play after Lucas’ kickoff return to keep momentum heavily in the Hoosiers’ favor. They scored a field goal to end the drive, cutting their deficit to only a touchdown entering the 4th quarter.

It’d be another avenue to give Williams and Co. a short field.

Be there at the end

If Indiana is within striking distance in the 4th quarter, one would have to imagine the Boilermakers would start to feel a ton of pressure.

And while Purdue has found ways to win close games in the 2nd half of the season, it was losing them in the 1st half, with outcomes vs. Penn State and Syracuse sliding into the opponents’ favors in the final minutes.

Maybe IU can force Purdue into a mistake late if the Boilermakers are feeling stressed.