Indiana had a lot of ugly statistics in 2021.

Teams do when they finish with only 2 victories, none of them inside their conference, and are riding an 8-game losing streak. But for the Hoosiers to bounce back big in 2022, something IU fans are hoping for but few others outside the program are predicting, they’re going to need a lot to change, and quickly.

Let’s take a look at 5 statistical trends the Hoosiers must reverse.

Average margin of B1G loss: 24.7 points

Look, this could not be any more obvious, right?

If Indiana is to win games this season, particularly in the Big Ten, then it must first compete. The Hoosiers didn’t do so last season when they were regularly molly-whopped by their opponents by more than 24 points per game. And that statistic includes 2 games — vs. Michigan State and Maryland — that had a combined margin of only 8 points. The other 7 losses came by an average of nearly 31 points.

Thirty-one points!

It’s hard to fathom. The average margin nearly matches exactly that of the 2011 season, in which IU lost all 8 of its conference games by 24.4 points. That year, the Hoosiers also lost 2 games by single-digits, vs. Penn State and Purdue.

The next season — for those hoping for a big IU bounce — Indiana finished with a 4-8 overall record, including 2-6 in the B1G with wins over Illinois and Iowa.

Turnover margin of minus-1.08/game

Indiana gave the ball away 22 times last season and created only 9 turnovers of its own, a deficit of minus-13. The ratio was tied for the second-worst among the 130 FBS teams last season, beating out only Arizona, which was a whopping minus-17.

The problem seems particularly mind-numbing for the Hoosiers, considering from where they had come. It was only a year before, in the magical Covid-shortened 2020 season, that IU was one of the best in the country in turnover margin, ranking No. 9 in the country. That year, it had 20 takeaways, including 17 interceptions, the 2nd-best mark in the country, and only 12 giveaways, as the Hoosiers averaged plus-1 per game.

The gigantic back-step proved unmanageable for the Hoosiers last season.

Fewest sacks (17) in more than a decade

Indiana couldn’t create turnovers in 2021 and it couldn’t create pressure.

The statistics likely go hand-in-hand.

The Hoosiers had only 17 sacks last season, which ranked dead last in the Big Ten and 115th (of 130) in the country. Of the 17 sacks, only 6.5 came from Indiana’s front four, a paltry number indicative of the Hoosiers’ lack of impact plays near and behind the line of scrimmage.

The 17 sacks are the fewest since Indiana had only 15, which ranked 104th in the country (out of 120), in 2010. Since then, IU’s high mark is 36 (ranking No. 21 in the country) in 2017.

Third-down conversions at 36.9%

Indiana’s offense couldn’t stay on the field last season, as the Hoosiers flamed out on third downs far, far too frequently.

It was a major contributing factor to IU averaging only 17.3 points per game, ranking 123rd in the country.

The Hoosiers converted only 36.9 percent of their third downs, which was 89th in the country. But a deeper dive shows the problems on offense were even worse: In the 9 games vs. Power 5 opponents (the B1G games), Indiana converted only 45 third downs total (only 5 per game) for a percentage of 32.6, ranking 90th in the country.

IU couldn’t keep the chains moving.

Opponents scored in the red zone on 90.9% of trips

Once Indiana let opponents get into the red zone — and that was frequent — they almost always scored.

Opponents converted 90.9 percent of their trips inside the IU 20-yard line into points, which ranked the Hoosiers 117th. Of the 55 red zone visits, Indiana made only 5 stops while giving up 39 touchdowns and 11 field goals. That ranked last in the Big Ten, a tick worse than Iowa, which had stops only 4 times on 43 trips, but at least for the Hawkeyes, they held opponents to 15 field goals and only 24 touchdowns.

IU was far too vulnerable near its end zone.