Indiana didn’t start out the 2021 season the way they wanted to and a big reason for that was the play of quarterback Michael Penix Jr.

He was playing in his first game since he underwent surgery on his torn ACL and he looked rusty as ever. He finished 14-for-31 with only 156 yards passing and 0 touchdowns to 3 interceptions. It was one of Penix’s worst performances of his career as the Hoosiers lost by 28.

After the game, Penix spoke with Tom Brew of Sports Illustrated and touched on his poor play during the game. Let’s just say he knows he needs to be a lot better moving forward.

“We just didn’t execute at a high level. That part, I was disappointed at, especially with myself,” Penix said. “That starts with me. Being the quarterback on this team, I need to find a way to make plays and find ways to get the team rallied back up so we can play at a high level and have fun. That didn’t happen this past weekend, but like I say, we just have to move forward and continue to stay focused and locked in. We’re definitely going to learn from our mistakes and make sure we’ll go back and make the corrections we need to make so we can play better football.”

Penix will need to back those words up as the Hoosiers have their home opener against Idaho this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET. He’ll be looking to not only get his first touchdown pass of the year but to help Indiana get their first win of the year.