Indiana’s season hasn’t gone as planned. At 2-9, the Hoosiers are nowhere close to where they expected to be when the 2021 campaign kicked off in September.

Tom Allen’s team suffered another disappointing loss on Saturday, falling 35-14 to Minnesota on Senior Day. The Hoosiers have yet to win a B1G game and are struggling to get anything accomplished offensively.

Donaven McCulley completed just 3-of-7 passes for 17 yards with 2 interceptions against the Gophers, resulting in Grant Gremel getting the nod to step onto the field. His performance was slightly better, throwing for 60 yards and a touchdowns on 5-of-12 throwing.

After the game, Allen was asked if there’s a chance Gremel starts for next week’s rivalry game against Purdue. The IU head coach had a very direct response.

“Whatever we’ve got to do to beat Purdue,” Allen said. “That’s the bottom line.”

Beating Purdue isn’t going to be an easy task. The Hoosiers won the last meeting in 2019 and last year’s contest wasn’t played because of COVID-19 concerns.

The Boilermakers head into next week’s game with a 7-4 record, fresh off a 32-14 win over Northwestern. They’ve had one of the top passing attacks in the B1G since Aidan O’Connell took over under center and will present plenty of challenges to the Indiana defense.

There’s no question, Indiana will need to play its best game of the season to win.