Nate Sudfeld's Strong Return Should Help Indiana Football Contend

Indiana may not be one of the Big Ten‘s talked-about contenders, but they’re certainly a team who can make noise in a rising conference with their star quarterback back in the mix.

Nate Sudfeld‘s season ended at Iowa last year, and in the games that he didn’t play, the Hoosiers were 1-5. The team was 3-2 prior to their trip to Iowa City. Zander Diamont was the primary signal caller after Sudfeld went down and couldn’t keep Indiana in it.

Sudfeld was having a good season last year, but is putting up Heisman-like numbers early this season. With 1,143 passing yards, he trails only Nebraska‘s Tommy Armstrong Jr. (1,266) and is managing to turn the ball over at a much more favorable rate. In fact, Sudfeld’s thrown just one interception compared to Armstrong’s five and, most importantly, his team is unbeaten.

Defense is normally strong among contenders in the Big Ten, but the Hoosiers struggle on that side of the ball, which is a testament to the offense. Sudfeld hasn’t been the only player who’s impressed with running back Jordan Howard leading the FBS with 675 yards on the ground. Indiana presents a well-balanced and explosive offense that will give opponents in the Big Ten fits through the latter part of the season.

The Hoosiers will be tested for real next weekend in their first conference game when they host the defending national champions. Taking down Ohio State is certainly a long shot, but not out of the realm of possibility with the Buckeyes failing to impress in what should’ve been easy matchups. If the Hoosiers have a shot on Saturday, they’ll have to keep scoring at the rate they have been through the first four weeks.

Jason Shawley is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering Big Ten Football. Follow him on Twitter @jshawls.