Indiana won’t have its star QB when it visits Wisconsin on Saturday

No. 10 Indiana will be without its star quarterback when it travels to take on No. 18 Wisconsin this Saturday.

According to Indiana coach Tom Allen, redshirt sophomore Michael Penix Jr. suffered a torn ACL against Maryland last week and he will miss the rest of the season.

Penix has been one of the breakout players in the Big Ten this season, throwing for 1,645 yards and 14 touchdowns while leading Indiana to its first top-10 ranking since 1969.

The job now falls to redshirt sophomore Jack Tuttle. Wisconsin was among the teams that recruited Tuttle hard coming out of high school before he eventually chose to sign with Utah. He later transferred to Indiana and played in five games last year. His first action this season came against the Terrapins last week as he went 5-for-5 for 31 yards.

“I don’t think it’s going to change too much,” linebacker Noah Burks said when asked about the loss of Penix and Tuttle taking over. “Overall, they’ve got a bunch of great athletes out on the field and we’ll come up with a game plan and stick to it.”

Wide receiver update

The last time we saw Wisconsin’s offense it was really struggling in the pass game against Northwestern. At least some of that had to do with the absence of senior wide receivers Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor. When the Badgers face the Hoosiers they should have at least one, if not both, back on the field.

“I do believe we’ll have (Pryor),” coach Paul Chryst said. “Danny, I think we’ll find out as the week progresses.”

Pryor left the Michigan game early with an upper body injury, but tweeted last week that he would have been back for the Minnesota game had it not been canceled. It appeared Davis also got dinged during the game against the Wolverines but what kept him out of the Northwestern game was never announced.

In the first two games of the season, Pryor and Davis combined for 149 yards receiving and one touchdown, while also contributing 78 yards rushing and another score.

Still play the Minnesota game?

There has been talk about potentially making up the Minnesota game, with Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle telling the Minneapolis Star-Tribune it’s something he would bring up with the Big Ten.

Depending on how the final two weeks play out, it’s possible the game could be played during the Big Ten’s so-called Champions Week on Dec. 19.

There is certainly interest from Wisconsin’s side of things.

“Most definitely,” cornerback Faion Hicks said when asked if they wanted the game to be made up. “I think guys from both programs want to make up that game.”

The two teams have played every year but one since 1890, and it’s the most-played rivalry game in the FBS.