Rutgers waited until 37-0 to score. Indiana owned the ground first.

Indiana beat Rutgers 47-15 on Saturday night in Piscataway, and the 32-point margin hardly overstates the separation. The Hoosiers led 23-0 at halftime and 37-0 with 5:36 left in the third quarter before Rutgers scored. The Scarlet Knights fell to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the Big Ten; Indiana improved to 5-0 and 2-0.

The rushing numbers explain why Rutgers spent so much of the night chasing the game. Indiana gained 329 yards on 39 carries, an 8.4-yard average. Rutgers managed 59 yards on 35 carries, just 1.7 per attempt. Turbo Richard accounted for 204 rushing yards and a touchdown for Indiana. That is not a narrow efficiency gap. It is a team repeatedly reaching the next level while the other struggles to get started.

The margin was on the ground

The broader box score points the same way: Indiana had 593 total yards to Rutgers' 254 and 26 first downs to nine. Josh Hoover threw four touchdown passes. Rutgers' pregame hope rested in part on receiver KJ Duff and running back Antwan Raymond, but no individual offensive answer could erase a night in which the Hoosiers controlled both the line of scrimmage and the scoreboard.

AJ Surace found Ben Black III for a 53-yard touchdown after the score reached 37-0. Clay Thevenin later finished a 72-yard drive with a one-yard run. Those plays gave Rutgers something positive on film, but calling them a comeback would misstate when the game was decided. Indiana added 10 points after the Scarlet Knights' two scores.

A late response, not a comeback

Rutgers now has a week off before visiting Maryland on October 17, according to the school's schedule. A reset begins with the ground game on both sides: fewer free yards conceded and more manageable downs created. This result supplied little evidence that either problem can be solved by one explosive pass.