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Big Ten Preseason Games

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Big Ten Preseason Games

Indiana poses as a team before Saturday's game.

The Big Ten doesn’t get going for two weeks but several of the teams in the conference saw action this weekend.

Ohio State slammed Cincinnati 59-5 Friday, with Jojo Eramo featured heavily in the scoresheet as did captain Aaron Thomas - both scored three tries. The Buckeyes looked good against a tough Cincinnati team.

Michigan, meanwhile, lost 40-31 to University of Notre Dame Saturday. Head Coach Brandon Sparks said Notre Dame was dominate at the breakdown - ore physical and with good technique - and that ultimately was the difference. Tohy Rakotovololona had a very strong game for the Wolverines, and Kyle Gruebnau also played well in a game where the Michigan squad got a good lesson in how important the ruck and tackle area are.

Purdue was slated to play Western Michigan, but that game was canceled.

And, finally, defending conference champs Indiana put together a pretty impressive result with an 87-0 shutout of IUPUI.

Indiana graduated a small number of starters from last year’s champion team, but added some impressive players, as well. Club president Jacob Garwood said that with added height and more experience, the IU squad actually looks stronger this year than last year’s. 

“Height was a struggle for us last year, but we’ve got some players in now and we’re better in that area,” said Garwood. “We’re working on a new offensive system this year and it’s starting to come together.”

Indiana is playing a bit more of a modern style, with forwards and backs spread across the field. Things certainly looked good this weekend. They scored 87 points, flanker Dacoda Worth scored two tries and was a useful runner, and the scoring was spread throughout the team. In fact, Worth was the only player to score more than once - apart, of course, from goalkicker Teddy Terezis, who continued to slot goals and looked impressive at his new position, flyhalf.