BIG TEN FOOTBALL Indiana's offense has regressed

The Hoosiers (1-6) are not as good as last year on offense.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -- Gerry DiNardo expected the West Coast offense to blossom in his second season at Indiana.
Instead, it has regressed.
The Hoosiers (1-6, 0-3) have just two touchdown passes, are well off last year's pace for passing yards, average just 3.5 yards per carry and are scoring a Big Ten-low 17.7 points per game.
DiNardo isn't fretting.
"With this off week, I watched tape from last year and compared last year's team to this year's team," he said. "I'm convinced we're better in a lot of ways."
Indiana's problem is that the improvement has not shown up on the statistical sheet or on the scoreboard.
The Hoosiers haven't won since Sept. 13.
Face big challenge
With No. 8 Ohio State coming to town this week followed by a trip to Minnesota next week, it may be tough to end their four-game losing streak or their nine-game losing streak against conference teams.
Indiana hasn't beaten a Big Ten opponent since a 32-29 win over then-No. 23 Wisconsin Oct. 12, 2002, and has lost 12 of its last 13 overall.
The most glaring problem has been on offense, where the numbers are way down.
DiNardo could blame part of the problem on the loss of last year's top runner, Yamar Washington, to a season-ending knee injury last spring.
But there are other issues, too.
Wide receivers Courtney Roby and Glenn Johnson, who nearly became the first pair of receivers in Indiana history to surpass 1,000 yards in the same season last year, have struggled to break free this season.
Roby has been slowed by a knee injury and has 21 receptions for 275 yards. Johnson leads the team with 24 catches for 296 yards.
Some also expected quarterback Matt LoVecchio, the hard-throwing transfer from Notre Dame, to give Indiana's offense a boost.
That hasn't happened, either.
While LoVecchio has completed 101-of-194 passes (52.1 percent), his 1,301 yards and two touchdowns all a significant decrease from those compiled by Gibran Hamdan and Tommy Jones last year. Hamdan and Jones combined to throw for 2,994 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Tried to explain
DiNardo tried to explain the discrepancy by saying LoVecchio, who red-shirted last season after transferring to Indiana, was in his first season with the offense and that he was pleased with the reduction in mistakes. Hamdan and Jones threw 21 interceptions last year; LoVecchio has just six.
"He has brought leadership, experience, maturity and good decisions," DiNardo said. "I still take this offense over the interception-fest we had last year."
The Hoosiers other major problem has been pass defense, which has surrendered 246 yards per game and a league-high 13 touchdowns.