ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

Indiana head coach Bill Lynch has an interesting decision on his hands this week.

The Hoosiers are coming off a 21-19 win against Northwestern, their first Big Ten victory and one that momentarily turns down the heat on Lynch. Sophomore quarterback Ben Chappell engineered the win, passing for 219 yards, a touchdown and most important, no interceptions. In fact, Indiana avoided a turnover for the first time this season.

Junior quarterback Kellen Lewis likely will return from a high ankle sprain Saturday against Central Michigan. Lewis practiced throughout the week.

But should Lewis reclaim the starting job? He had made 28 consecutive starts before sitting out an Oct. 18 game against Illinois. Then again, Lewis has struggled this season after a stellar sophomore campaign, and Chappell comes off a confidence-building effort against Northwestern.

The Indianapolis Star's Terry Hutchens writes that Lewis still gives Indiana the best chance to beat Central Michigan, move to 4-5 and possibly refuel its bowl hopes.

And so even on a gimpy ankle, I would think Lewis would be the player that gives you the best chance to get to 4-5. So I guess my take is that if Lewis is ready to go then he should start. At the same time, Lewis seems a little frail this season. He has already had a couple of injuries this year, the latest at the end of the first half against Iowa that kept him out of the last two games. If he's going to continue to have injury problems then the whole thing becomes a moot point. Eventually, Chappell will be back on the field.

I agree for the most part, and the decision should be based solely on Lewis' health. If he can't be an effective rusher, he should sit because the passing game hasn't been consistently effective. Lewis has thrown as many interceptions as touchdown passes (5) this season, and Chappell seemed to build good chemistry last week with young wideouts Tandon Doss and Damarlo Belcher.

Indiana also wants to use Chappell and Lewis on the field together, with Lewis at wide receiver. If Lewis' ankle can take the constant cutting and stops and starts, use him.

Lewis is still most dangerous on the move. He leads Indiana in rushing (67.3 yards per game) and has an impressive 7.1 yards-per-carry average. But with a banged-up offensive line and a troubling turnover trend, Indiana can't afford Lewis to be limited in any way.