Illinois 43, Indiana 13: Hoosiers fall to Illini in mistake-filled, poorly coached debacle.
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Oct 24, 2010 5:48 AM EDT
in Indiana Hoosiers Football
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PrintI've seen IU finish 0-8 in the Big Ten, blow big leads, lose to a I-AA team, and go 14 years between bowl appearances, but I don't think I have ever been as discouraged,as I was during and after Saturday's game against Illinois. The Illini are a better team than IU and certainly played better, but this was a disappointing performance in too many ways to count.
The vaunted IU offense appears to be a fraud. For all of the gaudy statistics accumulated against non-conference foes and Michigan's FCS-caliber defense, the offense has completely crumpled against the two real defenses it has faced. Over the last couple of seasons, IU's offensive line has done pass protection reasonably well. Not yesterday. Ben Chappell was under duress for most of the day and he handled it very, very poorly. Chappell threw for 279 yards, but completed only 26 of 48 passes and threw 3 interceptions and several other horrible passes. Illinois got pressure with three linemen pretty consistently, which exacerbated Chappell's ability to find open receivers. He threw a couple of other balls directly to Illinois defenders, and Dusty Kiel added a pick-six when Chappell was on the bench with injury. What's disappointing is that the defense wasn't half bad. The Illini punted five times, and two of their touchdowns were directly off turnovers. Twenty more Illinois points came on short fields created by turnovers or poor kick coverage (again).
The number of head-scratchers is increasing by the week. Last year, IU struggled in the red zone, and while that seemed to be getting better, that may have been nothing but a function of the competition. IU's red zone playcalling has become ridiculously predictable. Once last week and twice last week, IU has fruitlessly run up the middle on first and second downs and then failed to convert a pass on third down. I know very little about scheme, and perhaps the Illini defense was begging IU to run, but it seems to me that play action on an early down would be really effective with IU's receiving weapons. And note to IU offensive coordinator Matt Canada: if it's enough of a pattern that a dunce like me can pick up on it, rest assured that Big Ten coaches have caught on--even Ron Zook.
I hate to turn this post into a Festivus morning airing of grievances, but...well, no, I don't hate it at all. The lowlights:
- The IU offense struggled horribly on its first two possessions, managing only five yards and throwing an interception that could have been yet another pick six. On the third drive, IU finally began to move the ball, but after a 30 yard completion to Terrance Turner, IU yanked Chappell and ran some wildcat nonsense with Dusty Kiel. IU did score a TD on the drive, but it made little sense to disrupt Chappell after he finally found something that worked.
- The fundamentals on specials teams were atrocious. It's bad enough that over the last two games, IU has been spotting opponents huge gains on kickoff returns. Today, IU allowed punt blocks on two consecutive punts, and even from the supposed safe formation. Add those horrid breakdowns to the kick return that Duwyce Wilson caught and ran out of bounds with instead of letting it go out of bounds, and special teams were a disaster.
- IU punted on fourth and two with a 16-point deficit halfway through the fourth quarter. Entirely predictably, Illinois scored a touchdown on the next drive and ended it.
- As noted in the last point, IU essentially surrendered when the score was 29-13 with 8:30 left. Based on that, it really makes sense that when IU got the ball back, down 36-13 with 3:54 left, they had Ben Chappell throwing the ball and taking hits. He got dinged up (no word yet on his condition) and Dusty Kiel threw the pick six that was the final insult.
This was a discouraging performance against a decent but far-from-great team. It was one of IU's most winnable games. The Hoosiers' entire season now turns on the game against Northwestern next week. I'm not optimistic.
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What did you see from Illinois?
I am looking for signs they are beatable with this current Purdue team. Of course, we may be starting a true freshman at quarterback now.
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
HUH??
You were down 42-0 at the half yesterday!!! You guys beat Northwestern team that caught Michigan State snoozing and a terrible Minnesota team!!
Their defense is legitimately good. They were getting pressure with three guys. Did Henry get hurt, or is Purdue going to burn a redshirt to try to get something going?
The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Oct 24, 2010 12:49 PM EDT up reply actions
Henry lacerated his finger
allegedly he tore the nail off too on his index finger and they are trying to make sure it doesn’t get infected. it’s on his throwing hand, so he is iffy at best. True freshman Sean Robinson’s redshirt has already been burned, so he may start. He is a similar type of quarterback to Henry, but possibly a better passer.
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
Yeah, I saw it on the news later. I was understandably not paying much attention to college football after 3 p.m. on Saturday.
The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Oct 27, 2010 8:08 AM EDT up reply actions
Thoughts
Agreed with the frustration. I, too was disappointed in how conservative the play-calling was. I try not to operate from the assumption that the coaching staff are idiots like most ignorant fans do. I actually try to get inside the coaches head and see what they are thinking. My best guess is that the IU coaching staff always felt like they were in the game and were a couple of big offensive plays away from getting it done. Perhaps it was over-confidence in the offense based on the season’s body of work. Sure, I understand that most of that body of work has been against teams that are not Big Ten caliber. I was at the game yesterday and it was really void of any excitement outside of what Chappell was providing for the Illinois secondary. I never really felt that IU was out of it until time became a factor.
Your swipe about Zook is a generic, hackneyed, re-tread that is perpetuated by idiotic Florida fans and delusional Illini fans. It’s too bad you went with it. You run a pretty tidy blog here with a lot of good information for Hoosier football fans such as me. You run the risk of undermining your credibility when you take a shot at a coach with an impressive NFL pedigree, at the very least, an impressive college assistant resume (helped Spurrier build UF) and a guy who has accomplished some impressive feats as a college head coach.
I don’t have much time to respond, so perhaps I’ll revisit later. I’ve generally been unimpressed with Zook as a game coach. He certainly can recruit and this defense is pretty impressive. I thought he blew the 2006 game we won there. More later. I’m not just following EDSBS. Still, would I take him over our current staff? No comment.
The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Oct 24, 2010 12:51 PM EDT up reply actions
I think I've seen enough.
The defense has made zero strides in Lynch’s term, and the offense is looking like it is actually regressing. The coaches do not coach the team to even try to win games, it seems. As you pointed out, punting on 4th and two when you still have a chance to win it is absolutely unacceptable.
The new stadium renovations, improved student attendance, and other improvements to the IU Football program are like hanging new curtains in a dilapidated haunted house. It’s time for an exorcism, and a complete renovation. At the end of this season, at the very least I want to see the defensive “co-coordinators” go, and possibly Lynch and the rest of the staff if things continue in this way. Just one fan’s opinion, of course.
by LoneStarHoosier on Oct 24, 2010 2:11 PM EDT reply actions
I'm not sure I'm ready to give up on Lynch yet...
But I’m getting closer and closer each week.
Lynch has done some good things at IU… he recruits better than our other HCs have in the past (We may actually have a recruiting class in the 6-8 range in the Big Ten this year, and we’re usually last). If our verbals hold, we’ll sign two four stars this year, which will be the only two four star players IU has ever signed since Rivals began to use the star system.
The offense is legitimately good, but the loss of Roger Saffold is hurting the line’s play more than I anticipated. The rush the Illini were able to get with just three linemen was enough to just kill our offense and that shouldn’t have been the case. I don’t like Canada’s playcalling (we’ve never run a single successful wildcat play this year and it’s a couple years late to be hopping on this wildcat bandwagon. Defenses remember how to defend it now).
The defense played one of the better games they’ve played on the road in the last few years. They just didn’t play as well as the Illini defense, which scored a few TDs for their side.
Our play on special teams was indefensible.
Lynch made some poor decisions today, first and foremost the punt in the fourth quarter that essentially sealed the victory, but I think this team still has a chance to turn the corner and make a bowl game. We were missing a starting Olinemen in Champaign (sorely missed, judging by our pass protection). We might get Brewer back and we’re at home. I’m not enthused at this point but I’m not quite ready to hop on the ‘Fire Lynch!’ bandwagon. Close, but not quite.
If Lynch does have to go, I think our new facilities might help us lure a coach of a higher calibur than we’ve been able to attract to Indiana recently…
by INDIANABANNER on Oct 25, 2010 2:02 AM EDT up reply actions
When is it time for the Feats of Strength?
I’ve been a Lynch defender. I’m on the ledge now.
by hoosierdaddynow on Oct 25, 2010 11:23 AM EDT reply actions
I think we have outsourced our special teams to Krueger Industrial Smoothing.
The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Oct 25, 2010 2:57 PM EDT up reply actions
TWO BLOCKED PUNTS????? HOW????
Thats where I draw the line. HOw do you have two punts blocked by the same guy? Normally one happens and the coaches fix it. That was unacceptable. I do not have a good feeling about the rest of this year.
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