Northwestern 59, Indiana 38: Hoosiers horrid defense overshadows offense.
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Oct 30, 2011 7:40 AM EDT
in Indiana Hoosiers Football
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PrintFor the first time in a decade, the Indiana-Northwestern game did not come down to the wire. Northwestern pulled out to a comfortable lead early in the game and torched IU's secondary, overshadowing a fairly good offensive performance by the Hoosiers. This team is playing very young guys at a multitude of positions, perhaps nowhere moreso than in the secondary, but it still was discouraging to see the way the defense played. It's clear even to my untrained eye that these guys are having a tough time grasping what they are supposed to do. Northwestern had a number of touchdowns on which it wasn't so much that IU defenders were getting beat, it's that their decisions were leaving NU receivers uncovered. Northwestern averaged 7.8 yards per play and 13 yards per pass attempt.
As discouraging as the defense was, however, the offense, under the leadership of true freshman quarterback Tre Roberson, seems to be coming into its own. I don't want to oversell the performance, which came against a defense that is pretty bad itself, but IU's running game really excelled on Saturday. Roberson was decent enough passing, completing 14-26 passes and throwing for one TD 1, INT, and a couple of near misses. On the other hand, he ran the ball very effectively, gaining 121 yards on 22 attempts. Stephen Houston had another fine performance, who gained 151 yards and scored 2 touchdowns on 19 carries. He has continued to improve, and will have an opportunity to see how he measures up against a couple of top defenses when IU plays Ohio State and Michigan State in the next two games.
Still, it's hard to overstate how thoroughly the IU defense was manhandled. Northwestern scored touchdowns on 8 of its 12 possessions and did not punt until the fourth quarter. The IU defense had no interceptions, only two tackles for loss, no sacks, on one broken up pass. As I noted above, the two games upcoming are road games against tough competition, and probably won't allow IU to show too much or allow us to determine whether there has been any improvement. Ultimately, at this point the season comes down to the Purdue game,which likely will be IU's only chance to avoid a winless Big Ten season.
Other individual performances of note:
- D'Angelo Roberts, the freshman from Bloomington, ran for 38 yards and a touchdown on 5 carries.
- Shane Wynn was IU's leading receiver with 41 yards. No Hoosier caught more than 3 passes and 9 players caught at least one.
- Leon Beckum led the defense with 13 tackles and one tackle for loss.
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Forget "Win Today"
IU is playing for the future. They were playing 7 freshmen at times on Sat. I tend to forget how young they are. I looked at the defensive stats to date (games played and tackles) and it is amazing how young they are. In essence we are playing with high schoolers on defense. I hope they improve over time, and they recruit some good defensive players, which is always harder than good offensive players. On offense a very young group is playing very well, and it is apparent that they are getting comfortable with the new offensive scheme. Roberson, Houston, Wynn, Hughes, Wilson and an improving young line could make things very interesting next year (and next week). Coaching will be pivital, the staff must keep the progress mojo going in spite of a 1-? season.
scoring 38 points against Northwestern isn’t that much of an accomplishment. It was actually below the average of what Northwestern’s Defense was giving up to Big Ten teams. I realize it’s a rebuilding year, but how can we say “Forget Win Today” when that is the mantra we have been hearing from the football team since the Spring?
Everything's more important with bunting.
by Veni Vidi Vici on Oct 30, 2011 9:21 PM EDT up reply actions
It's just a marketing slogan, and, at most, was a motto for the team to keep in mind when approaching each day's preparation.
I think this team is performing about as well as can be expected considering last year’s performances, the lack of a clear, trusted hand at quarterback, a new coaching staff and scheme, and the wave of player departures that is par for the course with a coaching change. This year is all about adjusting expectations, and that goes for everyone. Players are learning that seniority and a static plateau of effort is not going to cut it, and they are either adjusting or leaving. The coaches are making the best they can out of the players they have, even if they don’t fit the scheme they want to run or aren’t committed to the program anymore. We as fans cannot hang onto “Win Today” as the basis for our expectations in light of the previous points.
For God and country—Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo
No greater love, no sweeter sin, than red hot brass and ice cold gin.
by LoneStarHoosier on Oct 31, 2011 12:05 AM EDT up reply actions
The main thing I failed to anticipate about this team was how spotty the quarterback play would be early on. I knew the defense would be rough, but with better play from that position we at least could have outscored Ball State and North Texas and would be looking at a garden-variety bad season rather than a 1-11 or 2-10 dumpster fire. I’m happy to see Tre out there now, and I don’t blame the staff for not using him earlier. Easing him in as a true freshman probably makes sense. Given that these QBs (Kiel and Wright-Baker) were the guys that Lynch & company were going to go to battle with had they been retained, I’m not sure how much better things would be. Perhaps we would be 3-6 instead of 1-8.
Certainly, the defense is troubling. It’s one thing to get beat, and other to clearly not know what you are doing out there, and many of our guys fit the latter category.
The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Oct 31, 2011 9:00 AM EDT up reply actions
yeah I didn't think the QB position was going to be such an unknown value
I thought one of the three would come in win the position and we’d be fine from here on out. I had us at 5 wins this year with some steady QB play and an improved defense. I was obviously incredibly wrong. Chalk it up to my inexperience with college football.
-Contributing Writer at The Crimson Quarry.
Well, I’m no expert, but 5-7 was my expectation as well. I thought we would go 3-0 against BSU, UNT, and SCSU, lose to PSU, OSU, MSU, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and go 2-2 in our home games against Virginia, Illinois, Northwestern, and Purdue. Frankly, our defense could be just as bad and we could have done that with steady QB play. But, we didn’t, but the recent play of Roberson and Houston (who, although he is a juco transfer, is only a sophomore) is encouraging for the future.
The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Oct 31, 2011 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions
NU has allowed 38 to Illinois, 42 to Michigan, 41 to Iowa, 34 to Penn State, and 38 to IU. Obviously, NU has a bad defense, but doing in the ballpark of what other Big Ten schools have done against a team is better than what we have been doing.
The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Oct 31, 2011 8:50 AM EDT up reply actions
yeah I suppose that’s true as well.
Everything's more important with bunting.
by Veni Vidi Vici on Oct 31, 2011 11:17 AM EDT up reply actions
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