- Our D played very well and is clearly much improved. Casey in particular was a beast.
- No, McCord isn't Stroud but this is his third season with the team, he knows the system, he has seen plenty of game action, and he's got a great offensive line and a boatload of weapons (including the best WR duo in the country). Cade Stover is a helluva TE and came up big today. Ohio State will score a ton of points this season, and it will be interesting to see if anyone holds them to 23 as we did today.
- OSU's D is probably the best we will face this season. Linebackers, particularly Eichenberg, are outstanding. DL is also excellent. Tuimoloau will go in the first round. Tyleik Williams, Hamilton and Hall are also excellent. Tough for QBs with little college game experience to be productive against future NFL players on a defense that was among the best nationally last year and will be again this season.
- I thought we'd score more, but mostly in garbage time with Ohio State scoring at least six touchdowns. We held them to two TDs. There's plenty to build on and be optimistic about. Go Hoosiers!
Quick thoughts on the OSU game
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I was pleasantly surprised. A lot to work on but appear to be better. OSU front 7 run sideline to sideline as well as any team. in the country.
You notice superior speed when their RBs bounced outside and we couldn’t get to them in time.
Our guys turned the corner and a guy coming from the opposite side of the field was running at a faster speed, tracked them down despit the guy being a DE. Incredible big guy speeed at OSU.
You notice superior speed when their RBs bounced outside and we couldn’t get to them in time.
Our guys turned the corner and a guy coming from the opposite side of the field was running at a faster speed, tracked them down despit the guy being a DE. Incredible big guy speeed at OSU.
Thought we'd put up 17 total but happy with keeping it closer than the Vegas spread. Encouraging work from the defense and hopefully Walt Bell tones the offense down even further as running the quick offense with inexperienced QBs led to 3 and outs and wore the defense down in the middle of the third quarter. Otherwise, the defense looked well. Casey showed why he is the leader of the D and wearing #44. Secondary looked really good despite having a few injuries that caused backups to come in and play. I believe the Stover seam route was the only play over 25 yards on a throw (I just checked and Fleming had a 27 yard catch) so that is encouraging even if OSU play calls were generally conservative. Andre Carter is a beast and that one handed drag down on the McCord draw near the goal line got me chubbing, excited to see him hit the QB more.
I wish we saw a bit of Tayven Jackson at the end to throw like Sorsby got to since his arm looked more accurate when he was able to throw but Sorsby did hit WRs at times. Unfortunately, it's the worst situation moving into the Indiana State game as both QBs will be given the opportunity to shine against an FCS team and both might perform well enough to have the competition still ongoing in the Louisville game. Camper looked good when he got the ball and whoever is taking snaps needs to be looking his way but I think the offense will gel and throws will get in rhythm and Camper, McCulley, Williams, Coby, and Carter will all impress.
Surprised Radicic was not taking the FG, and, although a doink, very happy Freeman made his first kick ever. Jaylin showed what he can do taking that first punt back and looking for more of that.
Hope the rest of my Hoosier fans are encouraged by this game and are raising brass monkeys during kickoff. Promise I made mine even if I didn't post my game day drink like normal
I wish we saw a bit of Tayven Jackson at the end to throw like Sorsby got to since his arm looked more accurate when he was able to throw but Sorsby did hit WRs at times. Unfortunately, it's the worst situation moving into the Indiana State game as both QBs will be given the opportunity to shine against an FCS team and both might perform well enough to have the competition still ongoing in the Louisville game. Camper looked good when he got the ball and whoever is taking snaps needs to be looking his way but I think the offense will gel and throws will get in rhythm and Camper, McCulley, Williams, Coby, and Carter will all impress.
Surprised Radicic was not taking the FG, and, although a doink, very happy Freeman made his first kick ever. Jaylin showed what he can do taking that first punt back and looking for more of that.
Hope the rest of my Hoosier fans are encouraged by this game and are raising brass monkeys during kickoff. Promise I made mine even if I didn't post my game day drink like normal
Beating the spread against the #3 team is a good solid moral victory. Especially when the two QBs who quit after last season (actually one during and who STILL got to play) didn't do shit.
I said last week that I didn't think this game would provide much of a clue as to the degree of improvement and what kind of a team we have. I was wrong.
No one seriously believed we'd beat Ohio State and most people, myself included, didn't think it would be close. But we ended up giving them a game. 10-3 at the half. Only two TDs scored in the entire game by the #3 team in the country. And make no mistake. This wasn't a case of Ohio State "not opening the playbook" and/or not wanting to show too much. When a team believes it will be in the playoff hunt and competing for a national championship in a few months, style points matter. They don't want to merely beat their opponents, particularly conference opponents. They want to crush them. Yet Ohio State was unable to put us away.
Defense looks really impressive. Those guys are going to keep us in games and will probably win us a game or two with a pick-6 or a fumble recovery. On offense, and despite the lack of point production, the OL appears improved. The QB situation is troubling, but hopefully Sorsby and/or Jackson are quick studies and become serviceable B1G quarterbacks.
Can't afford a letdown against ISU. We need a convincing win Friday, and then bring on Louisville. That's a key game for us this season.
No one seriously believed we'd beat Ohio State and most people, myself included, didn't think it would be close. But we ended up giving them a game. 10-3 at the half. Only two TDs scored in the entire game by the #3 team in the country. And make no mistake. This wasn't a case of Ohio State "not opening the playbook" and/or not wanting to show too much. When a team believes it will be in the playoff hunt and competing for a national championship in a few months, style points matter. They don't want to merely beat their opponents, particularly conference opponents. They want to crush them. Yet Ohio State was unable to put us away.
Defense looks really impressive. Those guys are going to keep us in games and will probably win us a game or two with a pick-6 or a fumble recovery. On offense, and despite the lack of point production, the OL appears improved. The QB situation is troubling, but hopefully Sorsby and/or Jackson are quick studies and become serviceable B1G quarterbacks.
Can't afford a letdown against ISU. We need a convincing win Friday, and then bring on Louisville. That's a key game for us this season.
Agree that the D looked impressive and the O line is improved. That's all great, but I hope we stay injury free because one thing we don't have is depth.
Yeah, I'm a little superstitious so I don't even want to write the "I" word. I know they're part of the game but I hope the serious stuff stays away from our roster this season.
Regarding depth, and with the exception of one position group in particular, I don't think we're in horrible shape. Allen and his staff did a nice job shoring things up through the portal.
Curry played quite a bit for them. Made a few plays.
IU legacy, Fryar looked okay at RT also for OSU.
IU legacy, Fryar looked okay at RT also for OSU.
Our (OSU) OL was average at best with still a lot of unanswered questions. Kudos to IU's defense which played well and got no support from the offense. Matt Guerrieri's familiarity with our offense schemes and personnel certainly was a factor in developing a solid game plan. Our D is improved from last year and probably the best since 2019. The real test will come in a few weeks at South Bend. I almost feel like Day played the game not to lose with 3 new starters on the OL and calling a conservative game plan. We'll have to open up the playbook as the OL gains more game time experience. Good luck to the Hoosiers the rest of the season.
Your defense looks scary-good. Those bodies, even the really big ones, can move!
It was the season opener, and I know McCord had only played in 12 games previously, but nobody saw that final point tally (23) coming. You've got way too many offensive weapons to be held in check like that. Yes, the Guerrieri factor may have played a role, and it's possible that IU's D is much better than anyone anticipated. In any event, if Day could have run up the score - - like the previous two games against IU - - he would have. He couldn't.
I'll be rooting for you guys exactly once this season - - when you play the Irish! Good luck.
Here are some random thoughts, including a couple of matters that are more generally related to the program as a whole than the OSU game in particular:
--I agree with the sentiment that the OSU fans weren't as obnoxious as usual...I think several factors were at play: it was so fricking hot; the IU fans were never enough into the game to get the OSU fans riled up; no fans on either side thought IU ever had much of a chance; and OSU didn't crush us as thoroughly as expected and there was a lack of big plays. From their viewpoint the best play of the game was called back on the illegal touching call.
--This was a real no win situation for IU football. It was a true moral victory, but moral victories don't count as much this far into a coaching tenure. On the other hand, there was a significant chance of a soul-crushing, tenure-ending catastrophe, which didn't happen either. Allen lives to coach another day. Given all the circumstances, this IU team did as well as anyone could reasonably expected. On the other hand, the offense was so poor that I just walked out with a meh feeling rather than being excited for the rest of the year.
--The taunting call was so unfortunate from a psychological pov. If we go in just down 7-3, you start to envision us making the game interesting. Giving up those 4 points killed any real hope of making it a contest. I think a few thousand more fans left than would have otherwise.
--I know the stats don't show it, but I think the QB play was not as pathetic as last year for two reasons: I didn't sense the panic from the QB position like last year in the pocket; and they made no fatal idiotic give-up plays that were so common last year.
--The play calling was horrible; we didn't try to stretch the field at all and the OSU D was packing all 11 defenders well within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. At the least we should have sent some WRs on fly routes, even if the throws weren't made.
--I met somewhat to pass on a ticket near the sculpture outside the SEZ......the one where they are 5(?) men and women high 5ing one another. My question: what the hell? At a FOOTBALL stadium? Why would you not have a statute of Mallory and AT, or AT and ARE, or Bo and Pete Pihos? Like in the AH for basketball? To me, it just shows disrespect for the program. The George T. statute on the north side is great....there should have been something like it on the south side.
--The Band.....Holy Hell, I wouldn't have thought it possible, but the band is WORSE than ever before. The worst I can ever remember it being.
One thing that I noticed that hasn't been mentioned yet is that our TEs were pretty pathetic. I believe Trey Walker was on the injured list - not sure where he fits in, but somebody is going to have to step up. It was nothing but penalties and missed blocks from this group, and they posed no receiving threat whatsoever.
Thanks. I didn't realize that.They also play Purdue
But we might need Purdue to knock them off to increase our chances of winning the division.
Only thing I disagree with is OSU doesn’t really need style points. Wins are enough. The game at ND, and then PSU and Michigan are the ones that matter. They could win all the rest by 1 point and those 3 games would still determine their season.
And I do think they played with a much more basic, vanilla game plan than what they’ll have as the year progresses.
But I agree, IUs defense was impressive. And their offensive line was better than I thought it would be. Which should bode well for most of the rest of their games if that’s who they’re gonna be all year.
Real analytics nerds may choose to review IUs PFF grades
https://www.yardbarker.com/college_...ormances_against_ohio_state/s1_16544_39213848
Sales at LT graded higher than Smith. Benson at RT graded higher than Bedford at RG.
I thought #44 might have graded higher. Monday’s quotes said some of the new DTs made the wrong charge, and we left some plays on the table as a result. CTA thought these could be fixed in practice this week.
https://www.yardbarker.com/college_...ormances_against_ohio_state/s1_16544_39213848
Sales at LT graded higher than Smith. Benson at RT graded higher than Bedford at RG.
I thought #44 might have graded higher. Monday’s quotes said some of the new DTs made the wrong charge, and we left some plays on the table as a result. CTA thought these could be fixed in practice this week.
Interesting.
Yeah, rough game for Bedford, but his first game back after the knee injury and right into the fire against a top team.
The yardbarker breakdown was interesting to see which IU players had very good games.
Maybe two posters who understand what they’re watching on this entire board. You’re one of them.
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