As always I'm late to the party as I have to DVR the games. Wow that was disappointing. Cincy didn't even play very well and they won by 2 TDs.
Three red zone visits that come up empty. That's basically the game right there.
Two absolutely terrible picks by Penix. I mean awful. The first one at the end of the first half...know the situation. No need to be a hero. Worst case go into the lockerroom up 14-3 with possession of the ball first to start the 3rd quarter. Instead Cincy goes into the half down only four and with momentum in the game. The second pick he was rolling out and threw back into the middle of the field. A pud freshman hs qb knows better than to do that. Last year I was excited about Penix but said that he was rough around the edges and needed some polish. Trough three games if I had to give Penix a grade so far...I don't like going after kids but I'd give him a D. (And you could argue that's being generous.) . I'm not saying he can't or won't get better but I mean the season's only 12 games and there's only one more game before the Big Ten gauntlet. One thing I will say is Penix's long ball looked great, he's going to hit one of those sooner rather than later.
Again I'm not trying to go after guys but Fryfogle said he wants to be the best receiver in the country but he's not even the best receiver on the team. Obviously Iowa and Cincinnati have pretty good D's and I'm sure he's getting their best corner and/or double coverage on a lot of snaps but so far this year he's averaging 42 yards per game.
Oddly after that loss I actually feel better and more assured about Sheridan. The game he called today was definitely not DeBord-esque. I love the way he is using Hendershot which is one of the things I had hoped for going into the season. I also continue to think that Carr is a good all-around back. That TD pass he caught today was pretty sweet and I saw him pick up pressure more than once today giving Penix extra time to heave it long. One critique of the play-calling...on first down you don't have to run it. You can do one of those quick hitters that attack the defense laterally and function as essentially extended hand-offs. That's where DeBoer is so strong, those drive-starter plays. But Sheridan did a nice job today overall.
The defense was pretty good overall today. Twice they got stops only to have a personal foul keep the drive alive. I will say that those double-A gap blitzes that got home a lot last year don't seem to be working this year. I don't mean they aren't resulting in sacks, usually they aren't even resulting in pressure or hurries. I thought Thomas Allen was tipping that blitz and the Cincy QB checked into hot routes right behind it for easy yardage.
Indiana should have been up 17-0 or 21-0 but within about 5 minutes of that point it was 14-10. You had a feeling at that point a 'top 10' team would be hard to put away going forward. I don't know if I'm buying Cincy as a top 10 team but then again they didn't play very well and still won by 14. Indiana would have likely been ranked again had they won but another opportunity gets away from them. Cincinnati tried to give it away but Indiana wouldn't take it.
Next week's game is an important game. You know Western Kentucky is going to be fired up and that place is going to be rowdy so Indiana better show up ready to play or things will get a lot more interesting than they need to be.
Three red zone visits that come up empty. That's basically the game right there.
Two absolutely terrible picks by Penix. I mean awful. The first one at the end of the first half...know the situation. No need to be a hero. Worst case go into the lockerroom up 14-3 with possession of the ball first to start the 3rd quarter. Instead Cincy goes into the half down only four and with momentum in the game. The second pick he was rolling out and threw back into the middle of the field. A pud freshman hs qb knows better than to do that. Last year I was excited about Penix but said that he was rough around the edges and needed some polish. Trough three games if I had to give Penix a grade so far...I don't like going after kids but I'd give him a D. (And you could argue that's being generous.) . I'm not saying he can't or won't get better but I mean the season's only 12 games and there's only one more game before the Big Ten gauntlet. One thing I will say is Penix's long ball looked great, he's going to hit one of those sooner rather than later.
Again I'm not trying to go after guys but Fryfogle said he wants to be the best receiver in the country but he's not even the best receiver on the team. Obviously Iowa and Cincinnati have pretty good D's and I'm sure he's getting their best corner and/or double coverage on a lot of snaps but so far this year he's averaging 42 yards per game.
Oddly after that loss I actually feel better and more assured about Sheridan. The game he called today was definitely not DeBord-esque. I love the way he is using Hendershot which is one of the things I had hoped for going into the season. I also continue to think that Carr is a good all-around back. That TD pass he caught today was pretty sweet and I saw him pick up pressure more than once today giving Penix extra time to heave it long. One critique of the play-calling...on first down you don't have to run it. You can do one of those quick hitters that attack the defense laterally and function as essentially extended hand-offs. That's where DeBoer is so strong, those drive-starter plays. But Sheridan did a nice job today overall.
The defense was pretty good overall today. Twice they got stops only to have a personal foul keep the drive alive. I will say that those double-A gap blitzes that got home a lot last year don't seem to be working this year. I don't mean they aren't resulting in sacks, usually they aren't even resulting in pressure or hurries. I thought Thomas Allen was tipping that blitz and the Cincy QB checked into hot routes right behind it for easy yardage.
Indiana should have been up 17-0 or 21-0 but within about 5 minutes of that point it was 14-10. You had a feeling at that point a 'top 10' team would be hard to put away going forward. I don't know if I'm buying Cincy as a top 10 team but then again they didn't play very well and still won by 14. Indiana would have likely been ranked again had they won but another opportunity gets away from them. Cincinnati tried to give it away but Indiana wouldn't take it.
Next week's game is an important game. You know Western Kentucky is going to be fired up and that place is going to be rowdy so Indiana better show up ready to play or things will get a lot more interesting than they need to be.
