No formal article this week. I want to address a few things I have been sitting on. I'm not doing this in a spirit of the sky is falling. Overall I still feel pretty optimistic but we have a large enough sample size that I feel we can address some of the holes without being reactionary or jumping the gun. Again I am proud of our guys and love what we are doing overall so I'm not just griping for the sake of griping.
Needs Work
Penix
When Penix is comfortable and decisive he is as good as anyone. But much of the time he doesn't seem comfortable and looks indecisive. Joel Klatt pointed out that double-clutch on one of the plays but he has been doing that all year. It's not a mini-pump-fake as I heard one person say, it's indecision. Let's be real, three offensive coordinators in three years - that's just not going to be seamless. Assuming everybody is back next year and there is normal spring ball I think we'll see the continuity really pay dividends next year.
Obviously Penix has that big arm and we've seen him make ridiculous throws into tight windows but often when you have that kind of talent you end up forcing the issue at times rather than just taking the check-down or the dump-off. (We saw Fields get greedy on more than one occasion today.) Honestly I can live with walking the fine line a little bit in this way, but if you are going to do it you can't lose sight of the fundamentals. You can't throw off your back foot and double-clutch like that and be considered elite in my view. If you make those mistakes in the NFL you get eaten alive.
Yes I realize he had 400 yards and 5 TDs against Ohio State but I am saying this because I feel strongly that being elite is on the table. I think it is incumbent upon OC Sheridan to figure out where Penix is most comfortable the rest of the way and to do what he can to keep Mike in his comfort zone. And obviously the offensive line needs to give him time.
Run Game
I've been defending the run game a little bit but I can't do it any more. Yes it was Ohio State but our backs had 18 yards on 11 carries. That is garbage. Zach Osterman suggested on CrimsonCast that maybe Indiana feels they don't really need to run the ball and are fine with just chucking it up every time. I can't imagine Tom Allen feels that way but perhaps he is deferring to his OCs? Look I am all in on pass heavy spread offenses but I will never be okay with just abandoning the run. I feel you need to be able to get a bare minimum of 80-100 rushing yards against elite defenses. Choosing not to and not being able to are two different things and right now Indiana is not able.
Stevie Scott begins leaning forward right before the ball is snapped when he is getting it on a dive right up the middle. Besides technically being a false start you can't tell me that opposing defenses haven't picked up on this 'tell'. And I know I'm not the only one saying this - I'm not sure why we insist on trying to pound it between the guards. It hasn't worked all year. I thought we found something by giving it to Stevie on a bit of a delay (I can't remember if it was Penn St or Rutgers) - it seemed to open up some lanes a little bit for at least moderate success. Also why not run that stretch play like the Colts used to run with Edgerrin James? You could do it out of your standard 3 WR look or work in a 12 personnel look (2 TEs). Plus you can build play action off of it.
I'm not an expert on run blocking schemes but there have to be some tweaks we can make to open up a little something somewhere, right?
Hendershot
PH had another key drop today. The catch would have put us in a position to be able to take a couple shots at the end zone on the final drive. I don't know how you fix it because at this point it seems to really have gotten into his head. Being able to rely on him adds another dimension to this offense so I hope he can get it turned around.
Tackling
For the first couple of weeks I thought we were literally one of the best tackling teams in the country. There has been a slow degradation in the last couple of weeks and today the wheels fell off a little bit. Some of that was Ohio State's talent but you need to be able to get guys on the ground regardless of what uniform they are wearing. I expect Wommack and Allen to go back to the drawing board to get this shored up this week so I look for us to be back on track the next time out.
Fitz
I hate singling guys out but there were times last year when you felt like Fitzgerald was getting picked on. Unfortunately this rearing its head again in the last two games. I know he does other positive things to make our defense better but as an opposing OC if you can get #31 in a one on one situation that's something you are looking to exploit.
Reese
I've seen him give up inside leverage too easily in one on one situations. Easy for me to say, right? But you can't give a speedy WR 5 yards of separation running across the middle of the field.
Positives
Johnson & Johnson
Jamar Johnson is a football player. That play where he blew up the running back and sacked Fields was boss. Plus he picked off Justin Fields twice, something nobody had been able to do even once in three previous games. And Jerome Johnson got his 3rd sack of the season and then that improbable interception. Had he not been playing hard and 'getting to the ball' that play never happens.
Young Guns
Every week on D there are different young guys making impact plays - Sophomores James Miller, Aaron Casey, D.K. Bonhomme and Jonathan King plus Freshmen Josh Sanguinetti and C.J. Person are all out there mixing it up in the Big Ten zoo and showing that they have the potential to be good players for the Hoosiers going forward.
Heart
I mean these guys were down 35-7 but didn't quit. We outscored the nuts 28-7 to close the game. You can't say enough about that kind of effort. Not a big fan of moral victories unless the team you are facing is truly better (as Ohio State is). The way they kept playing and almost pulled a rabbit out of the hat - I really was proud of our guys even though we lost.
Proud to be a Hoosier and looking forward to seeing what happens the rest of the way.
Needs Work
Penix
When Penix is comfortable and decisive he is as good as anyone. But much of the time he doesn't seem comfortable and looks indecisive. Joel Klatt pointed out that double-clutch on one of the plays but he has been doing that all year. It's not a mini-pump-fake as I heard one person say, it's indecision. Let's be real, three offensive coordinators in three years - that's just not going to be seamless. Assuming everybody is back next year and there is normal spring ball I think we'll see the continuity really pay dividends next year.
Obviously Penix has that big arm and we've seen him make ridiculous throws into tight windows but often when you have that kind of talent you end up forcing the issue at times rather than just taking the check-down or the dump-off. (We saw Fields get greedy on more than one occasion today.) Honestly I can live with walking the fine line a little bit in this way, but if you are going to do it you can't lose sight of the fundamentals. You can't throw off your back foot and double-clutch like that and be considered elite in my view. If you make those mistakes in the NFL you get eaten alive.
Yes I realize he had 400 yards and 5 TDs against Ohio State but I am saying this because I feel strongly that being elite is on the table. I think it is incumbent upon OC Sheridan to figure out where Penix is most comfortable the rest of the way and to do what he can to keep Mike in his comfort zone. And obviously the offensive line needs to give him time.
Run Game
I've been defending the run game a little bit but I can't do it any more. Yes it was Ohio State but our backs had 18 yards on 11 carries. That is garbage. Zach Osterman suggested on CrimsonCast that maybe Indiana feels they don't really need to run the ball and are fine with just chucking it up every time. I can't imagine Tom Allen feels that way but perhaps he is deferring to his OCs? Look I am all in on pass heavy spread offenses but I will never be okay with just abandoning the run. I feel you need to be able to get a bare minimum of 80-100 rushing yards against elite defenses. Choosing not to and not being able to are two different things and right now Indiana is not able.
Stevie Scott begins leaning forward right before the ball is snapped when he is getting it on a dive right up the middle. Besides technically being a false start you can't tell me that opposing defenses haven't picked up on this 'tell'. And I know I'm not the only one saying this - I'm not sure why we insist on trying to pound it between the guards. It hasn't worked all year. I thought we found something by giving it to Stevie on a bit of a delay (I can't remember if it was Penn St or Rutgers) - it seemed to open up some lanes a little bit for at least moderate success. Also why not run that stretch play like the Colts used to run with Edgerrin James? You could do it out of your standard 3 WR look or work in a 12 personnel look (2 TEs). Plus you can build play action off of it.
I'm not an expert on run blocking schemes but there have to be some tweaks we can make to open up a little something somewhere, right?
Hendershot
PH had another key drop today. The catch would have put us in a position to be able to take a couple shots at the end zone on the final drive. I don't know how you fix it because at this point it seems to really have gotten into his head. Being able to rely on him adds another dimension to this offense so I hope he can get it turned around.
Tackling
For the first couple of weeks I thought we were literally one of the best tackling teams in the country. There has been a slow degradation in the last couple of weeks and today the wheels fell off a little bit. Some of that was Ohio State's talent but you need to be able to get guys on the ground regardless of what uniform they are wearing. I expect Wommack and Allen to go back to the drawing board to get this shored up this week so I look for us to be back on track the next time out.
Fitz
I hate singling guys out but there were times last year when you felt like Fitzgerald was getting picked on. Unfortunately this rearing its head again in the last two games. I know he does other positive things to make our defense better but as an opposing OC if you can get #31 in a one on one situation that's something you are looking to exploit.
Reese
I've seen him give up inside leverage too easily in one on one situations. Easy for me to say, right? But you can't give a speedy WR 5 yards of separation running across the middle of the field.
Positives
Johnson & Johnson
Jamar Johnson is a football player. That play where he blew up the running back and sacked Fields was boss. Plus he picked off Justin Fields twice, something nobody had been able to do even once in three previous games. And Jerome Johnson got his 3rd sack of the season and then that improbable interception. Had he not been playing hard and 'getting to the ball' that play never happens.
Young Guns
Every week on D there are different young guys making impact plays - Sophomores James Miller, Aaron Casey, D.K. Bonhomme and Jonathan King plus Freshmen Josh Sanguinetti and C.J. Person are all out there mixing it up in the Big Ten zoo and showing that they have the potential to be good players for the Hoosiers going forward.
Heart
I mean these guys were down 35-7 but didn't quit. We outscored the nuts 28-7 to close the game. You can't say enough about that kind of effort. Not a big fan of moral victories unless the team you are facing is truly better (as Ohio State is). The way they kept playing and almost pulled a rabbit out of the hat - I really was proud of our guys even though we lost.
Proud to be a Hoosier and looking forward to seeing what happens the rest of the way.
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