I couldn’t help but think as I was watching Indiana play No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday what the Southern Illinois people were thinking when they heard today’s final score.
Or when they saw that the Hoosiers were beating Ohio State 10-6 at halftime.
They had to figure it was a misprint. Or that ESPN had somehow messed things up when they scrolled that score across the bottom of the screen.
I can just see the Saluki fans shaking their heads and saying, “Isn’t that the same team that less than a month ago we put 659 yards of offense against?”
They had to wonder if Indiana was suiting up a completely different defense than it had just a few weeks back. They had to wonder how the defense they scored 47 points against could possibly go toe to toe with the No. 1 ranked team in the country.
Maybe, they wished they could play the Buckeyes, too.
But the reality is that Indiana played some of its best defense in years Saturday afternoon in the 34-27 loss to the Buckeyes.
The way that Indiana came out and fought and set the tone for the game was pretty impressive. If the Hoosiers can do that against all competition and not just when they’re hyped up to play the best team in the land, this is a bowl team.
Indiana made a lot of plays Saturday. That interception that Tegray Scales had was absolutely huge deep in IU territory. Or the forced fumble that Marcus Oliver created when he wrapped up the Ohio State receiver from behind. Or the play that Rashard Fant made on the fumble recovery on the Ohio State sideline.
IU created three more turnovers Saturday. In recent years, Indiana’s defense did not create turnovers. And that made it too easy for teams to drive up and down the field against IU because the Hoosiers were simply not opportunistic.
But this team leads the Big Ten in that category.
Now, the thing that drives Indiana football fans crazy is how quickly opposing teams can score and how big plays seem to always be the norm when you’re facing Indiana. And there are no two ways around that one. Ezekiel Elliott had touchdown runs of 55, 65 and 75 yards. You simply have to eliminate those big plays in order to have a shot in a game like this. I’m not questioning that.
But here is something else I know. Ohio State managed 517 yards of offense on 61 plays. If you break that down, the Buckeyes had 195 yards of offense on three plays and 322 yards on the other 58 plays.
And here’s something else I know. In talking with IU players in the postgame, this is becoming a confident bunch of players. This is a team that now expects to play the way it did for much of the Ohio State game every week.
This team expects to go on the road and beat Penn State. It expects to come home and throttle Rutgers for Homecoming. It expects to play every game at a high level.
That has not always been the case with Indiana defenses. It hasn’t been the case for many of the years
I’ve covered the team. I’m not certain it was the case when the Hoosiers looked awful in the opener against Southern Illinois.
But I do those this: If Nate Sudfeld and Jordan Howard can get healthy (and I think both will play next week), this could be one of the best Indiana teams I’ve covered in 18 years.
And I think that’s saying something.
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now