Well guys, here we are. One of two teams left playing for a chance to win a natty. Indiana is on the docket this week. Games I decided to watch were the Old Dominion game, Iowa game, Oregon game (Regular Season), Illinois game, Penn State game, Wisconsin game, OSU game, Bama game (Rose Bowl), and Oregon game (Peach Bowl).
https://youtu.be/Lp6c7GdYfCM?si=njf17saLQ_7yMGcN
https://youtu.be/jDmhERQ0pzw?si=R0n7SP5gPmHSNegX
https://youtu.be/L4eNGFuz-20?si=drubEN0aUSm_gqg2
https://youtu.be/Ll10FXn5Jjg?si=86E5xQ2UY8aULrUz
Offense
At QB, Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza is the man in charge. When watching Mendoza one thing you notice is how he really tests defenses vertically. Mendoza averages 9.3ypa, so basically everytime he's putting the ball in the air he's throwing to the sticks. Mendoza is a pretty accurate thrower. His arm strength is next level. He's routinely throwing out routes and comeback routes from opposite hashes. In every game I watched he accounted for a first down with his legs. Mendoza is a opportunistic runner as he isn't looking to run but will run when there's opportunity. Mendoza can hold onto the ball bit too long at times. For a player as smart as he is, I can't recall seeing him throw the ball away once to avoid a sack. You really see this show up in the Wisconsin game where Mendoza sees the defender coming but doesn't get rid of the ball.
At RB, there's two names to know. Roman Hemby (#1) and Kaelon Black (#8). Neither player is dynamic but both are good steady backs that run the ball well for Indiana. Hemby is a north and south type of runner, he makes one cut and gets going. On film you can tell Hemby runs hard and you see him routinely breaking tackles. Hemby is thunder as he hammers defenses with his forceful running style. Hemby has rushed for over 1,000yds on the season and has 7 TDs. Something I found interesting is Hemby has never fumbled in his 5 years of college ball. Black is the more shifter of the two. Black appears more compact and quick on flim. Black is the lightening as he repeatedly gashes teams on film with his quickness. Black has rushed for over 950yds and has accounted for 10TDs on the year. In Kaelon Black's 6 years of college he has never fumbled the football either. Incredible stuff to have 2 backs with at least 450 carries and neither have ever fumbled the football. Khobie Martin(#28) gets occasional spot duty and has rushed for over 500yds on the season. Indiana has a good stable of backs. One area where you saw Indiana run game struggle earlier in the season was on short yardage situations.
At WR, Indiana has a very good duo with Elijah Sarratt(#13) and Omar Cooper Jr.(#3). Similar to their RBs, they're good players but not dynamic talents. Texas A&M's and OSU's WRs are better talents but with lesser QB play. Indiana's WRs are lesser talents but with a hesiman at QB which makes them just a dangerous as Texas A&M's and OSU's WRs in my opinion. To me, Sarratt is WR1. Sarratt is more consistent and doesn’t really have notable drops like Cooper, but Cooper is a bit more explosive on film. Sarratt and Cooper have accounted for nearly 30TDs this season. Indiana's passing game really places an emphasis on stressing teams vertically. In each game I watched of Indiana they had an explosive play in the passing game. Mendoza is great at throwing the backshoulder pass and Sarrat is great at catching it. Charlie Becker has really come on later on in the season. He's showing signs of being a 50-50 monster and another down the field weapon for Mendoza. Becker has 600yds on only 30 catches, he averages 20yds a catch(insane number that highlights his explosiveness). EJ Williams rounds out the group as he'saccounted for 400yds and 6TDs. Overall this is a really good group.
At TE Riley Nowakowski(#37) is the name to know. He's a solid player that kind of reminds of Lofton. He will get after it on run plays.
Indiana has a good OL. The strenght of their line is the left side. Carter Smith is their All-Conference LT. Their center Pat Coogan was a transfer from ND that started on ND's great OL from last season. Their RT and RG battle for weakest link on the line. Their RT is a true freshman. Indiana plays with physicality but surprisingly struggled with short yardage situations earlier in the season. They've improved as the season went on but seeing them struggle to get push on ODU's front to bullying Bama and Oregon at times on the LOS is impressive. OSU put a beating on the RT and Coogan struggled blocking Kayden McDonald more than Brockermyer. Indiana is a heavy zone team with a few power concepts.
Defense
The strenght of Indiana's defense is the front seven on defense and that starts with their DL. The names to know on their DL is Mario Landino(#97), Mikail Kamara(#6), Tyrique Tucker(#95), Kellan Wyatt (#13), and Dominique Ratcliff (#91). Something of note, Indiana's best lineman, Stephen Daley, got hurt in a freak accident while celebrating the OSU win with fans and hasn't played since. One narrative that I've been hearing is how small Indiana is on the lines but but they have adequate size to be a problem for teams with their penetrating style of defense.
Some measurables:
- Tucker(6'0, 295lbs)
- Landino(6'4, 275lbs)
- Wyatt(6'2, 262)
- Kamara(6'1, 265)
- Ratcliff(6'3 295lbs)
Indiana's DL can be stout at times and there's times where you see teams get a good push on them. I will say that what Indiana's DL gives up in size they makeup for it with speed and they use that speed to their advantage. Indiana likes stunt and shift on most downs to create confusion for OLs. You do see on film that if a team can properly block the stunts and blitzes Indiana does struggle generating a passrush headup. Overall, there's no one dominate player in this group but as a unit they're strong. They play hard and compete.
The best unit on Indiana's defense is their LBers. Aiden Fisher(#4) leads this group at MLB. Fisher was a 2nd team AP All-American. On the broadcast they talk about how smart Fisher is and you can tell he's like a coach on the field because he's always setting the defense, making the adjustments and calling out alert before the snap. His athleticism doesn't impress me but he doesn't take false steps and flows well to the ball. Next up is Rolijah Hardy (#21). Hardy flashes impressive closing speed. Hardy plays very fast and can run sideline to sideline. One knock I have on Hardy is his size, he looks small. Hardy is Indiana's sack leader with 8 on the season. Last of the group is Isaiah Jones(#46). He's second on the team in sacks with 7. Jones looks the part on film. Indiana loves to simulate(showing blitz) pressure and sending their LBer blitzes. Indiana's LBers account for more than 40% of the team's total sacks(18.5/45). Indiana mainly operates their defense out of a 4-3 look but can play multiple at times because of how good their LBers are.
Indiana has a good secondary that does a good job of turning over the ball as the starters have accounted for 16 turnovers(14Ints and 2FF) on the season. It starts with a familiar name to the board, D'Angelo Ponds(#5). Ponds played at Chaminade and has been discussed as a transfer target for us in the past. Ponds isn't the biggest corner(5'9, 170) but he's Indiana's CB1. Indiana trusted Ponds so much that they were putting him on Jeremiah Smith in man coverage. Ponds has caused a turnover in each of the past 2 games, the force fumbled against Alabama and the pick six on the first play of the Oregon game. Ponds is sticky in coverage but his size limitations do leave him susceptible to certain mismatches on the outside. Opposite of Ponds is Devan Boykin(#12). Boykin was a part of the NC State team that picked off TVD multiple times in 2023 and Boykin had one of those ints. One thing that really stood to me about Boykin is his physicality. He'll throw his body around and Indiana will blizt him. Safety Louis Moore(#7) is another name to know, he's a ball hawk and is 3rd on the team in tackles. Moore leads Indiana with 7ints on the season. Moore does a good job of playing the ball and has good instincts. Watch the int he got against OSU. He pulled a savvy move by hiding himself behind the ref to obscure the view of Sayin presnap and became the robber once the ball was snapped, Sayin never saw him and threw the pick. Amare Ferrell(#1) has accounted for 4ints. He's a long safety(6'2) that has solid coverage ability but sometimes jumps routes and can get caught with bad eyes(watch the TD he gave up against Illinois). Another name that will sound familiar to some of you on the boards is Jamari Sharpe(#22). Sharpe played at Miami Northwestern. Sharpe is a long corner(6'1) with legit speed. Teams tend to attack Sharpe.
Special Teams
Indiana's Kicker, Nico Radicic, is solid. He's 16/17 on the year. The only question I have is his leg strenght. He hasn't kicked a FG longer than 46yds this season. On FGs longer than 50yds, Indiana will actually use their other kicker Brendan Franke.
Indiana's punter is average as he averages 41yds a punt this season.
Key Takeaways
As good as Mendoza has been this season, he's had mediocre games against ODU, Iowa, PSU and OSU. Our defense has to know he isn't some demigod that the media is making him out to be. In my opinion, he'll be the second best QB we've seen during the CFP with Trinidad Chambliss being the best.
Indiana will run deep vertical routes, our DL will have opportunities and time to get to Mendoza. Get. Home.
The right side of Indiana's OL is the weak side of their line. We need attack that side. The RT is a true freshman that struggled mightily against Canden Curry. #3 and #4 need to dominate him. Get. Home.
Iowa sacked him 3 times. PSU sacked him 3 times, Wisconsin sacked him 5 times. OSU sacked him 3 times, and Bama sacked him 3 times. Our DL needs to get home on Mendoza. Hit him and make sure he feels the presence of this Corey Heather Heathermen defense.
Mendoza has ripped multiple 15+ yd runs this season. He needs to be properly introduced to Toure, Jakobe, and Zachariah if he chooses to do so. Wesley should also reintroduce himself to Mendoza.
I'm not sure how to stop it but we have to slow down that backshoulder pass between Sarratt and Mendoza.
Charlie Becker has really come on strong for Indiana's last couple of games. We need to slow him down.
We cannot lose all of the 50-50 balls to Sarratt, Cooper and Becker. We need to hold steady and win some of those battles.
We need to limit Indiana's run game. Slowing down Hemby and Black will be key to stalling Indiana's offense.
Indiana ran over Alabama and Oregon with the games being over before halftime, we need drag Indiana into a dog fight. Keep the game close or have the lead going into the half.
This is the best defense Indiana has played this season. Against quality defenses like Iowa and OSU they were held to 20 and 13 points respectively.
Last week, the defense dropped 4 potential interceptions, we cannot have that this week. We need to capitalize on Indiana's mistakes.
Carson Beck needs to make sure he's not routinely deciding where to go with the ball pre-snap because Indiana loves to rotate and drop their safeties post snap.
Indiana's backend has been good at creating turnovers, Carson needs to continue his clean play.
If our OL can handle the stunting, slanting and twisting along the DL well I think our passing game will have a good night.
If our OL can handle the DL games and pickup the blitzes well, I can see us rushing for 150+ yds on the night. Because of our size and strength up front, if we can block it up I can see us mauling Indiana.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Brockermyer have a good game. Indiana doesn't have the 6'5 320lb bodytypes that tend to give Brockermyer trouble. This is more of a game where Brockermyer's skillset(intelligence and technique) can excel.
Indiana's defense reminds me of Pitt's except with more zone concepts.
Indiana keeps 3LBers on the field at all times. I'd like to see Dawson scheme Malachi onto a LBer on 3rd down.
Dawson needs to be in his bag this week. Indiana is exceptional at keying in on a team's tendencies and taking it away. Dawson needs to have a couple tendency breakers drawn up.
The most points a team has scored on Indiana this year is 24(PSU). I think we'll surpass that number.
We cannot have dumb penalties this week and expect to win against this Indiana team. We have to play a clean game.
Physicality is ultimately the main key to this game. We need to be the more physical team. Our physicality will only augment our size and strenght advantage. Indiana hasn't faced a team as physical as us all year. From the first play to the last play we need to set the tone.
Let's go win a chip boys!
As always, let me know what you guys see......
