IU’s defense won the game against Rutgers.
While the Hoosier offense struggled mightily inside the 40-yard line, the defense stifled the Scarlet Knights on Saturday.
The IU football script has flipped entirely the season. Instead of the defense holding the Hoosiers back, nine games into the season, it’s proven itself capable of keeping IU close and even winning games on its own.
Time and time again this season, the offense has struggled to put together complete games but still found itself within striking distance because of defensive coordinator Tom Allen’s group.
While the defense isn’t perfect, it can be counted on.
Rutgers did have a few successful plays, but those were far and few between. Nearly a third of its yards came from two long catches by Juwan Harris and Andre Patton. IU’s coverage broke down on those plays, yet other than those two moments, it was dominant.
“I feel like we just have to believe in each other and the coaches,” junior defensive lineman Robert McCray III said post-game in a video on iuhoosiers.com. “Coach Allen brings a lot of energy to the team. Just buy into and trust each other that we’re all going to do our job. We never get down on anything we just move past it because we know that we’re stronger than that and that we’re better than that and we want to get better.”
Take away those two grabs and Rutgers averaged just 3.5 yards per play.
After IU gave up a touchdown to start the second half after a fumble on the kickoff, the defense collected a fumble and forced six straight three-and-outs. During that stretch, the Scarlet Knights only had 22 yards.
The defense was especially impressive on third down as Rutgers converted only one of 16 tries. While Rutgers doesn’t have a good offense, holding any team to one third down conversion is significant.
IU’s defense was able to have that success because it disrupted the Rutgers offense on first and second down, forcing an average of 8.4 yards that needed to be gained on third down attempts.
IU defenders found themselves in Rutgers’ backfield all game long and finished with nine tackles for loss and three sacks. They kept the Scarlet Knights to just 93 total yards on the ground, and an average of 2.7 per rush.
“Rutgers came in early running the ball very well,” IU Coach Kevin Wilson said post-game in a video on iuhoosiers.com. “I think our ability to stop the run and making them throw more than they would have wanted too, it made it a little easier. We ran a lot. I think our defensive line did good defeating blocks. They came in as a decent running team and I think our ability to keep them one-dimensional helped us.”
With games against Penn State and Michigan upcoming, the defense has to play like it did Saturday for IU to have any chance of winning. The Hoosiers have to perform well in all three phases and show that while the special teams may be in disarray and the offense prone to miscues, the defense can be depended on.
