Defense holds its own against Bearcats

Paul Mandina predicted it at Big Ten Media Day at the end of July. He again said it would happen, with a slight quiver in his voice, after a tough 41-38 opening day loss to North Carolina State.\nFinally, in post-game interviews Saturday, Mandina, a senior defensive tackle, got his wish. He was asked about how much the defensive unit that he leads improved from the first two games of the year. At last, the defense had improved as he had promised it would.\nMandina and the Hoosier defense held Cincinnati to two field goals as IU romped to its first win of the year Saturday 42-6. The performance comes after two losses in which the Hoosiers (1-2) yielded 41 points to both the Wolfpack and Kentucky.\nThough the numbers differ sharply between the first two weeks and the past weekend, Mandina said he wasn't surprised.\n"I really don't think it was a surprise because we go out and plug away every single week," he said. "You have to give a lot of credit to Cincinnati, they really did a good job. But our guys don't quit. We learned a lot in these last two weeks."\nDefensive coordinator James Bell used 21 different defensive players in the game in an effort to keep players fresh. \nThe scheme worked. In the first two games of the year, the Hoosiers were giving up 24 points per game after halftime. The Bearcats (2-2) were shut out Saturday by IU's defense after halftime. Cincinnati also had to deal with the loss of its starting senior quarterback, Deontey Kenner, to an injury. Kenner did not play in the second half.\nDespite Kenner's absence, Mandina gave credit to his defensive teammates for learning the system and playing within it.\n"We're going to plan on doing that more and more as we got more guys seasoned and experienced with the game," he said of rotating defensive players in and out. "Our guys are starting to get the feel for what situations are like."\nCoach Cam Cameron said the formula to determine who will play defense won't be scientific. Those who play well will stay on the field.\n"We're just going to play some guys," he said. "The guys that play well and continue to do what the coaches do get to stay out there. When you don't, you get to come to the sidelines, and we're going to put somebody else in."\nBeyond conditioning, senior strong safety Johnny Anderson said the defense had the goal of making plays and getting the ball into the hands of the offense.\n"With the defense we just wanted to make big plays and slow their offensive game down and make them play short so we can get the ball back to our offense," he said.\nFrom an offensive perspective, junior quarterback Antwaan Randle El said it was great to see the defense make plays. He also said he expects to see more of the same throughout the rest of the year.\n"It just feels great to see them flying around and not letting the other team get into the end zone at all," he said. "It's something we haven't seen in awhile. They're competitive and they'll get better as they go along."\nSophomore safety Ron Bethel said he agreed with Randle El. Bethel is pleased with the way the defense responded to the need to step up, but he also sees room for improvement.\n"This wasn't even our best," Bethel said. "We're learning our keys more because this is a new defense. Every week we should get better. We can shut a team out." \nBefore the defense gets ahead of itself and tries to blank its opponents, Mandina is more interested in taking steady steps each week in progressing. Saturday was a huge step toward where Mandina and the Hoosier offense want to be.\n"This was a great feeling for the guys because you go out there and give so much effort, and put so much emotionally into the game," Mandina said. "When you come up short it really hurts. We needed this.