Hoosiers looking to bounce back defensively against the Hawkeyes

At Saturday’s 27-14 loss to Illinois, rows of IU fans had left the game before the final seconds ticked off.\nAs the players looked to the stands to gain some sort of inspiration to make a comeback, for the first time this year they saw empty seats and defeated fans.\n“You can see it during the game, and all of a sudden, they just leave,” junior wide receiver James Hardy said. “For us, as hard as we’ve been working, we’ve been working to put this program to where it needs to be. We just need the support.”\nA bruised ego won’t be the only adversity facing the Hoosiers as they head to Iowa this weekend and try to rebound from a loss in which IU coach Bill Lynch said his team simply got outplayed. The Hoosiers will need to improve defensively from their performance against Illinois if they want to leave Iowa with a win. \nIU will also have to face Iowa without one of its offensive contributors. During the loss to Illinois last Saturday, sophomore running back Demetrius McCray hit the injured list for the second time this year, and the versatile back will miss this weekend’s game because of a foot injury. Lynch did not speculate on how much time he would miss.\nHowever, Lynch hinted at the possibility of McCray’s injury giving sophomore running back Bryan Payton the opportunity for more carries and possibly making a difference against Iowa. Payton, who has only played in three games, is averaging six yards per carry with a touchdown.\n“It’s an opportunity for him, and he played well on Saturday,” Lynch said. “I thought he knocked it in there pretty good for the opportunities he had.”\nWhile the IU running game will be filling holes because of injuries, the defensive front seven will be working this week to close their gaps against Iowa running back Albert Young. It won’t be easy. Young runs behind an offensive line that features three blockers who weigh more than 300 pounds and all stand at or above 6-foot-5.\nIU will also need to get to the quarterback as much as possible Saturday – something they were unable to do against Illinois. After jumping out to a nation-leading 17 sacks through the first three games of the season, IU notched only one sack against the Fighting Illini, currently good for third in the country overall. \nIU faced a roadblock in that category because of Illinois’ use of the option and quarterback Isiah “Juice” Williams’ ability to move in and out of the pocket.\nSaturday, they face a drop-back quarterback in Jake Christensen of the Hawkeyes.\n“You could sense that in a really tough environment, and in a really physical ball game, he was a competitor all the way until the last throw,” Lynch said of Christensen’s play in Iowa’s loss to Wisconsin last week. \nThe Hoosiers will spend the rest of the week learning all about the Hawkeyes. But one-third of the way through the season, it’s also the time of year when they will begin to assess themselves as well.\n“One thing that we’ll have to learn is how we’re going to deal with this adversity, being the first loss of the season,” sophomore safety Austin Thomas said. “We haven’t really learned that much yet. We’ve only played one Big Ten game, and we’ll learn more after this week.”