He also didn’t point the finger at Penn State’s defense, the best in the Big Ten, which has allowed a conference-low 278.7 offensive yards per game.
He said it was the team’s fundamentals that lost the game.
“We were most disappointed that we just got away from our fundamentals,” Johns said. “It wasn’t just at the offensive line position, but at the running back position and quarterback position, just across the board.”
Johns said the fundamental issues weren’t issues that were common, but issues that came as a surprise to the coaching staff because they had not seen the same mistakes since summer camp.
After winning four straight games and losing a close game to Ohio State, getting away from fundamentals was not expected out of the Hoosiers but is common in the middle of the season.
Junior receiver Ricky Jones noticed the change during the practice week after the Ohio State loss.
“I just think we got a little off track,” Jones said. “The key this week is to get back on track the way we were those first four games.”
Something that the Hoosiers did in the first four games that they did not do at Penn State was establish the running game, as they threw the ball with sophomore quarterback Zander Diamont on their first three plays.
IU Coach Kevin Wilson said he and his staff believed in the aggressive passing strategy against Penn State and would not change their philosophy if they were to play the game again.
“We knew we needed to be aggressive,” Wilson said. “We knew we weren’t going to overpower a good Penn State defense, and we knew we needed to score points. We knew we needed to get into the 30s.”
Against a Penn State defense that ranks sixth in the conference in sacks and second in passing defense, the IU offensive line also saw its struggles, allowing Penn State to force Diamont to run the ball 11 times throughout the first three quarters.
At one point, Wilson even pulled freshman guard Wes Martin because he said the left guard was not playing well.
“I think he’s a young guy, as hard as he’s been going, hit a wall,” Wilson said about Martin. “We need to see him play better. Offensive line needs to play better. We’re doing too much, getting too assignment-oriented instead of just playing at pad level and staying on track and coming off the ball.”
With Martin slated to play left guard Saturday, IU welcomes the 13th-ranked defense in the conference that allows the second-most rushing yards per game in the conference (212.3) and the 12th-most passing yards per game (230.5).
After playing two of the toughest defenses in the conference in two consecutive weeks, IU looks to use a weaker defense to its advantage as Johns said it is regrouping mentally during practice before Saturday’s game.
“For us as coaches, we feel it’s time to go back to square one,” Johns said. “Back to day-one stuff.”
