Throughout preseason camp, some of Indiana’s players mentioned the simplicity of Indiana’s new 4-2-5 defensive scheme, specifically its ability to allow players to make plays without having to think because of its emphasis on attacking the ball.

After recording three takeaways in the Hoosiers’ 34-13 season-opening win at Florida International last week, it certainly looked that way.

“I was really excited about how hard they played,” defensive coordinator Tom Allen said. “I told them before, ‘I don’t care about making mistakes. It’s going to happen. I want you to play your tails off and tackle.’ I felt like at times we missed some tackles – I wasn’t pleased with that – but the effort was there. If you’re flying to the football and playing hard for each other, together, then you’ve got a chance defensively. That was a good sign.”

Two of Indiana’s takeaways were interceptions returned for touchdowns, marking the first time since 1966 Indiana accomplished such a feat in a single game. Add in the safety caused by forcing a false start penalty in the endzone, and IU’s defense accounted for 16 of the team’s 34 points in the season opener.

Junior linebacker Tegray Scales, who finished with four tackles, was responsible for the second interception returned for a touchdown which allowed Indiana to pull away late in the second half.

Scales said that the defense won’t always be perfect, but also mentioned how did easy it was for the defense to “fly” to the football and make plays.

“We’ve got a defense where, if we’re out there and the offense makes a check, we can make a check,” Scales said. “The defense is very flexible and I think that played into our favor.”

Junior defensive back Tony Fields nearly made a play of his own, but was unable to complete the process of a catch for an interception back of the endzone.

Regardless, he says he’s noticed a change in the defense as well.

“Every call that we have is adjustable,” Fields said. “It’s a different thing so it gives us the ability to adjust to different offenses, so I think that’s given guys even more confidence in their own ability.”

The performance in the season opener was also one of the more gratifying experiences for Fields in his three-year career with the Hoosiers.

“It was probably one of the better feelings since I’ve been here,” Fields said. “You can tell guys are having, fun flying around and making plays. We all believe in each other and the system. You can tell guys are more prepared and focused and we actually believe this year that we can be a great defense.”

After spending all of spring and preseason camp creating that belief and turning that belief into confidence, Allen’s IU defense was rewarded with a historic performance in his debut.

But for as well as Indiana played last week, Allen was actually more pleased with the mistakes, which created learning opportunities for the Hoosiers, than the things they did right. IU’s first opportunity to learn from those errors will be at home at 4 p.m. ET this Saturday vs. Ball State.

The familiarity FIU presented (Indiana played it last year) will not be present when Indiana plays Ball State, which may offer the biggest challenge yet for IU’s defense.

Ball State rushed for 325 yards after its passing game struggled to develop over the duration of its season opener against Georgia State. Moreover, the Cardinals have a new coaching staff, which means they are still figuring out their offensive identity. Indiana also hasn’t faced Ball State since the 2012 season.

But if the first week of the 2016 season was any indication, IU will be up to the challenge.

“We so many areas we can get better at, and we will,” Allen said. “That’s encouraging.”