When former IU linebacker Marcus Oliver declared for the NFL Draft last season as a junior, there was a gaping hole in the middle of the Hoosier defense.
The former Mike linebacker set a program record with 12 forced fumbles in his career, and he had what then-defensive coordinator Tom Allen called a “care factor” — sometimes caring too much, Allen said.
Oliver’s presence was never missed more by the fanbase than last week, when the Hoosiers were preparing to play No. 18 Michigan State with the worst turnover differential in the Big Ten. Someone had to step up and fill the void.
Senior linebacker Chris Covington, who has started in Oliver’s position all season, finally did just that, as he recorded 11 tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and a team-high three quarterback hits in IU’s loss to Michigan State, 17-9, on Saturday.
“He played great,” Allen said. “I thought eh whole defense did. Proud of him. He played tough, tough, tough and physical.”
It didn’t take long for Covington to arrive Saturday either. On the Spartans’ second offensive drive of the game, Covington raced around the left side of the line and caught Michigan State running back LJ Scott on the opposite side for a loss. The next play, on third down, Covington shook a block and broke through the line to hurry Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke into throwing the ball away.
Both of those plays followed a 15-yard completion as Michigan State approached midfield with a rhythm.
While Tegray Scales had eight tackles in his own rite, the future NFL linebacker had a fairly quiet game on the stat sheet, with no tackles for loss or sacks and just one quarterback hit. Scales didn’t terrorize the the offensive line in the same way he has all season, so Covington took on the responsibility.
But the senior linebacker wasn’t content with a loss.
Covington was a part of a 3rd-and-19 play that senior safety Chase Dutra said was a miscommunication between the safeties and linebackers. Covington confirmed Dutra’s reasoning.
Dutra said the defense didn’t even know what the miscommunication on the 16-yard pass completion was until it got to the sideline. The Spartans converted the subsequent fourth-and-short and eventually scored the first touchdown of the game to take the lead late in the fourth quarter.
Covington said that while the third down completion hurt, IU still had a chance to stop Michigan State on the fourth down play and couldn’t get a stop there either.
“We just didn’t finish,” Covington said. “We’ve got to finish. That’s what we pride ourselves on. That was one of our breakthrough moments, and obviously we didn’t break through today.”
“Are you getting tired of saying that?” A reporter asked Covington. “‘We’re not finishing’?”
“I don’t know,” Covington replied.
----
• Talk about it inside The Hoops Forum or The Football Forum
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Follow us on Twitter: @IndianaRivals
• Like us on Facebook.
