10/18/2022 football Edit

Indiana In Search of Better Defensive Performance

Kevin Vera • TheHoosier

Staff Writer

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Indiana is coming off a 38-33 loss in which they allowed 442 yards of offense. Tom Allen's defense hasn't paired up against teams as well as they would have liked and in the game against Maryland that was the case. Now on a four-game losing streak, Indiana will travel east to go against Rutgers in hopes of getting back in the win column.

In the days ahead of Rutgers, head coach Tom Allen acknowledged that his defense needs to produce at a higher level. Indiana is currently the worst statistical team in the Big Ten on that side of the ball, allowing an average of 31.6 points per game. If the Hoosiers want a win this upcoming weekend, they have to polish things up ahead of another Big Ten opponent.

One of the main problems in the Maryland loss was the missed tackles in the backfield. The Hoosiers actually recorded more tackles, solo tackles, and tackles for loss but when it came to the fundamentals the team seemed to struggle. As the game progressed, it seemed the Hoosiers could not make the plays needed in order to stop the Maryland offense.

“Tackling got to me. I know they [Maryland] have a lot of good athletes. That makes it more challenging, I get that, but too many missed tackles. I thought that was huge for us," Allen said. "Especially there at the end. I shared with our team, I felt like that, I get it, you can't turn the ball over. But, we had the lead in the fourth quarter with a chance to finish it out and didn't do it.”

Oct 15, 2022; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Maryland Terrapins running back Roman Hemby (24) is tackled by Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Tiawan Mullen (3) during the second half at Memorial Stadium. (Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports)

At the start of the year, Allen mentioned that he believed the secondary was the strongest unit on the defense. As the year has gone on, the secondary has tended to struggle. The Hoosiers currently have five interceptions on the year but the kryptonite for the Indiana defense has been allowing too many big plays.

Tiawan Mullen has not lived up to preseason expectations and missing Jaylin Williams to injury has seriously hurt that aspect of the defense.

“That's been a big disappointment for me. I know we've got some guys dinged up back there but still got some younger guys that need to step up and make those plays…So just felt like a couple of times that we really just didn't come up with a play. Just got to make a play.” Allen said.

“To me, that’s a unit that I wanted to be the strength of our defense, especially with Cam being out now, those guys have to keep stepping up even more to be able to take some pressure off the linebacker core. So that group needs to continue to rise up.”

Rutgers ranks second to last in the Big Ten, only ahead of Iowa, in most passing statistics this year. Its averaging just 173.2 yards per game through the air and with three quarterbacks taking snaps this season, have combined for just six touchdowns and eight interceptions. That trio also has a 54 completion percentage on the season.

Rutgers is currently the last team in the Big Ten East and this contest could serve as a much-needed confidence booster if the Hoosiers go out and get a win.

The Scarlet Knights have yet to win a conference game so both teams are in need of a momentum-shifting win. So, for the Hoosiers, changes are going to be made by Allen in order to get the best out of their athletes.

“We did some positive things on Saturday night but not enough. I think our guys recognized that. We're going to continue to point those things out in a very appropriate way with whatever intensity is necessary to get the result we're looking for," Allen said.

"Obviously, you want to create change, you've got to change something. You do, every day. We're going to change things up, continue to try to get the best physical and emotional response out of our guys."