Indiana surrendered 300 passing yards to Michigan State on Saturday, and the biggest plays of the game for the Spartans came through the air. While IU has talent in the secondary, it's clear that its inexperience and lack of a pass rush affect the performance of the group in a major way.
Indiana freshman cornerback Tiawan Mullen played the best of any Indiana defender against Michigan State in Saturday’s 40-31 loss. In fact, Pro Football Focus gave him a top-five cornerback grade in the nation for his four breakups.
Mullen’s performance was obvious, and his big-play effort in the endzone and on third down jumped out when his name and number were called. But while it was an encouraging day for the Florida-native, it also served as a mask for a secondary that seemed vulnerable more often than not.
“The young secondary has to continue to grow,” Indiana head coach Tom Allen told the media Monday. “I know that Tiawan played extremely well, but we challenged some other guys, even between the end of the game and this moment right now. Met with some guys already about them elevating their play at that position.”
Coming into the season, the secondary was viewed as the strength of the IU defense. With experienced players like Andre Brown, Marcelino Ball, A’Shon Riggins and Raheem Layne, the younger, more inexperienced players, like Devon Matthews, Reese Taylor, Jaylin Williams and Mullen seemed like bonus talent to rotate in.
But that bonus talent has become necessary talent early in the season, as the secondary has struggled. The pass defense isn’t bad – sixth in the Big Ten, with 194 passing yards allowed per game – but the Indiana’s coverage has been bad. PFF grades IU second-to-last in the conference from a coverage standpoint.
It’s delved into its youth and become more reliant on inexperienced players to make plays than anyone expected before week one. Certainly, missing Riggins and his wealth of experience as well as Taylor’s athleticism hasn’t helped, but Jaylin Williams came up with the big interception that ended the game against Ball State, Matthews and Juwan Burgess have worked well in rushing defense and Mullen has done what Mullen has done.
But players like Brown and Ball have all but disappeared on the field. Brown has allowed eight catches on 12 targets with just one pass breakup, and Ball has recorded a total of 16 tackles in three games while allowing seven catches on 12 targets. Layne had his worst game of the season against Michigan State and had a similar performance against Ohio State.
Eventually, with all of the mistakes compiled, Brian Lewerke threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns.
“That's the one position. You can screw up on the D-line, and nobody ever knows, usually. You make a mistake in the secondary, and everybody can figure that one out,” Allen said. “So that's part of playing that position and coaching that position.”
To Allen’s point, seeing Williams surrender the 44-yard pass to Darrell Stewart that put Michigan State in field goal range in a tie game was obvious. Seeing Bryant Fitzgerald drop the sure pick-six interception in the first quarter was clear. Seeing Matthews and Fitzgerald miss a check in the defense and allow an easy touchdown pass to end the first half was also there in front of everyone’s eyes.
But the lack of pressure wasn’t so obvious. On 38 dropbacks by Lewerke, he was only put under pressure 10 times and completed four passes in those scenarios. But when he wasn’t under pressure, he completed 14 of 26 passes. There is a model where better pressure positively impacted the secondary’s effectiveness.
“It's never one thing,” Allen said about pass defense struggles. “I thought we got some good pressure. We didn't get any sacks. We had several pressures. You always want more pressure. Pressure creates what you want defensively for an offense. Definitely caused some errant throws because of the pressure.”
There were other aspects too, like Michigan State’s trips formations and Stewart’s overall talent as one of the best receivers in the country, but many of the passing defense struggles were self-inflicted, but cornerbacks coach Brandon Shelby and safeties coach Kasey Teegardin have the confidence from Allen to fix those key mistakes before another competitive Big Ten game.
“My dad taught me this a long time ago when I first became a young head coach,” Allen said. “He said, ‘You'd better make sure you have the best defensive back coach you can find and the best offensive line coach you can find because those are the two areas that are the hardest for kids to play, and they'll get you beat if you don't get them right.’
“We've got great coaches in those spots, and we've got really good players. I’m excited for them to continue to grow and develop.”
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