BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Early on in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s home loss to Rutgers, the Indiana offense was presented with a 3rd and 13 play from its own 49-yard line. Following a third quarter in which the Hoosiers gained 42 total yards and picked up just three first downs, Indiana found themselves down 24-14.
On the 3rd and 13 play, Brendan Sorsby — who won the starting quarterback job this week — checked the ball down to his running back, Jaylin Lucas, at the line of scrimmage. On 3rd and 13 at midfield, down by two scores and in need of a first down, Indiana picked completed a pass for 0 yards.
The Hoosiers then punted the ball away. Two plays later, Rutgers quarterback Gavin Wimsatt put the game on ice with an 80-yard touchdown run to put the Scarlet Knights up 31-14.
That play was just one example of Indiana’s inability to convert on third down this season.
Coming into the week eight matchup with Rutgers, Indiana was converting 40% of its 3rd downs. That’s good enough eighth in the Big Ten. However, take out Indiana’s week two trouncing of Indiana State — where the Hoosiers converted 12/16 third downs — and you have a different story. Excluding the game against the Sycamores, the Hoosiers are converting just 32% of their third downs. That would put them 12th in the Big Ten.
As they did a week ago against No. 2 Michigan, Indiana scored first on Saturday against Rutgers. Sorsby, on his first drive as 'the official starter,' made one of the better plays an Indiana quarterback has made all season.
He was forced to roll out to his left to avoid pressure. He then set his feet and fired a pass towards the south end zone where a wide-open Omar Cooper Jr. made the catch.
Outside of that opening drive of the game and a four play, 59-yard drive towards the end of the first half that saw Sorsby run for a 4-yard touchdown, the Indiana offense looked like its old, uninspired self.
"I felt like the offense executed, (we had) just a couple of miscues that stalled some drives," Sorsby said postgame. "Those little miscues, we fix those, drives keep going and points keep going on the board. It's small things that end up being big things, so we just have to fix those small things."
Individually, Sorsby has a pretty mediocre day all things considered. The redshirt freshman completed 15 of his 31 pass attempts for 126 yards and a touchdown. While some of his decisions on where to go with the ball in third down situations can be called into question, Sorsby took care of the ball against Rutgers.
"A couple of missed throws by me," Sorsby said of his performance against the Scarlet Knights. "That's really it."
At times, it feels as though Indiana's offense is so afraid to make a mistake that it ends up waving the white flag in certain situations. The 3rd and long runs plays, that have been a staple of the Indiana offense all year long, combined with the overall conservative nature of the play calling are a couple of the big reasons Indiana decided to part ways with former offensive coordinator Walt Bell.
Has anything changed under the instruction of Rod Carey? The Hoosiers' starting quarterback thinks not.
"It's really similar actually, just a little different style of coaching (from Bell). Really not much has changed," Sorsby said. "I feel like we've had some special moments over the past two games, we just need to string those together."
"With a new offensive coordinator, there's certain things we can't change because we're in the middle of the season," Cooper Jr. added. "Not much has been different (under Rod Carey)."
It's understandable to refrain from completely scrapping an entire offensive scheme in the middle of a season. But if truly nothing has changed at all for the Hoosiers schematically since Carey took over play calling duties, then would seem like an obvious red flag.
Indiana's season-long and continued unwillingness to consistently take shots down the field has been a big part of the Hoosiers' offensive struggles. Indiana's longest passing play of the season came in last week's blowout loss in Ann Arbor against Michigan.
It wasn't Sorsby or Tayven Jackson that made the throw. It was an ex-quarterback who now plays wide receiver in Donaven McCulley.
A seemingly final decision at quarterback doesn't matter if the Hoosiers don't allow that quarterback to air the ball out. No matter who is thrown out onto the field to play quarterback for the Hoosiers, the Indiana coaching staff needs to have enough trust in them to let that guy take some chances, or the offensive struggles will continue.
"We still have to generate more in the throw game, which is what we're trying to do," Allen said. "We haven't been good enough in the throw game to create points."
Sorsby and the Indiana offense won't find much success until the fear of making a mistake is overcome. It's time for the Hoosiers to play to win and not play not-to-lose.
–––––
Like this content? Join the conversation on TheHoosier.com's premium message boards and subscribe today!
– Follow TheHoosier on Twitter and Facebook!
– Subscribe to TheHoosier on YouTube for more content
– TheHoosier's Premium Football Board and Premium Hoops Board
