Indiana has shown an impressive amount of offensive versatility as it's been presented with several challenges throughout offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer's first season. When those same challenges reared their heads against the best defense Indiana has played in weeks, the Hoosiers found new ways to win in dominant fashion to reach their seventh win.
Coming into Saturday night’s matchup in Bloomington, Northwestern had limited many teams – good teams, like Stanford, Michigan State and Wisconsin – to fewer than 34 points. It’s defense was rated No. 13 in the country, according to ESPN’s SP+ ratings, and it held Iowa to 20 points just a week ago.
But at Indiana, the Hoosiers made handling the Northwestern defense appear routine, stacking up 414 yards on the way to a 34-3 win and the program’s first seven-win season since 2007.
That success, and the success Indiana has found during its four-game win streak since its last bye week, is often attributed to the versatility that new offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer has created with his new offense. That versatility was on full display against the best defense Indiana has played since losing a close game in East Lansing back in week five.
“The offense is just different this year than last year,” Sophomore running back Stevie Scott said after the game Saturday. “We’re just more engaged, got that team chemistry. We’ve just been working so hard during the offseason that we’ve just been waiting for this moment.”
In most weeks leading up to Saturdays this season, Indiana has needed to reinvent itself in some way offensively. Whether it was throwing in trick plays against Ohio State, introducing Peyton Ramsey during Ohio State and Connecticut, reintegrating Mike Penix for Michigan State while getting Stevie Scott to the perimeter, or readjusting the priority on running the ball while preparing two gameplans week-to-week not knowing who the quarterback would be, DeBoer has been busy.
Left tackle Coy Cronk went down for the season, senior center Hunter Littlejohn went down for the Maryland game and senior guard Simon Stepaniak unexpectedly missed the Nebraska game. Penix started three games during the four-game win streak and only made it to the second half in one game before exiting the Maryland and Northwestern games with injuries.
Indiana has been on its toes offensively all season, but it’s been able to lean on what head coach Tom Allen described as the “multiple, yet simple offense” of Kalen DeBoer. There are plenty of playmakers, plenty of places for the ball to go, but it gets there in quick and simple ways. Yet that’s torn up a couple of the best defenses in the Big Ten.
“It’s awesome, but it’s almost frustrating because it’s like one game, you’re getting all the balls and that’s just how it works, and the next game, you might have a target or two but the offense is still going down the field,” senior wide receiver Nick Westbrook said.
Westbrook is a good example of the multiplicity of the DeBoer offense. Once an Honorable Mention All-Big Ten selection, Westbrook has finally seen enough targets to piece together games of five, six and five receptions – five catches for 59 yards Saturday. Junior wide receiver Whop Philyor has made the jump and now leads the conference in receptions.
But Scott has developed himself into one of the most versatile running backs in the Big Ten, and, as the unique scenarios continue to pile up for the Indiana offense, the Hoosiers have needed to lean on Scott to spark offense or to run out the clock in Saturday’s case. He eclipsed 100 scrimmage yards for the fourth consecutive game against Northwestern – 116 on the ground and a 20-yard touchdown through the air.
The way it used cott was the unique facet of the IU offense Saturday, as it punched its sophomore running back into the Northwestern defense a season-high 26 times until it found something open in the passing game with Peyton Ramsey. Scott finished off the game after Ramsey took over the offense, but Ramsey had the best game of his career – 351 yards and two touchdowns – on the road at Nebraska. Penix nearly defeated Michigan State in one of the best offensive performances by Indiana on the season, and the redshirt freshman gave Indiana a quick lead at Maryland, a lead the Hoosiers hung onto for the win.
Throughout these reinventions and the flashes that the offense has shown when at full power with Penix under center, it’s hard to ignore the sense that the Hoosier offense has yet to find an opportunity to show what the 2019 offense could look like when every piece of versatility used is at its maximum capacity.
“That’s something that Coach DeBoer has been preaching since week one,” Westbrook said. “Every week, we’re going to get better on offense, and there’s always room to grow. We’ve seen that every week. We’ve grown. Whether it’s situations or just making the big play, and in this game, just being consistent, making the easy plays, taking what they gave us. It gives us a lot of confidence in our versatility because when we’re on, it’s hard to stop us.”
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