Hoosiers Defense Ready for Veteran Cincinnati Offense

Written by Matt Smith

Indiana’s defense is coming off of a game where they gave up over 500 yards of offense to Western Kentucky. As the Hoosiers take to Cincinnati they will need to clean up some stuff in order to continue to stay out of the loss column.

The Bearcats lost their star quarterback Desmond Ridder to the NFL last season, so the Hoosiers will have some new players to keep their eye on. 

According to Chad Wilt, they still have a lot of offensive linemen returning to Cincinnati. The tight ends and receivers are returning as well. There is a lot of consistency with the guys that are back.

“They know what they’re doing,” Wilt said. “They know how they want to operate… they know what they want to be on offense.”

Wilt has a bit of a homecoming this week, as he was the Bearcats’ defensive line coach for the 2019 season, and coached some of the players that will be going up against the Hoosiers this week.

“You do know them a little bit better, but you’re also sitting here, three years later,” Wilt said. “You know who those guys are, but there’s still three years of maturation.”

Cincinnati has had a lot of success under head coach Luke Fickell, and other coaches as well. Wilt worked under Fickell for a year and has an insider's perspective on why the program has been so successful. 

“Coach Fickell is a phenomenal coach, they’ve had the success that they’ve had for a reason, and coach Fickell is very true to his DNA,” Wilt said. “ He does a great job of setting the standards and expectations and holding people accountable to that.”

Myles Jackson has been a key piece to the Hoosier defense this season after coming over from UCLA. This was highlighted by a big fumble recovery against Western Kentucky last Saturday. 

“We knew he was going to help this football team this year, we knew it was in leadership, in production, in practices, and just how hard he plays,” Wilt said. “It’s no surprise, because we’ve seen evidence and proof of that.”

To complement Jackson’s ability, Jaylin Williams has been holding down the back end of the defense at cornerback. Williams had a couple big plays last Saturday, but none bigger than the blocked field goal in overtime.

“He does do a lot of different things, because he’s a smart football player,” Wilt said. “All around smart football players understand the game, because he’s been here a long time.”

On the other side of the field from Williams, is Tiawan Mullen, who is a huge factor on the defense, not only for his play, but for his leadership. The key word used by Wilt for Mullen was “steady.”

“It’s hard to be a good leader if you’re not consistently showing up, if you’re not consistently performing that way, if you’re not consistently holding yourself to a high standard, it’s hard to hold other people to those standards,” Wilt said. “That’s what you see out of Tiawan’s leadership is that steadiness, that consistency.” 

One thing to keep an eye on for the Bearcats is their ability to finish and make adjustments at halftime. They are a second half team and this may prove a challenge for the Hoosiers who struggled in the second half last week.

The Hoosiers will kick-off against Cincinnati at 3:30 eastern time on ESPN 2 this Saturday.