Indiana Offensive Keys to the Game: Rutgers

Written By: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)

Indiana knocked off it’s first AP Top Ten opponent in thirty-three years last weekend with its 36-35 overtime victory over Penn State. It was one of the biggest wins in program history and much needed to get the monkey off the Hoosiers’ backs; it had been close so many times before but to see that it actually can finish off one of those type of games will be monumental for the program moving forward.

As great as it was, little credit can be given to the performance of the offense. In fact, outside of the two final drives, one in regular time and one in overtime, the offense was stymied most of the afternoon. It registered just 211 total yards, completed just 33% of its third downs, and had the ball for only 19 minutes. It will have to be better to knock off a Rutgers team on the road that just notched its first Big Ten victory in its last 21 attempts by forcing seven turnovers.

Offensive Line Improvement

The overall offensive improvement will have to start in the trenches. In both running and passing situations, the line was consistently pushed behind the line of scrimmage. Because of this, Stevie Scott was limited to just 2.8 yards per carry and Michael Penix was sacked 3 times. When he wasn’t being sacked, he was limited to just 4.7 yards per pass attempt.

“He [Penix] was under a lot of pressure,” said Allen on Monday. “We did not play well on the offensive line, and that created a lot of issues in both the run game and the pass game. I do not think he could ever really get comfortable in the pocket.”

It’s hard to tell if the offensive line’s play was more telling of what is to come for Indiana or more of a compliment to the strong rushing attack of the Nittany Lions. Either way, it can’t hurt for the line to improve and open up more rushing lanes for Scott and Sampson James, along with give more time in the pocket to Penix.

Settle Penix Down

If it was your first time watching Penix play on Saturday, you’d have never guessed that he set a school record for completion percentage in a season last year. Even when the offensive line was giving him a clean pocket, he was consistently missing open receivers. He overthrew Whop in the first half on a throw that likely would have resulted in a touchdown and threw behind and over Ty Fryfogle later in the first half which forced a field goal attempt instead of a redzone possession.

“He was not as accurate as we know he is always and was definitely missing open receivers,” said Allen. “He has not played in a game for a long time. He just never really got a chance to be who we all know he is until that final drive.”

I think a nice offensive reset could be nice going into this game against Rutgers. Sheridan should try to open with some easier throws to build up Penix’s confidence and utilize both running backs so he doesn’t feel he has to do it all himself. If the offense can get into a rhythm, like they were able to in the final two drives, it showed how capable it really is.

Make Contested Catches

The other glaring difference between what we saw on the final two drives compared to the rest of the night on Saturday was the receivers making contested catches. Penix certainly wasn’t as accurate as he needed to be on Saturday, but he also was getting little help from the guys he was throwing to. We saw a number of dropped balls, most notably by Peyton Hendershot on a critical 3rd down in the 4th quarter. Flash forward to the final two drives and suddenly we were seeing diving, contested catches made by Jacolby Hewitt, Javon Swinton, and Whop Philyor. Nothing will build up a quarterback’s confidence, or change the momentum of a game, more than a receiver catching a ball to extend a drive that easily could have been dropped.