Matchup to Watch: Indiana Defense vs Minnesota Defense
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Written by Nathan Comp
From as early on as when Tom Allen had just been named head coach of Indiana, his wish would be that each game would come down to his defense’s ability to shut down the opponent. “I challenged our defense to be the reason why. I felt like you just get all the negative feedback of ‘Well if the defense would’ve just done this’ or ‘If we could’ve just gotten a stop here,” well I challenged our defense to be the reason why.” Well, this week we may have exactly Coach Allen’s wish: a game that will be decided by the team’s respective defenses, who we have highlighted here in this week’s matchup to watch.
Looking first at Indiana’s opponent, on paper the Indiana offense will have the clear advantage. Fresh off of a 53-28 shellacking against previously winless Nebraska, the Minnesota defense has much to work on. The Cornhuskers (1-6) racked up the 4th most total yards allowed by Minnesota in school history, finishing the game with 659 yards. Minnesota allowed three different 100-yard rushers and 10 plays for 20 or more yards. The stats do not get better when extrapolating them to the rest of the Big Ten season. They’ve allowed over 43 points per game on 503 total yards of offense. In just four conference games, they have allowed 21 offensive touchdowns. Each of these touchdowns have averaged 31.5 yards covered.
This week, head coach PJ Fleck is hoping to simplify the defensive scheme and get back to the basics. This starts with finishing tackles. Fleck highlighted that his defense missed a whopping 18 tackles Saturday against Nebraska, an unacceptable number. Looking forward to Friday’s matchup, Fleck highlighted freshman running back Stevie Scott as someone they have focused on slowing down. Scott struggled to get comfortable to start the Big Ten season but showed his non-conference self last week against Penn State, once again rushing for over 100 yards. “He's big, he's strong. We recruited him. I think he's really talented. And you can tell he's growing every single week. He's just getting better. Because when you're young, that growth is so much. Really good player. Good in pass pro,” said Fleck earlier this week.
Slowing down Scott and making open field tackles when Indiana is passing will be key for Minnesota.
For Indiana’s defense, they will be practicing this week with a bit of uncertainty in what to prepare for. Zach Annexstad, a true freshman, has started each game for the Golden Gophers this year. However, he left last week’s game in the first half with an undisclosed injury and was reportedly hospitalized Saturday night. He is listed as the starter on the two-deep depth chart, but it is unsure his exact conditions going forward. Stepping in as his replacement was redshirt freshman Tanner Morgan. Morgan was serviceable in the second half for Minnesota throwing for 214 yards on 11/16 passing with one interception. He also showed dual-threat capabilities, rushing 4 times for 35 yards and a touchdown.
Indiana’s secondary will have to prep for both quarterbacks and hope that they can have a similar defensive performance as last week. After allowing 6 passing touchdowns each to Dwayne Haskins and Nate Stanley the two weeks prior, last week the secondary bounced back and limited Trace McSorley to zero touchdowns through the air. Hoping to build on this performance, this week they should focus much of their attention to Rashod Bateman and Tyler Johnson who have accounted for 70% of Minnesota’s receptions.
No Big Ten game on the road is easy, especially with an odd schedule placing this game on a Friday night, so both teams will have to rely on their defenses if they want to emerge victorious. Hopefully, Coach Allen’s defense is able to “be the reason why,” as Indiana needs just two more victories to gain bowl eligibility.