Matchup to Watch: Peyton Ramsey Plus Mike DeBord
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Written By Alex Compton (@alexncompton)
IU’s defense unfortunately won’t get the credit it deserves for its play last weekend, but what else is new. The Hoosiers went on the road to Happy Valley and remained winless there after playing an incredibly undisciplined first fifteen minutes and essentially giving Penn State a 28-0 lead. That’s much too large of a hole to climb out of on the road against a ranked opponent, and the Hoosiers were never able to get within 14 points on the day. Tegray Scales had himself a nice day with 3 sacks, and Barkley was held pretty much in check by him all game which was nice to see. This game coming up on Saturday should get out of hand early, which is why this matchup to watch will be a little bit different.
MIKE DEBORD VS. PEYTON RAMSEY
Peyton Ramsey is now IU’s starter moving forward, and there is no plan to “ride the hot hand” or give them both snaps during games. He brings much more mobility and touch on his throws, but his arm strength will be the big thing to watch. Ramsey will likely be better at taking care of the ball as well, and riding the defense and grinding out drives on offense might not be such a bad idea at all. His first career start couldn’t come at a better time I suppose, as playing an FCS squad before a ranked team for Homecoming is much better than just being thrown into the fire. With that being said, there will be some interesting things to watch for on Saturday.
How much will DeBord open up the playbook to see what Ramsey can do on Saturday? On one hand, you don’t want to give Michigan anything on tape, but on the other you need to run some sets on Saturday to have them ready for Michigan. This give and take from DeBord will be like a game within the game, and will have a bigger effect on the Homecoming game than you think. Will Ramsey ask him for more out of the playbook at halftime if IU is winning handily and Ramsey has played well? Or will IU run about 10 different plays and save a lot of looks for Michigan? If Ramsey can help Indiana get the run game going and take care of the ball, the switch at QB is warranted and the remaining games on IU’s schedule are all winnable. This defense will really get to shine now, and figuring out how the offense will improve will take a week or two, so that is why this is the matchup to watch on Saturday.
A secondary matchup in this game is IU vs. the training table. The Hoosiers are just really, really banged up right now and need to get healthy for the bulk of Big Ten play if they want a shot at 7-8 wins. Ramsey looking comfortable and everyone coming out of this game healthy would constitute it as a perfect game, assuming we don’t squeeze out a win (which likely won’t be an issue).
Other Notes On This Matchup:
Here are Ramsey’s stats through 4 games, courtesy of ESPN.com:
