Matchup to Watch Week Thirteen: Indiana's Front Seven vs. Shea Patterson
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Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
The Indiana Hoosiers play host to the No. 13 Michigan Wolverines on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. The Hoosiers have lost 23-straight games against the Wolverines, but if the Hoosiers can win this critical match-up that streak can end on Saturday. That match-up is how Indiana’s front seven handles Michigan’s quarterback Shea Patterson.
Patterson has been on every Hoosier’s radar this week with his comments regarding the final two games of the season after Michigan’s win over rival Michigan State.
“We're gonna enjoy this win, but in the back of our minds we know we got one more big one to go," Shea Patterson said in a postgame interview with Brad Galli of WXYZ Detroit. If it was clear that Patterson was looking past IU in those comments, he continued the interview by saying, “we gotta go on the road to Indiana, but our eyes are still set on the last one.”
While the comments are sure to be posted everywhere in the Indiana football complex, Patterson’s play is the key to how Michigan’s offense goes. On the season, Patterson has completed 59.1-percent of his passes for 2,157 yards, 16 touchdowns and just four interceptions. During Michigan’s current three-game winning streak Patterson has thrown for 635 yards and seven touchdowns. The Hoosiers cannot give Patterson a clean pocket to throw in and if they do get pressure on Patterson, IU must keep him contained and not let him use his legs to extend plays.
The Hoosiers sit seventh in the Big Ten with 23 quarterback sacks and ninth with 61 tackles for loss. Defensive lineman Allen Stallings leads the Hoosiers in sacks with five while linebacker Micah McFadden leads the team in tackles for loss with 7.5. Last week against the Nittany Lions, the Hoosiers pressured quarterback Sean Clifford into poor throws and three sacks. That performance has to continue, but it also must improve. Too many times the Hoosiers lost containment on Clifford and allowed him to burn them with his legs. Last season, Patterson through the ball for 250 yards and ran for 68 yards. That cannot happen again this season. If the Hoosiers are going to win. The Hoosiers front seven, most importantly Reakwon Jones and Micah McFadden at linebacker who can keep an eye on Patterson in the backfield, have to make Michigan one-dimensional.
The forecast is calling for wet weather and cold temperatures, so throwing the ball may be difficult. If the Hoosiers can set the Wolverines up in third-and-long situations they can force Patterson to air it out more often than Michigan probably wants to in the rain.