All eyes will be on the matchup between Heisman Trophy contenders Fernando Mendoza and Julian Sayin. However, the more important matchup will be how Indiana’s pass rush can disrupt Sayin’s ability to hit his receivers.
“(Sayin) plays with a lot of poise. He doesn’t look like a guy that’s in his first year as a starter. He looks like he sees the field very well, throws the ball on rhythm. He can really rip it. He’s got a tight release, a lot of velocity on the ball, very accurate. They’ve done a nice job protecting him, and obviously he’s got great weapons to throw to.” Cignetti said in his weekly press conference on Monday.
Sayin is having a phenomenal year for the Buckeyes after entering the season as an inexperienced redshirt freshman. While helping lead the Buckeyes to a 12-0 regular season Sayin completed 258-327 (78.9%) for 3,065 yards and 30 touchdown passes. Per Pro Football Focus he grades out 93.4 and uses the middle of the field to his advantage. Sayin is nearly perfect when throwing between the numbers at any distance. He has completed 166-of-177 passes between the numbers for 15 touchdowns and three interceptions.
While Sayin has been masterful throwing the ball, he is not invincible. On 348 dropbacks this season Sayin has a 93.4 PFF grade, however that number plummets to 71.2 when facing pressure. The issue is that Sayin was under pressure on just 84 drop backs, which means not many defenses were able to get into his kitchen.
IU’s defense has been very good at pressuring opposing quarterbacks with 236 pressures, led by Mikail Kamara’s 46. Five active players have at least three sacks for the Hoosiers as they can get pressure from any position. On Saturday IU will look to attack up the middle with Tyrique Tucker and some linebackers to turn the heat up on Sayin. The emergence of Stephen Daley on the outside after Kellan Wyatt was lost for the year makes it even more difficult for offenses to block this front.
“We know their personnel pretty well, and they know our personnel pretty well. So we’ve got an idea how we think they’ll attack us. I’m sure they have an idea how they think we’ll attack them. You put your best plan together to put your guys in position to make plays, and then got to execute it.” Cignetti said on Monday.
The Hoosiers pass rush will have to attack Julian Sayin and disrupt this high-powered passing game if IU is to come out with a win in Indianapolis.