Hoosiers' Mindset and Confidence Will be Challenged Saturday

Written by: @zachegreene

The Hoosiers take on the 4th ranked team in the country Saturday for homecoming. There is no doubt that the Wolverines will be Hoosiers' most formidable foe yet challenging their mindset and confidence.

“To me that is a daily focus of creating that [mindset or confidence]. There is no question that when you don't execute in those moments, that it is a challenge to be able to build that in spite of those setbacks and challenges. It really puts a high premium on how you practice, the attention to detail during those practices, and being able to allow yourself to have that confidence.” Tom Allen said. “It's not getting any easier for us with who we are going to play and who we have to execute against. So, yes, as these teams continue to increase in their talent level and the way that they are playing, we have to elevate ours as well. That is the challenge for sure and that is where we put ourselves, in this position, and we have to be able to respond.”

Allen stated it perfectly that the Hoosiers will have to elevate the way they play Saturday, especially at the line of scrimmage. Michigan is extremely talented, especially at running the ball. This season, they have averaged 5.6 yards per rushing attempt. Compare that to the Hoosiers who average 3.3.

“It is definitely a huge priority. “ Allen explained. “They do run the ball extremely well. It is the strength of their offense. They throw the ball effectively, but they want to establish the run game. It is about run fits, it's about tackling, it's about pursuit, it's about being able to get the proper numbers in the box that you need to be able to match up to the formations that they are going to give you. To me, the key is, when you talk about playing a swarming defense - takeaways, tackling and effort - the tackling piece and not missing tackles [is important]. We have been working hard this week on our tackling drills and the angles, as well, to make sure we always have the layers to our defense to where if one guy leverages the ball properly, there is always somebody else there to be in position for that. Whether we are hammering it back inside or spilling it outside, based on the call. A lot of work on that in those run fits and it continued today. It will continue tomorrow during our walkthrough and our final preparations.”

The last time Michigan came to town it was in the middle of the pandemic and the Hoosiers played a swarming defense that forced the Wolverine's quarterback Joe Milton to throw multiple interceptions and came out on top 38-21.

Current quarterback J.J McCarthy has yet to throw an interception on the season and if the Hoosiers want to compete and hold their own tomorrow the defense is going to need to force a couple of turnovers. 

The Hoosiers are also going to need to stay disciplined, something they didn’t do well last week. Tom Allen had keyed on eliminating penalties this week during practice.

“There is no doubt that those things happen in the moment and they have to be avoided. You go through and you evaluate the why of each one of them, which is what we did, and go through - whether it was technique or some of the situations on special teams with the use of our hands and our blocking technique and making sure we understand how to execute that. We worked on that. Sometimes you make replacements of guys if a guy is not able to get it fixed.” Allen said.

“Then, also, just the execution of our offense. To me that is just repetition, getting guys in the right spots in regard to their alignments - making sure they are on or off the ball - with the tempo that we use. That has been a focus for us, because those CATS, as we call them, crimes against the team, those kill drives on offense. We have to eliminate those.

Then, obviously, the one selfish penalty which we had, the personal foul after the play on special teams. That was handled from a disciplinary perspective. That to me is a lack of discipline. They are all a little bit different but they have all been addressed for sure.”

It is less than 24 hours till kick. The Fox Noon Kickoff crew is here including Urban Meyer. The vibe on campus is electric with Hoosier Hysteria Friday night and the homecoming game Saturday. That said, tomorrow is going to be a turning point for this program. If the program can hold, their own and show that it can compete it will give the program confidence moving forward. Stay tuned tomorrow and see how this team’s confidence and mindset fairs tomorrow against one of the best teams in the country.