Outback Bowl Matchup to Watch: Indiana’s Offensive Line vs. Ole Miss’s Defensive Line

 Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

It would be really easy to say the matchup to watch is Indiana’s defense against the explosive Ole Miss offense. However, due to the Rebels having a number of unknown players out, we decided to go into the trenches to look at the matchup between IU’s offensive line and Ole Miss’s defensive line.

“(Ole Miss) has got a lot of great athletes out, you know, even the stats, don't really tell the whole story.” Indiana center Harry Crider said. “They got some really strong backers, their d-line plays fast and aggressive and so, and they're they run an odd defense so having that that zero nose guard had up on me throughout the game is next makes a difference on the way you know we run our blocking schemes and so forth so you know there are a lot of good athletes but we played against athletes all year.”

The stats don’t jump off the page. They finished second to last in the SEC with 14 sacks all year and 12th in tackles for loss with 41 in nine games. Defensive end Ryder Anderson who is a long 6’6” 275-pound senior led the Rebels defensive line in sacks (1.5) and tackles for loss (5). Most of the production from Ole Miss behind the line of scrimmage comes from the linebacker group with Sam Williams and Lakia Henry.

The Indiana offensive line has had their issues in 2020 as well. The Hoosiers ranked 12th in the Big Ten in rushing yards per game as they struggled to get the ball moving on the ground. The Hoosiers also dealt with injuries as Caleb Jones and Matthew Bedford missed games.

It wasn’t all struggles for the Hoosier line though as IU allowed the fewest sacks in the Big Ten with just eight and second in the conference in tackles for loss allowed with 27 for a loss of 85 yards.

Another aspect of the game to watch is how Indiana responds to having real crowd noise in the stadium. The Hoosiers haven’t played in front of more than 1,000 people all season and while they have experience playing in some of the loudest stadiums around, it could still be an adjustment.

“The communication is huge.” Crider explained. “You know it's been pretty I don't wanna say easy, but easier than most cases to communicate this year just because there's not all that extra noise and distraction. So it's easy to, you know, get the word across the line but, yeah with that added crowd noise in, that's something we've been keying on the past couple of weeks is, you know, making sure all communications loud and clear.”

If the Hoosier big men can continue to keep the quarterback clean and limit the negative plays while opening some holes in the running game, the Hoosiers should be able to score plenty of points on the Ole Miss defense in the Outback Bowl on January 2nd.