Sheridan Takes Most of the Blame for Poor Offensive Performance At Iowa

Written by Matt Smith

The Indiana offense struggled mightily against Iowa in their season opener on Saturday. Offensive coordinator met with the media on Monday to discuss the offensive struggles.

Quarterback Michael Penix made his return after suffering a torn ACL and did not live up to expectations but Sheridan said that some of that falls onto him.

“I need to do a better job of preparing him for the game plan and what we are asking him to do,” Sheridan said. “The fundamentals can improve, I think the footwork, the drops, the timing, the follow through, the finish, just simple fundamentals that we will work on during the week.”

A lot of the throws by Penix were high and over the heads of some of the receivers, and Sheridan attributed that to the fundamentals work as well as himself putting Penix in better situations as well. 

A lot of questions about changing the game plan mid game were asked to Sheridan when he met with the media on Monday. For example, with the offensive line struggling, have Penix throw quick release throws.

“Conversations were had throughout the game on how to best move the ball and help [Penix] best get into a rhythm,” Sheridan said. “At that point and time, you’re trying to get back into the game and sometimes with five yard receptions it's hard to do that.”

One of the things that the Hoosiers need to look at is what about the schematics for the game need to be better and what about the execution of the player needs to be better as well. 

“Our profession and our job is pretty evaluation friendly, and we didn’t get enough yards or score enough points,” Sheridan said. “We turned the ball over and gave them 17 points, we need to do better, I need to coach better.” 

The run game was also something the Hoosiers were looking to improve following a down year in the run game last year. On Saturday IU ran for 77 yards on 31 attempts with Stephen Carr rushing for 57 of those yards on 19 attempts.

“We didn’t play well or coach well in any area, Stephen Carr ran hard and physical and showed some elusiveness and some burst, so I appreciated his toughness,” Sheridan said. “It goes without saying that we need to play better and I need to coach better.” 

Sheridan wants the players to play with confidence and the ability that he knows that can.

“We don’t make any excuses, we got good players, that regardless of who's got to go down and who's got to step in, we got to perform and execute at a high level and as coaches we need to put them into a position to do that,” Sheridan said.