Key to the defense is to “Control the Controllables.”

Written by Matt Smith

After a much needed bye week, the Hoosiers look to a home game against undefeated Michigan State this weekend in Bloomington. On the defensive side of the ball, the Hoosiers will look to recover from a tough loss at Penn State.

One of the things the Hoosiers did really well last year was taking the ball away. However, this season that is a big focus as it has been lacking on the defensive side of the ball so far.

“We do want to force the issue when it comes to takeaways,” defensive coordinator Charlton Warren said during his Monday press conference. “That’s part of our DNA of what we do everyday, now we want to force the issue within the scheme of our defense and be disciplined in our approach, we can’t be doing other people's jobs.”

According to Warren, there are two different types of coverage that the Hoosiers run. Vision coverage which produced the interception against Penn State, and regular man coverage which is run much of the time.

The Hoosiers will have a tough challenge this week going against the Michigan State rushing attack led by Heisman hopeful Kenneth Walker.

“He has tremendous vision and patience,” Warren said. “He doesn’t just plug a gap, he lets the o-line do their job and makes an explosive cut.” 

Warren said he was impressed by his speed and power when running the ball.

One of the things Warren wanted to work on was not giving up the big runs to opposing offenses. During the Iowa and Penn State games a big run gave the opposing team all of the momentum to begin the game.

“Make them earn it, make them go three,four, five,” Warren said. “Don’t give up 50 in one pop, to me we have done a decent job stopping the run, but we can’t give up big runs during the game.”

With the offense struggling, it can be hard for the defense to remain focused on their task sometimes, but Warren doesn’t see the offense as a problem.

“It doesn't matter to me what any other phase is doing,” Warren said. “Our guys have to focus and do their job and control what they can control. One track mind when it comes to that.”
As far as the beat up secondary Warren said that they will know how healthy they are as the week progresses.