Defensive Performance Review – Indiana Game

Indiana demonstrated a balanced offensive attack with an efficient power run game, recording a 23–14 advantage in first downs. Their ability to sustain drives and control the line of scrimmage provided a clear model of execution we can learn from.

Our defensive performance showed strong moments early, but we experienced a noticeable decline in the fourth quarter in each of the last two games. This drop-off indicates a need to improve our finish, and late-game consistency. The issue may not be solely athlete-related — potential contributing factors include player rotation, team depth, and defensive alignment. These areas can create situations where fatigue, and a numbers disadvantage at the line of scrimmage impact overall defensive effectiveness.

Next Steps:

• Review player rotation patterns and evaluate late-game substitutions.

• Assess alignment strategies to reduce stress on front-line defenders.

• Continue developing depth to sustain performance through all four quarters.

It might have helped if our O could have sustained longer drives..

Against the only two 'real' teams we have played -- IU & PSU, our 3rd down conversion rate has been atrocious.

Against these two schools, we only converted on third down 28% of the time.

And although our fourth down conversion rate is an impressive 73% (8/11), it's just a dangerous way of living and typically not sustainable.

We seem to be getting ourselves in a hole on first down way too often. Hopefully, this changes starting tomorrow.

I think the problem is largely Stein being very predictable, he doesn't adjust very quickly, he gets stubborn in his philosophy, he doesn't set up plays very well for later, a great example of this is the lack of fake screens to open up the go route on the outside, we were excellent at this during the Kelly and Helfrich years.

14 hours ago, 1Ducker1 said:

It might have helped if our O could have sustained longer drives..

This.

"Complimentary Football" is a 2 way street.

Half the reason I thought our defense did so well against Indiana despite their 30 points was because of how many possessions they had that they didn't score either.

I believe we kept them to a really respectable points per possession metric, especially for them being Indian that can run up the score at will against most teams.

In tight games, the 4th quarter can tip on adrenaline. Against Penn State, it was their panic-driven urgency that put them back in contention. In the last ten minutes against Indiana, we couldn’t match their closing energy surge, perhaps because of the price we paid being in back to back top ten games.

Not trying to make excuses. Just see this as part of the learning curve for our young leader.