Indiana University Athletics
Wilson, IU Ready for Another Challenge on D
9/17/2015 4:02:00 PM | Football
By: Sam Beishuizen | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com
Brandon Doughty, a sixth-year senior quarterback, has thrown 2,475 yards in the Hilltoppers' current seven-game winning streak. He's thrown 26 touchdowns and two interceptions over that stretch.
One senior receiver had 825 yards last season. A junior had 767 yards. Another senior had 509.
Their senior tight end, Tyler Higbee, was just named the Mackey Award tight end of the week. He already has 11 receptions for 190 yards through two games.
As a team, Western Kentucky ran for 2,084 yards and passed for 4,866 in 2014. Those are the types of numbers that caught Wilson's attention.
"It's a great offensive package," Wilson said.
One of Western Kentucky's biggest questions moving forward will be replacing the production of running back Leon Allen. The senior injured his knee in the third quarter of last week's win and has been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Allen was third in Conference USA with 1,542 rushing yards in 2014. He had 13 rushing touchdowns and added 51 catches for 476 yards and three more scores through the air.
In Allen's absence, redshirt freshman D'Andre Ferby and fifth-year senior Anthony Davis, an Indiana transfer, are expected to see increased roles. Against Louisiana Tech, Ferby had 39 yards on 14 carries, scoring once. Davis had 29 yards on two carries.
Despite Allen's injury, Wilson said Indiana has still focused on slowing down the run game this week at practice. If they can take that away, it makes passing much tougher for Doughty.
"Even though the quarterback and the passing game are dynamic, you need to really do a great job with the run game," Wilson said. "Because if they can do both, they'll have a great day…We've got to start with stopping the run, and we've made a big point of that this week."
Wilson described Western Kentucky's offense as "system oriented." He said it doesn't necessarily matter who lines up on the field because their strength is in the team's strategy and depth.
Because of that, Wilson said Indiana is in for a test this weekend. He liked the improvements his defense made in week two against Florida International and expects to only continue to get better as the weeks progress.
"Just continue to improve," Wilson said. "We did show some improvement (week) one to (week) two, but it's a long season. It's a long way to go. We'll get a great challenge."
Players Mentioned
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