For IU Defense, ‘Execution is Critical’
10/27/2021 9:55:00 AM | Football
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – What should Indiana make of Maryland's three-game losing streak?
Nothing.
Hoosier coaches see beyond the defeats to three teams with a combined 17-4 record to a talented roster that has produced victories over West Virginia and Illinois, and is loaded with playmakers entering Saturday's game at Maryland.
"They are very dynamic," defensive coordinator Charlton Warren says. "Very well coached. They make you prepare for everything and defend a lot of grass."
For those seeing offensive vulnerability given the Terrapins (4-3) didn't score more than 17 points in any of those three losses, Warren has a message for you:
Maryland is dangerous.
"Once they get it rolling," he says, "they are rolling. It will be a tremendous challenge for our players."
Maryland has been hit hard by injuries, especially at receiver with Dontay Demus (28 catches, 507 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Jeshaun Jones (18, 224) out for the season with torn ACLs. Nebraska transfer Marcus Fleming helped fill the void against Minnesota with five catches for 62 yards and a touchdown.
Rakim Jarrett has 26 catches for 375 yards and three TDs. He has caught seven touchdown passes in his first 11 college games.
Seven receivers have caught at least 12 passes for at least 127 yards. That includes tight end Chigoziem Okonkwo, who has 18 catches for 175 yards and three touchdowns this season, 42 for 437 and six for his career.
Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa completes 71.1 percent of his passes for 1,965 yards, 15 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. He is on pace to break the school record for passing yards in a season (3,499 by Scott Milanovich in 1993).
Maryland has four players who have rushed for at least 115 yards – Tayon Fleet-Davis (359 yards, 5 touchdowns), Challen Faamatau (153), Isaiah Jacobs (116), and Peny Boone (115, one).
"They have a dual-threat quarterback who does a great job of improvising and making plays with his feet to set up the passing game," Warren says. "They do some things with formation, jet motion.
"They have a very athletic tight end who can do things in space. The running back is a guy who has played a lot of football. He can run. He can catch it out of the backfield. He can run between the tackles.
"They do a lot of things with gap scheme, zone scheme. There is an element that is physical. They make you cover the pass, the run. The screen game is big for them. They try to get you off balance."
IU counters with perhaps the Big Ten's best linebacker in All-American Micah McFadden, who leads the conference and ranks fourth nationally with 12 tackles for loss.
The defense could have an even bigger burden on Saturday given the battered state of IU's quarterbacks.
The top two quarterbacks, Michael Penix Jr. and Jack Tuttle, are listed as week to week with injuries. Dexter Williams II is out for the season with a torn ACL. That leaves true freshman Donaven McCulley and walk-on redshirt sophomore Grant Gremel positioned to play.
That does not, Warren says, put extra pressure on the defense.
"Our goal is to keep the offense from scoring. I don't know if we feel any more added pressure. It's more about execution is critical. You don't have a margin to bust. You don't have a margin to have mental lapses and have self-inflicted wounds."
That's especially true as IU (2-5) tries to rally for a third-straight bowl appearance. It needs four victories in the last five games to become bowl eligible.
"The attention to detail, to the execution down the stretch, is critical because the margin for error is small," Warren says. "That's what we're focused on -- great execution, tremendous accountability, doing our jobs, and put ourselves in position to create takeaways and get the ball back to our offense and play the field-position game.
"For us, it's so much about execution down the stretch."
Defensive execution struggled last Saturday against Ohio State's best-in-the-Big-Ten offense. The Buckeyes rocked IU with 44 first-half points. The Hoosiers regained their form in the second half, allowing only 10.
Warren hopes that second-half performance carries over to Saturday.
"(Against Ohio State), we had guys at the point of attack," he says, "and (the Buckeyes) were able to make them miss."
The best way to prevent that, he adds, is to avoid one-on-one situations.
"It's always our intention that we have gang tackling, running to the ball, having more than one person so you don't have a single-point failure in space.
"We have to have more hats to the ball. Being in coverages where when the ball is thrown, we have guys with vision who can break and make those tackles so it becomes a vice tackle rather than a one-on-one tackle in space.
"We go back to our fundamentals. Tuesday is the day we really focus on that in practice."
Ohio State's dominance reflected its elite talent rather than IU concession, Warren said.
"You watch the tape and see our guys battling in the second quarter. Watch the tape and see them battling in the third quarter to get a sack on the first play. You see what Micah McFadden is doing.
"You see there wasn't a kid who checked out. There were a bunch of kids battling. No one checked out. Not for one moment did they quit or decide not to play any more."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – What should Indiana make of Maryland's three-game losing streak?
Nothing.
Hoosier coaches see beyond the defeats to three teams with a combined 17-4 record to a talented roster that has produced victories over West Virginia and Illinois, and is loaded with playmakers entering Saturday's game at Maryland.
"They are very dynamic," defensive coordinator Charlton Warren says. "Very well coached. They make you prepare for everything and defend a lot of grass."
For those seeing offensive vulnerability given the Terrapins (4-3) didn't score more than 17 points in any of those three losses, Warren has a message for you:
Maryland is dangerous.
"Once they get it rolling," he says, "they are rolling. It will be a tremendous challenge for our players."
Maryland has been hit hard by injuries, especially at receiver with Dontay Demus (28 catches, 507 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Jeshaun Jones (18, 224) out for the season with torn ACLs. Nebraska transfer Marcus Fleming helped fill the void against Minnesota with five catches for 62 yards and a touchdown.
Rakim Jarrett has 26 catches for 375 yards and three TDs. He has caught seven touchdown passes in his first 11 college games.
Seven receivers have caught at least 12 passes for at least 127 yards. That includes tight end Chigoziem Okonkwo, who has 18 catches for 175 yards and three touchdowns this season, 42 for 437 and six for his career.
Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa completes 71.1 percent of his passes for 1,965 yards, 15 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. He is on pace to break the school record for passing yards in a season (3,499 by Scott Milanovich in 1993).
Maryland has four players who have rushed for at least 115 yards – Tayon Fleet-Davis (359 yards, 5 touchdowns), Challen Faamatau (153), Isaiah Jacobs (116), and Peny Boone (115, one).
"They have a dual-threat quarterback who does a great job of improvising and making plays with his feet to set up the passing game," Warren says. "They do some things with formation, jet motion.
"They have a very athletic tight end who can do things in space. The running back is a guy who has played a lot of football. He can run. He can catch it out of the backfield. He can run between the tackles.
"They do a lot of things with gap scheme, zone scheme. There is an element that is physical. They make you cover the pass, the run. The screen game is big for them. They try to get you off balance."
IU counters with perhaps the Big Ten's best linebacker in All-American Micah McFadden, who leads the conference and ranks fourth nationally with 12 tackles for loss.
The defense could have an even bigger burden on Saturday given the battered state of IU's quarterbacks.
The top two quarterbacks, Michael Penix Jr. and Jack Tuttle, are listed as week to week with injuries. Dexter Williams II is out for the season with a torn ACL. That leaves true freshman Donaven McCulley and walk-on redshirt sophomore Grant Gremel positioned to play.
That does not, Warren says, put extra pressure on the defense.
"Our goal is to keep the offense from scoring. I don't know if we feel any more added pressure. It's more about execution is critical. You don't have a margin to bust. You don't have a margin to have mental lapses and have self-inflicted wounds."
That's especially true as IU (2-5) tries to rally for a third-straight bowl appearance. It needs four victories in the last five games to become bowl eligible.
"The attention to detail, to the execution down the stretch, is critical because the margin for error is small," Warren says. "That's what we're focused on -- great execution, tremendous accountability, doing our jobs, and put ourselves in position to create takeaways and get the ball back to our offense and play the field-position game.
"For us, it's so much about execution down the stretch."
Defensive execution struggled last Saturday against Ohio State's best-in-the-Big-Ten offense. The Buckeyes rocked IU with 44 first-half points. The Hoosiers regained their form in the second half, allowing only 10.
Warren hopes that second-half performance carries over to Saturday.
"(Against Ohio State), we had guys at the point of attack," he says, "and (the Buckeyes) were able to make them miss."
The best way to prevent that, he adds, is to avoid one-on-one situations.
"It's always our intention that we have gang tackling, running to the ball, having more than one person so you don't have a single-point failure in space.
"We have to have more hats to the ball. Being in coverages where when the ball is thrown, we have guys with vision who can break and make those tackles so it becomes a vice tackle rather than a one-on-one tackle in space.
"We go back to our fundamentals. Tuesday is the day we really focus on that in practice."
Ohio State's dominance reflected its elite talent rather than IU concession, Warren said.
"You watch the tape and see our guys battling in the second quarter. Watch the tape and see them battling in the third quarter to get a sack on the first play. You see what Micah McFadden is doing.
"You see there wasn't a kid who checked out. There were a bunch of kids battling. No one checked out. Not for one moment did they quit or decide not to play any more."
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