Notebook: Coaching Fuels IU’s Next-Man-Up Success
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
ATLANTA - Next man up rises to elite levels for Indiana.
Are you surprised?
Significant injuries to the defensive line, running back, linebacker, wide receiver and even kicker don’t hurt performance. It’s among the reasons why the top-seeded Hoosiers (14-0) will face fifth-seeded Oregon (13-1) in Friday night’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl playoff semifinal showdown at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The most recent blow came to defensive lineman Stephen Daley, who was hurt while celebrating with fans after the early December Ohio State Big Ten championship victory. His 19 tackles for loss are third in the nation.
It didn’t cost IU against Alabama in the Rose Bowl. The Hoosiers dominated for their first bowl victory since 1991.
What is their secret under head coach Curt Cignetti, defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan?
“I would say it's the coaching,” Ponds says. “When you have a player of that caliber go down, like Stephen Daley, and the production stays the same, everybody does the same thing. The standard is the same. It's the next man up.”
After Daley’s injury, the Hoosiers held Alabama to 23 rushing yards and 193 total yards.
“It's definitely the coaching,” linebacker Rolijah Hardy says. “It's the quality of the coaching. These coaches, they put a lot of time into all the players, all the installs. Everybody knows what to do. They know everyone's job. So when it's the next man up, it's his turn, then they know what to do.”
Linebacker Isaiah Jones got extra reps when standout linebacker Aiden Fisher basically missed two games with an injury and thrived along with the defense.
“That's just the mentality of the team,” Jones says. “It starts with Coach Cig. There's a standard in every room and as a team. If one guys goes down, there should be no let-off and no difference in the guy that steps in.
“That's what makes the team special. Whether it’s the linebacker room or the defensive line room and on the defense entirely, if one guy goes down, it's the next man up.
“The standard we have on defense and on the team is there should be no let-up and you should be able to step in and fill that guy's shoes and be able to do the same things, make the same plays he does.”
IU is known for its “illusion defense,” for its ability to make offenses expect one thing and deliver another.
Can the Hoosier offense do the same thing to opposing defenses?
“I believe we can,” Shanahan says. “It’s plays off of plays, things that we've done throughout the year, building off of each other, and then yeah, there's a lot of times where we try to make the same play look a lot of different ways to the defense. That's what a lot of offenses try to accomplish.
“It's very easy in our system to change things up and keep it simple for our guys, but make it look different to the defense and hopefully cause a miscommunication or a guy getting out of his gap, maybe a busted coverage, things like that that we try to take advantage of.”
IU has the Big Ten’s best offense, averaging 41.6 points a game. Oregon allows 15.1 points, which ranks third in the conference.
Shanahan is known for his innovative approach and play-calling. Watching film from other games helps, he says.
“That's definitely part of it. Every week you assess what other teams have done on the defense and try to see what may fit that you don't have or things that are very similar that you can kind of translate to the concepts or the run game or whatever it might be, with your offense.
“That's part of the game planning process. Don't want to give too many details, of course, but we want to see what has affected teams throughout the year and how we can apply it, if at all.”
IU seeks to duplicate its regular-season 30-20 win at Oregon. Hoosier quarterback Fernando Mendoza says Indiana was considered an underdog in the first meeting and still has that attitude.
“Oregon is a fantastic team,” Mendoza says. “They're a national powerhouse. Although we beat Oregon, at that point we were for sure the underdogs. They were ranked above us.
“However, we were trying to keep that underdog mentality going into this game. They have fantastic talent on their team, draft picks, star picks all across the board, offense, defense. We are trying to have that underdog and hungry and humble mentality.”
IU thrived in the fourth quarter at Oregon by scoring the game’s final 10 points. It also excelled in the final quarter in close wins against Iowa, Penn State, and Ohio State.
That’s no accident, Mendoza says.
“We have to have extreme focus and intentionality, especially in the fourth quarter, because you want to make sure you're putting your best foot forward. All those plays count so much more than the first quarter, second quarter. Every play counts. And we want to make sure we have extreme intentionality to every play.”