Lynch: Football team won't change approach

IU football coach Bill Lynch said Monday during his weekly press conference that his team’s next game against No. 19 Michigan won’t inspire any difference in his team’s preparation.

“Everybody else is going to make this game big enough, and our players understand that,” Lynch said. “But it’s the first of eight conference games in an amazing conference right now.”

A win against the Wolverines would put IU in waters not recently tread by the program. The last time the Hoosiers started a season 4-0 was 1990 — a season that produced a trip to the Peach Bowl.

But Lynch said his team has a better shot of winning its first conference game of the year by staying true to an already-established system.

“We’re pretty process-driven, and it’s the next game,” Lynch said. “We’re going to approach it the same way we approached the first three.”

Practice to feature fundamentals, not schematic change

At times Saturday in IU’s 35-20 win against Akron, the IU defense proved to be quite penetrable by a Zips running game that now ranks just 75th in the nation. Michigan comes to Bloomington on Saturday ranked second with 1,325 total rushing yards in its first four games.

Such an opponent might scream for wholesale defensive changes, but Lynch said he will continue to pilot his team on the same path.

“History tells me that when you get in to creating new schemes in a week, then you play poorly because you’re thinking too much instead of just playing,” Lynch said.

Instead of installing new defensive plays, Lynch said his team will stick to improving the basics of football, such as solid tackling. It’s an approach Lynch would have taken even if the Akron game was a defensive gem.

“I think we would regardless of whether we tackled well on,” Lynch said. “I think in a game like this, it’s very important that we go back and a do a great job of working on fundamentals.”

The Hoosiers gave up 160 yards on the ground to the Zips.

“Obviously we have to ratchet up the intensity, and we have to execute better than we have,” Lynch said. “But we have to trust our system and what we do.”

Freeland, Replogle expected back

A critical part of the IU defense that missed the Akron game will be back this week, Lynch said.

Tyler Replogle, a senior linebacker who leads the team with 19 tackles, missed Saturday’s game because of a concussion.

“I think we came out of it in good shape,” Lynch said. “I don’t see that being an issue.”

Sophomore kicker Nick Freeland also missed the Akron game — his second missed game in a row — with a hip injury and is expected to be available for the Michigan contest.

Last year as a redshirt freshman, Freeland connected on 14 field goals and had seven touchbacks on 58 kickoffs.

3rd-quarter points up from a year ago

It has taken just three games, but the IU offense already has more points in the third quarter than it scored in that period last year.

With 31 points scored after halftime, the Hoosiers are already outpacing the 23 points they scored in the third period a year ago. The Hoosier defense also has yet to allow a single point during the third quarter this season.

“You guys used to ask me a lot of that last year. ‘Why don’t you make better halftime adjustments?’ and ‘What’s wrong with your third quarter?’” Lynch said. “I didn’t have an answer for you then, and I don’t have an answer why we’re doing better this year. We’re doing the same things. It’s the same staff, talking in the same way, to the
same guys.”