Defense coming together for IU football

There are no ifs, ands or buts about last week’s 43-13 blowout loss to Illinois, IU football coach Bill Lynch said this week.

“The turnovers and mistakes, you can’t win a Big Ten football game playing like that,”
Lynch said.

His Hoosiers proved him right, as their five total turnovers quickly turned into major points for the Illini offense. But those turnovers came as a result of offensive mistakes — long IU’s strong point this season — and may have overshadowed a growing consistency for the team’s defense, Lynch said.

“A loss is a loss, and that’s the way we look at it,” Lynch said. “It’s a team win and a team loss, but certainly I think they should be pointed out that they made good improvement.”

IU goes to work again in a noon game Saturday when the Hoosiers (4-3, 0-3) play host to Northwestern (5-2, 1-2) at Memorial Stadium. The game marks the eighth time the defensive side of the coin for IU has played together after major changes in the offseason.

“There are a lot of new faces on defense this year, and we’re at that point in the season where I think we’re starting to make strides in our defense,” senior linebacker Tyler Replogle said. “I think especially in the last few weeks, our defense has really improved.”

To bring IU’s turnovers against Illinois into perspective, two of the interceptions were returned directly for touchdowns. Another interception and a fumble saw
Illinois tack on a touchdown and a field goal in seven total plays for a combined 28 yards.

Factor in that one of IU’s two blocked punts last week turned into an Illini safety, and IU quickly handed Illinois 26 points in a 30-point loss.

“Turnovers that led directly to scores and field position was dramatically in their favor because of our mistakes, both with the turnovers and the kicking game,” Lynch said. “It overshadowed some really good performances.”

Those performances included fewer big plays, missed tackles and missed assignments, Lynch said.

In fact, judging by Lynch’s rule of thumb that a “big play” is either 20 or more yards on a pass completion or a rushing gain of 12 or more yards, IU gave up just four “big plays” to Illinois — the longest of which was a 39-yard running play.

The defense also manufactured five tackles for loss, exceeding its pre-Illinois
season average of four. Illinois gained 289 total offensive yards — the second-fewest IU has allowed this season to the 288 yards they permitted against Western Kentucky.

“When you talk about experience, not a lot of people talk about practice experience, it is game experience,” Replogle said. “I think that is what our defense has been exposed to this year.”

Indeed, of the 11 starters IU had on the field last week, just four started last season, and one, junior college transfer Jeff Thomas, joined the team this season.

It’s also been a squad that hasn’t been bit by the injury bug in recent weeks. Lynch said the last, most significant injury to the IU defense was in the loss to Michigan when senior cornerback Richard Council injured his knee late in the game.

“I think the fact that they’ve been able to practice and stay healthy, that’s really helped,” Lynch said.

Council, as well as junior safety Chris Adkins, returned to practice this week.
“Adkins certainly isn’t going to play, but we’ll see where Council is,” Lynch said on Tuesday after Council participated in scrimmage drills while Adkins stood mostly on the sideline.

Still, the depth chart listed that 10 of the 11 starters for Saturday’s game played last week at Illinois, and they’re ready to defend a Northwestern team that has given up a Big Ten-most 25 sacks this season.