In today's paper, I had a short article on the pistol offense's effectiveness in its first public display...here are some more thoughts and quotes from coaches and players on the offense, as well as some other observations from last night's 19-13 win against EKU. I'll be heading to Bill Lynch's Friday press conference in a little bit, so I might add some stuff afterwards.
Pistol Offense
- EKU did an excellent job scouting the IU offense - stopping the pistol offense has to start with the run, and that's what the Colonels did. On many plays, EKU jammed the line of scrimmage, effectively killing IU's run game. They also put trust in the defensive backs to bend, but not break in coverage. Jeremy Caldwell matched his 2008 season total with two interceptions on IU quarterback Ben Chappell.
"The big thing I stressed to the kids," EKU coach Dean Hood said, "was that if we keep stopping the run, and getting them in pure passing situations, he's (Chappell) got to cool down. He had an unbelievable first half, plus their making circus catches and all that. So we have to keep stopping the run and we're going to be okay."
- I wonder if Bill Lynch has any second thoughts about going to the pistol offense. Granted, this is the first game, but the group that played well last night were the wide receivers, part of the emphasis in the old spread offense. The unit that struggled were the running backs for which the new offense was designed. Senior running back Demetrius McCray (the team's leading rusher with just 27 yards) had an interesting take after the game about the running game:
"I'm not disappointed at all. They played it to try to take away the run, and we figured that out by halftime and that opened up the passing game, so that's what we did."
For an offense designed for the run, it took only one half of the first game to go away from it and back to relying on the pass. That might work against EKU, but team's with a more well-rounded defense, well...the "we just took what they gave us" (quote from McCray) attitude won't work when the opposing defense doesn't give you anything.
Follow the jump for more thoughts on IU's close call against EKU.
Impressive
It's easy to be critical of a Big Ten team after squeezing out a 6-point victory against an FCS school. However, there were many positives from last night's game.
- The wide receivers played great. Sophomore Damarlo Belcher may not have the talent of James Hardy, but he sometimes looks like him on the field. Belcher's night included a spectacular sideline grab in the first quarter. With a similar tall frame, lanky arms and even the same hometown as Hardy (Ft. Wayne), Belcher's six catches for 97 yards and one TD was not even the best WR performance of the night. Tandon Doss caught eight Chappell passes for 125 yards. In a game that was supposed to emphasize the run, the WRs definitely were the standouts. Is that a good or bad thing for the pistol offense?
- K Nick Freeland didn't miss. After winning the starting job in practice, Freeland delivered in the game, nailing both PATs and a 38-yard field goal that split the uprights down the middle. He looked confident, and that's a good sign for a freshman kicker. If P Chris Hagerup and Freeland continue to improve, it could be a killer kicking duo in a couple years.
- The special teams coverage on kickoffs was excellent. Again, this is EKU, but the longest return all night allowed by IU was 22 yards. On the kick IU sends one player in motion behind the line of gunners and this extra running start worked last night as that position (Chad Sherer, at least one occasion) made two of the three kickoff tackles.
Quotes from players and coaches after the game
Coach Lynch on the student turnout: "The students were unbelievable tonight...Fred Glass and his staff have worked so hard to get the students out, and they came."
Coach Lynch on the team looking ahead: "We will improve...It is a lot easier to improve after a win than after a loss."
Damarlo Belcher on the outlook of him and Doss being the main guys this season: "We've got a lot of good receivers, so everybody's going to get a chance to touch the ball and make some plays."
Ben Chappell on beating EKU by only six points: "We could've played a better football game, but a win's a win, and we're going to improve next week."
Ben Chappell on the struggles of the run game: "We ran the ball well at the end of the game and they knew we were going to run it and we ran it then. It's a matter of keeping focused the whole game and executing better."
Fact of the Day
Last year, in EKU's season opener, WR Cody Watts caught a 61-yard touchdown pass. This year, he's switched to starting quarterback, and in the season opener he threw a 61-yard touchdown pass.
