It is extremely difficult to beat a good team twice. As Indiana and Oregon are set to match up in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Friday in Atlanta, the Hoosiers will have a tough task at hand. The gaps to find an edge are small. The available tape is aplenty.
While Indiana and Oregon have seen each other earlier in the season, they are not the exact same this time around.
What happened last time?
The Hoosiers and Ducks last faced off during week six of the season on Oct. 11 in Eugene. Both teams went in with a 5-0 record and were ranked in the top 10 of the AP top-25 poll. The No. 7 Hoosiers came out of Eugene with a 30-20 win over the No. 3 Ducks in a game that felt more dominant than the scoreboard read.
Offensively, Indiana put up 326 total yards with 111 on the ground and 215 through the air. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza was 20-for-31 passing with a touchdown and a pick-six. He also rushed for 36 yards. Wide receivers Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr. accounted for 175 of Mendoza’s 215 passing yards and 15 of his 21 completions. Sarratt hauled in eight catches for 121 yards and a touchdown. Cooper Jr. added seven catches for 54 yards. Roman Hemby led the ground attack with 95 yards on 19 carries, scoring two touchdowns as well.
Mendoza was only sacked once. Indiana picked up 23 first downs and won the time of possession battle by seven minutes.
Defensively, Indiana held Oregon quarterback Dante Moore to 21-for-34 passing for 186 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Moore was sacked six times and averaged under six yards per completion. Malik Benson’s 44-yard touchdown grab on a busted coverage was Oregon’s only offensive touchdown.
The Ducks were tackled for a loss eight times and only managed 81 rushing yards, averaging 2.7 per carry. Oregon only picked up 267 total yards and 14 first downs. The 13 points to come from the Ducks’ offense is their lowest season total to date.
How are the Hoosiers different?
Indiana’s new-look defensive line
Indiana’s front seven has been one of the best in the nation, regardless of who is playing. Injuries derailed the edge rusher group from the last time Indiana played Oregon to now, but the group has not fallen off.
Kellan Wyatt, who had 1.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss against Oregon, went down with a season-ending injury the following week against Michigan State. Stephen Daley, whose production exploded in the second half of the season, also went down with a season-ending injury while celebrating after the Big Ten Championship Game. Daley recorded no stats in the Oregon game, but was vital in getting Indiana to where it is now.
As a result, redshirt senior Mikail Kamara has been moved from the STUD position back to field-side defensive end. True sophomore Daniel Ndukwe has moved into the STUD position. Mario Landino, who played on the interior for the majority of the season, has seen looks on the outside with the injuries as well.
Despite the changes, Indiana’s front seven looked phenomenal against Alabama in the Rose Bowl. The Crimson Tide only managed to scrape across 23 rushing yards and were tackled for a loss six times with three sacks.
While Indiana sacked Oregon six times and held the Ducks under 100 rushing yards, the group looks different now. That may or may not change how Indiana operates, but it is only available to study on one game of film.
The emergence of Charlie Becker
Indiana sophomore wideout Charlie Becker did not catch a pass against Oregon in the first matchup. He did have one target, but that was more than expected. The heavy majority of Becker’s playing time up until that point came in garbage time when Indiana was up big.
He came into the Oregon game with four catches for 70 yards and a touchdown. He had not recorded a catch in a Big Ten game yet. That has since changed, as many around the nation know.
The second half of the season was all about “Charlie B. from Nashville, Tennessee.” Partly due to Sarratt’s hamstring injury that sidelined him for four games, Becker got more time on the field and has turned into one of Mendoza’s favorite targets.
Since week nine, Becker has hauled in 24 passes for 496 yards and two touchdowns. He put up 118 yards against Penn State, 126 yards against Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game and 51 yards and a touchdown in the Rose Bowl.
With a more enhanced role, Becker has a chance to deepen the Indiana passing attack in a way the Hoosiers did not see against Oregon the first time around.
A flipped home crowd
Autzen Stadium is often thought of as one of the toughest places to play in college football. Indiana would probably agree after experiencing it in the first matchup. Over 59,000 fans packed into Autzen for the first matchup with a heavy majority of Oregon fans, as expected.
As a result, Indiana was forced to play on a silent count all game. Checks and audibles at the line were difficult and limited.
Indiana committed its most penalties in a game all year as well. The Hoosiers were flagged eight times. Of the eight, six were false starts and one was a delay of game. The eighth was a defensive holding. Racking up seven pre-snap penalties is uncharacteristic of this team. The Autzen crowd played a big role.
On Friday in Atlanta, the crowd is expected to be heavily favored towards Indiana. Hoosier fans showed out at the Rose Bowl on the other side of the country. You have to imagine they will travel just as well to the ATL. Oregon fans did not travel well to Miami for the Orange Bowl. Indiana fans will likely take advantage of the available seats.
Indiana should be working with a pseudo-home crowd. Silent count should not be necessary. Pre-snap penalties should be fewer or nonexistent. It will be a much more comfortable and supportive atmosphere this time around.
Momentum is a powerful thing. Expectations are too.
When Indiana first played Oregon, momentum was strong. The Hoosiers had just executed a 63-10 beatdown of No. 9 Illinois in week four and earned their first road win against Iowa since 2007 in week five.
The questions about Indiana remained in week six against Oregon. Is Indiana legit? Can Indiana beat a ranked team on the road? Is Indiana really that good?
Indiana answered those questions pretty quickly.
Indiana was the underdog against Oregon the first time around. Indiana was still a feel-good story about a team shocking the world. That is no more.
Indiana is expected to win the national championship. The No. 1 Hoosiers are unanimously thought of, deservedly so, as the best team in college football. After a 38-3 destruction of Alabama in the Rose Bowl, Indiana has nothing but momentum. The Hoosiers are comfortable in big games now. The first matchup in Eugene was the first step to earn that comfortability.
The momentum was strong the first time around, but it is much stronger now. Indiana is as hot of a team as it gets. The Hoosiers’ eyes are on the national championship and they will do anything to get there. Look out.
Developments for the Ducks
Oregon will not be a copy and paste of the first matchup either. The Ducks have done nothing but tally wins since the initial bout against the Hoosiers, but there are some different factors this time around.
Both Oregon coordinators, Will Stein and Tosh Lupoi, have accepted head coaching jobs elsewhere. Stein is headed to Kentucky and Lupoi is off to Cal. With the week leading up to the Peach Bowl being the open transfer portal window, both are recruiting players to their new schools while also preparing for Indiana. They cannot be 100 percent bought in to both entities, but they sure can try. Time will tell how effective that will be.
Moore’s late-season production has been boosted by the growth of tight end Jamari Johnson and wideout Jeremiah McClellan. Johnson had one reception for three yards against Indiana and McClellan had one for 13 yards. Johnson had 51 receiving yards going into the Indiana game. He is now up to 427. McClellan has gone from 112 yards to 493 in the same span. Add them to the star-studded cast of skill position players including Malik Benson and Kenyon Sadiq, and that deepens the passing game significantly.
Oregon’s run game is filled with depth and its defense is coming off a shutout of Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl. The issues that it struggled with against Indiana have seemed to be improved upon against other teams, but the transitive property does not hold true in football.
Oregon is a semifinal team for a reason. It just has to prove it can develop from its previous weaknesses against Indiana on Friday.
Will these factors play a key role? Only time will tell. Watch it all unfold as the Hoosiers and Ducks kick off on Friday at 7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.
