Indiana linebacker Isaiah Jones didn’t look or sound like a player whose team won Week 1 by 36 points. As he spoke to media members following Indiana’s 52-16 win over North Texas on Saturday, Jones described how the defense felt afterwards, and it was the same feeling I had watching.
“We left the field unsatisfied,” Jones said. “We beat ourselves on some plays and we’ve got to get off the field.”
The box score would suggest that Indiana dominated the game in all facets. It’s simply wrong, as the defense struggled at times. Indiana had just one sack in the game, and allowed 152 yards on the ground.
But it isn’t time to panic by any means. To put it simply, it’s Week 1 after all, a week that has typically given Indiana fits under Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti.
Week 1 is never perfect, and it never should be, for any team in the country.
We know how Indiana teams improve throughout the season, we have records and stats to back that up.
We can only imagine that defensive coordinator Bryant Haines isn’t happy about this performance and isn’t going to let his guys get complacent or be pleased with their play.
“When you have a coach like Coach Haines … they’re not going to let that go lightly when we get to practice on Monday,” Jones said postgame.
Cignetti and Haines have never given Indiana fans a reason to doubt them, and it shouldn’t start now.
On paper, Indiana’s defensive line should be just as good as last year, if not even better. The line returned third-team All-American Tyrique Tucker, Mario Landino, and thanks to a recent ruling, both Stephen Daley and Kellen Wyatt. The Hoosiers also added Chiddi Obiazor, Joe Hjelle, Josh Burnham and Tobi Osunsanmi in the transfer portal.
In the secondary, Indiana retained Jamari Sharpe and Amare Ferrell, while adding safety Preston Zachman and corner AJ Harris in the transfer portal. In the linebacker room, both Isaiah Jones and Rolijah Hardy return for Bryant Haines and the Indiana defense.
The defense looked, and still does look to be, about as scary as they have ever been under Cignetti. In Week 1, a defense that looked to be one of the best in the country on paper suddenly looked a lot more vulnerable.
In the first quarter Saturday, Indiana saw both Sharpe and Harris leave the game due to injuries, neither returned either. That forced Rylan Gandy to slide into the No. 1 cornerback spot, and then both Jacob and Jaylen Bell saw extended snaps at the corner spots as well. Those are guys that aren’t used to playing in those spots, especially in the first week of the season.
Cignetti let everyone know, and took a weight off most people’s shoulders, about the status of the two top corners, calling them “non-long term injuries.”
The defense felt like it was missing something, and it wasn’t just the absences of Harris and Sharpe. There was a lack of pressure on the quarterback, tackles were missed, assignments were spaced, there was just something that always felt off on the defensive side of the ball. Despite holding North Texas to just 16 points, the Mean Green punted the ball just twice throughout the game.
If the injuries to Sharpe and Harris become a bigger deal than anticipated, there is a reason to potentially be concerned about the secondary. However, it’s just one week, a week that Indiana won by 36 points, and only allowed 16. There are only so many things that you can take away from watching just one week of football, and if you decide to make Indiana’s defensive performance something that bothers you this week, I’m sorry.
We know teams grow, we know teams improve, and this Indiana defense and team as a whole will look completely different in weeks eight and nine, than they do in weeks one and two.
Beyoncé, of all people, has a quote that has never felt more true than when talking about college football teams after week one.
“If everything was perfect, you would never learn and you would never grow.”
