This Saturday, No. 4 Indiana (2-0) takes the field in non-conference competition for the final time this regular season, hosting Western Kentucky (0-2) at 4 p.m. inside Memorial Stadium.
It’s Indiana’s third home game of the season, but Western Kentucky has only played on the road so far this season, suffering a 49-14 loss at Nevada and a 70-20 loss at No. 2 Georgia.
“They’ve struggled, obviously, in their first two games and the goal is to make them continue to struggle,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said on Monday.
Indiana isn’t exactly enduring the most arduous of non-conference slates, and for that reason, preparation for these games that feature lopsided point spreads and final scores is less about seeking specific matchup superiorities over the immediate adversary and more about tinkering to find slight advantages that Indiana could benefit from in more difficult matchups in the future.
Some possible subjects of Indiana’s tinkerings:
Josh Hoover as a runner vs. Western Kentucky’s edge rushers
There isn’t much to criticize transfer quarterback Josh Hoover for so far this season, but entering the year, he didn’t profile a player who frequently keeps offenses afloat with his legs.
Dual-threat capabilities are a luxury in a quarterback, not a necessity, but former Hoosier Fernando Mendoza absolutely lifted the offense to elevated heights in the run game, and Hoover may not match that excellence.
Even if that’s the case, Hoover showed flashes of his mobility against Howard. His scrambles indicated that even if Indiana isn’t better because of Hoover’s potential mobility, it won’t be worse because of his potential immobility.
Based on what’s been on display so far, Hoover can turn negative situations into neutral outcomes with his legs, but hasn’t yet proven that he can turn negative situations into positive outcomes similar to Mendoza’s fourth-down touchdown run in the fourth quarter of the national championship game.
Hoover doesn’t need to match Mendoza’s mobility, because that’s more of a luxurious characteristic than a necessary one, but this week’s game against Western Kentucky is a prime opportunity for Hoover to succeed in this area of the field.
Western Kentucky allowed 323 rushing yards against Nevada, with 50 of those yards picked up by the opposing quarterback. No. 2 Georgia ran for 234 yards against Western Kentucky, with 87 accrued by Georgia’s quarterbacks.
Aside from this game against Western Kentucky presenting running backs Turbo Richard, Lee Beebe Jr. and others a chance to thrive, it’s a chance for Hoover to showcase his skills as a runner.
In particular, read-option concepts harbor opportunities for Hoover to thrive on the move. Grant Wilson flew on a 43-yard touchdown run sparked by Wilson’s recognition of a North Texas edge rusher crashing the mesh point too hastily. If Western Kentucky’s edge rushers bite on read-option concepts too often, Hoover could make a name for himself as a runner in week three.
Indiana’s linebackers vs. Western Kentucky’s underneath routes
Western Kentucky quarterback Rodney Tisdale Jr. doesn’t throw the ball very far.
That’s not to say that he can’t, but it is to say that Western Kentucky’s scheme and the strength of its pass protection leads the offense to focus on incremental gains, not drastic downfield propulsions.
Western Kentucky generally runs an air-raid offense with plenty of RPO concepts, similar to Indiana, and therefore features a great amount of underneath routes. Also, Tisdale Jr. frequently faces significant pressure, forcing him to resort to check downs in the flats and by the boundary.
Tisdale Jr. averages 4.3 yards per pass completion, which ranks No. 128 in the nation. Brock Glenn, the backup Hilltopper quarterback who entered the game against Georgia, averages 3.7 yards per pass completion.
Plenty of teams succeed offensively with low depth of target numbers and subsequently low yards per pass completion numbers, but if Western Kentucky is to succeed in that way on Saturday, it must push past Indiana’s linebackers.
Linebackers Isaiah Jones, Rolijah Hardy and Jeff Utzinger lead the team in tackles through two games and will likely be closer to ball carriers than usual this week because of Western Kentucky’s usually shallow depth of target.
Jones and Hardy outspokenly believed that their performance in week one was unsatisfactory, and in week two, the entire defensive front displayed plenty of improvement en route to tallying five sacks and 12 tackles for loss. Now, this defense can display improvement in terms of tackling in space and limiting yards after the catch in addition to wrecking the backfield.
One last stretch of runway until league play
It’s no secret that Cignetti schedules light non-conference competition.
It’s intentional, even if controversial, as he enables his team to ramp up to league play as smoothly as possible. Indiana beat North Texas by 36 points, Howard by 55 points and is likely to win by a similar margin against Western Kentucky.
Then, suddenly, a second Big Ten team will step inside Memorial Stadium when Northwestern challenges the Hoosiers in Bloomington on Friday, Sept. 25.
Until then, Indiana has one last chance to eliminate its weaknesses and amplify its strengths.
One last non-conference tilt, this one at 4 p.m. on Saturday against Western Kentucky, awaits.
Get to know the opponent: Western Kentucky
