Week #6 Preview – Indiana

The 3-1 Indiana Hoosiers will ride into sun drenched Ohio Stadium (weather permitting) with one of the most high powered passing games in college football. The Hoosiers have the 12th best scoring offense in all the land and the 4th best passing offense to boot.

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Norman Dale would be pleased. God, he’s handsome.

Luckily for Ohio State, the Hoosiers are not coached by Norman Dale (because he only coaches basketball and even that was just for pretend). They are coached by Bill Lynch, who is insane:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE8J7gZ6iC8

Lynch is more like Dennis Hopper’s character…the drunken slob that is forced to listen to the big game on the radio because he was an embarrassment to his team, the entire town and his own son.

But even Lynch, who is legally insane isn’t dumb enough to forget to call plays designed for his quarterback Ben Chappell to get the ball to one of the most underrated players in college football in Tandon Doss. Against the mighty Michigan defense (cough, cough) Doss had over 200 yards receiving. Last year against Ohio State Doss had 96 yards receiving and a score. Doss is also Indiana’s primary returner on punt and kick returns. He’s really good.

6-5 Demarlo Belcher is another weapon at Chappell’s disposal. Both he and Doss lead the Hoosiers in receiving. The running game which is ranked 99th isn’t a concern. Indiana will run their offense out of the spread and pistol formations almost exclusively. I’m sure they will have some tricks up their sleeves as well…perhaps the old picket fence?

With all the injuries to the Ohio State secondary Indiana should be able to move the ball on Saturday. Expect a high dose of quick screens and quick hitters to the aforementioned playmakers. The longer Chappell holds onto the ball the higher the chance he will be eaten by the Ohio State defensive line. With Tyler Moeller out for the season his position of star will be taken over by Christian Bryant who had 5 tackles in Moeller’s absence last Saturday.

Now, while that all sounds good and all for Indiana, let us look at who they have played thus far:

Stacking Up
Opponent
Wins
Losses
Scoring Defense
Passing Defense
Towson
1
4
D-1AA
D-1AA
Western Kentucky
0
4
118th
84th
Akron
0
5
113th
113th
Michigan
5
0
72nd
120th
Ohio State
5
0
11th
18th

It doesn’t take Jimmy Chitwood to see what sticks out with the above data. Ohio State has a really good defense, while the other teams on that list….suck. LOL at Michigan and their dead last pass defense.

On offense Ohio State will most likely be able to move the ball at will. Indiana has the 72nd ranked scoring defense, the 88th ranked defense for total yards given up, the 108th ranked rushing defense and the 47th ranked pass defense.

Look for Ohio State to look a lot like they did against Marshall. The weather on Saturday is supposed to be beautiful and with that comes a wide open offense. I look from Pryor to throw it 25-30 times and be limited by coaching when it comes to him running the football due to his injury. It should be a balanced run/pass attack with Boom Herron getting most of the workload and Brandon Saine and Jordan Hall fighting it out for carries after that. Don’t be surprised if Brandon Saine is the 3rd option at tailback after his horrible performance last week. This may be Jordan Hall’s “tryout” for the #2 tailback spot.

Prediction time — feel free to play along.
Final Score:
OSU-41
IU-20

I think Indiana will put together a couple nice drives and put some points on the board, but their lack of defense will be evident.

Ben Chappell over/under 300 yards passing: Under – barely…I think he get’s close only because he is playing catch up.

Guess the rushing yardage for these 4 players:
Pryor: 15
Herron: 110
Saine: 20
Hall: 65

Comments

  1. This post was originally attributed to me, but our intrepid Johnny Utah is actually the author of this fine work.

  2. Final: OSU 38 Indiana 17
    Chappell: over 300
    Rushing: Saine 120 Herron 85 Pryor 75 Hall 40 (in mop up duty)

    That’s right, I said it: Saine goes over a hundy. Let’s be honest, Indiana has always been a great slump buster for Ohio State running backs.

  3. OSU – 27
    IU – 0

    Chappell has permission to finish around 200 through the air. I’ll allow that much and not an inch more.

    Herron – 80
    Saine – 15
    Hall – 67
    Berry – 0
    Pryor – 156

  4. Indiana injury update:

    1. RT James Brewer (ankle) is out. He’ll likely be replace by RG Justin Pagan. Pat McShane will likely fill the RG position if Pagan moves to RT.

    2. CB Richard Council (knee) is out. He’ll be replaced by JUCO transfer Andre Kates or 5th year senior Andrian Burks. The drop off from the ones to the two is suppose to be fairly steep. Good news for Pyror.

    3. RB Darius Willis (groin) is questionable, but it’s not looking too good. This would be a big blow.

    4. Kicker Nick Freeland (hip) is out again.

    Also from their depth chart…

    LB Brandon McGhee (neck) – out
    LB Ken Bush (shin) – probable
    TE Brad Martin (concussion) – probable

  5. Man, that looks like a Purdue/Iowa injury list. Certainly no pressure on Indians, since they are a basketball school.

Trackbacks

  1. […] the Opposition: Indiana” [The Silver Bullet] “Week #6 Preview – Indiana” [Men of the Scarlet and Gray] “Know your enemy: Indiana edition” [The Buckeye Battle Cry] “What to watch […]

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