To put it rather bluntly, the Indiana Hoosiers are rolling on offense right now. They have scored 56, 73, and 63 points in their last three contests. The Iowa Hawkeyes have the chance to stifle this unit this Saturday inside what figures to be a hostile and raucous Kinnick Stadium.
What makes Indiana so tough to defend is how their offensive success can come from all over the field. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza is completing 76.8% of his passes for 975 yards and 14 touchdowns and has yet to toss an interception.
On the ground, Indiana has four running backs with at least 200 yards on the ground, and each of those backs averages 5.3 or more yards per carry.
Iowa is embracing the challenge, though, and Kirk Ferentz elaborated on how to slow down their potent attack.
“Where do you want to start? It’s hard to find a weakness. It really is. I’m not saying it’s like playing Ohio State, but there’s some similarities in my mind if you look at their offense. They have a big, physical offensive line, a couple newcomers there that have helped them. Right tackle, center, I’ll start right there. I think the other three guys were there last year, although I think one of them was a transfer as well, maybe, a year ago. But they’re a big, physical offensive line, two tight ends that are very effective and the one guy made the big play the other night with the long touchdown. Then those three receivers as a group — they’re all really good individually, but as a group, it kind of takes you back to Ohio State, where pick your poison. They had two first-rounders and another guy is pretty good.
“You’ve got that, and then in the backfield they have two really good running backs right now, and then the quarterback might be the best quarterback in the country. Somebody was saying he’s the leader for the Heisman. I don’t have a Heisman vote, but I’d vote for him based on what I have seen. He looks really good, too.
“I think that’s part of why they’re putting up those numbers. They can run the ball, pass it, got the ability to hit the big play. The quarterback, I’ll go back to him for a second. He gets the ball out extremely quick. It’s going to be tough to even get a hand on him, and he’ll run it, but when he runs it, they have designed runs for him and then they also have — he’ll flush it out, but he’s looking down, he’ll look to maybe a throw on the run, which is tough to defend.
“Then on top of it, they’re playing really good on defense. They’re very aggressive, and they’re good at playing with a lead, which they’ve pretty much been doing all season long.
“I forgot about special teams, right? First touchdown was a blocked punt. Other than that, there’s no problem,” Ferentz said about Indiana.
Iowa’s defense started slow against Rutgers, giving up 21 first-half points, but tightened the screws and held them to just seven points in the second half.
Should Iowa want to stick around in this game and avoid being forced to play a shootout, Phil Parker’s unit needs to bring that effort and success from the very first snap.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa football ready for defensive challenges Indiana presents
