Indiana dominated the Cats D last week, while this week, NU completely shut down the MD running game, forced turnovers, and had a timely pass rush that pressured Billy Edwards and limited his ability to deliver home run balls. After watching both games (both opponents came in with QBs and receivers at the top of the B1G stat charts) a few things jumped out at me.
Indiana’s offense overall is really good. I thought the most significant factor leading to their dominance was the way their interior linemen completely owned NU’s DTs. The fact that they opened a significant crease on almost every inside run forced the Cats to hold their LB’s for run support, opening the middle of the field for slants. The last nail in the coffin was the missed interception opportunities early. The Cats, I believe, had 3 good shots at picks they couldn’t complete. Once Indiana established dominance, they kept the Cats D completely off balance the rest of the game.
Maryland’s interior O Line, by contrast, was really dominated. They are not very good. They did not give their RB’s any lanes (on the non-safety, for example) and were often collapsed on passing downs. I don’t know for sure how much better the Cats inside defense was due to Bastone’s return, but I really wish he had been available a week earlier. I thought Maryland’s ability to move the ball was almost completely limited to good execution on their part of plays at the periphery, with good wide receiver out routes and WR blocking. When they got to the red zone and the area to operate reduced, they were really unable to get anything done.
It was great to see the defense bounce back. I hope they repeat next week!
Indiana’s offense overall is really good. I thought the most significant factor leading to their dominance was the way their interior linemen completely owned NU’s DTs. The fact that they opened a significant crease on almost every inside run forced the Cats to hold their LB’s for run support, opening the middle of the field for slants. The last nail in the coffin was the missed interception opportunities early. The Cats, I believe, had 3 good shots at picks they couldn’t complete. Once Indiana established dominance, they kept the Cats D completely off balance the rest of the game.
Maryland’s interior O Line, by contrast, was really dominated. They are not very good. They did not give their RB’s any lanes (on the non-safety, for example) and were often collapsed on passing downs. I don’t know for sure how much better the Cats inside defense was due to Bastone’s return, but I really wish he had been available a week earlier. I thought Maryland’s ability to move the ball was almost completely limited to good execution on their part of plays at the periphery, with good wide receiver out routes and WR blocking. When they got to the red zone and the area to operate reduced, they were really unable to get anything done.
It was great to see the defense bounce back. I hope they repeat next week!
