Indiana Football: How to slow down Ohio State’s lethal rushing attack
By Alec Lasley
Ohio State heads to Bloomington to take on the Indiana football program, and the Hoosiers will have their hands full with the Buckeyes offense.
Just because there is no more Urban Meyer on the sidelines, doesn’t mean the Buckeyes offense isn’t as powerful as always. The Indiana football program welcomes Ohio State to Memorial Stadium, and looks to slow down the lethal attack on Saturday.
Justin Fields is the newest QB for the Buckeyes and Ryan Day has seen just about everything Fields can do through two games this season. Fields has combined for 561 yards and nine touchdowns so far and has just 12 incompletions (76 percent) on the year. His ability to not only make plays downfield with his arm, but also his feet, just continues the Buckeyes tradition of talented players under center.
With Fields’ ability to be a dual threat out of the backfield, it puts so much pressure on not only the defensive line to get to the quarterback, but also the linebackers when trying to read play-action plays. As of now, the Buckeyes have allowed just three sacks through two games, and getting to the quarterback is something IU will need to accomplish if they want to win.
Not only is it Justin Fields that can beat you on the ground, it starts with JK Dobbins, the fantastic junior year back. Dobbins has 232 yards on the ground, and while that is exceptional through two games, he has a 6.1 yard per carry average as well.
Yes, Indiana is giving up just 2.1 yards per carry – good enough for 12th nationally – but the Hoosiers haven’t played a running attack like the Buckeyes’ yet this year. IU does however have 15 tackles for loss, something that will be one of the biggest keys to slowing down Ohio State’s offense.
If IU is able to have the likes of James Head Jr, Alfred Bryant, and Jerome Johnson create movement into the backfield and at least make Dobbins change direction at least once before getting to the line of scrimmage, turning 6.1 ypc into something more of the likes of 3.0-4.0 ypc will go a long way in creating longer second and third down plays.
If that trio is able to do that, two key players on the Indiana defense immediately become Reakwon Jones and Micah McFadden. The two leading tacklers on IU will have to create that second line of defense, spying on either Fields or Dobbins out of the backfield.
There was no mystery why Ball State was able to hang around with the Hoosiers during week one and that was because of missed tackling. By Indiana’s count, it was 25 missed tackles for 181 yards against the Cardinals, something that absolutely can not happen this Saturday – starting with that linebacking core.
If Indiana is able to create disruption in the backfield and at least make both, Justin Fields and Dobbins change direction, it will allow for additional players to get off tackles and get to the ball.
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It will take a lot for Indiana to take away some of the weapons of Ohio State on Saturday. We are not saying it’s going to happen, but if the Hoosiers can at least slow down some of the speed, and gang tackle, it will go a long way in deciding the final outcome.