December 1, 2025 • 23 mins
Buckeye Weekly Podcast: Analyzing Indiana's Victory Over Iowa & Big Ten Championship Insights
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr dive into Indiana's 20-15 triumph over Iowa back in September. Tony and Tom dissect key moments, standout players, and strategic insights from the game that could impact the upcoming Big Ten Championship clash with Ohio State. They discuss Indiana's formidable defense, strategic aggressiveness, and how the Hoosiers continuously manage to overcome adversity. The podcast also highlights players like Isaiah Jones and Omar Cooper, and speculative adjustments Ohio State might make based on Indiana's tactics. A must-watch for fans gearing up for the Big Ten showdown!
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Welcome
00:55 Recap of Indiana vs. Iowa Game
02:28 Spotlight on Indiana's Defense
06:48 Indiana's Offensive Playmakers
09:34 Challenges for Indiana Against Ohio State
19:57 Indiana's Resilience and Final Thoughts
22:30 Closing Remarks and Podcast Information
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr dive into Indiana's 20-15 triumph over Iowa back in September. Tony and Tom dissect key moments, standout players, and strategic insights from the game that could impact the upcoming Big Ten Championship clash with Ohio State. They discuss Indiana's formidable defense, strategic aggressiveness, and how the Hoosiers continuously manage to overcome adversity. The podcast also highlights players like Isaiah Jones and Omar Cooper, and speculative adjustments Ohio State might make based on Indiana's tactics. A must-watch for fans gearing up for the Big Ten showdown!
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Welcome
00:55 Recap of Indiana vs. Iowa Game
02:28 Spotlight on Indiana's Defense
06:48 Indiana's Offensive Playmakers
09:34 Challenges for Indiana Against Ohio State
19:57 Indiana's Resilience and Final Thoughts
22:30 Closing Remarks and Podcast Information
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Gerdaman here as always with Tom or Tom.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
How's it going, Tony, I'm great, other than the fact
that I just voluntarily exposed myself to multiple hours of
Iowa offense. And not just Iowa offense, Tony substantial Iowa
backup quarterback offense. Like it feels like they've taken some
steps forward, and then you get the starting quarterback out
and it's like, mmm m, this looks like the Iowa offense.
(00:33):
I remember, it's.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Very much like a diet soda that tastes just like
regular soda, So it's like Iowa's offenses. I don't know.
I like diet Doctor Pepper, so I'm not going to
disparage diet Doctor Pepper. But it's you know, you may
not even notice, honestly, if we're being totally honest, that
there's a backup quarterback in the game, but we are.
(00:56):
We are here to discuss the things that we learn
into rewatching Indiana's emphatic twenty to fifteen win over the
Iowahaw guys back on September twenty seventh at Kinnick Stadium
in Iowa City. And anytime you can win there it
is a good win because plenty of good teams have
(01:16):
not won there. And the fact that this game was
tied thirteen thirteen with two minutes to go and Indiana
had the ball, it's hey, good job coming out out
of there with a win, Indiana, because for a while
there I knew they won. But watching this line, it's
like like when I was a kid and I'd watched
(01:37):
The Wizard of Oz, I'm like, I don't know if
they're going to make it this time. I wasn't sure
how Indiana was going to make it out of this one.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, I was twenty. I think you said Iowa or
that Indiana had the ball. Iowa had the ball. It
was Indiana. Indiana had the ball at thirteen thirteen, and
Fernando Mendoza through one of his patented late game potentially
backbreak interceptions that then Indiana comes back from, and then
it just becomes well, this just sets up a Heisman moment.
(02:05):
It's like, well, okay, that's one way you could get there,
I guess, But yeah, they he threw a threw a
late pick in Iowa, runs it back into uh Indiana
territory and It's like, I know what the final score
of this game is and they're already in field goal range,
so how can they And there's only like two and
a half minutes left and they have the ball, Like,
how are they going to screw this up? And boy,
(02:25):
how did did they screw this up? But we're not
here to talk about Iowa. We're here to talk about Indiana,
And I guess maybe the first thing I want to
talk about is Isaiah Jones because you know, yeah, we
we here, you know, we we will talk a bunch
about uh, you know, their their other uh their other
linebacker number four, who's uh name I have written down
(02:47):
here somewhere. Who is the yeah, thank you? Who is
the one who gets all the you know, all the accolades.
But and he's great, like he by all means deserves
all of the accolades. But man, Isaiah Jones is just
kind of always around the ball. First drive of the game,
he tips the pass. It tips a pass that sets
up an interception that sets up Indiana's first touchdown, blocks
(03:11):
a punt later in the game, just kind of always
around the ball. I was I'm very impressed with Indiana's linebackers.
You know, that they are number two in SP plus
and defense behind only Ohio State. This is a very
very good defense, and that is an opponent adjusted metrics,
so it's not just well, you played Iowa so it
doesn't count like no. It is a very good defense, period,
(03:32):
full stop. And I you know this is I think
Isaiah Jones is someone who probably most Ohio State fans
probably have not heard of, and he is a name
and a number you were running need to know for
Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Well, he's my favorite player on this defense. And the
three games now that we've watched and two that we've
watched most recently, and he's he's only started. I'm just
looking at their game notes from earlier against maybe Purdue,
and he's only started a few games because he's the
third linebackers, so it's either a nickel or him in there.
(04:08):
And like you said, he's around the football. They get him.
He reads well, he makes plays you mentioned Tipto broke
up a pass, and is just really really good and
solid and always involved in leading the team in tackles
right around there. My biggest concern with Indiana and their
(04:33):
linebackers is they like to play all three of them
and They'll do that even well, even against Iowa and
three receivers.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Of the Iowa haw guys.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
So it's like, well, you can play four linebackers and
you'd probably be okay, but you're watching this game and
they're playing three linebackers, and it's like, I wonder if
they're going to be a to do that against Ohio State.
And sometimes it'll be three down line minute three in
the three linebackers. Other times it's just a straight four
to three or five to two, And I understand why
(05:09):
they want them all out there, but I don't know
how well that works against Ohio State, except for the
fact that Ohio State will be in a lot of
twelve personnel. But then when they're not, they're in eleven.
You can't be operating with a linebacker over Brandon Ennis
or god forbid, you move Carnal Tator Jeremiah Smith into
(05:31):
the slot, that's not going to work for you. So
I will be interested to see what their base defense
is against Ohio State and how much they do, you know,
changing their fronts and trying to keep their linebackers out there.
I understand why they want them out there, but at
some point you're gonna have to remove one of them,
I think, and and again, Isaiah Jones is my favorite
(05:53):
guy on this defense, so I don't know that I
would remove him, but they tend to do that.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, as soon as I turn this game on, I
was thinking I should just watch half of this game
because absolutely nothing we see from the Iowa, from the
Iowa offense and Indiana defense, is going to have any
bearing whatsoever on what we see against Ohio State. Because
this is a conservative run first offense with a largely
run first quarterback and not particularly talented group of wide receivers.
(06:20):
It's like, well, I guess technically they're playing the same
sport as Ohio State on offense, but only in the
most strictly technical definition. So yeah, you know, I think
we're going to be talking a lot more just sort
of personnel stuff rather than schematic stuf because it's definitely
going to be a very different look from what we'll
see against Ohio State. We'll probably get into more of
(06:40):
that when we do the Oregon rewatch, get them a
little more potentially overlap there schematically. So let's flip over
to the other side of the ball real quick. I
want to talk about Omar Cooper. He's someone who I
feel like is another guy who you don't hear nearly
as much about him as you do about some of
their other guys on offense. But man, he's just he
(07:03):
is I wrote down like Roger Elijah sharat is the
guy like if you ask someone like name an Indiana receiver,
everyone's gonna say Elijah Sharrat Omar Cooper is. I don't know,
is he like Brandon Innis with a higher usage rate,
Like he's just he's, you know, kind of a small
you know a little bit of a smaller guy, but
just really just a guy that is kind of always open.
(07:25):
He had the touchdown on the opening drive for them,
just just kind of constantly was around the ball, constantly
was kind of getting open, making tough catches. He's he's shifty.
He can make him miss and make you miss in space.
I think they tried to run and end around to
him at one point and he looked like he was
getta tackled for an enormous loss and only got tackled
for a short loss or a short gain. But he's
(07:48):
he's someone number three. I think that's a receiver that
is another name that Ohio State fans probably have not
heard about a ton about this season, but that's going
to be a really interesting matchup. You know, who is he?
You know, is that is that a Lorenzo Styles problem?
Is he? You know, is he a one of you know,
one of the outside corners for ohis Where do they
(08:08):
try and line him up? Because we have really not
seen anyone be able to throw consistently against Ohio States corners.
Indiana is going to you know, it is a run
first offense, but they are going to throw the ball.
It's gonna be great conditions to throw the ball. So
I'm interested to see what that you know, what those
those wider shivers look like against OHISS corners.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, I imagine he'll be matched up, as you said,
against Lorenzo Styles. At times, there'll be some motion and
maybe it'll be Caleb Downs over him. They'll throw quick
screens to him. We've seen him catch the ball in
the back of the end zone before in a game,
as everybody who probably remembers most famously getting it towed
(08:48):
down against what Penn State. But you mentioned Elijah Surratt
number thirteen. He to me he's missed the last he
missed three games later, later in the season. But he
wins this game basically with a slant catch, breaks a
tackle and goes about fifty yards. He's like a power forward.
(09:09):
He's he's a six three to two thirteen I think,
and Omar Cooper is like six foot two oh one
or something like that. But Sarat really really good on
the back shoulder almost, it's almost like, oh wow, another
back shoulder, can you do something else? And then of
course they will. So I like those two guys, and
then those are the two guys that are gonna play
(09:31):
the most and that you're gonna have to worry about.
The thing that concerns me is I'm watching this Indiana
offense against Iowa's defense. The blitzes were very effective against
Fernando Mendoza, whether it was up the middle or like
an outside nickel blitz type of thing, where there probably
should have been more turnovers cause than there were. There
(09:53):
were opportunities to come flying by him and knock the
ball out that didn't happen. There was was an interception late,
as you mentioned, via a linebacker blitz, and that could
have been the game right there. So I do think
over the course of the game it was a little interesting,
(10:14):
and we know Iowa's defense is a pain, so it's
not this is not any shade at Fernanda Mendoza. I
think it was for Buckeye fans. It's good to know
that he can be gotten to both as you know,
just in terms of getting through the line and the protection.
(10:34):
And then also he'll see you and be like, you know,
his accuracy, wyanees once he sees that pressure coming, so
he's he was not perfect in this game. You bring
up his numbers here real quick, and let he was
thirteen of twenty three for two hundred and thirty three
yards with two touchdowns, one interception, the long of forty nine,
(10:56):
which I believe was the Serrat touchdown catch to basically
seal the game. And you know Sarah and Cooper ten
catches seventeen targets in this game. To give you an
idea that they'll they'll be heavy rotation, but you can
cover them a little bit and you can rush him
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, And just to put this sort of in context
for people who are not remembering exactly when this game happened,
this game was happening at the exact same time as
the Ohios Date Washington game. So this is the end
of September and some stuff has changed since then. But
you do see you get pressure in his face, and
this is not unusual for quarterbacks, but you get pressure
in his face. And it's some of the same stuff
we talked about with Bryce Underwood last week when you
(11:39):
were previewing the Michigan game. You get pressure in his face.
He doesn't step into the throw, he'll sort of float
it sometimes. That was exactly what happened with the interception.
And you know, I think this is a good sort
of proxy for the Ohio State defense. It's obviously different scheme.
There's sort of different levels of talent there, but Iowa
is number seven in defensive sp plus this year. Oregon,
(11:59):
which will pre you the next time, he is number
five in sp plus on defense and the Buckeyes are
number one. So these are sort of comparable defenses, not
necessarily schematically, but in terms of just overall level of
play somewhat comparable. And you did see some pressure there,
and and you did see that. Friendando Mendoza is great sometimes,
(12:21):
but you know he'll sometimes get If you can get
him out of rhythm and you can keep him in
the pocket, then you can he will make some mistakes,
and that's that's something that you know, the Buck guys
may be able to take advantage of. The problem is
when you don't keep him in the pocket, because he
will if he can throw on rhythm, and he you know,
it's a very rpo heavy offense, and if he can
(12:42):
throw on rhythm, lots of slants, lots of back shoulders,
just sort of quick stuff. But when he gets you know,
when he can throw on rhythm, great, when there is
room to run, he will take that room to run.
He had multiple times when you know, they hit a
couple of desig runs, but there were a couple that
were just great scrambles, like really really good scrambles, picked
(13:04):
up I don't know, at least three first downs and
nearly had a fourth one. And Xavier Wampa, the Iowa
safety who has DAT fans will probably remember from recruiting
several years ago, just leveled him, absolutely leveled him. I
watched him and thought a lot of the same stuff
that I thought watching Bryce Underwood all year, which is like,
you are very important to this team's offense. I don't
(13:27):
know that I would want you taking that many big hits.
He got sacked a couple of times. That was the
biggest hit he took all day. Was you know, it
was a third and long and he was trying to
get to the first down marker and missed it by
about a yard and got drilled and slid in the
sideline and crashed into one of the equipment cards or
something on the sideline. He came up with the big,
bloody elbow and it was it was a whole thing.
(13:47):
But you know, he is really dangerous. He is very
dynamic in the run game, but he's not you know,
he's not perfect. He's not you know, we just saw
Julian saying throw an interception against Michigan la week, and
you can get Fernando Mendoza to throw an interception as well.
And if you can, I think some of this may be.
(14:08):
Can you re route Indiana's wide receivers? Is Ohio State
going to try and press them and try and re
route those guys and get them off rhythm? And you know,
can you create can you sort of change the picture
on him with you know, he thinks he's got a
window and there's not a window where he thinks there is.
I'm sure Matt Patricia is trying to drop all sorts
of stuff to create create some issues for Mendoz.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
And he'll pull the ball on the read option and
go and go and go. So six carries for thirty
eight yards in this game. While we're talking about the
running game, they have a two headed attack in Roman
Hemby and Kilon Black, And really the long carry of
the day was sixteen yards by him be He was
fifteen of eighty six and Black was eleven for thirty eight.
(14:52):
You've got two guys that aren't super dynamic, which is
interesting that you know they did the game. In this game,
they rushed for one hundred and seventy three yards. They
lost like forty something yards on the last play of
the game when Fernando Mendoza is running for a safety
to unfourth down to end the game. But like, neither
(15:12):
of these guys are necessarily big play guys. They've got together.
They've got five rushes of thirty yards or more this season,
which is the same number that Bo Jackson has. So
it's just interesting to me that this is such a
good running game, but it's not built on home runs.
This is what the eighty five Saint Louis Cardinals basically
(15:33):
and there's no Jack Clark. It's basically just a bunch
of singles and doubles and Vince Coleman and Willie McGee
for a perfectly fine forty year old reference. But I
think these running backs are fine. I don't know where
they scare you other than the fact that, well, it's
(15:54):
effective against most everybody else.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
As a fan of the nineteen eighty five Mets team
won ninety eight games and did not make the postseason
as a result of those eighty five Cardinals, I will
tell you too soon, Tony, way, way way too soon.
Where I think the running game scares you is that
they are hard to get down on the ground. They
may not be home run hitters, but man, oh man,
are they hard to get down. Kaylon Black number eight,
(16:20):
there was a third and two where he just looked
like he was stop dead in his tracks and then
just broke the tackle and just sort of fell forward
for the first down. Roman Hemby had one where it
looked like he was bottled up for a loss and
just sort of bounced off two guys and picked up
four or five yards. There was another one right before
halftime where it was something like that where he just
they are hard to get down. And then when you
do get them down, unless you really square them up
(16:42):
and drive them back, they're going to fall forward for
another couple of yards. So that's gonna be third and two.
If you've got someone in there, you got to get
him down on the ground that because these guys are very,
very good at it looks like you got him, it
looks like he got him. It looks like you got him.
And then they fall down and it's like, wait, how
did he get a first down? They were like three
or four of those. And this is Iowa. This is Iowa,
(17:03):
which is you know, Norm Parker, So it is they
do the stuff that they do and it's not super flashy,
it's not super complex, but man oh man, are they
fundamentally sound. And that's just what they have done for
years and years and years and years and years, and
even Iowa can't get these guys on the ground. So
that to me would be where they would scare you
in the run game. One thing that would worry me
(17:24):
a little bit if I was an Indiana fan, is
I don't love the right side of their offensive line.
Tony bray Lynch seventy four to the right guard, he
gave up a sack. At one point, Khalil Benson, the
right tackle. They were slanting on fourth and one and
defender just got right between the right guard and right tackle.
It was Benson's guy just got right inside him for
(17:44):
it and stopped them. Then later a guy got around
Benson and hit Mendoz's arm for an incompletion, and then
they got stuffed on fourth and one later on what
looked like a bad RPO rate. It just you know,
we're watching this and you know, you know the names
of all these offensive linemen, and like Carter Smith the
left tackle, I haven't once thought, oh boy, he's that
(18:05):
wasn't a good rep for him? Or Pat Coogan the center.
It's like, oh yeah, it's fine. But I every time
I'm writing down, like, yeah, that wasn't a great rep
for someone, it is right guard and right tackle. And
you know, I probably don't need to explain to Ohio
State fans who've watched this whole season, like, well, if
you have some inconsistency on one side of your offensive line,
that can sort of derail you in some key moments.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And the left guard Evans gave up a sack in
this game as well, and they've had some movement over
the year at left guard, and Zen Mahoalsky being one
of the guys that has played there this year. Ohio
State fans will remember. And I'm just looking to see
if there's anything else that I wanted to mention about
the offense. Romany had a fumble in this game. I
(18:49):
don't know that he's a fumbler. But one last thing
on the defense that I did want to touch on
because I think there was a play the interception towards
the end of the game. It's a drop on a
slant and I think that slant goes for a touchdown
and makes it twenty to thirteen in Iowa with like
(19:12):
you know, two minutes to go or whatever. And to me,
that's a play that Ohio State will make. And there
are other plays that Ohio State will make. In watching
this defense and seeing some open zones and things of
that nature. But overall, what can you take from a
defensive performance against an Iowa offense that is not stone Age?
(19:36):
But they ain't found fire yet, maybe not much, but
you can see some possibilities of maybe right and there,
maybe over there Ohio State might have some success.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Not the stone Age, but like maybe the Dark Ages,
they have not reached the renaissance yet in Iowa City
in terms of offense, that's for sure. The last two
things I had were both kind of how aggressive Indiana is.
Indiana is. Indiana does not have just the pure total
talent just in terms of who is going to be
standing next to Roger Goodell on a stage next April.
(20:11):
Indiana does not have the talent to just sort of
sit back and go, well, we're just gonna let the
talent went out. They are going to make stuff happen,
and sometimes it ends up blackfiring. But man, right before halftime,
they got the ball with twenty two seconds left on
a kickoff, and you know, normally that's a kneel it
out that say well we'll run the ball once end
of the line. Nope, they just boom boom boom boom boom,
(20:32):
went down, got themselves into field goal range. There was
a you know, again, you're making stuff happen, you're completing passes,
but there was also a roughing the passer call that
got them and got them into field goal range. And that's, yeah,
that's a mistake from Iowa, but it's Indiana putting you
in a position to make a mistake. Kurtz Signetty does
not screw around. He is looking for every little edge
he can get. I feel like this is going to
(20:55):
be a the coach that does not get to defer
to the second half is going to be so mad
because these feel like two guys who really really love
and appreciate the middle eight. That feels like that's going
to kind of be an underrated storyline. And then they
blocked a punt. They did it against Illinois the week
before this. They blocked a punt here and you know,
it wasn't like a block and knocked it back. They
just kind of tipped it. But it was just that's
(21:16):
an opportunity to Okay, you just you just saved yourself
twenty twenty five yards of field position. They are going
to look for all of these little edges and they
are going to do everything they can to capitalize on those. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I also wrote down that the end of half thing
they started with a draw and it went for like
twenty yards with twenty two seconds left, and it's like, well,
let's see what else we got, and then they got
they got help. Don't help, Hey, guys, don't help and
then maybe you'll be okay. But I went full s
party and then did what they could do to help,
So I think I think we're good there on the
(21:51):
And there's no d' angelo Ponds in this game starting corner,
so we'll see him later, I'm sure, But there you go.
That's what we saw when we watched the twenty to
fifteen How did Indiana pull us out last point? Indiana
does a great job of getting punched in the face
and then stepping right back up and punching back and
(22:12):
then ultimately winning. That's they've done it all year. They
did it in this one, and I think I think
they like the taste of their own blood a little
bit and it just gets them going. So just remember
that one that you're gonna have to punch in more
than once and in the Big Ten Championship game and
then probably just keep punching. So that will do it
for this episode if you want, if you can hit
(22:33):
the thumbs up on YouTube, we appreciate that. Subscribe to
the channel. It is Indiana week, Big Ten Championship Game week,
so you know what we've got in store here for
you at the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. Bunch of Stuff Tom's
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Continue to find us at Buckeye Huddle dot com talking
about all of these things and much much more so.
(22:54):
That will do it from here. Thank you all for
tuning in, and we will talk to you all later
Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Gerdaman here as always with Tom or Tom.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
How's it going, Tony, I'm great, other than the fact
that I just voluntarily exposed myself to multiple hours of
Iowa offense. And not just Iowa offense, Tony substantial Iowa
backup quarterback offense. Like it feels like they've taken some
steps forward, and then you get the starting quarterback out
and it's like, mmm m, this looks like the Iowa offense.
(00:33):
I remember, it's.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Very much like a diet soda that tastes just like
regular soda, So it's like Iowa's offenses. I don't know.
I like diet Doctor Pepper, so I'm not going to
disparage diet Doctor Pepper. But it's you know, you may
not even notice, honestly, if we're being totally honest, that
there's a backup quarterback in the game, but we are.
(00:56):
We are here to discuss the things that we learn
into rewatching Indiana's emphatic twenty to fifteen win over the
Iowahaw guys back on September twenty seventh at Kinnick Stadium
in Iowa City. And anytime you can win there it
is a good win because plenty of good teams have
(01:16):
not won there. And the fact that this game was
tied thirteen thirteen with two minutes to go and Indiana
had the ball, it's hey, good job coming out out
of there with a win, Indiana, because for a while
there I knew they won. But watching this line, it's
like like when I was a kid and I'd watched
(01:37):
The Wizard of Oz, I'm like, I don't know if
they're going to make it this time. I wasn't sure
how Indiana was going to make it out of this one.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, I was twenty. I think you said Iowa or
that Indiana had the ball. Iowa had the ball. It
was Indiana. Indiana had the ball at thirteen thirteen, and
Fernando Mendoza through one of his patented late game potentially
backbreak interceptions that then Indiana comes back from, and then
it just becomes well, this just sets up a Heisman moment.
(02:05):
It's like, well, okay, that's one way you could get there,
I guess, But yeah, they he threw a threw a
late pick in Iowa, runs it back into uh Indiana
territory and It's like, I know what the final score
of this game is and they're already in field goal range,
so how can they And there's only like two and
a half minutes left and they have the ball, Like,
how are they going to screw this up? And boy,
(02:25):
how did did they screw this up? But we're not
here to talk about Iowa. We're here to talk about Indiana,
And I guess maybe the first thing I want to
talk about is Isaiah Jones because you know, yeah, we
we here, you know, we we will talk a bunch
about uh, you know, their their other uh their other
linebacker number four, who's uh name I have written down
(02:47):
here somewhere. Who is the yeah, thank you? Who is
the one who gets all the you know, all the accolades.
But and he's great, like he by all means deserves
all of the accolades. But man, Isaiah Jones is just
kind of always around the ball. First drive of the game,
he tips the pass. It tips a pass that sets
up an interception that sets up Indiana's first touchdown, blocks
(03:11):
a punt later in the game, just kind of always
around the ball. I was I'm very impressed with Indiana's linebackers.
You know, that they are number two in SP plus
and defense behind only Ohio State. This is a very
very good defense, and that is an opponent adjusted metrics,
so it's not just well, you played Iowa so it
doesn't count like no. It is a very good defense, period,
(03:32):
full stop. And I you know this is I think
Isaiah Jones is someone who probably most Ohio State fans
probably have not heard of, and he is a name
and a number you were running need to know for
Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Well, he's my favorite player on this defense. And the
three games now that we've watched and two that we've
watched most recently, and he's he's only started. I'm just
looking at their game notes from earlier against maybe Purdue,
and he's only started a few games because he's the
third linebackers, so it's either a nickel or him in there.
(04:08):
And like you said, he's around the football. They get him.
He reads well, he makes plays you mentioned Tipto broke
up a pass, and is just really really good and
solid and always involved in leading the team in tackles
right around there. My biggest concern with Indiana and their
(04:33):
linebackers is they like to play all three of them
and They'll do that even well, even against Iowa and
three receivers.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Of the Iowa haw guys.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
So it's like, well, you can play four linebackers and
you'd probably be okay, but you're watching this game and
they're playing three linebackers, and it's like, I wonder if
they're going to be a to do that against Ohio State.
And sometimes it'll be three down line minute three in
the three linebackers. Other times it's just a straight four
to three or five to two, And I understand why
(05:09):
they want them all out there, but I don't know
how well that works against Ohio State, except for the
fact that Ohio State will be in a lot of
twelve personnel. But then when they're not, they're in eleven.
You can't be operating with a linebacker over Brandon Ennis
or god forbid, you move Carnal Tator Jeremiah Smith into
(05:31):
the slot, that's not going to work for you. So
I will be interested to see what their base defense
is against Ohio State and how much they do, you know,
changing their fronts and trying to keep their linebackers out there.
I understand why they want them out there, but at
some point you're gonna have to remove one of them,
I think, and and again, Isaiah Jones is my favorite
(05:53):
guy on this defense, so I don't know that I
would remove him, but they tend to do that.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, as soon as I turn this game on, I
was thinking I should just watch half of this game
because absolutely nothing we see from the Iowa, from the
Iowa offense and Indiana defense, is going to have any
bearing whatsoever on what we see against Ohio State. Because
this is a conservative run first offense with a largely
run first quarterback and not particularly talented group of wide receivers.
(06:20):
It's like, well, I guess technically they're playing the same
sport as Ohio State on offense, but only in the
most strictly technical definition. So yeah, you know, I think
we're going to be talking a lot more just sort
of personnel stuff rather than schematic stuf because it's definitely
going to be a very different look from what we'll
see against Ohio State. We'll probably get into more of
(06:40):
that when we do the Oregon rewatch, get them a
little more potentially overlap there schematically. So let's flip over
to the other side of the ball real quick. I
want to talk about Omar Cooper. He's someone who I
feel like is another guy who you don't hear nearly
as much about him as you do about some of
their other guys on offense. But man, he's just he
(07:03):
is I wrote down like Roger Elijah sharat is the
guy like if you ask someone like name an Indiana receiver,
everyone's gonna say Elijah Sharrat Omar Cooper is. I don't know,
is he like Brandon Innis with a higher usage rate,
Like he's just he's, you know, kind of a small
you know a little bit of a smaller guy, but
just really just a guy that is kind of always open.
(07:25):
He had the touchdown on the opening drive for them,
just just kind of constantly was around the ball, constantly
was kind of getting open, making tough catches. He's he's shifty.
He can make him miss and make you miss in space.
I think they tried to run and end around to
him at one point and he looked like he was
getta tackled for an enormous loss and only got tackled
for a short loss or a short gain. But he's
(07:48):
he's someone number three. I think that's a receiver that
is another name that Ohio State fans probably have not
heard about a ton about this season, but that's going
to be a really interesting matchup. You know, who is he?
You know, is that is that a Lorenzo Styles problem?
Is he? You know, is he a one of you know,
one of the outside corners for ohis Where do they
(08:08):
try and line him up? Because we have really not
seen anyone be able to throw consistently against Ohio States corners.
Indiana is going to you know, it is a run
first offense, but they are going to throw the ball.
It's gonna be great conditions to throw the ball. So
I'm interested to see what that you know, what those
those wider shivers look like against OHISS corners.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, I imagine he'll be matched up, as you said,
against Lorenzo Styles. At times, there'll be some motion and
maybe it'll be Caleb Downs over him. They'll throw quick
screens to him. We've seen him catch the ball in
the back of the end zone before in a game,
as everybody who probably remembers most famously getting it towed
(08:48):
down against what Penn State. But you mentioned Elijah Surratt
number thirteen. He to me he's missed the last he
missed three games later, later in the season. But he
wins this game basically with a slant catch, breaks a
tackle and goes about fifty yards. He's like a power forward.
(09:09):
He's he's a six three to two thirteen I think,
and Omar Cooper is like six foot two oh one
or something like that. But Sarat really really good on
the back shoulder almost, it's almost like, oh wow, another
back shoulder, can you do something else? And then of
course they will. So I like those two guys, and
then those are the two guys that are gonna play
(09:31):
the most and that you're gonna have to worry about.
The thing that concerns me is I'm watching this Indiana
offense against Iowa's defense. The blitzes were very effective against
Fernando Mendoza, whether it was up the middle or like
an outside nickel blitz type of thing, where there probably
should have been more turnovers cause than there were. There
(09:53):
were opportunities to come flying by him and knock the
ball out that didn't happen. There was was an interception late,
as you mentioned, via a linebacker blitz, and that could
have been the game right there. So I do think
over the course of the game it was a little interesting,
(10:14):
and we know Iowa's defense is a pain, so it's
not this is not any shade at Fernanda Mendoza. I
think it was for Buckeye fans. It's good to know
that he can be gotten to both as you know,
just in terms of getting through the line and the protection.
(10:34):
And then also he'll see you and be like, you know,
his accuracy, wyanees once he sees that pressure coming, so
he's he was not perfect in this game. You bring
up his numbers here real quick, and let he was
thirteen of twenty three for two hundred and thirty three
yards with two touchdowns, one interception, the long of forty nine,
(10:56):
which I believe was the Serrat touchdown catch to basically
seal the game. And you know Sarah and Cooper ten
catches seventeen targets in this game. To give you an
idea that they'll they'll be heavy rotation, but you can
cover them a little bit and you can rush him
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, And just to put this sort of in context
for people who are not remembering exactly when this game happened,
this game was happening at the exact same time as
the Ohios Date Washington game. So this is the end
of September and some stuff has changed since then. But
you do see you get pressure in his face, and
this is not unusual for quarterbacks, but you get pressure
in his face. And it's some of the same stuff
we talked about with Bryce Underwood last week when you
(11:39):
were previewing the Michigan game. You get pressure in his face.
He doesn't step into the throw, he'll sort of float
it sometimes. That was exactly what happened with the interception.
And you know, I think this is a good sort
of proxy for the Ohio State defense. It's obviously different scheme.
There's sort of different levels of talent there, but Iowa
is number seven in defensive sp plus this year. Oregon,
(11:59):
which will pre you the next time, he is number
five in sp plus on defense and the Buckeyes are
number one. So these are sort of comparable defenses, not
necessarily schematically, but in terms of just overall level of
play somewhat comparable. And you did see some pressure there,
and and you did see that. Friendando Mendoza is great sometimes,
(12:21):
but you know he'll sometimes get If you can get
him out of rhythm and you can keep him in
the pocket, then you can he will make some mistakes,
and that's that's something that you know, the Buck guys
may be able to take advantage of. The problem is
when you don't keep him in the pocket, because he
will if he can throw on rhythm, and he you know,
it's a very rpo heavy offense, and if he can
(12:42):
throw on rhythm, lots of slants, lots of back shoulders,
just sort of quick stuff. But when he gets you know,
when he can throw on rhythm, great, when there is
room to run, he will take that room to run.
He had multiple times when you know, they hit a
couple of desig runs, but there were a couple that
were just great scrambles, like really really good scrambles, picked
(13:04):
up I don't know, at least three first downs and
nearly had a fourth one. And Xavier Wampa, the Iowa
safety who has DAT fans will probably remember from recruiting
several years ago, just leveled him, absolutely leveled him. I
watched him and thought a lot of the same stuff
that I thought watching Bryce Underwood all year, which is like,
you are very important to this team's offense. I don't
(13:27):
know that I would want you taking that many big hits.
He got sacked a couple of times. That was the
biggest hit he took all day. Was you know, it
was a third and long and he was trying to
get to the first down marker and missed it by
about a yard and got drilled and slid in the
sideline and crashed into one of the equipment cards or
something on the sideline. He came up with the big,
bloody elbow and it was it was a whole thing.
(13:47):
But you know, he is really dangerous. He is very
dynamic in the run game, but he's not you know,
he's not perfect. He's not you know, we just saw
Julian saying throw an interception against Michigan la week, and
you can get Fernando Mendoza to throw an interception as well.
And if you can, I think some of this may be.
(14:08):
Can you re route Indiana's wide receivers? Is Ohio State
going to try and press them and try and re
route those guys and get them off rhythm? And you know,
can you create can you sort of change the picture
on him with you know, he thinks he's got a
window and there's not a window where he thinks there is.
I'm sure Matt Patricia is trying to drop all sorts
of stuff to create create some issues for Mendoz.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
And he'll pull the ball on the read option and
go and go and go. So six carries for thirty
eight yards in this game. While we're talking about the
running game, they have a two headed attack in Roman
Hemby and Kilon Black, And really the long carry of
the day was sixteen yards by him be He was
fifteen of eighty six and Black was eleven for thirty eight.
(14:52):
You've got two guys that aren't super dynamic, which is
interesting that you know they did the game. In this game,
they rushed for one hundred and seventy three yards. They
lost like forty something yards on the last play of
the game when Fernando Mendoza is running for a safety
to unfourth down to end the game. But like, neither
(15:12):
of these guys are necessarily big play guys. They've got together.
They've got five rushes of thirty yards or more this season,
which is the same number that Bo Jackson has. So
it's just interesting to me that this is such a
good running game, but it's not built on home runs.
This is what the eighty five Saint Louis Cardinals basically
(15:33):
and there's no Jack Clark. It's basically just a bunch
of singles and doubles and Vince Coleman and Willie McGee
for a perfectly fine forty year old reference. But I
think these running backs are fine. I don't know where
they scare you other than the fact that, well, it's
(15:54):
effective against most everybody else.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
As a fan of the nineteen eighty five Mets team
won ninety eight games and did not make the postseason
as a result of those eighty five Cardinals, I will
tell you too soon, Tony, way, way way too soon.
Where I think the running game scares you is that
they are hard to get down on the ground. They
may not be home run hitters, but man, oh man,
are they hard to get down. Kaylon Black number eight,
(16:20):
there was a third and two where he just looked
like he was stop dead in his tracks and then
just broke the tackle and just sort of fell forward
for the first down. Roman Hemby had one where it
looked like he was bottled up for a loss and
just sort of bounced off two guys and picked up
four or five yards. There was another one right before
halftime where it was something like that where he just
they are hard to get down. And then when you
do get them down, unless you really square them up
(16:42):
and drive them back, they're going to fall forward for
another couple of yards. So that's gonna be third and two.
If you've got someone in there, you got to get
him down on the ground that because these guys are very,
very good at it looks like you got him, it
looks like he got him. It looks like you got him.
And then they fall down and it's like, wait, how
did he get a first down? They were like three
or four of those. And this is Iowa. This is Iowa,
(17:03):
which is you know, Norm Parker, So it is they
do the stuff that they do and it's not super flashy,
it's not super complex, but man oh man, are they
fundamentally sound. And that's just what they have done for
years and years and years and years and years, and
even Iowa can't get these guys on the ground. So
that to me would be where they would scare you
in the run game. One thing that would worry me
(17:24):
a little bit if I was an Indiana fan, is
I don't love the right side of their offensive line.
Tony bray Lynch seventy four to the right guard, he
gave up a sack. At one point, Khalil Benson, the
right tackle. They were slanting on fourth and one and
defender just got right between the right guard and right tackle.
It was Benson's guy just got right inside him for
(17:44):
it and stopped them. Then later a guy got around
Benson and hit Mendoz's arm for an incompletion, and then
they got stuffed on fourth and one later on what
looked like a bad RPO rate. It just you know,
we're watching this and you know, you know the names
of all these offensive linemen, and like Carter Smith the
left tackle, I haven't once thought, oh boy, he's that
(18:05):
wasn't a good rep for him? Or Pat Coogan the center.
It's like, oh yeah, it's fine. But I every time
I'm writing down, like, yeah, that wasn't a great rep
for someone, it is right guard and right tackle. And
you know, I probably don't need to explain to Ohio
State fans who've watched this whole season, like, well, if
you have some inconsistency on one side of your offensive line,
that can sort of derail you in some key moments.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And the left guard Evans gave up a sack in
this game as well, and they've had some movement over
the year at left guard, and Zen Mahoalsky being one
of the guys that has played there this year. Ohio
State fans will remember. And I'm just looking to see
if there's anything else that I wanted to mention about
the offense. Romany had a fumble in this game. I
(18:49):
don't know that he's a fumbler. But one last thing
on the defense that I did want to touch on
because I think there was a play the interception towards
the end of the game. It's a drop on a
slant and I think that slant goes for a touchdown
and makes it twenty to thirteen in Iowa with like
(19:12):
you know, two minutes to go or whatever. And to me,
that's a play that Ohio State will make. And there
are other plays that Ohio State will make. In watching
this defense and seeing some open zones and things of
that nature. But overall, what can you take from a
defensive performance against an Iowa offense that is not stone Age?
(19:36):
But they ain't found fire yet, maybe not much, but
you can see some possibilities of maybe right and there,
maybe over there Ohio State might have some success.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Not the stone Age, but like maybe the Dark Ages,
they have not reached the renaissance yet in Iowa City
in terms of offense, that's for sure. The last two
things I had were both kind of how aggressive Indiana is.
Indiana is. Indiana does not have just the pure total
talent just in terms of who is going to be
standing next to Roger Goodell on a stage next April.
(20:11):
Indiana does not have the talent to just sort of
sit back and go, well, we're just gonna let the
talent went out. They are going to make stuff happen,
and sometimes it ends up blackfiring. But man, right before halftime,
they got the ball with twenty two seconds left on
a kickoff, and you know, normally that's a kneel it
out that say well we'll run the ball once end
of the line. Nope, they just boom boom boom boom boom,
(20:32):
went down, got themselves into field goal range. There was
a you know, again, you're making stuff happen, you're completing passes,
but there was also a roughing the passer call that
got them and got them into field goal range. And that's, yeah,
that's a mistake from Iowa, but it's Indiana putting you
in a position to make a mistake. Kurtz Signetty does
not screw around. He is looking for every little edge
he can get. I feel like this is going to
(20:55):
be a the coach that does not get to defer
to the second half is going to be so mad
because these feel like two guys who really really love
and appreciate the middle eight. That feels like that's going
to kind of be an underrated storyline. And then they
blocked a punt. They did it against Illinois the week
before this. They blocked a punt here and you know,
it wasn't like a block and knocked it back. They
just kind of tipped it. But it was just that's
(21:16):
an opportunity to Okay, you just you just saved yourself
twenty twenty five yards of field position. They are going
to look for all of these little edges and they
are going to do everything they can to capitalize on those. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I also wrote down that the end of half thing
they started with a draw and it went for like
twenty yards with twenty two seconds left, and it's like, well,
let's see what else we got, and then they got
they got help. Don't help, Hey, guys, don't help and
then maybe you'll be okay. But I went full s
party and then did what they could do to help,
So I think I think we're good there on the
(21:51):
And there's no d' angelo Ponds in this game starting corner,
so we'll see him later, I'm sure, But there you go.
That's what we saw when we watched the twenty to
fifteen How did Indiana pull us out last point? Indiana
does a great job of getting punched in the face
and then stepping right back up and punching back and
(22:12):
then ultimately winning. That's they've done it all year. They
did it in this one, and I think I think
they like the taste of their own blood a little
bit and it just gets them going. So just remember
that one that you're gonna have to punch in more
than once and in the Big Ten Championship game and
then probably just keep punching. So that will do it
for this episode if you want, if you can hit
(22:33):
the thumbs up on YouTube, we appreciate that. Subscribe to
the channel. It is Indiana week, Big Ten Championship Game week,
so you know what we've got in store here for
you at the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. Bunch of Stuff Tom's
got a bunch of stuff with the Buckeyes Tomorrow Morning
Tomorrow Morning Podcast as well. Subscribe to both of those.
Continue to find us at Buckeye Huddle dot com talking
about all of these things and much much more so.
(22:54):
That will do it from here. Thank you all for
tuning in, and we will talk to you all later
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