Coming into the Michigan game, Indiana was one of the best teams in the country when it came to protecting the quarterback.
IU is still No. 14 nationally with just 11 sacks allowed through 10 games, but four of those came in one game — against the Wolverines in IU’s last outing.
Michigan recorded 16 total quarterback pressures — half of Kurtis Rourke’s 32 drop backs — including five hits on the indispensable IU star quarterback.
Was this a case of Indiana’s offensive line being out of sorts after losing starting guard Drew Evans for the season during the week of practice ahead of the Michigan game? It’s reasonable to suggest that was part of the story, as Evans’ replacement Tyler Stephens gave up three of the 16 pressures. Evans is IU’s highest graded pass protector by Pro Football Focus (PFF).
But with that much pressure on Rourke, there was plenty of blame to go around.
And it’s worth noting, Michigan’s pass rush defense is ranked No. 1 in the nation according to PFF, so IU was facing the best of the best in that regard. But Ohio State is not far behind at No. 22. And there is no doubt the Buckeyes have the talent to bring a disruptive scheme to Ohio Stadium on Saturday.
IU coach Curt Cignetti talked yesterday about his team’s pass protection challenges in the 20-15 win over Michigan.
“I give Michigan credit,” Cignetti said on Monday. “They’ve got a lot of good players on defense. They bowed up. We didn’t make the plays we normally make when we had the opportunity to make them, and there were too many pressures on the quarterback. We got behind the sticks and chains.
“To me what happened in the second half was more of an execution thing, and sometimes you get the momentum and you ride the wave. Then sometimes you’re struggling and you just continue to struggle.”
Let’s take a look at some of those struggles.
BEAT ON THE EDGE
Cignetti is right. Once Michigan found a taste of success getting to Rourke, a wave of momentum followed. And Indiana’s seemingly unstoppable offense collapsed.
The first sack came midway through the second quarter when IU had a chance to build a three score lead. Here, right tackle Trey Wedig was simply beat one-on-one, something we haven’t seen much of all season.
COLLAPSING POCKET
Rourke was rarely comfortable in the pocket in the second half.
The next sack came late in the third quarter.
This time is what left tackle Carter Smith who technically gave it up. An argument could be made that Rourke should have felt the pocket collapsing and escaped. And if you watch carefully you’ll see the initial pressure came in Rourke’s face, as both center Mike Katic and Stephens were pushed back into the pocket. Rourke was caught from the side just as he began to react. There was plenty of blame to go around here.
The final sack came midway through the fourth quarter, and again a collapsing pocket disrupted the play. Three of Michigan’s four rushers got into the pocket, and the one who didn’t pursued and sacked Rourke after the IU QB did a nice job of initially escaping.
RUNNING BACK FAILS TO PICK UP STUNT
Here Michigan brought two rushers at Wedig, meaning IU running back Kaelon Black had to pick up one of them. He read the play wrong and tried to block the same man Wedig picked up — and was late to react to the rusher in his lane.
BEAT UP THE MIDDLE
This play wasn’t a sack, but it illustrates part of the reason why Rourke wasn’t as accurate as he’s been throughout most of the season.
IU guard Bray Lynch ends up matched up one-on-one with a linebacker who fakes inside and then beats Lynch outside. Michigan only brought four rushers on the play, but they did enough pre-snap to suggest more was on the way, and that may have helped them end up with a preferred matchup.
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