It’s been hard to find much to be critical about when it comes to IU football through the first three weeks.
But one area the Hoosiers must clean up before they resume the Big Ten gauntlet — penalties.
Indiana (3-0) ranks No. 112 (out of 134) FBS teams with a total of 25 penalties called against them thus far. They’re No. 116 with 232 total penalty yards.
On the one hand, these numbers further substantiate just how good Indiana has been when they get through a play without a flag. The Hoosiers have outscored their opponents 150-23, and produced triple the amount of yards despite all those penalties.
But IU’s last eight games will be played against Big Ten competition. And the margin for error will be much slimmer. At least we think so. It’s probably not a stretch to say if Indiana keeps getting penalized at their current rate, those mistakes could eventually cost them a game.
Some penalties can even linger into the next week.
When IU faces Charlotte on Saturday (Noon ET, BTN) in Bloomington, they’ll be forced to play the first half without starting cornerback D’Angelo Ponds and key interior defensive lineman C.J. West.
Both players were called for targeting in the second half at UCLA on Saturday, a penalty that carries not only a 15-yard loss and an ejection, but also impacts the following week if the foul occurs in the second half.
In addition to the two targeting calls, IU was also hit with two very questionable roughing the passer penalties on Jailin Walker and Lanell Carr, and an unnecessary roughness call on Jamari Sharpe that was declined by UCLA.
In his postgame radio spot immediately following the UCLA game, Cignetti seemed perplexed by the questionable nature of the calls.
“It seems like they won’t let you play football anymore,” Cignetti said.
A couple days removed from the heat of the moment, and with a chance to review the film, on Monday Cignetti had more commentary about the calls on his defense.
This time he was asked specifically about the targeting rules, and whether there should be multiple levels of fouls that take into account intent. Since the targeting rules came into effect, many have wondered whether there should be just a penalty for what is deemed incidental contact, and only ejections for true intent to hit with the crown of the helmet.
“Yeah, I think there needs to be a balance there and common sense and intent, also,” Cignetti said.
Walker did not even seem to make contact with the quarterback’s head or neck area, and he led with his shoulder.
Carr did make minor contact with the facemask of the quarterback but didn’t lead with the crown of his helmet.
Ponds clearly tried to avoid a helmet-to-helmet hit, and instead contacted a falling receiver’s head with his shoulder as he turned away.
And West was clearly going low to try to recover a fumble when the quarterback, going for the same ball, dove head first into his path.
Four marginal calls all went against IU, while one clear blow to the head wasn’t called against the Bruins.
On his X account, IU defensive coordinator Bryant Haines post a video of his linebacker Aiden Fisher taking a blow to the helmet as he returned an interception.
Despite several head-scratching calls against his defense, Haines said he was glad the hit on Fisher was not deemed to be targeting upon a review by the officials.
Glad that this is NOT targeting – We embrace it over here. No factor. We’ll get up and laugh. That said, let’s be consistent— Let us BANG too!!! #NewEra #LBC https://t.co/iqckv5E88i
— Bryant Haines (@Coach_BHaines) September 16, 2024
Cignetti had the hit on Fisher on his mind on Monday as well.
“Probably one of the most hardest hits in the game was when Aiden Fisher intercepted the pass and got hit in the head, and there’s no call for that one,” he said.
There were probably some teachable moments on at least some of the defensive penalties called on IU. On multiple occasions Indiana defenders likely could have avoided calls by tackling lower and leading with the shoulder. But in bang-bang situations, that’s often easier said than done.
Cignetti is likely coaching up his team on how to avoid these calls in the future, but he wasn’t sharing those thoughts publicly on Monday.
“You know, the other ones (penalties) were kind of Mickey Mouse. So but, you know, that’s the way it went down Saturday, and we’re not going to change the way we play,” he said.
And Cignetti can say that because he knows his team’s intentions are good.
“I don’t think there was anything dirty out there, that’s for sure,” he said.
Now he just needs a rulebook that sees things the same way.
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