The devil is in the details
After handling Florida International last week to open the Curt Cignetti era, Indiana will have another tune-up game as FCS opponent Western Illinois comes to town. The Leathernecks come to Bloomington with a 25-game losing streak.
The talent gap is going to be big enough that we don’t need to seriously worry about that streak ending Friday night. For Indiana, this game is going to come down to execution and improvement.
The good thing is that we know Indiana’s head coach will be satisfied with no less than that.
Cignetti on 8 TFLs, 4 sacks: “I think it’s something to build on.” #iufb
— Zach Osterman (@ZachOsterman) August 31, 2024
Here are three things to watch for this Friday:
Penalties
The only area that Indiana did not dominate in the box score against Florida International was in penalties. The Hoosiers committed three times as many penalties as the Panthers did last week, a ratio that won’t cut it in closer games.
Given Cignetti’s attention to detail and high expectations for his teams, this isn’t something I’m concerned about longterm yet. Even if the number doesn’t go down right away, I’d be happy seeing fewer penalties in key moments, like we did last week.
A good example would be Omar Cooper Jr.’s hold on Indiana’s first offensive drive of the second half. Indiana punted just once in the first half, but the holding call set up a third and long that led to the first of three consecutive scoreless drives in the second half.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter, as Indiana was able to score late to really put the game away. It’s an area that this team needs to improve on though, as it won’t be able to afford stalling out for a few quarters offensively against Big Ten teams.
Chemistry
There were a few other instances in which Indiana failed to execute last week – like the drops in the first half – that you’d expect to clean up as the team becomes more comfortable with each other.
It’s not surprising to me that the most spectacular offensive play of the game, Kurtis Rourke’s completion to Miles Cross on 3rd and 21, came from two players that have played together for years.
Hopefully the simple fact that it’s week two helps eliminate whatever portion of the penalties, drops, and other mistakes that had to do with week one jitters. Another full week of practice should help the chemistry too.
If the defense can play a little more cohesively, shutting the Leathernecks out seems like a reasonable expectation. Florida International only scored when the defense blew a couple of assignments on the same drive, so as long as they can avoid consecutive errors, they could keep Western Illinois off the board.
Minutes Distribution
One thing that was clear last week was that Indiana has depth at skill positions that it’s lacked for most of the last three years. What’s less clear is how that will shake out minutes-wise.
Ty Son Lawton’s 74 yards and two touchdowns stole the show last week, but five Hoosiers carried the ball at least once. Rourke also connected with seven different receivers for his 15 completions.
I’m curious to see whether any favorites emerge from this group, whether they’re Rourke’s favorite targets or Cignetti’s go-to backs. It’s both a good problem to have in the present and a tough one to work out in the big picture with the portal available to players who want bigger roles.
Cignetti could try to feature different guys as matchups demand, or he could continue to lean on Lawton, Cooper, Zach Horton, and Myles Price as he did last week. Even if things aren’t settled by the end of week two, the picture should start to get clearer.
One guy I’m particularly interested in Donaven McCulley, who may not be available against Western Illinois due to the hit he took early against FIU. He looked like Indiana’s most talented player at points last year, so I’d expect him to feature heavily in the game plan once healthy.