One of Indiana football’s biggest frustrations from week one was its offensive performance in goal-line situations.
The Hoosiers left points on the table in a lot of different ways in their 27-14 win over Old Dominion in Bloomington. Some of those missed opportunities were out of their control, like a few questionable decisions by the officiating crew. But their mixed results in the red zone were among the biggest things that stood out from the season-opener, and gave head coach Curt Cignetti something clear to address with his team.
Coming out of the game, Cignetti was unsure whether to chalk up the issues to the game-plan or the execution. After reviewing film, he saw some problems with both sides.
“Last year we led the country in red-area touchdown percentage. But we’ve got to get better,” Cignetti said Monday. “Doesn’t matter what you did in the past, gotta get better now.”
IU got into the red zone seven times against ODU, though one of those trips was Lee Beebe Jr.’s fumble at the 20-yard-line. Even discounting that, the Hoosiers scored only two touchdowns from six attempts inside the 20. All six of those drives went inside the ODU 10, as well.
Indiana turned it over on downs on their first offensive drive, with four straight plays at the Monarch one-yard-line not enough. Twice, IU stalled and had to settle for a field goal. And later, the Hoosiers came up short on another fourth and goal, although partially due to a questionable no-call of potential pass interference on ODU guarding Elijah Sarratt on a quick slant. Cignetti made clear his thoughts on that play.
“The last series, I thought that was pass interference on Sarratt. They didn’t call it,” Cignetti said Monday. “Sometimes the officials feel like the game’s over; they just want to get home. You’ve still gotta call them.”
But even with the two touchdowns mixed in — runs by Fernando Mendoza and Kaelon Black — Indiana wasted opportunities near the goal line. Whether it was missed assignments, wrong footwork, incorrect reads, or bad play-calls by offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan, IU had a lot go wrong.
In some cases, the miscues came on little details that might slip by an untrained eye. But the Hoosiers know how fine the margins can be in football and how important the little things are.
“It’s detail. It’s gotta be a focus on detail. It’s little things like hat placement or making sure we’re getting our hat across so that cutback lane is there, or whatever it is,” center Pat Coogan said Tuesday. “It’s like those really small things that you may or an individual or an outsider may not think is that important, but again, it shows up on Saturday when there’s penetration and it’s a tackle for loss or whatever it may be. It’s those very small things.”
Coogan said the entire offense took accountability for the goal-line letdowns, an important step in making corrections and getting better.
Mendoza, specifically, pointed to himself after the game Saturday and acknowledged he needed to make a few better throws.
“I know there was a fade ball to the left that I did throw to Omar Cooper, and I gotta put it more out there. It was such a great look. I think I tried to place the ball instead of actually throwing the ball. That’s on me,” Mendoza said. “And then also, on Elijah’s, I need to get his fade ball a little bit more outside so he can use his full extension and reach, rather than a DB putting his hand there where the ball’s supposed to go.”
Indiana’s 28.5 percent touchdown rate on Saturday in the red zone — 2 for 7 — was a lower mark than the team recorded all year in 2024.
Given the circumstances on some of those drives, full-blown panic may be excessive at this point. Most of, if not all the execution issues are fixable. And Shanahan may have kept his play calls on the blander side to avoid giving the tough Big Ten opponents coming up in late September and early October a clearer picture of IU on film.
The Hoosiers will look for better efficiency in the red zone against Kennesaw State this week. That will require focused attention in the film room and on the practice field, along with a short-term memory.
“We can’t dwell on it. We gotta be like, ‘Alright, we know what we did wrong, we know how to fix it, which is good, because we know how to fix it,'” Coogan said. “And then we got to move on and get better from there.”
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