Indiana football will be tested on Saturday.
The Hoosiers, up to No. 19 in the AP Top 25, have No. 9 Illinois coming to Bloomington for a week four showdown. It’s a game with College Football Playoff implications early in the season at Memorial Stadium, in one of the more significant matchups in series history.
IU head coach Curt Cignetti met with local media Monday to discuss the Fighting Illini, along with his Hoosiers. He had some unfortunate news to share: running back Lee Beebe Jr. is out for the season after suffering a non-contact knee injury against Indiana State. Redshirt freshman Khobie Martin could get an expanded opportunity to step in as the third piece of IU’s running back rotation.
IU football: Running back Lee Beebe, Jr. lost for the season with knee injury
Here are a few other key topics Cignetti talked about during his weekly press conference.
Fighting the Illini
Indiana will have its hands full with Illinois.
Bret Bielema’s team has stacked up three lopsided wins in the first three weeks, including a 45-19 road victory over Duke. The Illini entered the season among the nation’s leaders in returning production, both offensively and defensively. And that’s been a key to their strong start and rosy outlook.
“They’re a really good football team. They’ve got a lot of good players, a lot of veteran players,” Cignetti said. “And that’s the one thing about Illinois, is they know what it takes — the success they had last year, returning a good nucleus of guys and added some new ones. Very much kind of like us, good core return that understands what it takes.”
Cignetti said he’s never coached against Bielema, but praised his coaching abilities.
“Really never met him until I joined the conference. He was very welcoming,” Cignetti said. “Always had a lot of respect for him as a coach. He was a head coach at a very young age and has really had some nice teams. And he’s done a great job at Illinois and they’re fundamental and you can see the coaching show up on tape.”
Challenges for the run game
At this stage of a season, most statistics contain caveats of opponent quality. Indiana’s No. 7 scoring offense in the country, at 52 points per game, isn’t necessarily reflective of how the unit will fare in Big Ten play. But that number is still worth noting when discussing the Hoosiers.
The same goes for Illinois’ run defense. Neither of the two FBS rushing offenses the Fighting Illini have faced so far have been particularly threatening — both Duke and Western Michigan rank sub-100 in the nation. Still, UI has handled business, holding opponents to 74 rushing yards per game, good for 13th in the country.
Cignetti could tell from his initial film study on Illinois that this defense will be tough.
“They morphed a little bit schematically starting with the bowl game last year against South Carolina in some of their coverage packages. And they carried that on into this season,” Cignetti said. “Multiple personnel groupings, defensively 4-2-5, 5-1-5, 5-2-4, 4-1-6 and others. They did a nice job of disguising coverage, nice disguises. They play a lot of guys. A lot of good players running to the ball. They have a lot of hats to the football. Put pressure on the quarterback, tight coverage. Really tied together well. Good players.”
For the run defense, specifically, Illinois has been strong up the middle. Both James Thompson Jr. and Tomiwa Durojaiye grade within the top 16 interior defenders in run defense on Pro Football Focus. Outside linebacker Gabe Jacas has four tackles for loss, and is one of the better edge defenders in the Big Ten.
Indiana’s rushing attack will be the best Illinois has faced thus far, even without Beebe. The Illini will also be — by far — the toughest defense the Hoosiers have seen so far.
Takeaways
On the other side, Illinois’ biggest strength has been its ability to avoid turnovers.
The Illini are one of only nine teams in FBS who have yet to commit a turnover so far this season. That always involves some luck, but UI’s offense has kept the ball out of harm’s way. And that’s something Cignetti has noticed.
“They’ve done a nice job protecting the ball, turnovers, takeaways,” Cignetti said. “The Duke game is a one-point game at half, and Duke turned it over five times and that was the name of the story right there. Four fumbles, so did a nice job stripping the ball. But we’re 5-1 in the turnover ratio as well.”
Indiana’s secondary has come up with four interceptions through the first three weeks, including two by safety Louis Moore. If the Hoosiers can keep that momentum rolling, it could prove the difference in the game on Saturday.
“Line of scrimmage, turnover ratio, battle of explosives, being good in critical situations, teams need a win, that’s always the formula. Never really has changed,” Cignetti said. “So I think when you look at the two teams statistically, you’ll see a lot of dominant numbers for the offense, defense and special teams.”
For complete coverage of IU football, GO HERE.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- Find us on Facebook: thedailyhoosier
- You can follow us on Twitter: @daily_hoosier
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
