During the week leading up to Indiana’s game against Kennesaw State, defensive coordinator Bryant Haines said he wanted to see more production from his defensive line.
Message received.
After a quiet season-opener, IU’s defensive front feasted on Saturday. The Hoosiers dominated KSU in the trenches, and rode that to a gaudy 14 tackles for loss in their 56-9 win.
“I think we made a lot more plays in the backfield today compared to last week,” defensive end Kellan Wyatt said after the game. “I think we took a step forward today.”
Indeed, IU recorded only three TFLs against Old Dominion. This was a major step forward.
Indiana doesn’t regularly see TFL numbers like Saturday’s. The Hoosiers have posted 14 tackles for loss or more just one other time since 2020.
And this wasn’t just one player putting up a monster game to carry the load. IU had 10 players record at least 0.5 TFLs. Wyatt and linebacker Aiden Fisher led the way with 2.5 each; defensive end Mikail Kamara had two, and safety Louis Moore had 1.5.
Wyatt said it becomes contagious for the defense when people make plays in the backfield.
“It feels like you want to make another one, right? So, yeah, it feels pretty good,” Wyatt said. “The snowball effect is real. You start to gain momentum and confidence for yourself to make another play.”
In addition to the four players with more than one tackle for loss, cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, defensive back Devan Boykin, linebacker Isaiah Jones, defensive tackle Tyrique Tucker, and defensive end Stephen Daley all recorded one TFL. Linebacker Rolijah Hardy also assisted on one.
IU’s defense had a solid first game against Old Dominion, but two long touchdown runs ceded to ODU quarterback Colton Joseph bloated some of the statistics and presented some issues to address. Even aside from the big plays, Indiana needed its defense to be a bigger presence in the game and make more plays up front.
The Hoosiers weren’t perfect against Kennesaw State, with some coverage concerns arising at times. But overall, they showed real improvement from week one to week two. IU’s defense can’t bank on double-digit tackles for loss every week, and most Big Ten opponents wouldn’t allow the unit to get rolling to that extent. But this performance for Indiana’s defense looked more like the way Indiana needs, and wants, to play.
“We talked about it after week one, that we weren’t aggressive enough, that we didn’t play hard enough,. This defense is built on TFLs and explosive plays, and all the exciting things. And we didn’t get that done week one,” Fisher said after the game. “Last week really didn’t feel like our defense. Today felt a lot better, a lot more comfortable for our defense.”
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