Ohio State can exploit these two areas of weakness against Indiana

Before Ohio State takes on Indiana, we scout the offense and defense of the Hoosiers. They have been good, but here’s how to beat them.

The defense begins and ends up front

When looking at the Hoosiers’ four games, the first thing people may notice are the interceptions. However, upon breaking them down, it all starts up front as Indiana relies on getting pressure to force bad throws. On the backend, it plays a lot of zone coverage keeping as much in front of it as possible.

Most of the zone coverage is either single-high safety or Cover-2. This allows the corners to play off their man and drop into their assignments looking for the ball coming out due to the pressure up front. If a team can block the pressure the defensive backs struggle in coverage the longer the play goes on. As with any team.

The Hoosiers have given up a lot of 20+ yard plays, and when asked to play man coverage they struggle to press their man and stay on the hip of the receiver. Also, since they play a lot of Cover-2, the seams tend to be open and if the pressure is held up, those open up quickly. If Justin Fields has time, he’s going to put the ball in the right spot.

Indiana has been a really good team, but scouting them ahead of the Ohio State game has shown some things the Buckeyes can capitalize on. Ohio State will clearly be the best team Indiana has faced, but that doesn’t mean the Hoosiers should be overlooked. Get to Penix and work the seams, and the Buckeyes should walk out with a victory.

[lawrence-related id=40390]

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3