Crowd noise and lack of response contribute to IU’s first loss
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WISH) — Indiana scored a touchdown in their first drive of the game. The offense was flowing smoothly, both the run and the pass.
But after that drive, the Hoosiers struggled mightily to find any sort of flow. Their pass protection was the killer, and Indiana took their first loss of the season, 38-15.
Blitzing Buckeyes were frequently finding wide open lanes to get to Kurtis Rourke unblocked or with little obstacle.
Ohio State ended up with five sacks, which were drive killers for Indiana. Whether they were on third down or first down, Indiana was not able to respond.
“Every time we dropped back to pass, something bad happened,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said.
Cignetti attributed the pass protection failures to the crowd noise at Ohio Stadium. He said some of their linemen could hear the normal cadence, but their center Mike Katic couldn’t hear and they had to switch to the silent count.
Cignetti said they did not respond well to the noise and the pass protection issues. Ohio State’s defense was able to a jump on Indiana’s offensive line with the silent count.
“We didn’t handle the noise well,” Cignetti said. “We just didn’t. They’re an excellent football team. I didn’t think we played our best game today, but I think a big part of that was because of them.”
“It’s just attention to detail,” Rourke said. “I always look at myself, knowing that some plays I want to have back, some throws I need to have in order for the team to move the ball down the field. I’m upset at myself and knowing that it won’t happen again. Those are mistakes that can’t continue, especially in this time in the season.”
Indiana now turns their attention to the Old Oaken Bucket game against Purdue in the last game of the regular season.
“We trust ourselves against anybody and we look forward to hopefully an opportunity to get a rematch at some point,” Rourke said. “Just knowing that next week is a big game and we got to go handle Purdue, and then move on and take one game at a time.”
The Hoosiers and the Boilermakers face off on Saturday, November 30 at Memorial Stadium. The time of kickoff has not been announced yet.
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