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'Take it on the chin': Accountability the theme for Indiana's offensive line by highlighting 'a focus on detail'

headshotby: Alec Lasley09/04/25allasley
Syndication: The Herald-Times
Indiana's Pat Coogan (78) and Drew Evans (62) at Indiana University football practice on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025.

Indiana’s priority this offseason was to get bigger, stronger and more aggressive at the line of scrimmage. After its two losses last year were highlighted by the underwhelming performance from its offensive line, Curt Cignetti emphasized that area.

In Saturday’s opener, however, a veteran and experience offensive line looked anything but in key areas of the field. After finishing the 2024 season ranked 7th in the FBS in redzone efficiency, Indiana went just 4-of-7 against Old Dominion, including totaling just three points after two of its first three drives ended inside the five yard line.

Seven of the eight plays on the those two drives for Indiana were runs.

“We gotta take it on the chin, nobody can shy away from it. All the offensive line has the pride themselves in finishing down there (in the redzone) and finishing at any point. We didn’t do that and we fell short of that goal and mission and have to be accountable and look ourselves in the mirror,” IU center Pat Coogan said on Tuesday. “You always can do something better to help the play. You only need 1-yard, 2-yards so it takes everyone and it — everyone has to be accountable and everyone has been.”

Accountability has been the theme for Indiana, and especially the offensive line, after a subpar performance in week one from internal standards.

But, it also comes with mixed emotions as Indiana’s offensive line dominated the game outside of the initial start. Indiana ran for 309 yards and averaged 5.4 yards per rush for the game, including eight runs for at least 10 yards.

“We can’t dwell on it. We gotta be like, ‘Alright, we know what we did wrong’, we know how to fix it’,” Coogan said. “Which is good, because we know how to fix it. And then we got to move on and get better from there.”

Roman Hemby, who ran for over 100 yards as an opponent inside of Memorial Stadium last year, backed it up with 23 carries for 110 yards on Saturday. He had eight carries inside the 10 yard line, however, none of which resulting in a touchdown.

“It was just some execution errors on everybody,” Hemby said after the game. “You know, we want to be better as an offense and, you know, the first game is always a little tricky, but we’ll get back to the drawing board, watch the film, and get it cleaned up.”

Kaelon Black had 17 carries for 92 yards and a touchdowns, while Lee Beebe added 11 carries for 73 yards — and a fumble.

Indiana’s playbook was highlighted by 57 runs and just 32 passes. 37.1 percent of Fernando Mendoza’s drop backs were also play-action. Like in 2024, Indiana will be leaning on its rushing attack once again this year, with a strong emphasis on the production of its offensive line.

“It’s detail. It’s gotta be a focus on detail,” Coogan said. “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. 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.

“At the end of the day, we have to win the line of scrimmage no matter who’s across there. It starts with us and ends with us.”

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