'There's no slugs in there': Line of scrimmage once again a topic of conversation ahead of Indiana showdown with Oregon

Curt Cignetti has tried to dismiss the notion that the line of scrimmage has been the decisive factor in Indiana‘s only two losses over the last year and a half. He’s been open about the struggles, but isn’t highlighting that area as the downfall of Indiana’s deficiencies.

While Saturday’s game against No. 3 Oregon will be highlighted by numerous matchups all over the field, the one that will likely — again — dictate the outcome is the line of scrimmage.

Whether it was Ohio State last year, or Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff, two of the most difficult places Indiana has played in the past two seasons — the line of scrimmage fell in favor of each of Indiana’s opponents.

Indiana ran for just 153 yards against the Buckeyes, averaged 2.1 yards per rush and gave up 5 sacks with 8.5 tackles for loss. Against the Irish it was more of the same. The Hoosiers averaged 2.3 yards per rush and gave up 3 sacks with 10 tackles for loss.

8 sacks in just those two games alone. Kurtis Rourke was sacked just 12 times in 10 other starts.

On the flip side, Indiana totaled just three sacks and had 14 tackles for loss — eight of which coming in the second halves when the game was nearly out of reach.

“I guess we’re going to find out this week,” Curt Cignetti said this week. “But what I would say about Ohio State and Notre Dame, you can dwell on the line of scrimmage, but I don’t think we won the battle at any position in those games.”

(On3+): Inside The Matchup — Five key questions on Indiana vs. Oregon’s offensive battle with ScoopDuck

While Cignetti doesn’t want to dwell on the line of scrimmage and turn it into another storyline, it is. For starters, Oregon comes in holding the top rated pass blocking rating in the nation. In turn, it’s helped quarterback Dante Moore throw for 1,210 yards and complete 74.6 percent of his passes en route to giving the Ducks the third most prolific offense in the nation.

Indiana arrives with a top-10 defense overall — including pass rush. Creating havoc is one of the keys for defensive coordinator Bryant Haines and the rest of the Indiana staff — and Oregon is well aware of what IU’s front seven can do, with the Hoosiers ranking second in tackles for loss (49) and eighth in sacks (16) nationally.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s a multitude of looks. They’re aggressive by nature, right,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said. “They do a good job of eliminating explosive plays, but they run a lot of, you know, simulated pressures and fire zone pressures that create, you know, havoc up front. Paths change quite a bit, you know, with the D-line, a lot of different stunts that they use. And the guys win at the point of attack when they do blitz. So they do a good job of that.

For someone like Dante Moore, playing against pressure hasn’t been the norm. Oregon has allowed just one sack — with 78.7 percent of Moore’s dropbacks resulting in a clean pocket.

“I think it’s really important and it’s tough against a team like this that plays a little bit more spot zone, they break on the ball really, really well,” Lanning added. “They do a good job of playing in zones and understanding where the quarterback’s going to take the ball. So this is one where we have to do a great job of protecting the ball, but our quarterback’s done that so far. Dante’s got to continue to do that this week.”

(On3+): ‘A clear identity’ — Dan Lanning breaks down key takeaways about Indiana

So while Indiana’s defensive line looks to assert itself early and often against Oregon’s offensive line, Oregon will look to do the same on the other end of the field. Heading into Saturday, Fernando Mendoza has one of the quickest releases, just 2.62 seconds to throw. That’s limited his time on the ground to just five sacks this year. But, in addition to his sacks, he’s been pressured over eight times a game and is coming off of 12 pressures against Iowa last time out.

“I think we just need to work more cohesively as a unit,” IU center Pat Coogan said. “It’s never going to be one guy, it’s never going to fall on one guy. It’s a unit. And we got to do it together. It’s got to be all five of us out there together straining and working our butts off to keep him (Mendoza) clean.”

While Indiana’s offensive line has been significantly better over the past two seasons, and to start this year, that group is coming off its worst two rated games as a unit against Illinois and Iowa — the Hawkeyes being significantly lower than any other game this year.

“They are uber-athletic. There’s no slugs in there,” Coogan said of Oregon’s defensive line. “Those boys can move. They’re really twitchy and athletic and long. They’ve got some players, for sure, so we got to put in the work and be ready for them.”

“We’re not as big as Oregon,” Cignetti added. “They can roll four inside guys at D-tackle that are 330 plus. They’ve got big people in there.”

One way Indiana will look to limit Oregon’s defensive attack is through a heavy dose of RPO action offensively — the bread and butter of IU’s attack.

“I think the first thing that sticks out is that this is a team has a clear identity,” Lanning said. “They know what they’re good at, and they do it really really really well. They run the ball well, and they obviously RPO tags off a lot of their runs. They make sure that when they’re running it, they’re running it into an advantageous look, when they’re throwing it, they’re throwing it into a good look. They do a really good job of that. That’s the thing that stands out. They’re rushing as well as anyone in the country and they’re throwing it as well as anyone in the country. and they have a lot of weapons they can use.

“You’re going to see the same play ran a couple of times. The window dressing might be different, but they know how to run this play. It’s not about inventing new offense, it’s about running it better than you and executing it better than you. They do a really good job of that. They do enough of that to where you think ‘OK, this is what it’s going to be’, and then they throw a wrinkle in there and it is different.”

Indiana’s offense, while looking to be as explosive as always, will continue to rely on what’s been successful up to this point of Curt Cignetti’s tenure in Bloomington. Despite a top-10 showdown and the line of scrimmage being a storyline to watch, the message from the coaching staff is clear to the team come Saturday.

“Like the rest of the guys on the team, ‘relax and play their game’,” Cignetti said. “We’re just going to go out there and play our game and play it well.”

“I keep hearing about how we’re smaller than them, how they’re going to maul us.” IU defensive tackles coach Pat Kuntz added on Thursday. “Hopefully we got a fire lit up in us to take care of that little talk that’s happening.”

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