Scouting Ahead: A look at Indiana against Western Michigan

NOTE: Darius Willis, the usual No. 2 back, missed this game due to an ankle injury.

OFFENSE PLAY-BY-PLAY: FIRST SCORING SERIES (DVR started at 12:22 left in first half): -Mitchell Evans run up the middle inside Western’s red zone. -2-4 pistol, 3 WR. Demetrius McCray runs right. Western defense lets him go nowhere. -3-4 pistol 3 WR Ben Chappell over middle to Terrance Turner for first down on an underneath route. -1-10 pistol 2 WR McCray run right. Had a nice hole. Good block by TE Troy Wagner -2-GL 1 WR left pistol Trea Burgess run middle. Crushed by Western line at line of scrimmage. Not much push by Indiana’s offensive line. 3-GL 3 WR pistol Chappell throws to the end zone for Damario Belcher, broken up on jump ball fade route. Western held them well inside red zone for a field goal. 3-0 Indiana.

SECOND SERIES (5:12 in first quarter): 3-10 twins right pistol. Chappell finds Belcher out right. 4-1 Punt.

THIRD TV SERIES: 1-10 pistol 3 WR. Bryan Payton runs up middle. Good read block by LG Justin Pagan. 2-4 pistol 2 WR. Payton up middle right. Could have been a larger gain, but RT James Brewer, who got out into the second tier, whiffed on a block of a Western linebacker. 1-10 pistol 3 WR Evans run middle. 2-3 5 WR Chappell throws right to Matt Ernest. Western tried to blitz, but it was a slow blitz. 1-10 twins left pistol. Chappell throws complete to Tandon Doss over middle. 1-10 Wildcat with Evans in backfield. Handoff to Payton, goes right. 1-10 4 WR GUN singleback Chappell over middle to Evans. 1-10 Wildcat with Evans 1 WR. Evans runs left. 2-6 pistol twins right. Payton run left, nice hole but comes just short of goal-line. Payton ran well, made up for a bad block by Mike Reiter. 1-GL Chappell QB sneak. Offensive line doesn’t help at all. Gets nothing. 2-GL Chappell QB sneak scores touchdown. 10-0 Indiana.

FOURTH SERIES: 1-10 pistol 2 WR. Playaction incomplete rolling out. 2-10 pistol 2 WR. Chappell incomplete, threw behind Doss. 3-10 pistol 2 WR. Chappell to Doss slant in left side. Doss looks like he could be elusive, but doesn’t necessarily appear to have a good step. 4thDown Punt.

FIFTH SERIES: 1-10 pistol 3 WR. McCray runs left outside. 2-6 pistol 3 WR. McCray went left, good blocking. Outran every Western defender for 59-yard touchdown. Nice run and read by McCray on the run. He wasn’t touched by anyone. Indiana leads 17-7.

SIXTH SERIES: 1-10 pistol 4 WR Chappell throws over middle to Turner. 1-10 pistol 4 WR. Chappell almost picked. Route jumped outside 2-10 pistol 4 WR. Chappell pump-faked deep. Way out of bounds. 3-10 pistol 3 WR. Draw to McCray up middle. Nice hole but Western’s defense closed in in the second tier. 4-4 Punt.

OFFENSIVE THOUGHTS: -Indiana has a bunch of running backs they can use. None, though, are as good as Brandon Minor or Carlos Brown. McCray looks pretty good and has decent speed but none of them stood out as complete burners. Then again, Willis didn’t play against Western.

-Still can’t understand why Indiana runs the pistol. The Hoosiers don’t have the speed to really run it. Chappell isn’t a particularly fast quarterback. When they got to Evans in a Wildcat-esque formation, the Pistol looks better. But I don’t think Evans, who is a wide receiver, can throw.

-This could be a big game for Brandon Graham and the defensive line. Indiana’s offensive line was unimpressive. If Michigan blitzes a decent amount, Graham will likely get freed up. Plus, Michigan’s defense plays against something like this - and probably gets better looks than Indiana will give them - whenever they go against the first team in practice.

-Doss looks like he could have some skill at receiver, but I’m not sold on his speed. No other receivers stood out from the film I watched.

DEFENSIVE THOUGHTS: -Indiana uses mostly a 4-3 front.

-Greg Middleton, who was a huge player for Indiana two years ago, looks good. He has a nice burst off the line. Western appeared to spend more time on Jammie Kirlew, though. In the second quarter, Kirlew beat his man somewhat routinely on pass plays, much like Brandon Graham did against Western.

-Overall, though, Indiana’s pressure wasn’t as impressive as Michigan’s against Western.

-Western appeared to break open holes on the Indiana front. That was a preseason concern for the Hoosiers, can they stop the run.

-Indiana’s secondary was unimpressive. They gave Western’s wide receivers a lot of cushion on underneath routes and also got beat on routes deeper in the field in the second quarter.

-Western marched down the field almost all running midway through the second quarter, including a touchdown by Western’s backup quarterback. Michigan, if it plays disciplined, should be able to run all over the Hoosiers. They are not very good at all.

-On the next series, Indiana’s run defense appeared to be a bit more stout. The defensive line, though, didn’t get too much pressure to Hiller even when they brought it.

-There were drives where Western just picked Indiana apart using run and pass balance. That was something the Broncos couldn’t do against Michigan. The Hoosiers looked on-par speed-wise or maybe even a step slower than some of Western’s players on offense. That’s bad for Indiana as most, if not all, of Michigan’s players were faster than Western’s players.

SPECIAL TEAMS: -Indiana’s kick coverage seemed to struggle. Brandon West had a couple nice returns. However, as Michigan fans saw, Darryl Stonum is much faster than West.

-Ray Fisher seems decent on kick returns, although one of his returns was called back for a block in the back.