MIAMI – Indiana football has carved up some of the best defenses in the country this season. No. 2 Ohio State? No problem. No. 9 Alabama? Beat them by 35. No. 5 Oregon? Took them down twice this season, winning in Autzen Stadium by 10 points, and winning in the Peach Bowl by 34 points.
Yet, the Hoosiers’ offense awaits their toughest test in the College Football Playoff national championship game, taking on the Miami Hurricanes whose defense ranks 12th nationally in front seven havoc rate. The metric measures how often a defense creates sacks, tackles for loss or turnovers.
“[Miami has] an elite front. Across the board, their front four is just extremely explosive, twitchy and violent,” Indiana center Pat Coogan said. “They have the ability to run through and around you. … They present a huge challenge for us and one that we've prepared for endlessly.” Endless preparation can help the Hoosiers’ cause, but it alone has not been enough for Miami’s opponents this offseason. The Hurricanes’ defensive front has consistently overwhelmed opposing offensive lines, even against teams built to handle pressure.
Miami’s havoc rate is sky-high because it has two of the best pass rushers in the country: Rueben Bain and Ahkeem Mesidor. The two rank second and sixth respectively in QB pressures this season, combining for 9.5 pressures per game.
In the first two games of the playoffs, Bain and Mesidor combined for 7.5 sacks for a loss of 50 yards. While neither recorded a sack in Miami’s semifinal matchup against Ole Miss, they did assist in pressuring Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss consistently. Chambliss had, on average, 2.42 seconds to get the ball out of his hand when he dropped back to pass.
“They're great players,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said. “(Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman’s) got them creating havoc, TFLs, sacks, stopping the run, playing with an edge, nasty edge. Extremely impressive group. Those guys are going to play a lot of football
when their college days are over.” However, if there’s one team that seems suited to finally defeat the two-headed monster of Bain
and Mesidor, it’s Indiana. The Hoosiers are running the football at an elite clip this postseason. Running backs Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black have combined for 312 yards on 62 carries against Alabama and Oregon (5.0 yards per carry). Both the Tide and the Ducks allowed fewer than 130 rushing yards each this season, and they both allowed fewer than 3.8 yards per carry.
“We know that these games are a little more meaningful when we're playing a one-game season,” Hemby said. “So we do the best that we can to make sure that we're at our best for game day. Whether that's the offensive line doing a little bit more in the run game to kind of open things up for us, or if that's Kaelon or myself really trying to lower our shoulder to get those extra hitting yards in a game. We're just trying to do everything we can to be successful.”
The running game has been successful because of Indiana’s offensive line. Led by Notre Dame transfer Pat Coogan, the group has had to protect quarterback Fernando Mendoza from the 11th-most blitzes in the country. While it helps that Mendoza is graded by PFF as the fourth best FBS quarterbacks against the blitz, there is a major question mark surrounding Indiana’s offensive line in this game:
How will Indiana’s right tackle specifically withstand Miami’s pressure?
There’s an expectation that there will be some kind of combination of Kahlil Benson and Adedamola Ajani at right tackle, and both of those players have struggled at times this season. For example, the two allowed a combined 12 QB pressures in Indiana’s game at Penn State, and
had the two worst offensive grades of Indiana’s lineman that played. Adding to the concern for Indiana, Miami’s Hetherman dials up the seventh-most blitzes of any defensive coordinator in the country. “We know we're not going to have all day (in the pocket),” Indiana offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan said. “We gotta have a sense of urgency to separate on the outside, and then we gotta be accurate with the ball and a lot of those guys to make plays.” Indiana’s success in the national championship will come down to its run game. How effectively
can the Hoosiers run the football, and how aggressive will Shanahan be running the ball at Mesidor and Bain?
“(Hemby and Black), really since the playoffs started, they're running with an edge,” Shanahan said. “They're doing a good job keeping the ball moving forward, not trying to get too cute.
They're getting yards after contact. It's been really fun to watch those guys run these last few weeks.”
Can Indiana run the ball well enough to win it all? Or will Bain and Mesidor continue to feast like they have all season long? The answer will reveal itself this Monday at 7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN in the Hoosiers’ quest for their first ever national championship title
