3 storylines to watch for when Indiana football hosts Western Illinois

Indiana football opened the Curt Cignetti era with a 24-point victory over Florida International last weekend in Bloomington. There was a lot to like from the Hoosiers, especially on the defensive side of the football, but clearly, there is plenty of room for growth.

After pulling ahead 21-0, Indiana seemed to coast for most of the game on offense. They scored just 10 second-half points with seven coming on an Elijah Green 51-yard rushing touchdown with just over a minute left in the game.

Penalties and inconsistency in the passing game made it difficult for Indiana to move the ball in the second half and caused drives to stall.

With Western Illinois next on the schedule, it gives Indiana a chance to build on some of the positives from their opening victory while also correcting some of the errors that kept the game in striking distance for most of the second half.

Will Indiana football continue to lean on the run game?

Indiana football put a clear emphasis on the rushing attack in week one against Florida International. The Hoosiers ran the ball more than 60% of their plays in week one which led them to rushing for 234 yards.

Indiana recognized a clear advantage against the FIU front seven and attacked it. They will have a similar advantage against Western Illinois who allowed 312 rushing yards in their week one loss to Northern Illinois.

The Hoosiers did not take many shots down the field on offense. The longest completion of the game came on a broken play where Kurtis Rourke was forced to roll out of the pocket and throw one up to Miles Cross who made an incredible one-hand catch for 30 yards.

The expectation coming into the season was the run game would be used to open up the pass and that was not the case last week as Indiana only threw for 180 yards.

Coming into the season there was plenty of excitement surrounding the receiving core and the potential of the passing game for Indiana football. Week one did little to showcase that.

Donaven McCulley, the leading receiver from 2023, played sparingly catching just one pass before leaving with an injury. Elijah Sarratt, a member of the Biletnikoff Award watchlist, caught just two passes for 12 yards.

The Hoosiers did not have a single receiver reach 50 yards in the game.

Emphasizing the run game is not a bad thing, especially if Indiana can continue to run the ball like they did in week one. Using the run to set up the pass will be crucial to the success of the offense. With so many talented playmakers outside, Cignetti will have to get them more involved going forward.

Will the lack of discipline be a recurring theme this season for Indiana football?

Curt Cignetti has had several viral moments since taking over at Indiana Football and he added a few more in week one including his reaction to a holding call.

Cignetti was unhappy with the amount of penalties the Hoosiers committed in their week one victory. Indiana was called for nine penalties for 80 yards.

While the penalties might not have cost them against FIU, against a tougher opponent they could be the difference between a win and loss.

Penalties kill drives and prevent stops and we saw both happen in week one. A 15-yard roughing the passer penalty turned an incompletion into a 15-yard gain for FIU in the first quarter. A holding call in the fourth quarter took away a first-down completion and knocked Indiana out of field goal range.

Indiana football cannot continue to make those types of mistakes if they want any shred of success in 2024.

Cignetti has often spoken about avoiding ‘self-imposed limitations’, but self-inflicted wounds like penalties could be just as bad if Indiana football can’t correct them moving forward.

Can Indiana football continue to assert its dominance against the run?

A big story from the Hoosiers’ week one win was the defense. Indiana football stifled the FIU offense which had just one drive over 40 yards.

The defense kept everything in front of them in a dominant display as they held FIU to under 200 total yards. Their impressive performance against the run is what stood out.

Indiana held FIU to just 53 rushing yards on 30 attempts. The Panthers averaged just 1.8 yards per rush compared to the 5.9 yards the Hoosiers averaged per rush.

In their week one loss, Western Illinois averaged just 3.2 yards per rush while rushing for 94 yards against Northern Illinois. The Indiana defense is more talented than the NIU and should have no problems with a poor WIU rushing attack.

Linebackers Aiden Fisher and Jailin Walker both made their presences felt while the defensive line did a great job plugging holes up front.

Indiana football is going to have to rely on the run defense as they get into the teeth of the season against Big Ten competition. Early performances like in week one are encouraging for a unit that will have a lot of pressure moving forward.

SEE ALSO: Curt Cignetti provides injury updates to key IU football offensive players

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