NOTEBOOK: On Getting Better; Record QB Debut; and More
By Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Better play is coming, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti insists. Even with the season-opening 52-16 domination of North Texas, highlighted by the Hoosiers scoring on seven of their eight possessions with six touchdowns and Nico Radicic’s career-best 49-yard field goal, more is expected from a defending national championship squad. It resumes Saturday against Howard (1-1) at Merchants Bank Field on Memorial Stadium.
“A lot of improvements to be made,” Cignetti says from Monday’s press conference at the Don Croftcheck Team Room.
The sixth-ranked Hoosiers (1-0) won the first quarter 14-0 and the fourth quarter 21-0. Issues surfaced mostly in the middle two quarters, from poor tackling to missed assignments (more on the bench than on the field, Cignetti says) to not getting the North Texas offense off the field.
“We weren’t real disruptive up front,” Cignetti says, “but it was a little bit of a space game, too. You go out in the first game, you’re not exactly sure what the opponent is going to do. To their credit, they gave us a lot of different looks, but we overcame it.”
Veteran linebacker Isaiah Jones insists the Hoosiers will clean up the mistakes and play to their potential. That’s exactly what Cignetti wants to hear.
“I think all the ones that have been here on (the defensive) side of the ball felt that way during the game and after the game,” Cignetti says. “It's got to get better. There are things we have to do better. And I'm sure it will.
“We've got good leadership, and there's no doubt (Jones) is No. 1 over there.”
Josh Hoover, a TCU transfer, made IU program history against North Texas. No other quarterback had ever thrown four touchdown passes in his debut game. Fernando Mendoza, who won the Heisman Trophy last year and threw 41 TDs, threw zero touchdowns in his first game.
Hoover, who finished 13-for-16 with 231 yards, tied the record for most touchdown passes in a season opener set by Nate Sudfeld against Indiana State in 2013.
“Impressive? Absolutely, but not perfect,” Cignetti says.
“Obviously, it was a good start. Four touchdown passes, great catch by (Nick) Marsh on the first one. He made some nice throws, some good decisions.
“He got away with one that he's not gonna get away with in Big Ten play. And the one long touchdown to Charlie (Becker), he's got to step into that throw better and get it out there and get it up and down.
“The play he got his helmet ripped off; he flipped the protection and really shouldn't have. So, he became unprotected to the side of the blitz, but then he responded and threw a touchdown pass shortly thereafter. But even then, a hair late and made a little tougher catch for Charlie than it needed to be. Great catch by Charlie.
“He played well. There's no question about it. It was a good start.”
FOX analyst and former Notre Dame All-America quarterback Brady Quinn says Hoover might be “the most talented quarterback to have played under Coach Cignetti.”
“He layers balls. He’s not as mobile as Fernando, but I don’t know that there’s a huge difference between those two. He’s not as big as Fernando, but he can make all the throws. He started for a long time (36 games at TCU). He’s the most productive quarterback in college football (9,860 yards, 75 TDs in his career). There’s a reason why they went after him.”
Adds fellow FOX analyst Urban Meyer, a Hall of Fame coach at Florida and Ohio State: “They might have the most talented player they’ve had yet at quarterback.”
For those worried about Hoover’s turnover tendencies at TCU (33 career interceptions, 11 fumbles), consider his zero turnover Hoosier debut a big-time statement.
Of his three incompletions, one was a throwaway when nothing was open.
“The things where he gets into trouble, the turnovers and interceptions, are very fixable,” Quinn says. “What I see on tape is that at times he makes up his mind before the snap where to throw the ball. That happens sometimes at quarterback. You see something pre-snap, you think this is going to be open and try to manipulate the defense and it’s not there.
“When you have a shot play, if it’s not there, sometimes you just throw it away. That’s something that comes from coaching and repetition.
“Check it down. Take what the defense gives you. Those are all things he can improve upon and we’re going to see that. It’s how Coach Cignetti and (offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan) coach the quarterbacks.”
Howard averages 26.0 points a game and allows 26.0. It throws for 215.5 yards and runs for 122.5. It is 4-for-4 on fourth-down conversions.
Quarterback Ja’Shawn Scroggins is a dual threat. He’s thrown for 424 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for a team-leading 65 yards. He only completes 44.4 percent of his passes.
Four receivers average at least 22.0 yards a catch. Se’Quan Osborne has four catches for 101 yards and a touchdown. The Bison have four players who have rushed for at least 65 yards.
Howard has beaten Alabama A&M 31-24 and lost to FCS power Richmond 28-21.
“(Scroggins is) their leading rusher, and obviously the quarterback, too,” Cignetti says. “He's a really good athlete. They've got good team speed. I mean, they've got skill. Even on defense, they've got quickness and speed. So, the quarterback, he's played a lot for them and he's a dual guy.”
Cignetti lists starting cornerbacks Jamari Sharpe and A.J. Harris as “day to day” after both left Saturday’s game in the first quarter with injuries. Running back Khobie Martin, who also was hurt in the first quarter, is expected back “around midseason.”
Second-year receiver Davion Chandler is immensely talented and, at times, exceptionally exuberant. Cignetti is fine when that comes off the field with teammates, not so much when it comes on the field to generate individual acclaim.
Chandler capped his fourth-quarter, 42-yard TD catch with a spike that earned a Cignetti coaching point.
“He's not supposed to spike the ball,” Cignetti says. “I’m trying to look for reasons to play him; he's giving me reasons not to.”
He smiles.
“I mean, that's youth.”
Jones is well aware of Cignetti’s no-nonsense approach.
“If he spiked the ball, I could have told you right there that Cig was going to be mad,” Jones says. “I could tell you if anyone spikes the ball, spins the ball, does a dance, and Coach Cig sees it, you're going to get an earful.”
The success Cignetti and Shanahan have had in bringing in a new transfer quarterback every year and coaching them to the best seasons of their careers impresses and baffles Meyer.
“When I first started hearing about the transfer portal, I said quarterback is one place you can’t do it. I couldn’t have been proven more wrong.”
Cignetti and Shanahan thrived with that approach at James Madison. At IU, they’ve had Kurtis Rourke (an Ohio University transfer), Mendoza (from the University of California) and now Hoover.
“I don’t get it,” Meyer says. “I don’t understand it at all. I always thought the quarterback was someone you had to train and develop. They had to progressively learn. (Cignetti and his staff) wrote the book on it.”
Hoover is the latest example.
“It’s incredibly challenging,” Quinn says. “I always say learning a new offense is like learning a new language. It’s hard to put it into context. To see what IU coaches did with Kurtis Rourke and then Fernando Mendoza and now Josh Hoover, is incredible.
“It’s also a credit to the quarterbacks and the job they’ve done to prepare and give themselves the opportunity to excel.”
IU’s quarterback friendly system that also includes a potent rushing attack helps, Quinn adds.
“The coaches don’t try to put too much on the quarterback. TCU was more of a pass-first offense. Here, you have more balance. Hoover doesn’t have to worry that he has to win the game by himself.”
IU’s big-pass-play success against North Texas reflected in part the Mean Green’s commitment to stopping the run (the Hoosiers rushed for 134 yards, but 43 came on backup quarterback Grant Wilson’s fourth-quarter run) as well as it did receivers beating one-on-one coverage.
“We won our one-on-one matchups,” Cignetti says. “They had a hard time covering us. They were committed to trying to stop the run the best they could. They came out in five down linemen. That was their goal coming in.
“They were going to try to do as good as they could against the run and take their chances against the pass, and we won our one-on-ones.”