INDIANOLIS — Indiana linebacker Isaiah Jones was disappointed when he walked off the field Saturday.
But even before No. 5 Indiana reached the postgame locker room, Jones already knew what he expected to hear from Cignetti: that the defense failed to play up to its national championship pedigree or the standard he helped establish over the previous two years.
“The defense left the field unsatisfied with how we played,” Jones said moments after the game. “We beat ourselves on some plays, and we’ve got to get off the field quicker.”
They led wire-to-wire, never allowed the Mean Green to get within single digits after taking a quick 14-0 lead, forced the game’s only turnover and dominated on special teams. Harris transferred to Indiana this season after starting 26 games over the previous two seasons at Penn State. From that standpoint, Jones and the two-time Associated Press Coach of the Year liked what they saw. So after a sloppy start, the Hoosiers spent this week on clean-up duty as they prepare this weekend’s game against Football Championship Subdivision foe Howard. “We’ve got to tackle a little bit better in space. The missed assignments, we weren’t real disruptive up front. “Nobody on that defense felt like we met the standard, definitely gave up too many plays. “Monday we watched film, made the corrections, and we’ve been hammering those corrections in practice. Sharpe’s late interception sealed Indiana’s title game victory in January. “You go out in the first game, you’re not exactly sure what the opponent’s going to do. They gave us a lot of different looks, to their credit, but we overcame it.”
“It was a combination of some missed critical assignments, poor tackling, so we’ve got to get better there,” Cignetti explained Monday after studying game footage. It wasn’t the standard,” linebacker Rolijah Hardy said. “Jaylen played extensively to the field and I thought did a nice job, and Ryland played on the and got a tackle,” he said.
