Indiana Football's Dominant Strategy: Run to Set the Pass

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00:00Yeah, two of the players that we can highlight for Indiana, Coach, one is Kaelin Black.

00:05He's a dual running back with Roman Hemby, the former Maryland transfer.

00:11But Kaelin Black is just a physical runner between the tackles.

00:15I mean, he runs downhill every time he carries the football, and he really sets a tone and a physicality.

00:22Now, I do believe that the offensive line sets that up with on how good and how disciplined they are.

00:28But when you have running backs, and to Miami's point as well with Jamari Brown and Mark Fletcher,

00:34they are able to set the tone for your offense to really say, we're going to run right at you, try and stop us.

00:41Yeah, I mean, Indiana's a blue-collar football team.

00:44And they're not a—they pass and rush for about the same amount of yardage,

00:49but they run the ball a lot more often than they pass it.

00:52That's the kind of football team that you want, able to run the ball,

00:56even though the defense knows that you're likely to run it and get yourself into short yardage situations,

01:02or get the one-on-ones.

01:05I think we saw one of the keys of their football team in Indiana.

01:08They're physically going to run it at you.

01:10They're going to force you to load the box, and you've got to jump up on those wide receivers tight.

01:16And I'm going to say this about Mendoza in that game against Oregon.

01:19He may be the best back shoulder thrower I've seen in college football.

01:22When you get one-on-one and you've got to go deep, he doesn't throw over top.

01:26He throws that back shoulder that's almost impossible to stop, and he completes them.

01:30So great scheme, very blue-collar.

01:34Run the ball first and set up the pass and then throw great—I mean, they throw great one-on-run routes to the outside.

01:41In watching that game play out against Oregon, right, he gets the football to Aliyah Surratt,

01:48their big play wide receiver that did have 75 yards and two touchdowns.

01:53Omar Cooper's another big play wide receiver.

01:56But Mendoza just seems to be poised.

01:59I haven't seen him rattled throughout the regular season, Coach.

02:02I think that's the biggest attribute.

02:04You can look over the past couple of years with Caleb Williams and Jaden Daniels

02:08maybe having better physical attributes, but Mendoza just has that calm about him

02:13that just showcases why they're the number one seed right now.

02:18Well, you know, that's something, if you listen to Kurt Cignetti talk,

02:21when they recruit players, especially quarterbacks,

02:24they want to know what's between the ears, not what's just in the arm.

02:27And I think they do a great job with that.

02:29And Mendoza's one of those that just understands how to be a quarterback

02:33and how to throw the ball and run the offense effectively.

02:36They don't throw the ball very much, but when they do,

02:39he completes them and does a great job with it.

02:41Again, that's great football IQ.

02:43That's knowing how to be a quarterback.

02:46And that's where they are so strong this year.