Week 9 Gameday Roundup: Washington

Quick summary statistics for Indiana's 31-17 victory against Washington

NOTE: There was an issue with the data source BSB uses, and I’m working with those folks to get it resolved. Some of the data will appear differently in this Gameday Roundup. However, the data remains accurate, as I pulled figures from Game On Paper to temporarily serve in place of usual BSB data.

Indiana’s 31-17 win over Washington felt like one of those games where an inconsistent team puts it together to threaten a superior opponent. Well, that’s exactly what it was, as both sides of the ball for Washington had previously shown various capabilities but hadn’t threaded it together into one game quite yet. This was as close as they’ve come against an opponent that is effective on both sides. Washington OC Brennan Carroll came in with a sound gameplan that QB Will Rogers found efficiency within, and Jonah Coleman looked like a future NFL RB fighting against a strong defensive front. Defensively, Washington’s DL playmakers showed up to make each yard on the ground hard-fought, and the secondary was as advertised against backup QB Tayven Jackson. Washington is a tough team, and their regime shows promise once it can solidify a better OL and build that culture up.

For Indiana, winning a grind-it-out game where the offense became somewhat one-dimensional is promising. Good teams win those games. For as much criticism as the defense has faced in parts of the season, it held its ground despite Washington finding some success.

Jackson definitely struggled — in his reads and in his execution — and, like Curt Cignetti said after the game, left a lot of plays on the field while also making some plays as well. Moving forward, it seems like getting Kurtis Rourke back is more of a priority than initially thought.

The OL, as has been said often, truly won the game for Indiana on the offensive side. There are numbers in this newsletter that support this, but there were two moments in the game when Indiana decided it was going to milk the clock because its OL was simply that good — with 7:30 left in the first half up 14-7, and with 6:06 left in the game up 31-17. Indiana ran a 19-play and 14-play drive in each of those scenarios that ran off the entirety of the remaining clock. That, to me, is what separates this Indiana team from other Big Ten teams.

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Win Probability

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Top Performers

Indiana

• Passing: Tayven Jackson — 11-of-19, 124 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

• Rushing: Justice Ellison — 29 carries, 123 yards, 1 TD

• Receiving: Omar Cooper — 1 reception, 42 yards, 1 TD

• Defense: D’Angelo Ponds — 5 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 2 INTs, 1 TD

Washington

• Passing: Will Rogers — 19-of-26, 202 yards, 2 INTs

• Rushing: Jonah Coleman — 19 carries, 104 yards

• Receiving: Jeremiah Hunter — 4 receptions, 60 yards

• Defense: Alphonzo Tuputala — 14 tackles, 1 QB hit

See more at ESPN’s box score.

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