BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football’s media availability on Tuesday night turned into offensive line appreciation day.
The Hoosiers top running backs Ty Son Lawton, Justice Ellison and Kaelon Black all took turns crediting the line for their early season success.
“Every single time I come on the sideline, I just want to jump up in their arms,” Ellison said. “I’m thankful man for what they’ve been doing out there. We’ve been needing it. They’ve been stepping up in a lot of different ways. I’ve been telling them to keep on going.”
Black echoed that sentiment.
“We love those boys up front,” Black said. “Wish we could give them a name like ‘The ‘Hogs or something, but those guys make the way for us and we love having them.”
The Hoosiers have scored 23 rushing touchdowns -— tied for third most in the country — and are averaging 5.1 yards per carry. Indiana has the 32nd-ranked rushing offense in the country (200.3 yards per game) through its first six games.
It’s the program’s most imposing rushing attack since Tevin Coleman put up 2,000-plus yards in 2014, but the running backs passed on the credit to the offensive line for their impressive numbers.
“Every time I go out there, I wonder what else they are going to do,” Ellison said. “A lot of the times, the holes are huge. Every time, I’m thankful for that.”
One of the biggest question marks for IU going into this weekend’s game against Nebraska is whether or not the offensive line will be able to maintain those good vibes.
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Nebraska has the sixth ranked rushing defense in the country (84.2 yards allowed) — just one spot behind Indiana — and held four teams to less than 100 yards including their two most recent conference opponents (Purdue and Rutgers).
Last week, that meant holding the Big Ten’s second leading rusher Kyle Monangai to a season-low 72 yards.
The Cornhuskers haven’t allowed a single rushing touchdown either.
“In the first six games that was a great accomplishment,” defensive coordinator Tony White told reporters on Monday. “But we’ll see if it holds.”
White’s 3-3-5 defense has been particularly effective in the red zone. They have only allowed nine scores (six touchdowns) on 13 trips inside the 20-yard line while completely shutting down the run. Opposing teams have rushed the ball 16 times for 20 yards in the red zone.
“They do everything they can to keep you off balance,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said.
Indiana leads the FBS in touchdowns (39) and red zone touchdowns (34). The Hoosiers have more rushing touchdowns in their first six games (20) than they’ve had in each of the last seven seasons.
Lawton, who has a team-high seven rushing touchdowns that have all come in the red zone, described a pretty straightforward recipe for success.
“Our o-line,” he said, with a smile. “Shout out to our coaches, they call the right plays and they’re successful. It’s as simple as that.”
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Indiana starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke has only been sacked five times this season on 178 drop backs.
According to Pro Football Focus, the starting offensive line has only allowed 16 quarterback pressures. Three starters (Carter Smith, Bray Lynch and Drew Evans) have only given up one quarterback pressure and none of the sacks allowed have been credited to the starters.
One glaring theme of Nebraska’s wins over Power Four opponents this season has been its dominance at the line of scrimmage.
The Cornhuskers pressured Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders on 35.6% of his drop backs (16 of 45), Purdue quarterback Hudson Card on 42.8% of his drop backs (15 of 35) and Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis 54.5% of the time (24 of 44). They combined for 15 sacks in those three wins and have 20 on the season.
Rourke hasn’t faced that kind of pressure all season. He’s only been pressured on more than 28% of his drop backs once this season.
“I think we’ve done a lot better job protecting the quarterback since the opening game, which has been a key to the passing game,” Cignetti said, in September. I think those guys are really playing well. They’re tough, hard-nosed guys.”
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
