Behind Enemy Lines: Five Questions for Hoosiers Now's Daniel Olinger

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Following a blowout victory over Murray State in their 2023 home opener, the Louisville football program is set to play their second neutral site matchup in three games, traveling up I-65 for a showdown with Indiana.

Ahead of the matchup, Louisville Report sat down with Daniel Olinger of Sports Illustrated's Hoosiers Now to find out more about the Hoosiers:

1. What is the vibe surrounding the program right now? There didn’t seem to be a ton of expectations heading into the season, but IU played Ohio State closer than many expected, and looked good against Indiana State.

The vibes are confusing? Week 1 was the perfect embodiment of how weird both college football and, more specifically, Indiana football can be. IU covered the spread against Ohio State and held tough for 3 quarters and pretty much both fanbases absolutely hated it. Particularly on the Indiana side, there was a lot of frustration over the offensive game plan of pseudo triple option. It just felt like IU was playing to lose by less and had absolutely zero intention of trying to win the game. That drew the ire of fans toward Tom Allen, and why the vibes for the program as a whole are down, bc most people around Indiana just don't trust him much anymore after the last two seasons. But for this team specifically, the vibes are pointing up because everyone loves this new defense and think Tayven Jackson *might* be a guy.

2. With Tayven Jackson earning the starting QB nod over Brendan Sorsby after two games where they split reps, what can we expect from him? What can Jackson do that Sorsby can’t?

As much as offensive coordinator Walt Bell has been flamed for his non-answers at press conferences, and his openly admitting that he never tried to call any ambitious plays against Ohio State, he's right in saying that Jackson and Sorsby have similar styles. They're both mobile quarterbacks with adequate size and non-noodle arms that can push the ball downfield. They both have the same general weakness too, in that neither has played enough games and clearly lack feel in processing reads and basic things like pocket awareness. Sorsby might be better on designed runs, but Jackson is far more elusive within the pocket and better at creating out of structure when a passing play breaks down. Additionally, Jackson has been slightly more accurate pushing the ball downfield, though I can't say he is the better passer with 100% certainty. I wrote a column on this today about how we still know so little about how good IU and their quarterbacks are, bc in Week 1 they both looked terrible against a top 10 team, and in Week 2 they played a team that is bad for FCS and looked a lot better.

3. How much of an impact does RB Jaylin Lucas have on this offense? Especially one that runs a lot of option plays?

Lucas has an immense impact, as he's their only proven explosive play threat as of yet. Half of Indiana's offense can be described as "get Jaylin Lucas the ball = profit?" I have a lot of Ohio State people in my life, and even they were blown away by how silly Lucas made some of their defenders look. IU is using him way more on runs toward the boundary and in the short passing game, either as a check down in the flat or on drag routes coming across the middle. He's a player who makes you check your t's and dot your i's on every single snap. He doesn't do much as a route runner, and he's probably only breaking a long run if there's a blown assignment, but if Louisville ever forgets to have proper containment dialed up for him on a play, Lucas will burn them.

4. What was Indiana doing defensively to limit was the explosive Ohio State offense was doing? Especially on third down and in the secondary?

I wouldn't claim to be an X's and O's genius in football, but Indiana's defense hasn't done anything too wild schematically. They're just 1-11 way more talented than they were last year, as the whole unit was basically replaced with new transfer players to put around sixth-year guys Aaron Casey and Noah Pierre. The corners have held up better in coverage, and are asked to do far less with a D-LIne that is basically only veteran transfers and was kind of dominating against Ohio State for portions of the game. Andre Carter has been winning against anyone and everyone, and the rest of the team does a great job capitalizing on the opportunities created by the attention that he draws. It's a fast and physical defense that has hardly given up any explosive plays, because they trust that they're talented enough to hang with anyone, and don't need to do anything too risky or unorthodox when they can simply win at the point of attack.

5. Who would you say is the “X-Factor” on this underrated IU defense?

I obviously already mentioned Carter, who every IU fan probably thinks deserves Heisman votes after the first two weeks, so I'll talk about a different guy here in Phillip Dunnam. He's by far the youngest contributor on defense, as pretty much every other player is a veteran transfer or a sixth-year IU guy. Dunnam played as a true freshman, and is in a three-man rotation for the two safety spots along with Josh Sanguinetti and Louis Moore. Dunnam got the big interception off McCord in Week 1 (and was the first Indiana defender to hold the WWE Takeaway Belt), and every coach and player says no one on the team picks off more passes than him during practice. He plays like the rest of this defense does — aggressive and downhill. He's closing fast on every play near the line of scrimmage, but has yet to have been punished for his aggression with a deep shot, as has the entirety of the defense. If there's one guy in the back line of Indiana's defense that could make a game changing play against Louisville, it might be Dunnam.

(Photo of Tayven Jackson: Trevor Ruszkowski - USA TODAY Sports)

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