The reigning national champions, Indiana, are riding a nation-leading 20-game winning streak right now, but do not let that fool you. Five weeks into the college football season, this squad is absolutely leaking oil, and the biggest worry? A brutal injury bug hitting their ballcarriers and a glaring lack of explosive plays. Close wins might mask those flaws for a bit, but the long haul has a way of exposing everything.
The Hoosiers’ Hidden Headaches Are Getting Worse
The biggest concern for Indiana has to be the injury crisis in their backfield. Two of the three main ballcarriers are now sidelined: Khobie Martin just broke his arm, and Turbo Richard suffered a leg injury in their win last week over Northwestern. That is a massive hit to a rotation that relies heavily on winning in the trenches first! Now, Lee Beebe Jr. is left to carry the entire load, and he has already put in work with 398 yards on 71 carries. He is good, but how much can one guy do when the depth is gone?
And get this, for a top-10 unbeaten team, Indiana is 52nd in the country in explosive plays. That is the lowest rate among any top-10 unbeaten team! Quarterback Josh Hoover has been efficient, sure, with 11 touchdowns, zero interceptions, and a 70% completion rate. Those numbers are solid, but without those big-play threats, things could get ugly fast. Coach Curt Cignetti might roll his eyes about the worry, especially after he warned fans not to whine following a “pretty lackluster” 38-0 victory over Western Kentucky, but the fact is, this team hasn’t hit its second gear yet. And the real question? Do they even have a third or fourth gear like last season’s champions did down the stretch? Bryant Haines’ defense still looks the part, though, even with a couple of 75-yard touchdown drives from the opposition in the fourth quarter last time out. But that offense needs to step up.
Ole Miss’s Run Defense Is a Disaster Waiting to Happen
Meanwhile, down in the SEC, the Ole Miss Rebels are facing a different kind of crisis. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding was initially harping on “horrid angles and broken coverages” from his secondary in the first few weeks, but as the SEC slate has kicked in, a far bigger issue has popped up: their team’s complete lack of physicality in run support. This unit is literally allowing other teams to impose their will!
Think about it: Ole Miss has already allowed 19 runs of 10 or more yards this season. That is the second-worst in the entire SEC! Last season, they somehow got by with a bottom-tier rush defense and still made it to the CFP, but this year it feels even worse. If they cannot stop the run, those “leaking oil” issues are going to turn into a full-blown inferno in conference play.
Conference play is only heating up, and these early season cracks could turn into full-blown collapses if things are not fixed fast. For these teams, what happens in October is going to define whether they are contenders or pretenders, especially with flaws getting exposed more every single week.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
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