When you look at the final score in Indiana's win over Nebraska, it's pretty easy to see that it was a defensive battle. If the total points combined is under 40 in a college game these days, the defenses were getting it done. When you consider that both Indiana and Nebraska were averaging more than 40 points per game apiece, it becomes apparent that this one was a knockdown battle. At times, both teams found success, and Nebraska even had better numbers in a lot of categories, but at the end of the day, Indiana remained unbeaten winning 20-17.
Using a tool like Pro Football Focus allows us to see what happened on a player-by-player basis and gives some insight as to how the game really went. It's not gospel, but there are some things that just don't show up in the box score that can tell another part of the story.
Landino was Indiana's highest-graded defender on the field while taking on a heavy workload (60 snaps). He dominated inside against Nebraska's interior offensive line, posting high-caliber marks in both run defense (78.1) and pass rush (76.8), while also making a key play on the ball with a batted pass. He finished the day with three stops and that broked up pass.
Osunsanmi was an absolute menace off the edge, terrorizing the pocket with a team-high 5 total pressures (including 1 sack and 2 QB hits). His pass-rush grade tied Landino for team-best at 76.8, giving Indiana consistently high-leverage disruption on passing downs, from the edge and up the middle.
Playing all 87 snaps without taking a single play off, Zachman was the ultimate safety net for the secondary. He posted a team-best 83.9 tackling grade with 0 missed tackles, completely erased his primary coverage assignments (0 yards allowed on 1 target), and helped keep Nebraska's pass attack capped at just 6.0 yards per attempt.
Outside linebackers Rolijah Hardy and Isaiah Jones logged massive snap counts (87 total snaps each). However, Nebraska targeted them heavily in the passing game — the pair combined to allow 11 completions on 12 targets for 122 yards, with Hardy giving up 47 yards after catch.
Up front, Indiana's defensive tackle rotation was fundamentally sound as tacklers. Joe Hjelle, Blake Smythe, and Tyrique Tucker combined for 10 total tackles without recording a single missed tackle.
