Indiana football's Pat Coogan pays Miami's defensive line the ultimate compliment
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MIAMI GARDENS — Indiana football starting center Pat Coogan walked through the downpour of confetti covered in blood after a 27-21 win over Miami in the CFP title game on Monday night.
Coogan downplayed the injury after the No. 1 Hoosiers wrapped up a perfect 16-0 season — he attributed the added crimson to his uniform to a small cut on his finger — but what he didn’t minimize was the physicality of the No. 10 Hurricanes (13-3).
“Best d-line I’ve ever played,” Coogan said. “One of the most physical, all the credit to Miami. That was a war, we knew it, but holy s***. That’s football.”
It was quite the compliment from Coogan who has making his 42nd career start in the CFP championship. The Notre Dame transfer has done battle with the best of the best having faced top competition as a four-plus year starter who twice reached the playoffs.
None of those previous opponents had a defensive front that compared to what he faced at Hard Rock Stadium. Miami sacked Fernando Mendoza three times, three quarterback hits and added three more tackles for loss. The Hurricanes also held IU’s ground game to a 131 yards on 40 attempts.
It was just the third time this season the Hoosiers averaged less than 3.0 yards per carry (2.9).
Indiana offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan got a sense of how physical game it was even from his vantage point up in the booth. He still kept calling interior runs in the second half with Miami bottling up Indiana’s receivers in man-to-man coverage and getting pressure on Mendoza.
“It looked like a real physical battle up front,” Shanahan said.
Miami created havoc up front through IU’s final drive when the offense was stuffed at the line of scrimmage looking for a first down on two straight carries up the middle that would have allowed them to run out the clock. The Hurricanes imposing line included defensive end Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor along with defensive tackles Ahmad Moten.
They are all listed at 6-foot-3 and 265-plus pounds.
Indiana starting left tackle Carter Smith laughed when he said they aren’t a group to be, “Trifled with.”
“They are amazing players.” Smith said. “They definitely got the best of me at times, all the credit to them, amazing players.”
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.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana football’s offensive line kept up the fight in physical CFP title game
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