We have a very good defense, but an offense that's mediocre at best. That's good enough for a top 25 ranking, but it sets us up for a downfall against a team that has both a good offense and defense.
The offensive line is a weakness right now. Had the line stayed healthy, they could probably have solidified into a decent unit by now, but the injuries to Craig and Schrauth (arguably two of our best linemen) threw monkey wrenches into the machinery.
Riley Leonard lost his efficacy once he took that hard hit, and couldn't really run very well. Towards the end, the QB runs where he'd normally pick up 5-6 yards, he was getting 2 yards at the most on each carry, which led to three and outs.
I'll admit, that when Riley Leonard is healthy and strong, the offense can get moving to the point where it's serviceable, but it seems like when he takes one hard hit, he's all but gimped for the rest of the game (NIU, Louisville).
Leonard's passing really didn't scare the defense, except on one play where he just lobbed it towards Greathouse for that TD. There was no deep safety help, since they weren't expecting the downfield pass.
On the screen pass to Love, they were stacking the box, aggressively trying to play run stuff, and knew that there was no downfield passing threat.
We were fortunate that we could make them pay for being overly aggressive with the 9 man front on those plays.
But, against a top notch team, you can't count on your opponents getting too comfortable in their defensive schemes. They're not going to make those mistakes.
Unless the offensive line finally solidifies, and we also play a legitimate throwing threat at the QB position, we'd most likely get beaten by any playoff team, barring it being some extremely weak entry.