2020-21 Indiana Athletics thread

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  • Sollozzo
    replied
    Purdue will absolutely massacre IU. They will want revenge for that OT win we pulled out a couple years back, plus they will be jockeying for bowl position. Meanwhile, IU will be the walking dead at that point.

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  • clownskull
    replied
    Rutgers is the only viable game left. I give the hoosiers 0% chance against Minnesota & Purdue. I suspect both of those games to be blowouts.
    whatever momentum the program may have had at the start of the season is completely gone now.
    iu football is back to being.... iu football.

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  • D-BONE
    replied
    Originally posted by Bball
    So, the offensive line is pretty bad. Let's take the Penix situation out of the equation, what part of that O-line did IU think was going to be up to B10 standards so that they could compete offensively in the B10?

    We know the secondary has dealt with injuries, so the defense kind of has some excuses, plus at this point, it's hard to blame them if they can't maintain focus with the offense not being able to score. But this offense???
    It's definitely offensive.

    Coaching miss? Recruiting miss?

    Couldn't agree more on the o-line. I've been concerned about it since last year. It's just terrible. Might actually be the root of our offensive problems.

    That an a penchant for QB's made of glass. But you have to take into account how often those QBs are running for their lives. Even if some of the significant injuries occurred well outside the pocket.

    O-line talent/performance has dropped of the the face of the earth in the Allen regime compared to Wilson.

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  • D-BONE
    replied
    Originally posted by Sollozzo
    When they are making the big prime time schedules next year, the first rule will probably be no wasting space on Indiana getting blown out by a superior opponent.
    I can't even watch at this point. We've plummeted right back to the depths of our historical ineptitude. Can't take the pain right now. I didn't expect to contend for the conference title. I was hoping we'd contend for .500-ish record. In other words maintain a shred of competitive decency. Not even close.

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  • Bball
    replied
    So, the offensive line is pretty bad. Let's take the Penix situation out of the equation, what part of that O-line did IU think was going to be up to B10 standards so that they could compete offensively in the B10?

    We know the secondary has dealt with injuries, so the defense kind of has some excuses, plus at this point, it's hard to blame them if they can't maintain focus with the offense not being able to score. But this offense???
    It's definitely offensive.

    Coaching miss? Recruiting miss?


    Leave a comment:


  • Sollozzo
    replied
    When they are making the big prime time schedules next year, the first rule will probably be no wasting space on Indiana getting blown out by a superior opponent.

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  • clownskull
    replied
    Haskins is killing the hoosiers.

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  • clownskull
    replied
    well, i was looking at cbs sports college football rankings and iu is the highest ranked 2-6 squad in the country (78)
    so, we at least got that going for us!
    edit: ok so we have since fallen to 86 but, we're still the highest ranked 2-6 team in the country!
    https://www.cbssports.com/college-fo...ports-ranking/
    Last edited by clownskull; 11-01-2021, 04:50 PM.

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  • Bball
    replied
    Originally posted by clownskull
    The football team will be lucky to win another game the rest of the year.
    It's getting hard to find those 'sure' wins on the schedule...

    IU definitely made a game of it today, but really, the same type of stuff that led to that 14-0 hole ultimately is why they still lost in the end. Blown defensive plays. They'd have what looked like a sure stop, and then one whiffed tackle later, the player was getting a first down instead of a short gain or even a loss. Or someone be WIDE open for a pass for the first down. Blown coverage.
    They had some good defensive plays too... but... inconsistency will always burn you. And it did today. Even with the offense able to get some points, the inconsistency on defense today killed them. If it's not one thing... it's another.

    I'll admit, when IU gave up 14 points, and was staring at a kick that would've made it 17-0, I was starting to wonder if this was the worst IU team I could remember. I know there's been some bad ones... but I can't remember any that were supposed to be good that ended failing so spectacularly.
    I suppose the end of the Mallory years maybe. I don't remember what was expected of those last couple teams or exactly how they ended where they did, except after several years of IU having decent seasons under Mallory they really slipped at the end. And I can remember some super conservative play calling, even on 3rd and long with the team badly needing to get a drive going..
    Last edited by Bball; 10-31-2021, 04:14 AM.

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  • D-BONE
    replied
    Glad I didn't waste any time watching it. Surrender 500 yards to Maryland? And I thought the defense was solid.

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  • clownskull
    replied
    The football team will be lucky to win another game the rest of the year.

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  • Bball
    replied
    Now that football season is over... wait, it not? Anyway, Bobby Knight attends IU practice at Assembly Hall:

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  • Sollozzo
    replied
    The problem for IU is that they play in the Big 10 and therefore will almost always have a tough schedule. Some years will be worse than others, but the sheer nature of us playing in the Big 10 means it will almost always be at least pretty tough.

    We probably shouldn’t schedule anymore Cincinnatis so we can at least pile up as many non-conference wins as possible. But as far as the Big 10 is concerned, there are too many programs who are consistently very good to great. And if they have a down year they seem to quickly rebound the next year. Tough for IU to build up a consistent wins in a conference where there are just so many quality programs.

    At best, IU is a program that can periodically have the opportunity to make a bowl game that they can royally screw up. That’s our max potential.

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  • Trader Joe
    replied
    Originally posted by Bball
    I sense two mistakes by Tom Allen (not necessarily only two mistakes but 2 big ones among others). Am I wrong?

    #1 Managing expectations.
    IU had lofty fan expectations after last season. IU had lofty media expectations after last season. IU entered the season ranked in the top 20.
    In hindsight now, no way was that ranking deserved, except based on last year. Tom Allen had to know/see the team was not a top 20 team and the potential was there to struggle. At least he should've known. There were also questions about Penix' recovery and those seemed to be answered quickly by "He was not ready either mentally, physically, or both to be the same QB he was last year".

    I don't recall Allen doing much to temper those expectations. If anything, I'd think he should've been both tempering expectations and using that as motivation for the team to tell them they aren't a top 20 team and last year was last year and this is this year.

    #2 I'm wondering if not only were the team's heads blown up too much, but so were Allen's (and by extension the entire coaching staff). I'm starting to think they ALL believed the hype and weren't ready to have a target on their back, let alone have a normal post-Covid football season, nor realize last year is over and this was to be a brand new year with some player losses, without a lot of depth, a QB coming off a major injury (with durability concerns anyway)....


    -----
    I'm having a hard time imagining the team could be this bad/weak/uncompetitive without some season preparation flaws. And with the hindsight for everyone to see this team is far from top 20, I'm not sure how the coaching staff didn't see it early and get ahead of it managing expectations. That doesn't mean saying "We're going to suck..." but that means saying "We're going to have to work twice as hard because we're not as good as last year right now". "We're not the same team as last year and players have to realize that. We ALL have to realize that. This season could go the wrong way fast if we're not careful and everyone do their parts".

    EDIT: I'm not talking problems with a lack of winning as much as problems with even being marginally competitive. IU isn't even in the same zip code. If you can't even be competitive then of course a lack of winning is going to follow. It would be different if IU was hanging close and just unable to close the deal against these ranked teams, leading to the record they have.
    I think the defense has more than backed up that ranking TBH. They played well enough to win against MSU and Cincy and frankly Iowa as well. You flip those two games and the team is 4-3 or (5-2) with remaining games against Minny, Maryland, Rutgers, and Purdue. We'd all be sitting here talking about going 8-4 or 9-3 (Loss @ Michigan) against a very difficult schedule and I think we'd be feeling very, very good.

    However, I don't think anyone really accounted for the razor thin margin IU's offense played with last season. Sheridan's play calling put a ton of pressure on the defense and on not turning the ball over at all. If you look at last year's team, IU's defense basically stood on their head for most of the big games while IU's offense took care of the ball and did just enough to get by leaning on Stevie Scott and Penix's arm talent connecting to Fryfogle and Whop (BTW, Whop made a lot of our dink and donk plays look a lot better than they are last year). The offense was not a world beater it was just good enough and hasn't been impressive at all since Deboer went to become head coach at Fresno. (BTW, they're 6-2 this year in his second year as head coach.) Now the offense is turning the ball over and Stephen Carr is showing why he's just not a power 5 lead running back, Penix gets hurt again, Tuttle goes down....Sheridan's been exposed badly for his conservative approach.

    So anyway, I'm not as negative as many of you, this year sucks big time, don't get me wrong, but I think with a new OC next year, they can bounce back as long as they can weather this mentally.
    Last edited by Trader Joe; 10-25-2021, 01:06 PM.

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  • Trader Joe
    replied
    It was really disappointing to see the team basically just pack it in after Tuttle was hurt. Throwing some no name walk on scrub to the wolves like a human sacrifice. That isn't how Allen has built this program. You can tell everyone around the team is shook from what is happening this season. Just seems cursed.

    That decision also left your defense completley out to dry....again. I'm just not sure what was going on there. I get wanting to protect your star freshman QB and not send him out in bad weather behind a shakey oline against OHio State, but just call covservative plays. Maybe they were trying to protect his RS status I don't know, but still just disappointing.

    Having said that, losing Tuttle on a TD play right after what was arguably the best offensive drive of the entire season against Ohio State at home pretty much sums up the kind of luck we have had this year against this absolutely brutal schedule.
    Last edited by Trader Joe; 10-25-2021, 12:51 PM.

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