"I don't know how you thought it could be better than 7-5".......Well, as for me, I pretty much lay that on Coach Allen. You see, I saw this team in spring practice, and didn't see in that limited exposure any evidence that Lagow had improved 1%....but we were told how much better he was as a leader, how much his decision making had improved, blah, blah, blah. And to beat out Ramsey.......we were told how much Ramsey had impressed....so if Lagow is good enough to win the position, he MUST be improved, right? The offensive and defensive lines didn't show a lot either. But when the head coach talks constantly about a breakthrough, you think he is seeing things we aren't, that the team has special chemistry et al.
So, what's the minimum win season for a breakthrough year? In this instance, I would say 8-4. Beat every one you should beat, plus beat OSU or UM or MSU or Wisconsin. So then MD beats Texas, and now maybe 7-5 looks good.....then they lose their 2 good QBs, so we're back to 8-4.
So......the head coach over-promised and under-delivered. And I think the coach has lost some credibility in the process. Now the interesting ?s to me are what made him so optimistic about this particular team, and what does he REALLY think about the performance of the coaching staff? For example, does he really regret the Debord hiring? I sure do.
I agree that deboard should be on the hot seat, and us as fans had high hopes headed into the season. But it was appearent after week 1 that this was not a breakthrough season.
We all saw that OSU game. I am not taking anything away from OSU because they have a great d-line, but a lot of that was less about OSU’s greatness on the D-line and IU’s poor play. And most of that is on the players, and not deboard. Look, those guys struggle to block the right people on inside zone plays... the most basic play in college football. There’s no communication, they don’t climb to linebackers and they get manhandled in 1 on 1 matchups. In the past, we had the depth to not play those guys because CKW had really really good O-line classes in 11’ and 12’, but if you look at what came in after those classes, the depth was not there. For example, we had Bailey, Rogers, Camiel (who was hurt) and Feeney as the opening day starters last year, with Knight filling in at tackle. That’s 4 5th year seniors. There was not depth behind them.
So as you know, the name of the game in the Big Ten is to run the ball and stop the run. If you can’t run the ball you are screwed. It’s too physical of a conference to chuck it 50 times a game like in the Big 12 or pac 12, and we don’t have a ton of 4.3 speed athletes in the Big 12. You have to have a run game. The losses to the O-line after the 15’ and 16’ seasons were too much to realistically not expect a set back. The previous lines were so good that they had Redding run for 1,000 back to back seasons and he couldn’t even make an nfl roster... and in one of the seasons he didn’t even start... and he ran a 4.78 at the combine. That’s how talented the line was. Ellison is probably more talented than Redding, but has no line.
So with that being said, you have to question how realistic it was for deboard to really have a good offense this year. I love CKW but let’s be real, there wasn’t depth behind his first two recruiting classes on the O-line which is critical. Knight and Cronk will likely develop, but hell, we had to move Feeney to tackle because of knights injuries and lackluster play. So to think that they’d be ready to come in and replace the last group was unrealistic.
Deboard can only be as good as the horses he gets, but I think that you’d agree that it’s on him to develop them this offseason. Next year, If they can’t run a basic inside zone, fire him. That’s unacceptable. But In year 1, i think the expectations were unrealistic.
Year 2 will be the make or break point for me. It is realistic to expect a 6-6 team next year because knight will be a senior, Cronk a junior, Baker a 5th year senior, Martin will be a 5th year, and Norwah has a year under his belt. They’ve been through the fire after that year, and there’s no where but up. We won’t have to chuck it 40+ times just to be competitive, but can actually have balance if they improve. Gest showed signs, Brookins showed signs, And Morgan Ellison can honestly be better than Redding, Coleman, Howard and Houston, and that’s scary. He will be around 235+ next year and ready to go. Devonte Williams and Majette showed that they can be dynamic in the pass game, and big bacon is going to be back and healthy for short yardage. That’s 7 deep at running back, with a veteran O-line. When has IU ever been 7 deep at tailback? Mix in the talent coming back at receiver even without Cobbs (I think that he will be back), and you are probably looking at one of the more talented offenses in the country. The only position concern is Tight end, but Wattercutter showed signs and will be a 5th year senior, Dorris blocks hard when he’s in, and we had two true freshman TE’s get some experience on ST, and TJ Ivy is committed and he’s a faster Ian Thomas but will need time to develop. Realistically, deboard has no excuses next year and they really just needed a year to develop that line.
Don’t be shocked if they win 7-9 games next year.