4 Big Ten Teams Who Could Take A Step Back Next Year

[red hornet]

By Patrick Weider

1) Indiana Hoosiers- With a tougher schedule, the author expects Indiana to slide back to the 7–9-win range. He compliments Curt Cignetti (national coach of the year) as a very good FB coach

2) Oregon Ducks- due to losing a veteran team & QB

3) OSU- National Champs but lost two Big Ten games last year. They lose most of their defense & their QB.

4) Iowa Hawkeyes- faces much tougher schedule than last year, although he didn't mention Indiana as being one of their toughest games

 

[vesuvius13]

I think IU will surprise analyst again this year by not taking a step. If IU does, I won't be discouraged by a season with a few losses this year.

 

[Big Red Crimson Buffalo]

Weider covers OSU football, grew up an OSU fan and has been involved in high school coaching.
Kind of interesting he points to a tougher schedule for IU but other pundits say we have the 3rd easiest schedule.

 

[TMFT]

I think IU will surprise analyst again this year by not taking a step. If IU does, I won't be discouraged by a season with a few losses this year.

I'll add that I'm less concerned with wins & losses than I am in the quality of the wins & losses.

If we end up with three close losses to, for example only - NOT predictions, Illinois, @ Penn St., & @ Oregon, I'll be more than satisfied. You can be a better team while still experiencing more losses. Similarly, if we get 10 or 11 wins, I'll still be ecstatic, but if 4-5 of those wins end up looking flukey or lucky, it's less inspiring.

If three losses end up being really lopsided like OSU & ND games ended up last year, the naysayers will keep saying nay. Footnote: getting whipped by the two finalists isn't anything to hang your head about.

 

[olympian97]

Getting whipped by the two finalists in your first year in a program that won 3 games the year before and has never in our 100+ years history won more than 9 games is more than nothing to hang your head about. It is something to be quite proud of. If we have even close to the same results next year you have to think we will start reaping the benefits in the level of players we get in the portal and in hs recruiting. If Oregon can do it we can too. If we did all this in year 1 of a coaching change imagine where we can be by year 5. If our floor in that time is 7 wins I will be beyond ecstatic. After last year the good thing is we now don’t need to cap expectations for our ceiling. Just put a good product on the field and show consistent improvement. That is the best way to have a team you can be proud of win or lose.

 

[4IUSox2]

Wow!! That writer’s really going out on a limb, isn’t he?!?! Who would think the National champ, the conference champ and the surprise team in the league who made the CFP last season, all might not meet those lofty achievements of last season?!?! Someone needs to ask this writer if water is wet, too? I’m anxious to hear his insight.🙄

 

[kmathum]

By Patrick Weider

1) Indiana Hoosiers- With a tougher schedule, the author expects Indiana to slide back to the 7–9-win range. He compliments Curt Cignetti (national coach of the year) as a very good FB coach

2) Oregon Ducks- due to losing a veteran team & QB

3) OSU- National Champs but lost two Big Ten games last year. They lose most of their defense & their QB.

4) Iowa Hawkeyes- faces much tougher schedule than last year, although he didn't mention Indiana as being one of their toughest games

Most non-IU fans still think 2024 was a flash in the pan. I think 2025 will prove them wrong.

 

[abraxis]

Weider covers OSU football, grew up an OSU fan and has been involved in high school coaching.
Kind of interesting he points to a tougher schedule for IU but other pundits say we have the 3rd easiest schedule.

Well, when our team goes from last season’s easiest schedule to next season’s 3rd easiest, that does qualify us for a tougher schedule tag.

 

[sparkeyreturns]

Weider covers OSU football, grew up an OSU fan and has been involved in high school coaching.
Kind of interesting he points to a tougher schedule for IU but other pundits say we have the 3rd easiest schedule.

all of our toughest games are on the road though.

 

[SammyJacobs]

IU had an all-time season, if you want to call anything but a repeat of that a step back. OK.

 

[abraxis]

all of our toughest games are on the road though.

I don’t think road games in football are quite the obstacle road games are in basketball. In other words, it’s easier for a favored football team to win on foreign turf than it is for a favored basketball team on less familiar hardwood.

 

[Big Red Crimson Buffalo]

I don’t think road games in football are quite the obstacle road games are in basketball. In other words, it’s easier for a favored football team to win on foreign turf than it is for a favored basketball team on less familiar hardwood.

Fans tend to influence basketball games a hell of a lot more for home games. In many situations fans are within mere feet of a referee. IU had a fan ejected by a referee this year. A much more confined and intimate space and referees are highly influenced by home crowds. Basketball leads almost any sport in “make up” calls.
However, it isn’t exactly an easy feat walking into a place where you have 110K people screaming at you either. Crowds the size of football can influence a game through noise level alone. False starts. Not being able to hear signals, etc.

 

[Army88]

I don’t think road games in football are quite the obstacle road games are in basketball. In other words, it’s easier for a favored football team to win on foreign turf than it is for a favored basketball team on less familiar hardwood.

This is not all-or-none, IMO.
Basketball: The Asembly Hall is certainly a rough away game (most years, at least when our fans support the coach/team)! But there are definite exceptions. IU would frequently fill half the seats at Evanston and would seem like an IU home game.
Football: if you have never been on the field at osu, mich or pensss, then you have No idea how difficult it is to play in those stadiums when their fans are riled. I was on row 21 in South Bend and they can make it an extremely difficult place as well.
The noise level in Columbus can be so loud you can’t hear the person next to you.

 

[TMFT]

The noise level in Columbus can be so loud you can’t hear the person next to you.

I’ll second this. The visitor section this year was in an end zone and low. I’ve never heard something so loud.

We were high up at Penn St and Michigan so it’s not exactly apples to apples, but they didn’t hold a candle to the volume at the shoe.

 

[Crossblock]

By Patrick Weider

1) Indiana Hoosiers- With a tougher schedule, the author expects Indiana to slide back to the 7–9-win range. He compliments Curt Cignetti (national coach of the year) as a very good FB coach

2) Oregon Ducks- due to losing a veteran team & QB

3) OSU- National Champs but lost two Big Ten games last year. They lose most of their defense & their QB.

4) Iowa Hawkeyes- faces much tougher schedule than last year, although he didn't mention Indiana as being one of their toughest games

Ten Years ago, if Someone wrote an Article Predicting IU might take a step back to a 7-9 win Season, We would have been elated.

 

[vesuvius13]

Ten Years ago, if Someone wrote an Article Predicting IU might take a step back to a 7-9 win Season, We would have been elated.

Now we have a coach that doesn't accept stepping back and until it happens I won't either.