Thinking out loud: CTA is facing a year that matters. I know they all matter but we underachieved so badly last year and it was a surprise to many including me. If we can win 6 and go bowling Tom will be applauded and last year looks like an anomaly. If however, we look outclassed for a second straight year, it'll be hard to keep people on the CTA band wagon. Thoughts? Thx in advance. Go Hoosiers!
Coach Allen can prove a lot this year
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I agree with you and coach Allen needs to show he made the right decisions in the off-season to turn this around in 2022. Coach needs to show IUFB hasn't stepped all the way back and can get back to fighting for the top 4 in the B1G.
I think everyone would agree that far too many players threw in the towel in the second half of 2021. There were also way too many games where either we didn’t show up at all or just rolled over at the slightest sign of adversity. I don’t know if it’s fair to say that Coach Allen lost the team or that the culture wasn’t good, but it’s easily a question worth asking and wondering.
Off season house cleaning isn’t unusual, but we tore it down to the studs, strongly suggesting that last year was about more than just losing the talent battle. One coach got fired, three others left, several players voluntarily left and quite a few were strongly encouraged to move on. Not sure if that means our glass is half full or half empty, but the climb in 2022 will be steep. Four to six wins,with all we face, would be a great result in my opinion. It will be a huge test for Coach Allen, the staff, and players, many of who will be new to the program.
Go Hoosiers.
Honestly, a program shouldn’t be having that kind of rebuild in a coach’s 6th year. It may suggest that the builder doesn’t know the blueprint.
I absolutely despise that thought. But I’m not certain you’re not right.
bottom line. no bowl this year and allen's in serious trouble
I hope that’s not the case, if only because we’re not likely to be a bowl team in 2022 based on the roster / roster turnover, coaching turnover, and schedule. Two to five wins looks likely and, if we’re on the high end of that, would be a very good result. If we turn over at the HC position yet again our chances of building the program will become more difficult in my opinion.
What if we look ok? Say... in every game, no blowouts, but we only win 4 or 5? Does it prove much?
Yes, no question this season is key. From cracking the Top 10 in 2020 for the first time in half a century and Coach of the Year Honors for CTA, to 2-10 the following season, the drop last year was precipitous and alarming. I take some comfort in knowing that this isn't unprecedented, though. For example, Fitz at NW, one of the best coaches in the conference, has had some miserable seasons in Evanston but his overall body of work - - at a school that doesn't have the built-in advantages that the football powerhouses have - - has been high quality. In fact, similar to CTA, he went from 7-2 in 2020 to 3-9 last season.
What CTA has done with recruiting at IU is nothing short of miraculous, he's clearly a principled man, and he's the guy I'd want my son playing for if I had a college-aged kid who played football at a high level. But, even after two outstanding seasons, I feel like the jury's still out on his coaching. While I don't necessarily agree with this assessment, some have argued that the Gator Bowl season was more a function of DeBoer's skill set than Allen's. And the argument that the success the following season was a pandemic-related anomaly (an argument which, in my opinion, is nonsense) has gained some traction. Then, last season's unexpected train wreck was a gut punch.
In any event, we need to remove the stench of last season with a fast (3-0) start out of the gate and hopefully cobble together three more wins to go bowling. I don't know if that's doable, and I have no idea what to expect this season, but I won't miss a down. Go Hoosiers!
I hear you, but that looks like a tall mountain based on the factors I cited. Would love to be wrong and we get back to a bowl, but the path will be extremely difficult.
Go Hoosiers.
In the 40-plus years that I have been following Indiana football last season was easily the biggest disappointment. A preseason top 25 ranking and then going winless in the Big Ten! The year before coach Allen and received Coach of the Year honors. If there was a similar award for worst coach of the year he would have grabbed that one last year too
I think the biggest negative to team resolve last year was performance failure of MP before going down. They had faith achieving success knowing he could make good things happen. Broke their spirit? I don't know how you describe it. But they were a ? with him in a dimming light. The kid from Missouri will have to earn it but I think he'll be a crackerjack running Bell's offense while also making plays when the D presses him. Also if I was Allen and Bell I'd get rid of the blue jerseys for a couple of scrimmages in Fall camp. Nothing like game day circumstances to force the cream to the top or a rock to sink.
With our OL, I don't want the defense getting full access to hit the QB. Great way to lose QBs before Illinois.
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Pat Fitzgerald College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
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I think your take is an overstatement. Unless CTA isn't able to right the ship within 1 or 2 seasons, I'm going to chalk it up at this point to sometimes teams have down years.
Very good point.Joe Paterno College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Check out Joe Paterno's College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards and more about College Football at Sports-Reference.comPat Fitzgerald College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Check out Pat Fitzgerald's College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards and more about College Football at Sports-Reference.comJim Harbaugh College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Check out Jim Harbaugh's College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards and more about College Football at Sports-Reference.comMark Dantonio College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Check out Mark Dantonio's College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards and more about College Football at Sports-Reference.comBrian Kelly College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Check out Brian Kelly's College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards and more about College Football at Sports-Reference.com
I think your take is an overstatement. Unless CTA isn't able to right the ship within 1 or 2 seasons, I'm going to chalk it up at this point to sometimes teams have down years.
Pros and cons for both. If blue jerseys had laid on the sideline for a scrimmage or 2 last Fall camp and MP went down then Tuttle would have had more time to prepare to lead the offense. Maybe still 2-10 but could have advanced the QB room for this season. Maybe.
I honestly only liked this post because you expertly employed "crackerjack" in the middle of an analysis. Keep up the good work.
with our schedule 6 should be very attainable. not only attainable but expected.
If everything breaks our way, I think our ceiling is 8 wins.
I think we can get Illinois, Idaho, WK, Cincinnati, Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers and Purdue.
Our schedule is much easier on the front end so if we scuffle on the front end, it's gonna be a long year.
yep. gotta get at least 3 out of the first 4 for sure. then we only have to go 3 and 5 the rest of the way. i hate to low ball us like that, but after last season's disaster, i don't know what to expect.
I'll take that. I just hate getting embarrassed.
I couldn't agree more. You can't use injuries as an excuse either. We stunk from the first snap of the season until we got our butts whooped by Purdue.
That's not completely fair. They played well enough to win against MSU, and really should have. And you could say the same for Maryland, which was the only non-Idaho/WKU game all year where the offense showed up. Not to mention the way they played most of the way against Cincy.
And the defense played extremely well against Penn State, but wasn't made to look like it because that was probably the absolute worst the offense played all year, which was a high bar to clear. Our defense kept us at least theoretically in that game, down just two scores, until very near the end of the third quarter, even with our offense scarcely getting a first down, let alone getting into the red zone or even threatening to score points. And they showed some of their best fight and resilience in that game to get two 4th and short redzone stops in the fourth quarter even when all hope was basically gone.
i'm afraid you may be right. he should have cleaned house mid season last year. allowing that debacle to continue the remainder of the season makes me wonder if he knows what he's doing.
Maybe the silver lining there would be Allen finally sees what most of us do, his problem is the OL and Hiller finally, finally gets canned and he brings in a competent OL coach. Baffling he doesn't see the overwhelming need to change horses there.
