Everyone at the Gator Bowl knew...

[NoVertical]

there was going to be an onside kick... except the IU sideline...
So he puts two guys up and the third player 20 yards back... unbelievable. Just unbelievable.

 

[kpbucks4454]

You are so right. We all called it. The only way they could win was with an onside kick!
Unbelievable

 

[Pirate73]

there was going to be an onside kick... except the IU sideline...
So he puts two guys up and the third player 20 yards back... unbelievable. Just unbelievable.

Not really, the percentage play was to kick deep with 3 TOs in your pocket and 4+ to go.
If it fails we have to keep IU from a 1st down because then you are in FG range

 

[fkfootball]

Not really, the percentage play was to kick deep with 3 TOs in your pocket and 4+ to go.
If it fails we have to keep IU from a 1st down because then you are in FG range

There was 0 reason for Indiana to not line everyone up front on that. We weren’t getting any returns anyways.

 

[K'ville Comet]

Same old, same old IU football. Blow a two-touchdown lead, miss an extra point that eventually costs us the game, utterly go to sleep on an obvious onside kick, call a timeout to ice our own placekicker.... Oh, and we got screwed on that last placement that gave Tennessee the last first down. We didn't beat one team with a winning record. Prediction for next year: big step backward. There remains zero reason to get excited over IU football.

 

[Big Red Crimson Buffalo]

Same old, same old IU football. Blow a two-touchdown lead, miss an extra point that eventually costs us the game, utterly go to sleep on an obvious onside kick, call a timeout to ice our own placekicker.... Oh, and we got screwed on that last placement that gave Tennessee the last first down. We didn't beat one team with a winning record. Prediction for next year: big step backward. There remains zero reason to get excited over IU football.

You say big step backwards. Like....how much? 4 win season step backward?

I was at the game and back at the hotel. It was dispiriting but it could have been a blow-out.

I’m more excited about football than the future of our basketball program, which is headed for the shitter.

 

[YOTHN]

Not really, the percentage play was to kick deep with 3 TOs in your pocket and 4+ to go.
If it fails we have to keep IU from a 1st down because then you are in FG range

Agreed. The general consensus was to kick it deep. Had that onside kick not been successful (which was more likely than not), the game was officially over at that point. It was a super aggressive play call and it just so happened to work. That shows the fear he had in IU's offense in the second half (or the TN defense but what's the difference really?) but that decision paid off. Hats off to he and his staff.

 

[still4IU]

there was going to be an onside kick... except the IU sideline...
So he puts two guys up and the third player 20 yards back... unbelievable. Just unbelievable.

The coaches i.e. CTA where no oblivious to the onside possibilty. He said in interview with Fish that they discussed having hands team on the field but decided not to. As it turned out not the correct decision.
It is 2020 and hind sight says you force their hand. If they kick it deep you fair catch.

 

[Stormthecourt?]

There was 0 reason for Indiana to not line everyone up front on that. We weren’t getting any returns anyways.

Exactly. You were taking everything at the 25 anyways. Leave one guy back to fair catch if you put the hands team up front

 

[Stormthecourt?]

The coaches i.e. CTA where no oblivious to the onside possibilty. He said in interview with Fish that they discussed having hands team on the field but decided not to. As it turned out not the correct decision.
It is 2020 and hind sight says you force their hand. If they kick it deep you fair catch.

What’s the down side to hands team?

 

[still4IU]

What’s the down side to hands team?

I agree with that. The inference was that the coaches were smart enough to consider it. They did and made a decision. As I said they should have forced UT's hand and in essence forced them to kick it deep.

 

[Tegray1]

They down it deep and we go 3 and out.

What’s the down side to hands team?

 

[fieldjock]

There is zero defense of this period- we should have been prepared but weren’t. Lost the game for us. Bonehead and out coached.

 

[Stormthecourt?]

They down it deep and we go 3 and out.

You can faircatch anything these days and get it at the 25

 

[Pazhoosier85]

One of Allen's worst coaching mistakes since he has been here. I hope he learns from it.

 

[jacksback]

The coaches i.e. CTA where no oblivious to the onside possibilty. He said in interview with Fish that they discussed having hands team on the field but decided not to. As it turned out not the correct decision.
It is 2020 and hind sight says you force their hand. If they kick it deep you fair catch.

What’s the down side to hands team?

Exactly! There is no downside to have the hands team in there. At that point you just want to have the ball in your hands and start running the clock down. The only thing that could kill you is losing the ball to an onside kick! Your return guy is going to down the ball anyway. Stupid stupid coaching.

Also stupid decision at end of first half not to call timeout with 8 sec on clock so we could take one shot into endzone.

What's troubling is that a junior high coach knows to do these things and they are in your control! Kids will miss kicks and passes but stupid decisions like these should not happen.

All in all still a great 8 win season but should have been 9.

 

[indy1203]

Exactly. You were taking everything at the 25 anyways. Leave one guy back to fair catch if you put the hands team up front

High School coaching 101.

 

[bang63]

Agreed. The general consensus was to kick it deep. Had that onside kick not been successful (which was more likely than not), the game was officially over at that point. It was a super aggressive play call and it just so happened to work. That shows the fear he had in IU's offense in the second half (or the TN defense but what's the difference really?) but that decision paid off. Hats off to he and his staff.

But why not be prepared for the onside kick, just in case.

 

[baileyiu]

Same old, same old IU football. Blow a two-touchdown lead, miss an extra point that eventually costs us the game, utterly go to sleep on an obvious onside kick, call a timeout to ice our own placekicker.... Oh, and we got screwed on that last placement that gave Tennessee the last first down. We didn't beat one team with a winning record. Prediction for next year: big step backward. There remains zero reason to get excited over IU football.

I don’t know why you think we will take a big step backward! Our defense was predominantly freshmen & sophomores! Our O was without our 2 best players - Penix & Scott - plus we get 9 starters back & possibly Cronk.
We will be much better next year!
Buy season tickets and support this team!

 

[YOTHN]

But why not be prepared for the onside kick, just in case.

They did prepare for it. CTA even said they talked over there possibly being a onside kick. They decided against putting a hands unit out there and it's easy to second guess that after the fact.

 

[bang63]

They did prepare for it. CTA even said they talked over there possibly being a onside kick. They decided against putting a hands unit out there and it's easy to second guess that after the fact.

How were they prepared if they didn't put in the hands unit? What's the downside to having the hands unit in just in case?

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

“Hands team” was not the issue.

We didn’t mishandle the ball.

The issue was FORMATION - guys NOT on the 45 yard line.

Put 8 guys on the 45, all with casts on both hands, they kick it deep.
Put 4 guys on the 45 and back the rest to the 40 and 35, and you give them the opportunity.

It stems - again - from clock management. We did not need a return. We needed to eat clock. We needed the ball. The automatic soul deep lifetime of experience already-learned-this lesson reaction to that situation was to put guys on the 45 and guarantee possession. Instead, we just assumed they’d kick it, and we did ”the usual.”

On our right side, we had 2 guys on thier47, one on their 49 and one on our 45. But on our left, we had 1 guy wide on the 49, and a guy on OUR 45. It was a freaking invitation.

Sigh.

 

[YOTHN]

How were they prepared if they didn't put in the hands unit? What's the downside to having the hands unit in just in case?

Meaning he they told them to be prepared for the onside kick. IU wasn't blindsided by it. Aka, prepared

 

[YOTHN]

“Hands team” was not the issue.

We didn’t mishandle the ball.

The issue was FORMATION - guys NOT on the 45 yard line.

Put 8 guys on the 45, all with casts on both hands, they kick it deep.
Put 4 guys on the 45 and back the rest to the 40 and 35, and you give them the opportunity.

It stems - again - from clock management. We did not need a return. We needed to eat clock. We needed the ball. The automatic soul deep lifetime of experience already-learned-this lesson reaction to that situation was to put guys on the 45 and guarantee possession. Instead, we just assumed they’d kick it, and we did ”the usual.”

On our right side, we had 2 guys on thier47, one on their 49 and one on our 45. But on our left, we had 1 guy wide on the 49, and a guy on OUR 45. It was a freaking invitation.

Sigh.

The hands team is lining up for an onside kick. Odds were not in favor of that happening. Again, easy to say that in hindsight. *sigh*

 

[Tegray1]

I really think they would have pooched it deep if we had inside prevent. Then you have to recover and get a 1st down.

You can faircatch anything these days and get it at the 25

 

[Tegray1]

It was a bad formation. We need a special teams coach.

“Hands team” was not the issue.

We didn’t mishandle the ball.

The issue was FORMATION - guys NOT on the 45 yard line.

Put 8 guys on the 45, all with casts on both hands, they kick it deep.
Put 4 guys on the 45 and back the rest to the 40 and 35, and you give them the opportunity.

It stems - again - from clock management. We did not need a return. We needed to eat clock. We needed the ball. The automatic soul deep lifetime of experience already-learned-this lesson reaction to that situation was to put guys on the 45 and guarantee possession. Instead, we just assumed they’d kick it, and we did ”the usual.”

On our right side, we had 2 guys on thier47, one on their 49 and one on our 45. But on our left, we had 1 guy wide on the 49, and a guy on OUR 45. It was a freaking invitation.

Sigh.

 

[minneman]

Oh, and we got screwed on that last placement that gave Tennessee the last first down.

That placement was reviewed and overturned. IU got the ball back after that, they just couldn't score and ended up turning it over on downs.

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

The hands team is lining up for an onside kick. Odds were not in favor of that happening. Again, easy to say that in hindsight. *sigh*

Semantics.

“Hands” is also guys who can handle it, not a bunch of beef.

But even setting that aside, 8 500 pound lineman with ham hands on the 45 and 3 back fielding and it doesn’t happen.

 

[Hoosier009]

Exactly. You were taking everything at the 25 anyways. Leave one guy back to fair catch if you put the hands team up front

Agreed should have been hands team on the field with seven up front and 4 back in case of pouch type kick or ensure we can fair catch the ball. Our ball at the 25. I liked our chances at that point. Oh well. Still proud of my Hoosiers. #LEO

 

[NoVertical]

Please explain to me the receiving team formation. Who else puts four guys up front with ten yards spacing and the next ten yards behind that? With the possibility of an onside kick. Who?

 

[Media Fan]

Not really, the percentage play was to kick deep with 3 TOs in your pocket and 4+ to go.
If it fails we have to keep IU from a 1st down because then you are in FG range

If Tenn. kicks deep, the receiver fair catches and Indiana gets the ball at the 25, makes Tenn. use its time outs, and if it gets a first down, the game is over. Defend against the onsides kick.

As a PSU fan, I can empathize, because our coaching staff has been poor at clock management on a number of occasions.

Good luck next year.

 

[Wiedersehen]

Not really, the percentage play was to kick deep with 3 TOs in your pocket and 4+ to go.
If it fails we have to keep IU from a 1st down because then you are in FG range

You still put your hands team out there in that situation. You don’t need a return if they kick it deep. Shit, our guys look surprised the kick happened.... how does one not even mention the possibility before going on the field so the guys are, at the very least, looking for the inside kick?!?

 

[4IUSox2]

Wonder if going forward the alignment will be tweaked to include 5 guys up front (not 4)? After UT exposed how big the gaps were with only 4, I hope it's considered.

Late in games, while trying to protect a lead, would always error on the side of caution and get hands team in. If they kick deep, take a knee.

 

[JIMSHAM]

Same old, same old IU football. Blow a two-touchdown lead, miss an extra point that eventually costs us the game, utterly go to sleep on an obvious onside kick, call a timeout to ice our own placekicker.... Oh, and we got screwed on that last placement that gave Tennessee the last first down. We didn't beat one team with a winning record. Prediction for next year: big step backward. There remains zero reason to get excited over IU football.

Uh they reviewed and corrected that spot. They did not get the first down.

 

[Palmbeachhoosier]

For all of you Monday morning and armchair coaches that have never coached a game in their please understand a few things.
First with 8 seconds to go before the half, I would probably not have run another play if I had used my last timeout. Ramsey had been under much duress during the entire first half, if he gets sacked the time runs out and they get no points and you go into halftime on a low. Also IU had shown maybe a little too much resect for Tennessee' secondary again also don't want a turn over before the half. Maybe overly conservative thinking
. but I understand the thinking. I would have called timeout and thrown the fade or the back shoulder or the fade comeback but I am an offensive guy and Tom Allen is a defensive guy.
Second thing was the onside kick there was no reason to believe that the onside kick was an absolute in reality if the onside kick had failed and IU recovered the kick and went down and scored then Jeremy Pruitt is the one that looks stupid. He had just forced a three and out by IU there was 4:21 on the clock and all three timeouts. Plenty of time to kick deep and hope for a stop. The one thing a do agree was should have been a different alignment would definitely had the standard 5 man alignment. Also though people assume that the guys up front were not told to be aware of the onside kick. Our kids were told before every return be AWARE OF ONSIDE KICK DO NOT RETREAT UNTIL BALL HAS PASSED YOU. As for the guy nearest to the ball it was Gary cooper a freshman tight end from Miami Columbus who has incredible hands and is a great athlete so he probably would have been on the hands team anyway. Really don't know why he froze on the play again it was not his fault should have been another guy there it was a terrible alignment for that time in the game.
My point is just because you disagree with the strategy that does not make it right or wrong. but congratulations and hope you continue on your prolonged win streaks.

 

[DANC]

One of Allen's worst coaching mistakes since he has been here. I hope he learns from it.

Not any worse than not calling a TO before the half and running another play to get a TD instead of a FB.

 

[DANC]

“Hands team” was not the issue.

We didn’t mishandle the ball.

The issue was FORMATION - guys NOT on the 45 yard line.

Put 8 guys on the 45, all with casts on both hands, they kick it deep.
Put 4 guys on the 45 and back the rest to the 40 and 35, and you give them the opportunity.

It stems - again - from clock management. We did not need a return. We needed to eat clock. We needed the ball. The automatic soul deep lifetime of experience already-learned-this lesson reaction to that situation was to put guys on the 45 and guarantee possession. Instead, we just assumed they’d kick it, and we did ”the usual.”

On our right side, we had 2 guys on thier47, one on their 49 and one on our 45. But on our left, we had 1 guy wide on the 49, and a guy on OUR 45. It was a freaking invitation.

Sigh.

"hands team". I believe that was my nickname at IU at some of the sororities.

 

[Pazhoosier85]

Not any worse than not calling a TO before the half and running another play to get a TD instead of a FB.

That one I'm going to put on Ramsey. He needs to get the team set and spike the ball as soon as the clock starts. That gives you 7 seconds to run a play without worrying about being sacked. You could even try a run and would still have a timeout to kick a FG if it doesn't work. Ramsey spent too much time getting everyone set and wasted 3 seconds before he spiked it.