IU Week at Off Tackle Empire

[87 Rides a Surfboard]

Off Tackle Empire is the B1G football SB Nation blog (Think Crimson Quarry except only football and the entire B1G instead of just IU). They have a week for each B1G team before the season starts. This week is IU week. I’m pretty much the only IU fan who ever comments over there and it’d be awesome if any of you all would join me. It’s a solid community where everyone gives everyone else crap and for the most part no one takes anything too seriously. Stop by and comment on an article if you feel the urge. Here’s a link to the Monday article:

https://www.offtackleempire.com/201...ok-b1g-2018-will-defense-struggle-or-overcome

 

[td75]

Did you write that article?

 

[Standard Issue]

Reads in a rather dickish tone.

 

[87 Rides a Surfboard]

Did you write that article?

Nah.

 

[87 Rides a Surfboard]

Reads in a rather dickish tone.

Candystripes4Breakfast writes that way a lot when it comes to IU football. I think he feels beaten down by IU football and that comes across heavily in his writing.

 

[Standard Issue]

Candystripes4Breakfast writes that way a lot when it comes to IU football. I think he feels beaten down by IU football and that comes across heavily in his writing.

I'm not saying the article was wrong, but it had the just the right amount snark to keep me from going back.

 

[Crimson Crush]

That whole site / blog comes off as a bunch of elementary school kids throwing jabs. I don’t expect IU’s defense to sink anywhere to the depths of the first 5 Wilson seasons. I just don’t think that culture will be tolerated as long as Allen is guiding it. There’s a lot of guys either coming back from injury or have been waiting in the wings on defense. It’s a bit of an unknown but to assume because we lost some guys to graduation we’ll drop 80 spots is just not reasonable.
I happen to think we have better depth now on that side than the previous 2 seasons.

 

[RBB89]

Off Tackle Empire is the B1G football SB Nation blog (Think Crimson Quarry except only football and the entire B1G instead of just IU). They have a week for each B1G team before the season starts. This week is IU week. I’m pretty much the only IU fan who ever comments over there and it’d be awesome if any of you all would join me. It’s a solid community where everyone gives everyone else crap and for the most part no one takes anything too seriously. Stop by and comment on an article if you feel the urge. Here’s a link to the Monday article:

https://www.offtackleempire.com/201...ok-b1g-2018-will-defense-struggle-or-overcome

That was obnoxious.

 

[RBB89]

That whole site / blog comes off as a bunch of elementary school kids throwing jabs. I don’t expect IU’s defense to sink anywhere to the depths of the first 5 Wilson seasons. I just don’t think that culture will be tolerated as long as Allen is guiding it. There’s a lot of guys either coming back from injury or have been waiting in the wings on defense. It’s a bit of an unknown but to assume because we lost some guys to graduation we’ll drop 80 spots is just not reasonable.
I happen to think we have better depth now on that side than the previous 2 seasons.

It’s an especially dumb argument to make since it’s not like Allen came in to a roster loaded with four and five star talent. And look how good the defense has been.

 

[87 Rides a Surfboard]

That whole site / blog comes off as a bunch of elementary school kids throwing jabs. I don’t expect IU’s defense to sink anywhere to the depths of the first 5 Wilson seasons. I just don’t think that culture will be tolerated as long as Allen is guiding it. There’s a lot of guys either coming back from injury or have been waiting in the wings on defense. It’s a bit of an unknown but to assume because we lost some guys to graduation we’ll drop 80 spots is just not reasonable.
I happen to think we have better depth now on that side than the previous 2 seasons.

Well. You’re not wrong. It’s a lot of insults. Most of it is good natured. Some teams have more/better analysis than others. There are something like 5 guys who write about Northwestern.

I see where you’re coming from on the defense. It would be near impossible to not take a step back, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a big step back. Like you said there’s more depth on D than there has been in a long time.

 

[Indianaftw]

Well. You’re not wrong. It’s a lot of insults. Most of it is good natured. Some teams have more/better analysis than others. There are something like 5 guys who write about Northwestern.

I see where you’re coming from on the defense. It would be near impossible to not take a step back, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a big step back. Like you said there’s more depth on D than there has been in a long time.

I don't understand the comments on this board about the article. Its not dickish or obnoxious. Its pretty dead on accurate in the sense that the season could go either way. If we strike some momentum one way or the other whats not to think we could go 2-10 OR 6-6 or better.

Allen has ALOT to prove. I'm quite sure the haze from year one has worn off and there is an "Allen Plan" in place now. Not saying there wasn't one last year but it seems like Allen was living a dream moment and kinda flew by the seat of his pants week by week and day by day. I have faith in him but lets see how we perform this year and especially what he can do with a depleted defense.

Also, anxious to see how this offense works. Its year two so I expect more of a playbook to be installed. Not sure how thats going to work with Dawkins but when Ramsey is in we should have more options.

 

[Crimson Crush]

I don't understand the comments on this board about the article. Its not dickish or obnoxious. Its pretty dead on accurate in the sense that the season could go either way. If we strike some momentum one way or the other whats not to think we could go 2-10 OR 6-6 or better.

Allen has ALOT to prove. I'm quite sure the haze from year one has worn off and there is an "Allen Plan" in place now. Not saying there wasn't one last year but it seems like Allen was living a dream moment and kinda flew by the seat of his pants week by week and day by day. I have faith in him but lets see how we perform this year and especially what he can do with a depleted defense.

Also, anxious to see how this offense works. Its year two so I expect more of a playbook to be installed. Not sure how thats going to work with Dawkins but when Ramsey is in we should have more options.

I have faith that Allen will not let the defense slip to unacceptable levels. We may see some learning curve but I just don’t see the defense crumbling to some level akin to the 2011 - 2015 seasons. I think some fans are so used to seeing that kind of play that it becomes a conditioned response to expect some personnel losses to translate to an automatic disaster on defense. Even with younger players, a seasoned DC guy should be able to get max effort and better fundamentals than when our defense just looked lost every time it took the field: out of position, poor angles, poor fundamentals and the expectation / the mindset that a collapse was imminent, even amongst the players. For 5 years that unit never had a belief system installed that expected accountability.

Think back to the 2016 year and the defensive turnaround. That was due to a code, a determination and an expectation level set by the new coordinator, Allen, plus a ton of new faces.
Tegray was back, sure, but his freshman season was actually better than 2015, so he wasn’t truly a “known quantity” yet. Shaw was gone and played a ton the previous 4 years. Mangieri - gone. Latham - gone. Rayner - gone.

That’s the entire defensive front, who played most of the minutes, gone in one fell swoop at the end of 2015.
Somehow, Allen plugged in a lot of new faces and true frosh like Ball and Riggins and left everybody bewildered how we found these true freshman that were playing like veterans. All the while we improved from #110 to 31 overall in one year and went from 509 ypg given up to 382 ypg yielded.

I guess the point here is: this isn’t uncharted territory for Allen.

 

[Indianaftw]

I have faith that Allen will not let the defense slip to unacceptable levels. We may see some learning curve but I just don’t see the defense crumbling to some level akin to the 2011 - 2015 seasons. I think some fans are so used to seeing that kind of play that it becomes a conditioned response to expect some personnel losses to translate to an automatic disaster on defense. Even with younger players, a seasoned DC guy should be able to get max effort and better fundamentals than when our defense just looked lost every time it took the field: out of position, poor angles, poor fundamentals and the expectation / the mindset that a collapse was imminent, even amongst the players. For 5 years that unit never had a belief system installed that expected accountability.

Think back to the 2016 year and the defensive turnaround. That was due to a code, a determination and an expectation level set by the new coordinator, Allen, plus a ton of new faces.
Tegray was back, sure, but his freshman season was actually better than 2015, so he wasn’t truly a “known quantity” yet. Shaw was gone and played a ton the previous 4 years. Mangieri - gone. Latham - gone. Rayner - gone.

That’s the entire defensive front, who played most of the minutes, gone in one fell swoop at the end of 2015.
Somehow, Allen plugged in a lot of new faces and true frosh like Ball and Riggins and left everybody bewildered how we found these true freshman that were playing like veterans. All the while we improved from #110 to 31 overall in one year and went from 509 ypg given up to 382 ypg yielded.

I guess the point here is: this isn’t uncharted territory for Allen.

I agree with what you say. I don't see us crumbling I am just pointing out the article that was shared and the "Tone" of the message.

IMO, last year was unimpressive on both sides of the ball. What I'm saying is it needs ramped up to another level. While some may argue with this stat or that stat I just don't remember any WOW moments. What I remember most about last year was the conditioning of the team late in games. Allen addressed that immediately after the season was over with the Ballou hire. I think in the 4th quarter we were almost dead last defensively and offensively.

So when I say he has ALOT to prove he does. We need to start shining in other categories like scoring defense instead of yard ranking. Yards are nice and have us where we are but the next step is a top scoring defense. I agree with you Allen will plug the right guys in. There are some freshman that will probably contribute too. What I noticed the most about the defensive recruits Allen brought in was the violence of these players. Watching tapes you see some physical players that have a true mean streak.

On the offensive side there is a ton to improve on. Many argue (but but) the stats were almost identical. We had no identity at all. It looked like a wounded animal. Running the spread with Lagow was just (insert headshake gif). There were no "go to" receivers that you knew were gonna come through like Paige did the previous year. We kept trying to pound poor Morgan Ellison and the defense was just chomping at the bit waiting for it. When you have an identity you can pound it and force your will but we were in no position with the offensive line last year to do that. So did we change the scheme to adjust for the weaknesses? NO...lets do round peg square hole. I expected more from the seasoned veteran coaches that Allen brought in. Especially DeBoad and Hiller. BEFORE anyone starts in they got a pass it was year one with a new coach. I thought Allen made solid, sound hires when he grabbed those guys, all of them. DeBoard, Hiller, Heard and Hart is a pretty solid coaching lineup and hopefully this year we get that identity.

 

[Crimson Crush]

I agree with what you say. I don't see us crumbling I am just pointing out the article that was shared and the "Tone" of the message.

IMO, last year was unimpressive on both sides of the ball. What I'm saying is it needs ramped up to another level. While some may argue with this stat or that stat I just don't remember any WOW moments. What I remember most about last year was the conditioning of the team late in games. Allen addressed that immediately after the season was over with the Ballou hire. I think in the 4th quarter we were almost dead last defensively and offensively.

So when I say he has ALOT to prove he does. We need to start shining in other categories like scoring defense instead of yard ranking. Yards are nice and have us where we are but the next step is a top scoring defense. I agree with you Allen will plug the right guys in. There are some freshman that will probably contribute too. What I noticed the most about the defensive recruits Allen brought in was the violence of these players. Watching tapes you see some physical players that have a true mean streak.

On the offensive side there is a ton to improve on. Many argue (but but) the stats were almost identical. We had no identity at all. It looked like a wounded animal. Running the spread with Lagow was just (insert headshake gif). There were no "go to" receivers that you knew were gonna come through like Paige did the previous year. We kept trying to pound poor Morgan Ellison and the defense was just chomping at the bit waiting for it. When you have an identity you can pound it and force your will but we were in no position with the offensive line last year to do that. So did we change the scheme to adjust for the weaknesses? NO...lets do round peg square hole. I expected more from the seasoned veteran coaches that Allen brought in. Especially DeBoad and Hiller. BEFORE anyone starts in they got a pass it was year one with a new coach. I though Allen made solid, sound hires when he grabbed those guys, all of them. DeBoard, Hiller, Heard and Hart is a pretty solid coaching lineup and hopefully this year we get that identity.

I agree that, offensively this season, it is a bit of a “show me something” situation.
I don’t put it all on the staff. The personnel was limited. When they were fresh, like that first game against OSU, the unit could put up some passing numbers but couldn’t run worth a lick. As the season wore on, they just stagnated. You had a OL that couldn’t block very well and an immobile QB for 8 games. Not a good combo.
And people need to remember that when the personnel was depleted or new under Wilson, we struggled as well. 2014 - the offense became nonexistent with a 160 lb QB running for his life back there and no arm to bail him out. 2016 - new personnel again and had games with scoring in the teens and 20s.
When he had some veteran leadership (Sudfeld, Coleman) Wilson could hang with anybody.

 

[crossfire74]

Off Tackle Empire is the B1G football SB Nation blog (Think Crimson Quarry except only football and the entire B1G instead of just IU). They have a week for each B1G team before the season starts. This week is IU week. I’m pretty much the only IU fan who ever comments over there and it’d be awesome if any of you all would join me. It’s a solid community where everyone gives everyone else crap and for the most part no one takes anything too seriously. Stop by and comment on an article if you feel the urge. Here’s a link to the Monday article:

https://www.offtackleempire.com/201...ok-b1g-2018-will-defense-struggle-or-overcome

My advice to you is come to this site and talk IU football with grown ups. That site is a waste of time.

 

[87 Rides a Surfboard]

My advice to you is come to this site and talk IU football with grown ups. That site is a waste of time.

That’s the entire point of it, to waste time. That’s the point of 99% of the Internet. Talking IU football and basketball with IU fans is all well and good but it tends to get repetitive.