October 23, 2022 | DaddyHoosier | iufb.net
After starting out 3-0 the Indiana Football Hoosiers have dropped five straight, falling to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 24-17 Saturday afternoon in New Jersey.
The storylines are all the same – missed opportunities, stagnant offense, inconsistent offensive line play, inconsistent quarterback play, the defense not being able to get off the field, and more or less feeling like Indiana is being out-coached.
The firing of Offensive Line Coach Darren Hiller gave the masses some red meat to gnaw on for a couple of weeks but losing to a Rutgers team that is frankly not very good has even the most die hard and loyal Indiana Football fans openly wondering if an even more fundamental change is needed.
Since going a combined 14-7 in 2019 and 2020 the Indiana Football program under Head Coach Tom Allen has now gone 5-15 since 2021, including a dismal 1-13 in Big Ten Conference games. Losing two in a row to Rutgers relegates Indiana to the bottom of the Big Ten East pecking order and they are now arguably the worst team in the entire conference. (Northwestern is pretty bad too.)
This means that Indiana has actually regressed since 2016 when Coach Allen took over the reigns of the program.
After jumping out to a 14-0 lead yesterday Indiana had possession of the ball again and they were in field goal range. Any score would have made it a three possession game, and although it was still quite early in the game it felt like Rutgers might not come back from that deficit.
Instead of capitalizing on that opportunity Indiana was called for a chop block and then a false start that promptly took them out of field goal range and gave possession back to Rutgers.
Had the defense held and forced the Scarlet Knights to punt IU could have maintained momentum and likely kept things under control, but instead Rutgers marched down the field on an 8-play 86-yard drive that made it a one-score game.
The turn of events gave Rutgers new life and from that point on it was all Rutgers. Indiana did very little to make it feel like they were going to win the game.
Before Indiana’s final drive against Rutger’s Prevent Defense the Hoosiers had 69 yards on 10 possessions, including -7 on the final three. For those keeping track at home that's 69 yards on 35 plays – less than 2 yards per play.
Against Rutgers.
Meanwhile the Hoosier defense surrendered just shy of 200 yards on the ground.
This is a team thing and it’s not fair to single out any one individual but at this point it does not appear that Connor Bazelak is the answer at the quarterback position. The occasional hot streaks that last a possession or two inevitably give way to frustrating inaccuracy and a parade of predictable three-and-outs.
From Bazelak you can work your way up from the Coordinator to the Head Coach. At this point it’s getting difficult to defend.
But to those who are calling for regime change I ask, does the fundamental problem reside at the coaching level? If the Athletic Department and ultimately the University itself is content with Indiana finishing in the 5-7 to 7-5 range and there is no commitment to raising the bar, then what’s the point?
And if it’s true, as many suggest, that the Administrative powers that be have all their eggs in the men’s basketball basket, do said Administrators not realize that from a financial point of view the most efficient way to raise the collective water level of the entire Athletics program – including men’s basketball – is by milking the cash cow that is college football?
Coach Tom Allen may not be the long-term solution but if the root issue is a lack of commitment at a university level to being good at football, then who the head coach is at the end of the day frankly doesn’t matter a whole lot.
After starting out 3-0 the Indiana Football Hoosiers have dropped five straight, falling to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 24-17 Saturday afternoon in New Jersey.
The storylines are all the same – missed opportunities, stagnant offense, inconsistent offensive line play, inconsistent quarterback play, the defense not being able to get off the field, and more or less feeling like Indiana is being out-coached.
The firing of Offensive Line Coach Darren Hiller gave the masses some red meat to gnaw on for a couple of weeks but losing to a Rutgers team that is frankly not very good has even the most die hard and loyal Indiana Football fans openly wondering if an even more fundamental change is needed.
Since going a combined 14-7 in 2019 and 2020 the Indiana Football program under Head Coach Tom Allen has now gone 5-15 since 2021, including a dismal 1-13 in Big Ten Conference games. Losing two in a row to Rutgers relegates Indiana to the bottom of the Big Ten East pecking order and they are now arguably the worst team in the entire conference. (Northwestern is pretty bad too.)
This means that Indiana has actually regressed since 2016 when Coach Allen took over the reigns of the program.
After jumping out to a 14-0 lead yesterday Indiana had possession of the ball again and they were in field goal range. Any score would have made it a three possession game, and although it was still quite early in the game it felt like Rutgers might not come back from that deficit.
Instead of capitalizing on that opportunity Indiana was called for a chop block and then a false start that promptly took them out of field goal range and gave possession back to Rutgers.
Had the defense held and forced the Scarlet Knights to punt IU could have maintained momentum and likely kept things under control, but instead Rutgers marched down the field on an 8-play 86-yard drive that made it a one-score game.
The turn of events gave Rutgers new life and from that point on it was all Rutgers. Indiana did very little to make it feel like they were going to win the game.
Before Indiana’s final drive against Rutger’s Prevent Defense the Hoosiers had 69 yards on 10 possessions, including -7 on the final three. For those keeping track at home that's 69 yards on 35 plays – less than 2 yards per play.
Against Rutgers.
Meanwhile the Hoosier defense surrendered just shy of 200 yards on the ground.
This is a team thing and it’s not fair to single out any one individual but at this point it does not appear that Connor Bazelak is the answer at the quarterback position. The occasional hot streaks that last a possession or two inevitably give way to frustrating inaccuracy and a parade of predictable three-and-outs.
From Bazelak you can work your way up from the Coordinator to the Head Coach. At this point it’s getting difficult to defend.
But to those who are calling for regime change I ask, does the fundamental problem reside at the coaching level? If the Athletic Department and ultimately the University itself is content with Indiana finishing in the 5-7 to 7-5 range and there is no commitment to raising the bar, then what’s the point?
And if it’s true, as many suggest, that the Administrative powers that be have all their eggs in the men’s basketball basket, do said Administrators not realize that from a financial point of view the most efficient way to raise the collective water level of the entire Athletics program – including men’s basketball – is by milking the cash cow that is college football?
Coach Tom Allen may not be the long-term solution but if the root issue is a lack of commitment at a university level to being good at football, then who the head coach is at the end of the day frankly doesn’t matter a whole lot.
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