November 16, 2022 | DaddyHoosier | iufb.net
The Indiana Football Hoosiers have a 7 in the loss column. It would be dishonest at this point to say the season hasn’t been a disappointment. With Indiana struggling on both offense and defense and just two games remaining on the 2022 schedule, it would be easy to pack it in and to start strategizing for next season. It would be easy to go through the motions of media sessions, practice, and film study with the goal of making it across the finish line using the path of least resistance.
One of the great things about football is that it’s a lot like life. When things aren’t going your way life just keeps coming at you. It’s relentless. It never stops.
Indiana still has two more games on the schedule – Michigan State and Purdue. Neither team is going to feel sorry for the Hoosiers. If anything they will look to pour salt on the wound.
This leaves Indiana with a couple of choices. They can go through the motions, roll over, and take their beating. Or they can get up off the ground and fight back. The reward for fighting back may not seem readily apparent. In fact, on the surface it may seem pointless. But in the game of life we often grow more through adversity than we do when everything is going good.
If you don’t at least try you will never know what could have been. Neither Michigan State nor Purdue are world beaters. Michigan State may have a slight edge talent-wise but it’s certainly not insurmountable. With Purdue it’s probably pretty even. Not to mention that both of these games are trophy games – the Old Brass Spittoon and the Old Oaken Bucket are on the line. Rivalry games are about pride – bragging rights for the next 365 days. Recruits are watching closely.
At this point Indiana has nothing to lose. They can play loose and have fun with it. Anything can happen.
Anybody who is going through the motions and not playing with energy and effort can have a seat on the bench. It’s a great opportunity to see what some of the younger guys can do in a game situation.
The fact of the matter is that this program was 14-7 in 2019 and 2020 and went to the Gator and Outback Bowls respectively. Obviously Tom Allen can coach. College football programs are so quick to give up on coaches when things don’t go according to plan. The leash is so short and the pressure so high that it makes it very difficult to succeed anywhere long term. Perhaps Coach Allen’s high buyout is a blessing in disguise. CTA has at least one and probably two more years to get things righted. If he takes the opportunity to learn from what has happened and to grow into his position good things can still happen.
There is no need to dream about what other coaches out there could potentially come to Indiana because it’s not going to happen any time soon. There is a part of me that is genuinely curious to see how Allen himself responds to all of this.
And if the players care about their coach as much as they appear to from the outside looking in, this is an opportunity to play for him and to show everybody that things aren’t as bad as they seem.
By the way Rutgers finished 5-7 last season but they were still invited to a Bowl Game. I know that seems like a longshot right now but if it happened once it can happen again. If nothing else play for pride – both personal and program pride.
There is a seen in Rudy where the title character is down to his last shot of getting accepted into Notre Dame. As he’s chatting with Father Cavanaugh the Priest says,
“Well, you’ve done a hell of a job kid, chasing down your dream.”
Rudy replies, “Who cares what kind of job I did if it doesn’t produce results? It doesn’t mean anything.”
Father Cavanaugh: “I think you’ll find that it will.”
Even if there is no shiny reward in the short term Indiana should still play hard and fight until the end because is the right and best thing to do.
The Indiana Football Hoosiers have a 7 in the loss column. It would be dishonest at this point to say the season hasn’t been a disappointment. With Indiana struggling on both offense and defense and just two games remaining on the 2022 schedule, it would be easy to pack it in and to start strategizing for next season. It would be easy to go through the motions of media sessions, practice, and film study with the goal of making it across the finish line using the path of least resistance.
One of the great things about football is that it’s a lot like life. When things aren’t going your way life just keeps coming at you. It’s relentless. It never stops.
Indiana still has two more games on the schedule – Michigan State and Purdue. Neither team is going to feel sorry for the Hoosiers. If anything they will look to pour salt on the wound.
This leaves Indiana with a couple of choices. They can go through the motions, roll over, and take their beating. Or they can get up off the ground and fight back. The reward for fighting back may not seem readily apparent. In fact, on the surface it may seem pointless. But in the game of life we often grow more through adversity than we do when everything is going good.
If you don’t at least try you will never know what could have been. Neither Michigan State nor Purdue are world beaters. Michigan State may have a slight edge talent-wise but it’s certainly not insurmountable. With Purdue it’s probably pretty even. Not to mention that both of these games are trophy games – the Old Brass Spittoon and the Old Oaken Bucket are on the line. Rivalry games are about pride – bragging rights for the next 365 days. Recruits are watching closely.
At this point Indiana has nothing to lose. They can play loose and have fun with it. Anything can happen.
Anybody who is going through the motions and not playing with energy and effort can have a seat on the bench. It’s a great opportunity to see what some of the younger guys can do in a game situation.
The fact of the matter is that this program was 14-7 in 2019 and 2020 and went to the Gator and Outback Bowls respectively. Obviously Tom Allen can coach. College football programs are so quick to give up on coaches when things don’t go according to plan. The leash is so short and the pressure so high that it makes it very difficult to succeed anywhere long term. Perhaps Coach Allen’s high buyout is a blessing in disguise. CTA has at least one and probably two more years to get things righted. If he takes the opportunity to learn from what has happened and to grow into his position good things can still happen.
There is no need to dream about what other coaches out there could potentially come to Indiana because it’s not going to happen any time soon. There is a part of me that is genuinely curious to see how Allen himself responds to all of this.
And if the players care about their coach as much as they appear to from the outside looking in, this is an opportunity to play for him and to show everybody that things aren’t as bad as they seem.
By the way Rutgers finished 5-7 last season but they were still invited to a Bowl Game. I know that seems like a longshot right now but if it happened once it can happen again. If nothing else play for pride – both personal and program pride.
There is a seen in Rudy where the title character is down to his last shot of getting accepted into Notre Dame. As he’s chatting with Father Cavanaugh the Priest says,
“Well, you’ve done a hell of a job kid, chasing down your dream.”
Rudy replies, “Who cares what kind of job I did if it doesn’t produce results? It doesn’t mean anything.”
Father Cavanaugh: “I think you’ll find that it will.”
Even if there is no shiny reward in the short term Indiana should still play hard and fight until the end because is the right and best thing to do.
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