What I Expect To See From "the" o$u

[76-1]

Urban will have a the final say on Kevin's game plan which means that we'll see them try to break our spirit by attempting to run inside mixed with option, with just a few deep shots, along with TE looks in the hopes that they'll be able to break a couple and take our crowd out of it early and get the D questioning themselves. If we don't keep "leverage" on the play their speed will be lethal...

On D they'll try to pressure the QB early and often without doing anything too exotic. They'll figure that their overall talent and team speed is better than ours so they can play base with blitzes mixed in throughout the game and do fairly well.

3&1/2 months to get ready for them. Let's hope the Team shows up to Work this summer.

What an Opportunity!!!

 

[hometownfan]

The best bet to beat the O$U from a team like IU is early in the season. We have to use the Virginia Tech model. The Buckeye's don't want to open up their play book at all in the first game of the season. They have bigger fish to fry later on in their calendar. My definition of the Hokie model is be prepared, punch them in the nose early, combine that that with the fact that our D is good now, just hope our offense can score often like it used to, and that Camien Patrick is as good as advertised. Also with Harris and Cobbs back, we need Lagow to hit his receivers consistently, and I think this gives us a punchers chance to win the game. I will be there the whole game which I will refer to as the Miracle on Thursday Night, Go Hoosiers!

 

[DANC]

Urban will have a the final say on Kevin's game plan which means that we'll see them try to break our spirit by attempting to run inside mixed with option, with just a few deep shots, along with TE looks in the hopes that they'll be able to break a couple and take our crowd out of it early and get the D questioning themselves. If we don't keep "leverage" on the play their speed will be lethal...

On D they'll try to pressure the QB early and often without doing anything too exotic. They'll figure that their overall talent and team speed is better than ours so they can play base with blitzes mixed in throughout the game and do fairly well.

3&1/2 months to get ready for them. Let's hope the Team shows up to Work this summer.

What an Opportunity!!!

Well, we know Wilson's Offense can move the ball. But inside the 10, his Offense breaks down. We've seen it time after time.

I think out best chance is to stop the big scoring play (duh, I know). I think we can afford to give up chunks of yards, but if we can keep them bottled up within their Offense inside the Red Zone, they'll start to get frustrated - and we know that frustration.

Change up the Defense often at the LOI. Make Wilson burn those timeouts.

We need to use his tendencies against him.

On Offense, I would start out throwing long early and often. We've got the WRs to do it and the QB who can get it down the field, although not as accurate. Work on the DBs, get a few PI calls against them. They'll be forced to cover the field and open up opportunities for the running game and throwing the short over-the-middle passes.

That scream you will hear will be me if we open the game with our usual RB running play into the middle of the line.

 

[ElMeson]

Urban will have a the final say on Kevin's game plan which means that we'll see them try to break our spirit by attempting to run inside mixed with option, with just a few deep shots, along with TE looks in the hopes that they'll be able to break a couple and take our crowd out of it early and get the D questioning themselves. If we don't keep "leverage" on the play their speed will be lethal...

On D they'll try to pressure the QB early and often without doing anything too exotic. They'll figure that their overall talent and team speed is better than ours so they can play base with blitzes mixed in throughout the game and do fairly well.

3&1/2 months to get ready for them. Let's hope the Team shows up to Work this summer.

What an Opportunity!!!

Pretty spot on. Their DL is arguably the best in the country and rotate 9 deep. They lost 3/4 of their secondary but how good their young talent is back there is a mystery. I don't think Weber is anything special at RB but Barrett makes great decisions in the run game. Normally I'd agree that we could catch them looking ahead to Oklahoma the following week but Wilson will definitely be in his player's ear about our talent. I really wish this game was a late October Noon kick game, the week before they played PSU or Wisconsin.

Sure it's a great opportunity but a national audience, a team who was embarrassed in the playoffs their last game out and a offensive coordinator with revenge on his mind doesn't give me warm and fuzzy feelings. Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[RBB89]

Pretty spot on. Their DL is arguably the best in the country and rotate 9 deep. They lost 3/4 of their secondary but how good their young talent is back there is a mystery. I don't think Weber is anything special at RB but Barrett makes great decisions in the run game. Normally I'd agree that we could catch them looking ahead to Oklahoma the following week but Wilson will definitely be in his player's ear about our talent. I really wish this game was a late October Noon kick game, the week before they played PSU or Wisconsin.

Sure it's a great opportunity but a national audience, a team who was embarrassed in the playoffs their last game out and a offensive coordinator with revenge on his mind doesn't give me warm and fuzzy feelings. Hopefully I'm wrong.

You had me until the end. IU fans are literally the only fanbase I've ever seen make having a national TV audience a negative. You even said yourself we have talent. Line up and play. We should be past the "trying to sneak up on them before a bigger game" thing.

They've had a good offensive coordinator before. They've had a lot of talent before. We've given them a good game the past several years. We are not a 3-9 team anymore, and the "hope I'm wrong/fear" stuff is really irritating. In no way am I saying everyone should be predicting 12-0 or something, but the woe is us stuff is tiresome. We've proven that we can play with them.

 

[kmathum]

You had me until the end. IU fans are literally the only fanbase I've ever seen make having a national TV audience a negative. You even said yourself we have talent. Line up and play. We should be past the "trying to sneak up on them before a bigger game" thing.

They've had a good offensive coordinator before. They've had a lot of talent before. We've given them a good game the past several years. We are not a 3-9 team anymore, and the "hope I'm wrong/fear" stuff is really irritating. In no way am I saying everyone should be predicting 12-0 or something, but the woe is us stuff is tiresome. We've proven that we can play with them.

i just don't have a lot of confidence in lagow. hope l'm wrong.

 

[Bowlmania]

You had me until the end. IU fans are literally the only fanbase I've ever seen make having a national TV audience a negative. You even said yourself we have talent. Line up and play. We should be past the "trying to sneak up on them before a bigger game" thing.

They've had a good offensive coordinator before. They've had a lot of talent before. We've given them a good game the past several years. We are not a 3-9 team anymore, and the "hope I'm wrong/fear" stuff is really irritating. In no way am I saying everyone should be predicting 12-0 or something, but the woe is us stuff is tiresome. We've proven that we can play with them.

Unfortunately this seems to be the mindset/mentality of the majority of IU football fans. My favorite is the guy who says we should temper expectations so that fans don't turn on the coach in the event we don't do well.

It's always gloom and doom with these guys. The "hope I'm wrong" postscript is to preempt accusations that they're not true fans. Interesting bunch.

 

[Ewezrfan1]

Pretty spot on. Their DL is arguably the best in the country and rotate 9 deep. They lost 3/4 of their secondary but how good their young talent is back there is a mystery. I don't think Weber is anything special at RB but Barrett makes great decisions in the run game. Normally I'd agree that we could catch them looking ahead to Oklahoma the following week but Wilson will definitely be in his player's ear about our talent. I really wish this game was a late October Noon kick game, the week before they played PSU or Wisconsin.

Sure it's a great opportunity but a national audience, a team who was embarrassed in the playoffs their last game out and a offensive coordinator with revenge on his mind doesn't give me warm and fuzzy feelings. Hopefully I'm wrong.

I have to agree with you, as much as I hope we're both wrong. IU has some good skill but not OSU level, and there's a big difference in the lines. Ninth and tenth place recruiting classes can't match first place ones no matter how much we wish it was different. I do like Tom Allen and hope he can do well.

 

[ElMeson]

Unfortunately this seems to be the mindset/mentality of the majority of IU football fans. My favorite is the guy who says we should temper expectations so that fans don't turn on the coach in the event we don't do well.

It's always gloom and doom with these guys. The "hope I'm wrong" postscript is to preempt accusations that they're not true fans. Interesting bunch.

How in the hell is that doom & gloom? Do you really deep down think that we have as much talent? I believe I'm just stating the obvious. I'm not a true fan.. screw you!! I live in Ohio, of all of my family and friends from home, I'm the only one who isn't a OSU fan. You want doom & gloom? I'm a Browns fan too, I'll tell you all about that. I think we have talent, I just don't think it's OSU level. In my lifetime we have yet to beat them and I'll be 26 in a month. Arrogant prick!

 

[Bowlmania]

How in the hell is that doom & gloom? Do you really deep down think that we have as much talent? I believe I'm just stating the obvious. I'm not a true fan.. screw you!! I live in Ohio, of all of my family and friends from home, I'm the only one who isn't a OSU fan. You want doom & gloom? I'm a Browns fan too, I'll tell you all about that. I think we have talent, I just don't think it's OSU level. In my lifetime we have yet to beat them and I'll be 26 in a month. Arrogant prick!

Sorry you misconstrued what I said. If you read again what I wrote, you might be able to comprehend that I didn't claim that you weren't a true fan. My point was that people who predict losses for a team are often accused of not being a real fan of the team. By adding, "I hope I'm wrong," that question/doubt is eliminated.

No, I don't think IU has anywhere near the talent of Ohio State. But, with a skinny backup quarterback leading IU down the field, we were first and goal with a chance to tie OSU in the closing minute two years ago. We gave them a pretty good game in Columbus the year before. We've been able to compete against the elite teams of late, and our chances of pulling one of these games out improve, I think, with a solid defense, which we've now got.

IU objectively sucked for years. We were competing in a Power 5 conference with mid-major talent. That's changed. The talent level has improved to the point where we've got All-American candidates and we're sending guys to the NFL. Do we have the talent and depth of teams like Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State? Of course not. But we've got enough to hang with these guys now and, when you hang with them, you've got a shot at the end. The future hasn't looked this bright for IU football in decades, so I don't get the continuing negativity. You can have the last word if you want.

 

[fkfootball]

We don't have their talent. But we have a veteran team of guys who can play with them. Silver helmets with stickers on them, do not scare Indiana players.

 

[IUfamily]

I tend to think you will see shorter quick passes not a bunch of deep balls. Osu will come after Lagow hard to start the game and try to see if he makes a bad decision. Wilson knows Lagow's tendencies. I look for 5 and 10 yards safe passes mixed with run and see if we can move the ball. A few deep balls will be tossed up to keep them honest. I think it will be a good early war on the field.

 

[DANC]

I tend to think you will see shorter quick passes not a bunch of deep balls. Osu will come after Lagow hard to start the game and try to see if he makes a bad decision. Wilson knows Lagow's tendencies. I look for 5 and 10 yards safe passes mixed with run and see if we can move the ball. A few deep balls will be tossed up to keep them honest. I think it will be a good early war on the field.

No offense (no pun intended), but I think that's a recipe for disaster. Lagow's weakness is making the short-to-midrange pass. He got the ball batted down countless times last year. I don't mind a mixture of throws, but to come out with a diet of short throws just brings in the Defense and then our running game will stall.

To beat a team like O$U, you've got to go for broke. Stretch the field from the start. We've got the WRs to do it. Lagow can throw the deep ball as well as he can throw a 10 yard pass. Send the TEs down the field - don't make Lagow go through more than 2 reads.

I don't think anyone expects IU to come out with a wide-open style. Which is a great reason to do it, considering we have the talent available to do it. I just don't think we can beat O$U by being conservative.

 

[IUfamily]

No offense taken. OSU has an unproven secondary so I would test their corners early. The deep ball takes time and OSU has a good front D line and I believe Lagow tends to make mistakes when under pressure. However you do have to try going down field and if it's not there throw it away. I am no fan of the two QB system but this is a game I just might give it a shot in just to give them somebody they must account for.

 

[RBB89]

I have to agree with you, as much as I hope we're both wrong. IU has some good skill but not OSU level, and there's a big difference in the lines. Ninth and tenth place recruiting classes can't match first place ones no matter how much we wish it was different. I do like Tom Allen and hope he can do well.

We were literally 6 yards away from tying the game on the last play of the game the last time we played them in Bloomington 2 years ago. And we played without Sudfeld and Howard for the second half. Zander freaking Diamont ran through their entire defense. We gave them a hell of a time last year as well, and our defense was all over their QB. You make it sound like we still have Russ Richardson out there, God love him, playing DT at 250 lbs. Heck, we were winning in the third quarter in Columbus in 2014 when we had nothing on offense other than Coleman, and they literally knew that we were going to run the ball every single play. None of this appears to matter though because it seems that a lot of our fans just really enjoy feeling sorry for themselves.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. We've literally proved that we can line up and play with them, quite competitively, and yet people are still going "oh golly gee they're just so talented and our recruiting classes just can't match up with their classes I sure hope Urban calls off the dogs and shows mercy and doesn't put up 70 on us."

I realize we haven't beaten them in forever, but we've shown that we can play. This is not the same program that we had in the 90s.

 

[RBB89]

Ultimately it's about winning these games and we can only talk about being close for so long, but I'm so sick of the attitude of a lot of our fans.

 

[Hoosier71]

No offense (no pun intended), but I think that's a recipe for disaster. Lagow's weakness is making the short-to-midrange pass. He got the ball batted down countless times last year. I don't mind a mixture of throws, but to come out with a diet of short throws just brings in the Defense and then our running game will stall.

To beat a team like O$U, you've got to go for broke. Stretch the field from the start. We've got the WRs to do it. Lagow can throw the deep ball as well as he can throw a 10 yard pass. Send the TEs down the field - don't make Lagow go through more than 2 reads.

I don't think anyone expects IU to come out with a wide-open style. Which is a great reason to do it, considering we have the talent available to do it. I just don't think we can beat O$U by being conservative.

I'm a little torn on this. I don't think that you want to get away from what you do on offense and let the opponent dictate your approach. If DeBord wants a vertical passing attack against OSU, that is what we should do. With that said, OSU has a dominant defensive front and our offensive line will possibly be a work in progress, particularly for the first game. Quick hitting plays that minimize pressure on Lagow and don't require multiple check downs may be a good approach, as well as opening up some things downfield. The good news is that, we will have plenty of time to implement a creative approach, being the first game. I'm honestly not sure what the best approach would be. I think that it may be advantageous to give some occasional time to Ramsey, in order to give them a different look.

 

[Bowlmania]

We've got to attack their secondary early and often. Lattimore, Conley and Hooker all went in the first round of the NFL draft last month. Yes, Meyer's reloaded with 5-star talent, but hopefully we can exploit some guys back there who don't have a whole lot of experience. We've got the best WRs in the Big Ten. Bombs away.

 

[td75]

I would think IU would look to Simmie Cobbs early and often in this matchup. Cobbs is a beast and probably a matchup nightmare. I could see Cobbs having a big night against them. If he does, that alone will open up the running attack.

This game has the makings of an Instant Classic. If Lagow plays with poise, IU will have an excellent chance in this game. The program absolutely must start winning a few of these matchups with OSU, UM, PSU etc. You just can't build right if you never knock these guys off on an occasional basis. Iowa makes its name by beating Michigan about once every 4 tries....think about it.

 

[Thomtar]

Well, we know Wilson's Offense can move the ball. But inside the 10, his Offense breaks down. We've seen it time after time.

I think out best chance is to stop the big scoring play (duh, I know). I think we can afford to give up chunks of yards, but if we can keep them bottled up within their Offense inside the Red Zone, they'll start to get frustrated - and we know that frustration.

Change up the Defense often at the LOI. Make Wilson burn those timeouts.

We need to use his tendencies against him.

On Offense, I would start out throwing long early and often. We've got the WRs to do it and the QB who can get it down the field, although not as accurate. Work on the DBs, get a few PI calls against them. They'll be forced to cover the field and open up opportunities for the running game and throwing the short over-the-middle passes.

That scream you will hear will be me if we open the game with our usual RB running play into the middle of the line.

Isn't there an NCAA rule or a federal law, or something that says Indiana MUST open with the RB off tackle?
I'm pretty sure there is ...

 

[Hoosier71]

I would think IU would look to Simmie Cobbs early and often in this matchup. Cobbs is a beast and probably a matchup nightmare. I could see Cobbs having a big night against them. If he does, that alone will open up the running attack.

This game has the makings of an Instant Classic. If Lagow plays with poise, IU will have an excellent chance in this game. The program absolutely must start winning a few of these matchups with OSU, UM, PSU etc. You just can't build right if you never knock these guys off on an occasional basis. Iowa makes its name by beating Michigan about once every 4 tries....think about it.

Lagow will have to play something close to a mistake free game for us to have a chance. We can't afford to turn the ball over to their offense with a short field.

Absolutely must start winning these types of games here and there. It's the only way to really build fan support and take the program to the next level. If we consistently lose these games, we just don't have a path forward to ever get beyond the 6-7 win threshold.

 

[DANC]

Isn't there an NCAA rule or a federal law, or something that says Indiana MUST open with the RB off tackle?
I'm pretty sure there is ...

Doesn't it just drive you nuts?

 

[DANC]

Ultimately it's about winning these games and we can only talk about being close for so long, but I'm so sick of the attitude of a lot of our fans.

Show the PI non-call in the end zone with the O$U DB's armed wrapped around Ricky Jones!

 

[IUfamily]

I don't expect an favors from the officials at home even. I remember the no call pi when we played them. It was a no brain er call they let slide.
I think we have an experienced staff that will come up with a good game plan. I think they will hunt until they find what works best and then go after it. Wilson was a big gambler on 4th down and sometimes it put the defense in a bad spot and sometimes it cost us points by getting to greedy. Our place kicker had a rough year lat year which I hope was due to an undisclosed injury. Wilson was the king of hiding injuries. I don't care what Vegas boys say I think we have a fighting chance. We need to be in better shape that osu because we are not as deep. I am hoping our LB get some really solid links in on the osu qb. We need to make him think about something other than running the ball.

 

[Tokyo Steve]

No offense (no pun intended), but I think that's a recipe for disaster. Lagow's weakness is making the short-to-midrange pass. He got the ball batted down countless times last year. I don't mind a mixture of throws, but to come out with a diet of short throws just brings in the Defense and then our running game will stall.

To beat a team like O$U, you've got to go for broke. Stretch the field from the start. We've got the WRs to do it. Lagow can throw the deep ball as well as he can throw a 10 yard pass. Send the TEs down the field - don't make Lagow go through more than 2 reads.

I don't think anyone expects IU to come out with a wide-open style. Which is a great reason to do it, considering we have the talent available to do it. I just don't think we can beat O$U by being conservative.

In their film-session video, both DeBord and Gruden seemed pretty fond of the Peyton Manning approach of continuing to ding opponents for 6-8 yards until the D does something to take that away from you. But your point on Lagow getting so many passes batted down last year is well-taken. And based on the spring game, it looks like instead of tinkering with Lagow's throwing motion (low release), there is a DeBord/Hiller strategy to use the offensive line to reduce the number of short passes batted down. On many of those short passes, many to our tight ends, it seemed that the tackles--especially, but also the guards sometimes--counted a predetermined number of beats and then dove to take out the feet of the D linemen. I just noticed this happening in unison pretty frequently in the spring game and I don't recall such obvious timing in past years. I also agree with you that we're going to want to take some shots over the top early on. And if those shots are successful, of course you keep doing it. Anyway, overall I've got a good feeling that DeBord is going to bring a great mix of swing passes, deep passes and a much, much, much better use of the tight ends and this will open things up for our running game.

 

[DANC]

In their film-session video, both DeBord and Gruden seemed pretty fond of the Peyton Manning approach of continuing to ding opponents for 6-8 yards until the D does something to take that away from you. But your point on Lagow getting so many passes batted down last year is well-taken. And based on the spring game, it looks like instead of tinkering with Lagow's throwing motion (low release), there is a DeBord/Hiller strategy to use the offensive line to reduce the number of short passes batted down. On many of those short passes, many to our tight ends, it seemed that the tackles--especially, but also the guards sometimes--counted a predetermined number of beats and then dove to take out the feet of the D linemen. I just noticed this happening in unison pretty frequently in the spring game and I don't recall such obvious timing in past years. I also agree with you that we're going to want to take some shots over the top early on. And if those shots are successful, of course you keep doing it. Anyway, overall I've got a good feeling that DeBord is going to bring a great mix of swing passes, deep passes and a much, much, much better use of the tight ends and this will open things up for our running game.

That's an interesting observation about the Tackles and Guards going low after a certain time. I'm not that observant, so that's something I'll look for next year.

It seems kind of risky. If they miss or the defender side-steps or even jumps over them, it's open season on the QB.

 

[Tokyo Steve]

That's an interesting observation about the Tackles and Guards going low after a certain time. I'm not that observant, so that's something I'll look for next year.

It seems kind of risky. If they miss or the defender side-steps or even jumps over them, it's open season on the QB.

The strategy seems designed to make it unlikely that the defenders have time to get to the QB. It might be the case that if there is nothing at all going with the first two or three short targets, the QB is instructed to just throw it into the stands. I didn't pay close enough attention to determine if this this diving technique was used more on early downs. Hey, that seems like a great excuse to re-watch the spring game tonight after the rest of the family hits the sack!!

 

[klemman]

This coming from an OSU fan--Several things that give IU a shot at beating OSU.
1. I've seen some posts here about going deep in the young secondary. While a shot or two against a young defensive backfield might help buy some quick points, unless you're getting a ton of success early, I would use this tactic sparingly. You don't want to find too many third and kings because you give the advantage to the OSU D-line, which should be fierce as is, but more so in obvious passing situations.
2. I think the way to attack the Bucks is quick passes and misdirection to confuse the young OSU DBs. You don't need a lot of successful drives but you need to get first downs before punting to have the field position battle and keep the score close.
3. Bucks will try some long balls but won't do it to much. If it works a couple of times they'll stop using it to avoid showing all their cards to Oklahoma. If they miss early they'll stop throwing deep so it doesn't become obvious that they haven't fixed that part of the game.
4. There are running backs on OSU with gone run speed, but I'm not sure if Weber is one of them. Keep him in check and he'll still get yards but with less yards per carry.
5. IU needs to keep the score low and close. When that happens Urban goes conservative and tends to run JT a lot. If IU is within 10-14 points at the end of the third, a big break or mistake can determine the game. See PSU's blocked FG against the Bucks last year.
6. The key for OSU is JT. He doesn't break down under pressure so a close game won't bother him as much as it does the coaches. But last year he wasn't as accurate as in 2014 and tended to hold the ball to long on passing situations. How the passing game develops with Wilson will determine if this is a close game with IU having a chance to win at the end, or a comfortable win for the Buckeyes.
7. I could be wrong about everything.

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

Urban will have a the final say on Kevin's game plan which means that we'll see them try to break our spirit by attempting to run inside mixed with option, with just a few deep shots, along with TE looks in the hopes that they'll be able to break a couple and take our crowd out of it early and get the D questioning themselves. If we don't keep "leverage" on the play their speed will be lethal...

On D they'll try to pressure the QB early and often without doing anything too exotic. They'll figure that their overall talent and team speed is better than ours so they can play base with blitzes mixed in throughout the game and do fairly well.

3&1/2 months to get ready for them. Let's hope the Team shows up to Work this summer.

What an Opportunity!!!

I expect Wilson to isolate the guys he sees as our the weakest defensive links.
He'll make our LB's defend routes and receivers.
He'll try to create space for his QB to take off.
If he thinks a corner can't stay with his guys, he'll pound 'em.

He will also waste timeouts and mismanage the clock at the end -- if we give him/force him to do so.
(Although Urban may "help" him better understand.)

On defense, they'll force us wide, because nobody thinks IU has the speed to get the corner, and OSU will have the contain and speed to swarm wide.

I expect they will press on the line and go 1-on-1 until we disprove it, with a blitz on almost every play.

Screw them.
My first snap is a post to our fastest guy - as far as Lagow can throw it.
Just because.

After that, we can run it every play, and I won't bitch.

 

[ESalum86]

We were literally 6 yards away from tying the game on the last play of the game the last time we played them in Bloomington 2 years ago. And we played without Sudfeld and Howard for the second half. Zander freaking Diamont ran through their entire defense. We gave them a hell of a time last year as well, and our defense was all over their QB. You make it sound like we still have Russ Richardson out there, God love him, playing DT at 250 lbs. Heck, we were winning in the third quarter in Columbus in 2014 when we had nothing on offense other than Coleman, and they literally knew that we were going to run the ball every single play. None of this appears to matter though because it seems that a lot of our fans just really enjoy feeling sorry for themselves.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. We've literally proved that we can line up and play with them, quite competitively, and yet people are still going "oh golly gee they're just so talented and our recruiting classes just can't match up with their classes I sure hope Urban calls off the dogs and shows mercy and doesn't put up 70 on us."

I realize we haven't beaten them in forever, but we've shown that we can play. This is not the same program that we had in the 90s.

Mic drop, RBB.

 

[vesuvius13]

I too don't like so many fans thinking IU is lucky just to be in this game. I do have to say that history shows fans wins don't happen often for the Hoosiers against certain teams. I think those days are over with our coaching change as I expect the team to play a more solid game. Our leading coaches on offense and defense have coached at the highest level so they know what to do to get the team ready to win. The difference in talent exist during players freshman year. After that, 3 star players benefit from weight training and nutrition to close the gap between them and 5 star players. IU has show the past three years how this happens. By the time our players are seniors or R-JR they are playing against freshman or sophomore players where the talent difference should disappear in most cases. IU is at that point now so we will see if it is enough to get the job done.

 

[Tokyo Steve]

I too don't like so many fans thinking IU is lucky just to be in this game. I do have to say that history shows fans wins don't happen often for the Hoosiers against certain teams. I think those days are over with our coaching change as I expect the team to play a more solid game. Our leading coaches on offense and defense have coached at the highest level so they know what to do to get the team ready to win. The difference in talent exist during players freshman year. After that, 3 star players benefit from weight training and nutrition to close the gap between them and 5 star players. IU has show the past three years how this happens. By the time our players are seniors or R-JR they are playing against freshman or sophomore players where the talent difference should disappear in most cases. IU is at that point now so we will see if it is enough to get the job done.

I agree with this in general, but one component of the gap that very rarely if ever can be closed is speed. Fortunately, on defense anyway, Coach Allen has demonstrated an ability to use schemes that effectively compensate for that gap.