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(11/03/19 4:30am)
Tiawan Mullen jumped back toward the sideline, raising the football he held in one hand in the air. His teammates swarmed around him to celebrate as a smile stretched across Mullen's face underneath his white facemask.
As the freshman cornerback continued to emerge, he propelled a team dead-set on changing narratives, changing the story of a team so often left at the bottom of the Big Ten.
"I feel like everybody doubt us," Mullen said. "I feel like everybody think we're like the niece in the Big Ten. But we showing everybody that we them."
When head coach Tom Allen became the head coach at IU, he wrote three numbers on the board. 50, 26 and 10. It had been 50 years since IU won the Big Ten, 26 years since IU won a bowl game and 10 years since IU had a winning season.
"I told our team, and I told our coaches that we were going to accomplish all three of those, and that if you don't believe that, you need to leave," Allen said.
Since that day, those numbers have grown to 52, 28 and 12.
In a way, IU's 34-3 win over Northwestern was an exorcism, rewriting the script with each passing week. The same IU team that has failed to finish or fallen flat under the weight of expectations is now 7-2. It's the first time IU has beaten Northwestern since 2008, and breaks a five-game losing streak in the all time series.
And it checked the "12" off Allen's list. IU will have a winning season.
"There's no questions not a lot of people felt that way or believed in us," Allen said. "But that's OK, and that may never matter to us."
Mullen was set on checking off those numbers as soon as he committed to IU. During his exit interview on his official visit to IU, he wrote down all three numbers for Allen.
"I knew I came 16 hours away from home," Mullen said. "I told him, 'We finna get this thing rolling. It wasn't going to take two years, three years. As soon as I get here we're going to get the train rolling.'"
As IU's lead over Northwestern grew, and as it was clear IU would check that 12 off the list, Mullen pulled his head coach aside.
"He grabbed me tonight and said, 'Coach, this is what I told you we were going to do when we came here,'" Allen said.
Mullen's rise began in East Lansing, or specifically in the south endzone of Spartan Stadium.
The freshman was covering Darrell Stewart, Michigan State's leading receiver. On two straight plays, Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke looked Stewart's way in the endzone, and on two straight plays, Mullen broke up the pass. He didn't allow a reception at all when he was covering Stewart.
Mullen was just in a situational role early on, a freshman still trying to learn the defense.
After Michigan State, that changed.
Mullen had learned the different coverages he was put into, and his role grew. He rose up the depth chart, quickly becoming a full time starter and IU's top cornerback option.
As a true freshman.
"He's a very confident young man," Allen said. "He just keeps getting better like our team does."
(11/01/19 5:38pm)
It's been nearly three weeks since IU last took the field at Memorial Stadium. Three weeks since it allowed just one passing yard to a Rutgers offense trying to find footing under a new head coach.
In the weeks IU has been on the road, Tom Allen, Peyton Ramsey and a defense learning to adjust have flipped the script from what has always been the typical Hoosiers narrative.
That's why they return in triumph, bowl-eligible before the calendar flipped to October.
Each week on the road has ended in a program-defining win. IU still doesn't have a win over a team currently with a winning record, but that hasn't mattered. It's quite clear the direction the program has been heading.
When IU takes the field against Northwestern under the lights Saturday night, a celebration of what is already one of the most successful seasons in the program's history, it will do so with momentum. For a program that has so often lacked it, the Hoosiers have built momentum, hope and a belief that this team is different than all the others before it.
Allen walked into the Indiana Memorial Union on Thursday morning, armed with free tickets, signed game balls and his loud raspy voice, foregoing a megaphone to yell above the dining hall and Starbucks din.
(10/28/19 10:00pm)
Peyton Ramsey was confused when he saw what Whop Philyor had brought into the locker room. The team was preparing to leave Bloomington, and Philyor had a Chucky doll.
Halloween (Philyor's favorite holiday) is quickly approaching. As IU made its push toward a bowl game — becoming a scary opponent in the Big Ten — the doll became representative of the team for Philyor.
"Chucky a bad man so we gotta bring a bad man out, cause we a bad football team," Philyor said.
Whop even carried the doll with him as the team took the field at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln on Saturday:
(10/25/19 3:51pm)
Noise makers were set up along the wall of the IU team room. The players sat down in their black chairs embroidered with a red IU trident logo, preparing for a team meeting.
As they did, head coach Tom Allen turned on the speakers. The noise blared and as Allen came within inches of his players it still was difficult, if possible at all, to hear anything he was saying.
Allen wanted to make his players uncomfortable. He knows that's what's coming this weekend.
IU travels to Nebraska this weekend for the first time since it joined the Big Ten. It will step into the Cornhuskers' version of Memorial Stadium with something quite abnormal facing a traditional football powerhouse: expectations.
It's an upstart 5-2 Hoosier team as just a two-point underdog per Bovada in one of the nation's most raucous environments, the one Allen is working to prepare his team for. An environment beyond that which IU saw against Michigan State.
And just as Allen entered East Lansing with question marks looming over the health of the quarterback position, the same ones that follow him to Lincoln.
Allen said in Thursday's press conference that Michael Penix is yet again a game-time decision. Penix left during the first half of IU's win over Maryland and didn't return.
Though this week has far more resembled that of the lead-up to Michigan State when Penix returned from his injury as opposed to weeks against Ohio State and UConn where Penix didn't throw the football (bar an underhand toss in pregame warmups against UConn).
Penix practiced this week, the extent to which is unknown. Practicing to any extent still places him closer to playing than in the two games Penix missed with injury.
And while he lacks the experience playing in this type of environment, it is Penix who has IU on the doorstep of bowl eligibility, the reason why IU is a program suddenly surrounded by hope and expectations far beyond a typical year.
Should it be Peyton Ramsey, IU has a quarterback who has been there before. Basically.
Ramsey has started at Ohio Stadium and the Big House as well as playing at Beaver Stadium. He's seen the type of environment he'll get against Nebraska despite never having been.
His performance against Maryland was among the best, if not the best, of his career at IU. The Nebraska defense is very similar to Maryland's in terms of yards allowed, also giving up over 390 per game.
It was an emotional postgame scene at Maryland for Ramsey as he received the game ball. Allen and Ramsey both talked about what it has meant for Ramsey to stick with IU despite losing the starting job. He had the option to transfer, and chose not to.
Instead his preparation as if he's starting each week had him ready to go when his name was called against Maryland. That same preparation is why IU has the luxury of a backup quarterback of starting caliber.
No, Ramsey doesn't provide the same dynamic spark to the offense as Penix, but his experience has been crucial for IU, in no game more so than the win over Maryland.
IU has remained quiet on Penix's health, just as it has in his other injury absences. It causes a Nebraska defense that is already struggling to have uncertainty in its preparation. It has to prepare for two different quarterbacks of different skillsets despite running the same offense.
Combine the numbers of Penix and Ramsey and IU's quarterbacks would be near the top of the Big Ten. They've executed a system that has IU one win away from a bowl game with a young team built not just for this year but years to come.
But they aren't at a bowl game yet. That's why Allen wants his players to remain uncomfortable. When the noise shifts from artificial to real on Saturday, IU will once again prove more about itself. It doesn't matter who's under center.
(10/21/19 11:53pm)
Kane Wommack pulled his defense aside to a white board on the sideline. He sat them down and began to diagram what his defense was doing, what Maryland's offense was doing and what adjustments his defense had to make.
Wommack drew on the board in his neon-orange long sleeve shirt after each first half possession. He had to adjust on the fly just like his defense. Wommack wasn't anticipating what he saw on the field.
What Wommack and the defense saw from Maryland was nothing close to resembling the team they saw on tape in the week leading up to the game.
The IU defense struggled in the first half. It allowed 21 points and 239 yards in the first half.
Wommack and the defensive staff were the first in the locker room at halftime. He had to make further changes to help his young defense, part of the Big Ten's third-youngest roster, adjust on the road in a crucial game.
After being hit with plays and concepts they hadn't seen on film, Wommack didn't see a frustrated defense. He didn't see them hanging their heads in the locker room.
"What I loved about our guys is we'd given up 21 points in the first half, we got to the locker room, started talking to them and they were so locked in to, 'Hey, let's get it fixed,'" Wommack said. "'Let's get this thing going. We know that we can take control of this football game in the second half.' That, for a young defense, is critically important."
What Wommack said and changed worked. IU made formational changes which resulted in holding Maryland to 144 yards in the second half and just seven points.
"We found a way to make adjustments in the second half and find a way to flip the script on the production Maryland was able to have," Wommack said.
Though it wasn't until the final two drives of the game where the defense shined brightest.
"Being able to finish the game," Wommack said. "Put it on our shoulders to finish a game. To be able to create two takeaways at the end was really critical for a young defense's confidence."
(10/20/19 1:07am)
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Reese Taylor was in his zone inside the hashmark nearest IU's sideline. He saw Maryland wide receiver Sean Savoy running a vertical route down field, the man he was supposed to focus on.
"I see the ball in the air, I just had to go make a play," Taylor said.
Maryland quarterback Ty Pigrome's pass sailed over the head of Savoy, and Taylor was there. The ball was headed right to him.
Taylor made the catch as he slid to the ground, the arms of Andre Brown and Michael Ziemba immediately thrust up. He stood up as Devon Matthews jumped on him to celebrate, tossed the ball down on the field behind him, and jumped to chest bump Tiawan Mullen near the sideline.
The sideline erupted in the background, running on the field to meet the hero. Jaylin Williams put his arm around Taylor as he looked toward the IU fans in the stands behind the benches.
IU didn't have Michael Penix. It won possibly the most crucial game of its season thus far anyway.
Taylor made the game sealing interception with a minute to play, a turnover that sealed a 34-28 win. A win that for most of the game was reminiscent of IU losses not just in College Park, but across Big Ten play year after year.
If the 2019 season as proved anything, it's that IU has found a quarterback for the future.
But in one of the most critical games in a search for bowl eligibility, the Hoosiers were without Michael Penix once again.
On this occasion, it didn't matter.
Penix was examined by trainers at the end of the first half following a hard hit where multiple Maryland defenders including safety Antoine Brooks fell on him. Penix stayed in the game as the second quarter began. The drive ended as a Penix pass bounced off the hands of Peyton Hendershot and into those of Brooks.
It was the last pass Penix would throw.
IU would do enough to win the game, just barely enough. He flipped the script of a game that all too closely resembled that of the 2017 matchup between these two in College Park. Where IU lost on this same field two years ago in a game that all but ensured IU wouldn't go bowling, IU won to improve to 5-2 and sit one win shy of a bowl game.
Ramsey knows no snaps are guaranteed for him. But after losing the starting job, he still prepares each week like it will be him, not Penix, running out on the field for the opening possession. That's why he was ready when he was needed.
"I was really locked in on the game plan," Ramsey said. "That's why this is so emotional. You prepare every single week like you're going to be the guy. You never know. You never know when your number is going to be called."
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Ramsey completed 20 of 27 passes for 193 and one touchdown. Stevie Scott has his most important game of the season with 108 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The offense took advantage of a porous Maryland defense, totaling 520 yards.
In a game where IU had a chance to prove itself in a matchup appearing nearly even on paper, the offense still made a statement without Penix. It was able to get by without him in such a crucial game.
The offense didn't have the same spark and energy it did with Penix. It never will with Ramsey playing. But the lone experienced face in the quarterback room had the type of clutch performance IU desperately needed. And it was all encompassed in a third down run where Ramsey rushed for 15 yards, and took a big hit, to collect a first down on third-and-long.
"It's savvy, it's toughness, it's grit, it's fight," Allen said of Ramsey's run. "He's just so gritty and tough. That run just exemplifies who he is as a player."
It's why for Allen, Ramsey was a clear choice to receive the game ball.
"You take a lot of pride in being the guy, he's worked his whole life to come here and be that guy," Allen said. "He made a choice and not just to stay, but to be prepared every week. He prepared this week to be the starter. That's hard to do."
The defense, however, proved to be far from the unit that allowed one passing yard to Rutgers a week prior. It allowed 383 yards, and struggled to stop a Maryland offense without its starting quarterback and top running back. A Maryland offense that scored 14 points against the 104th ranked defense of Purdue last week.
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But yet it was the same defense that came up with the game's most important plays. It bounced back in the second half, and after not being able to stop anything in the first half, it was the defense that was relied on for two stops in the final minutes.
Every time Allen has been to Maryland, the games have been close, coming down to the final possession. IU typically hasn't had the ball bounce their way in such a spot. The big play doesn't go its way.
On this night, that didn't happen.
Maryland took the field at its own 18 yard line down three with 3:50 to play. It was the exact spot where IU has time and time again allowed back-breaking, game-winning drives.
Juwan Burgess began to flip the script as he stripped Javon Leake at the Maryland 16 yard line. IU only got a field goal out of it, forcing the defense to make one more stop.
Maryland began to drive down the field, converting a fourth-and-three as it moved into IU territory. The defense bent, but Taylor didn't let it break.
"I said at the beginning of the game, I thought takeaways were going to be the key to us winning this game," Allen said. We waited until the last minute to get them, but we finally got a couple."
They were the biggest two turnovers of IU's season.
"It's about learning how to win," Allen said. "The defense grows in confidence because of tonight."
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Coy Cronk scooted out of the locker room as the Maryland band took the field. He looked to the parents and fans remaining in the IU stands, and let out a short, but poignant "Woo!"
Cronk has seen IU fall short of a bowl game time and time again. He had to watch from the sideline as IU improve to 5-2 for the first time since 2007.
Cronk and the rest of the Hoosiers are one win away from bowl eligibility in the third weekend of October.
He's seen a different IU, a battered IU that proved itself anyway.
(10/18/19 3:48pm)
Tom Allen likes to keep a routine.
His team will stay in the same hotel it did two years before in College Park, Maryland. It will keep the same schedule it uses for all of its road trips.
And as has become routine for IU in the second half of the season this decade, bowl eligibility is on the line, and IU has to prove itself.
After scoring four predictable wins and taking two predicable losses, IU finds itself at a point in the schedule where the games suddenly become evenly matched. It is a stretch in the schedule where IU proves if the dominant wins over weaker opponents is closer to reality, or if the blowout loss to Ohio State is.
Maryland is the first in that stretch of games.
The Terps are 3-3, a very inconsistent 3-3. They, like the Hoosiers, have not yet proven what the real rendition of their team is.
"I don't know if Maryland knows what the real Maryland team is, and coach Mike Locksley expressed as much in his Wednesday press conference," The Diamondback sports editor Andy Kostka wrote in an email. "The issue so far has been consistency — putting up 79 points in its season opener, then managing all of 128 yards and zero points against Penn State. Two vastly different opponents in terms of quality level, but a rather concerning variation in output."
Maryland blew past Howard and a then-ranked Syracuse team before being crushed at home by Penn State and on the road by a Purdue team without its starting QB and Rondale Moore.
Purdue's battered offense crushed against a Maryland defense that is allowing nearly 400 yards per game. It's a struggling unit that IU matches up quite well against.
"A slew of missed tackles allowed the Boilermakers plenty of yards after the catch," Kostka said. "If Maryland is going to allow catches, it's imperative to not allow it to turn into a big gainer through missed tackles. Teams have been going with short options more recently after seeing Jon Hoke's defense put up impressive stat numbers through the first two weeks, and that's seemingly an effective way to go through this Maryland defense."
Kostka added that Maryland's defense has had success when the pass rush gets home. It's a case where something has to give going up against an IU offensive line that has allowed the fewest sacks per game in the Big Ten. The offensive line hasn't struggled despite injuries.
Fifth-year center Hunter Littlejohn will be a game-time decision. Allen mentioned the option of either sliding Charlie O'Connor in at center, or moving Harry Crider to center and adding a guard.
O'Connor took over when Littlejohn left against Rutgers, and was a part of the offensive line as it finally found success in the running game.
Whether or not Littlejohn plays, if the offensive line finds success, so will IU's offense. Give Penix time, and he'll keep up the hot start he's had to his career as a starter.
But there are questions on defense.
Maybe not the questions that have surrounded the defense in weeks prior, but questions about who it will be facing. Maryland could be without both quarterback Josh Jackson and running back Anthony McFarland. McFarland torched IU last season with over 200 yards.
If neither play, IU's load on defense suddenly lessens. It's a group entering College Park brimming with momentum and confidence after holding Rutgers to just one passing yard. If Maryland is without two of its top playmakers, IU may find it easier to carry that over into Saturday.
"Of course, Maryland has — or had — a deep running back room," Kostka said. "Javon Leake and Tayon Fleet-Davis are the last two fully healthy ball carriers, and both are plenty capable to break off long runs. McFarland was a strong interior runner, too, and was preferred in short-yardage attempts.
"There could be more designed runs for (quarterback Tyrrell) Pigrome, who has good speed and ran in a 61-yard bootleg touchdown against Purdue. Without Jackson, though, the passing game seems to take a bit of a hit. Pigrome had a very costly pick-6 right before halftime last weekend and threw another interception later in the game. The Terps can win without McFarland and Jackson, but it'll take a better defensive performance and some big plays to do so."
Through six games, IU has shown sides taken in the right direction. It's proved that it has its quarterback for the long term and playmakers around him. The last three games have changed the ideology surrounding the program, that this is the team that will break through in a bowl game.
It can prove that with a win on the road, in the first game where the result wasn't clear to predict before the opening kickoff.
(10/15/19 12:04am)
Coach Cronk comes into practice each day on a scooter, and on Saturday against Rutgers, he crutched his way out to midfield as a captain for the coin toss.
Or at least that's how he's referred to now.
His last time on the field this season, Coy Cronk lay on the ground injured near the midfield logo in the first half against UConn. IU's offensive line was suddenly without its senior leader.
Three weeks later, the next time Indiana was home, fifth-year center Hunter Littlejohn limped off the field from the north endzone.
And still the offensive line hasn't missed a beat. The production may have even improved.
Caleb Jones is a key reason why. The redshirt sophomore is hard to miss. He looks down on most defensive ends he's up against, and not by choice. Jones is 6-foot-8 and 358 pounds. He hadn't started a game before this season, yet quickly has become a leader. He's had to.
"After the first few games and after Coy went down especially, [it came down to] just kind of sucking it up and taking on the role of being an older guy," Jones said. "Even if I'm not technically an older guy, in comparison to some of the other guys playing, I am."
When Cronk was lost, Matthew Bedford, a true freshman, became the answer. All while Jones is learning how to play right tackle, and protecting the blindside of Michael Penix, his bookend is playing college football for the first time.
As Littlejohn left the game Saturday, Charlie O'Connor, a redshirt freshman, took over as the center. Right guard Simon Stepaniak is a fifth-year. Junior Harry Crider is the closest to him in terms of age. Of the five taking the field to start the second half against Rutgers, only Stepaniak had started a game before the 2019 season.
"When he went down, obviously we rallied around him," Jones said. "We had to make sure he was okay. But once he was off the field it was like, 'OK, it's time for us to step up, each and every one of us. It's time for us all to make sure we're doing our job.' We can't rely on Coy to tell us what to do or to hype us up before the game. We have to take matters into our own hands to get the job done."
IU won't be without Littlejohn for long — Tom Allen expects him back for Maryland this weekend, but the running game took off against Rutgers despite the great inexperience on the offensive line.
Jones and the rest of the o-line went into the locker room at halftime with a 21-point lead over Rutgers. It wasn't good enough for them. They were without Cronk and Littlejohn, but took a commitment to making a stand and getting the running game — which had struggled all year — going once again.
IU finished with 260 rushing yards against Rutgers as Stevie Scott caught fire in the second half. Scott had 164 of those yards in what became a breakout performance after totaling just 281 yards in the first five games of 2019. On Monday, Allen harped on the importance of patience with the process.
"There's no doubt, you come into the season, you rush for all those yards as a freshman, and kind of come out of nowhere, everybody talks about you the whole offseason," he said of Scott's early struggles.
The patience paid off. It came against one of the worst rush defenses in the country, but Scott had his breakout.
Take away a game against Ohio State and one of the best defensive fronts in the nation, and IU's offensive line has been among the best in the Big Ten in pass protection. The shifting pieces haven't made for any hinderance.
Penix has been sacked once, total, in 2019.
(10/12/19 9:25pm)
Fans hadn't even finished filing into their seats. With just over 12 minutes to play in the first quarter against Rutgers, IU fans trickled across 17th Street and into the stadium. They came up the ramps and into the bleacher seats, the student section slowly beginning to fill past the exit to the concourse.
And those who did missed 14 points put on the board in a flash.
Just minutes later, fans already began to return to their tailgates.
Indiana scored 21 points in the first eight minutes of football against Rutgers. The Hoosiers scored on the first play from scrimmage, a defensive touchdown in fact, and cruised to a 35-0 win.
Reakwon Jones thrust both his arms up into the air as he crossed the goal line, the football in his hand. He had recovered a fumble caused by Demarcus Elliott, forcing it out of Rutgers quarterback Johnny Langan's hand as he sacked the redshirt freshman.
That was the first play from scrimmage. Just 10 seconds had elapsed. It was IU's fastest start in Memorial Stadium history.
One hundred fifty-six seconds later, IU scored again. It needed just two plays to drive 70 yards.
(10/11/19 2:36pm)
Have four minutes?
(10/07/19 11:12pm)
Tom Allen doesn't often get to watch football on Saturday.
But once he returned from his recruiting trips on Thursday and Friday, Allen got to sit in front of his TV and watch, taking advantage of his bye week.
"I was going back and forth with several," Allen said. "Had them on, trying to flow through from noon until throughout most of the day. Just trying to watch as much as I can. And you learn things and you go through, I watched situational things that teams put themselves in and how they answer those as coaches and evaluate things."
But he watched one game with a particular focus: Maryland vs. Rutgers, IU's next two opponents.
Allen watched Rutgers — a team without the head coach, quarterback or running back it led with to start the season — fall 48-7 to Maryland.
IU opened as a 25-point favorite against Rutgers, one of the largest, if not the largest opening line IU has ever been favored by in a conference game.
And it's for that reason Allen isn't treating this game any differently than he did Ball State, Eastern Illinois or UConn.
"I think that the challenge is you've got to be a mature football team to understand it's a Big Ten opportunity for teams," Allen said. "They've got a unique situation they're in right now, but we have no control over that. And all we can control is how we prepare. And I know that we're playing a Big Ten football team all Saturday. We'll have to be at our very best. That's the absolute truth."
Though the line for IU against Rutgers may only be that large from the ignition provided by youth, the group Tiawan Mullen dubbed as the "New Wave."
"You show everybody it's not the same Indiana that everybody can just run over," Mullen said. "We're not just coming to compete. We want to show everybody that we can win those games."
The experienced members of the IU team see the potential in the young group, and the impact they've already brought.
"Most of the guys on this team lost to those teams and seen what we can improve," junior wideout Whop Philyor said. "The young guys with us, Tiawan, come on, look at this guy, he's a freshman, he's doing what he's doing. We just bring the younger guys, we tell them, 'We can really do this. Y'all just come on, just get on the boat.'"
Mullen hasn't taken long to make an adjustment from high school to college. Pro Football Focus graded Mullen as one of the top five cornerbacks in the nation following his performance against Michigan State. It hasn't done much to change Mullen's confidence, he's had that since high school and carried that with him into college.
"I thought he had a lot of natural ball savvy to him," Allen said. "Some guys have a knack for that. There was a moxie and swagger that he brought.”
(09/30/19 8:37pm)
Tom Allen thought back to what his father advised him when it came to building a coaching staff.
"He said you'd better make sure you have the best defensive back coach you can find and the best offensive line coach you can find because those are the two areas that are the hardest for kids to play, and they'll get you beat if you don't get them right," the Hoosiers' head coach said. "And I believe it."
Two days after falling in the final moments to then-No. 25 Michigan State, Allen looked back at the film and saw an offensive line that was able to make adjustments against one of the best fronts in the nation without its rock left tackle.
Allen wasn't sure true freshman Matthew Bedford was going to be able to handle the workload and opponent. But Bedford started, and played every snap as IU put up the best offensive performance any team has against Michigan State this season.
But as Allen looked back at the film he was reminded of his secondary, and the extent to which it was lacking.
Allen as three goals for the current bye week. First, Allen wants to create a physical and mental break for his team. The Hoosiers will only practice three times this week before coaches, including Allen, head off on recruiting trips this weekend.
That leads Allen into his second goal: Getting healthy. The bye week and limited practices give a chance to for IU to get players with minor injuries back to full health. Among that group is Reese Taylor, who was certainly missed as Brian Lewerke passed for 300 yards against IU's secondary. Without Taylor, the secondary lacked depth to be able to take out struggling veterans such as Raheem Layne and Andre Brown.
Allen's third goal is to use the extended time to improve technically and fundamentally — again, something especially needed on the defensive side of the ball.
It's a hard job working as Allen's defensive coordinator, the former IU defensive coordinator himself. That's where Kane Wommack is now.
As IU failed to close out the half on defense, Allen ripped into Wommack on the sidelines. Frankly, that's part of who Allen is, an amped-up coach unafraid to let his emotions show.
And when something needs to be corrected, he isn't letting that slide.
"I'm a pretty fiery guy," Allen said. "I love Kane, and we're really close. I'm going to rip his tail when his tail needs to be ripped.
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"But at the same time, that's my area. That's where I do feel for Kane because you really don't want to be the DC for the former DC, when he's the head coach now. It's a tough job, just tell it like it is because of every little thing. I'm hard on him in meetings, and I'm hard on him during the game."
Allen streaks up and down the sidelines throughout every game. As the first half came to a close, and the Spartans scored a late touchdown to grab the lead and momentum, Allen went after his neon-clad defensive coordinator. He has high standards for his defense, and Wommack is treated differently than offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer.
That's why Allen is so focused on fixing his defense.
And Wommack has work to do with his young group. Against Michigan State, there was one reliable cornerback, and it was a true freshman: Tiawan Mullen. Spartan wideout Darrell Stewart had five catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns, but none of that came with Mullen guarding him.
It was that type of overall underperformance in the secondary that led to IU's failure to close out either half, both quite costly.
Allen will be working with Wommack to clean up the back end; he has to. But it's still Wommack's defense, as much as Allen wants to, and maybe should, put his hands on it.
"When we took the lead early in the fourth quarter, got on a headset, guys seemed excited — which you want energy, there's no question about it," Allen said. "But I said to our guys specifically, I said, 'Fellas, we have a young football team. Teach them how to handle where we are. We have to finish.'"
They didn't finish, IU lost the lead, and later lost the game. It's a group that doesn't yet know how to finish Allen said, and it has to experience finishing to learn. It isn't there yet, and that's where IU continues to build.
"We have to put ourselves in the position to be able to execute at the high level in those moments," Allen said. "Part of it is talent. That's where recruiting comes in. Part of it is depth because when you don't have enough depth the fatigue sets in, you make a mental mistake because you're mentally tired.
"To me we're addressing those things but we've got to get it done on the football field. All right. There's a lot of little things to go into it, but to say how — to me, sometimes, a really good player makes a really good play, all right. Well, those really good plays need to be made by the Hoosiers, not by the opponent."
(09/29/19 1:49am)
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- There were tears in the locker room, and Hoosiers head coach Tom Allen said there should have been.
"It's hard to face them in the locker room knowing how hard they played, look 'em in the eye," Allen said.
While IU was close yet again, it ended in disappointment, again. But much as it resembled IU collapses of years past, something seemed different.
Michael Penix was back after missing two starts with an injury. He returned on the road in the Big Ten, by far the toughest road environment he's ever played in.
"Pregame, I felt pretty good so coach made the decision to let me play," Penix said. "I prepared, keeping my head in the game, just make sure I knew all the plays, knew all the reads. All the times I wasn't in practice I was mentally preparing. Making sure I was always on top of the game.
"It just took a lot of trusting and everything in my rehab," Penix said. "Just make sure my body was good just protecting myself. A lot of encouragement from my teammates as well."
His first drive was far from perfect as IU quickly went three-and-out. But he settled in. Against one of the toughest defenses in the nation, he gave IU a chance.
He gave them a lead early in the fourth quarter and tied the game in the final two minutes, until it all fell apart in a fashion all too reminiscent of IU in years past. A field goal in the final 10 seconds lifted No. 25 Michigan State over IU in what ultimately ended as 40-31 loss.
"The gap's getting closer and closer," Allen said. "It's just disappointing because these guys, they're so stinking close. We're not going to get discouraged. Disappointed, but not discouraged."
(09/28/19 9:28pm)
EAST LANSING, Michigan -- IU enters halftime at Spartan Stadium trailing the No. 25 Spartans 21-14.
IU's secondary struggled right out of the gate, and while it got a stop on the opening drive, Spartan quarterback Brian Lewerke spent his first half carving up the IU defense. That's exactly what happened on Michigan State's first touchdown-scoring drive. When Michigan State chose to go to an uncharacteristically up-tempo offense, IU's secondary struggled to keep up.
Or at least all of the secondary but freshman Tiawan Mullen, who had two pass breakups in the endzone against Darrell Stewart in the second quarter. Mullen was hurt after his second pass breakup, and Michigan State scored on the next play, with a pass to Stewart.
Michigan State, an offense predicated on running the ball, passed for 223 yards in the first half.
While the IU secondary was far from perfect, the defense settled in as the half went on.
Mullen was phenomenal in the first half for IU, breaking up three passes. It was the best half of the true freshman's career thus far. He was IU's best option at corner, and it wasn't all that close.
The first half didn't come without mistakes, for both teams. Matt Coughlin missed a 43-yard field on the Spartans' opening drive. Michigan State failed to convert a fourth down play in the first quarter, but that was only set up by Anthony Williams dropping a screen pass that very well could have gone for six.
It was those mistakes that kept the Hoosiers in the game early, and their own that kept them trailing: A dropped pick-six for Bryant Fitzgerald, a poor play call on a fourth-and-one, and three three-and-outs.
Not every drive was pretty for the Hoosier offense, highlighted by the quick three-and-outs that gave the Spartans good field position. But juxtaposed against those drives were the successes. IU's first touchdown drive showcased the offense's efficiency, taking just over two minutes to go over 60 yards, where as IU spent nearly six minutes to go 80 on a game-tying second quarter drive.
Indiana leaned on the passing game. The offense had to. Unsurprisingly, IU struggled to run the ball against Michigan State, despite a valiant effort by Matthew Bedford in place of Coy Cronk.
IU finished the first half with 142 passing yards and 32 rushing.
IU made enough plays to keep it competitive. Those overcame a fair share of mistakes. With Penix on offense and Mullen on defense, youth has given IU a spark. It has kept the Hoosiers in the game in their first trip outside Indiana.
(09/26/19 9:19pm)
Michael Penix is taking steps in the right direction.
Or at least if not steps, throws.
After two weeks in which Penix didn't throw a ball, walking out on the field to stretch and nothing more, standing besides Peyton Ramsey and Jack Tuttle as they warmed up for the game, he returned to the practice field. The only public throw Penix has made over the last three weeks? A short underhand toss of the ball he used while stretching ahead of IU's win over UConn.
This week, Penix and Ramsey have had equal reps in practice.
“It’s been building for sure," IU head coach Tom Allen said, "it’s been progressing.”
Penix's health isn't crystal clear. He'll be a game-time decision yet again this weekend. But against Michigan State, the opportunity for Penix to play appears much more realistic than the two weeks prior.
In fact, that exact question has created ambiguity for Michigan State this weekend.
"I think you've got to take both (quarterbacks) into consideration," Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio said Monday. "I know Penix is coming off an injury and he hasn't played and maybe it's a shoulder injury or an arm injury. So got to take that into consideration with everything."
Heading into the first true road game of the season, Penix has just two career starts. He's only played in five games as a collegiate quarterback. Michigan State only has so much film to build a game plan off of, and even then, Allen has created a shroud of uncertainty that leaves both IU and opponents unsure.
But it's Penix's skill set that gives IU an opportunity in East Lansing.
"Penix is a very athletic guy," Dantonio said. "We haven't experienced him as much, so we don't really know, but we've seen him play and make plays, and he can take off with it."
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IU is facing one of the nation's top defenses, and doing so without left tackle Coy Cronk after he undergoes season-ending surgery in Indianapolis on Friday. Michigan State allows just 52.2 rushing yards per game. For an IU rushing attack that has struggled throughout 2019, and now doesn't have Cronk, running the ball will be a daunting task.
Redshirt sophomore Caleb Jones is slated to start at left tackle on the depth chart with fifth-year DaVondre Love at right tackle. True freshman Matthew Bedford will see a big role as well, though it may not come as a starter just yet. IU had originally planned to redshirt Bedford as IU groomed him as Cronk's replacement. Now Allen doesn't have a choice but to use the Tennessee native.
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No matter who takes the left tackle spot, it will be their first career start at the position.
“Whoever’s in there is going to be a guy that’s going to have to be learning on the run in some ways in a very tough environment," Allen said.
And that's why Penix is so crucial, even with his inexperience. Penix's only true road game is against FIU, the first game of his college career.
Penix's arm strength allows him to stretch the field. That would force Michigan State's defense to spread out, as opposed to the shorter passes of a Ramsey-led offense where Michigan State can bring up safeties for both the run and the pass.
Normally, teams try to establish the run. IU needs to establish the pass.
For IU to win the Old Brass Spittoon for the fourth time this century, everything has to go right. IU is on the road, without the long-tenured left tackle and potentially without the starting quarterback. No week has seen a bigger question at quarterback with Penix so close to returning.
Maybe this will be the opportunity to see what the real 2019 IU team truly is.
(09/23/19 7:12pm)
Indiana is without its leader on the field. It will be for the rest of the year.
Senior left tackle Coy Cronk will have surgery for his lower leg injury. He'll miss the rest of the season.
"I get out there and he grabs me and he's like, 'It's way too far from my heart to kill me,'" head coach Tom Allen said of when he met Coy Cronk on the field Saturday.
While Cronk will miss the season, it's not a career-ending injury. The NFL Draft is still in Cronk's future, whether he chooses to enter this year or return for a fifth year at IU. Cronk is within the four-game requirement to take a redshirt, but that's not a decision Allen nor Cronk have thought much about this soon after the injury.
"Simon (Stepaniak) and I were both were very effected by it just cause of the relationship we've built with him," fifth-year center Hunter Littlejohn said. "I think we both got a pretty good view of the injury too so I was a little shaken up by that. But he handled it like an absolute champ."
As IU prepares to leave Indiana for the first time, to face one of the nation's best defenses in No. 25 Michigan State, it has questions not only at quarterback, but at the most important position on the offensive line. It will thrust inexperience into the starting lineup in the first true road game.
Either true freshman Matthew Bedford or fifth-year DaVondre Love will take over as the fifth man. Love was Allen's immediate replacement Saturday against UConn, but he took the right tackle spot while Caleb Jones shifted across to left tackle. Bedford came into the game late and took the left tackle spot, shifting Jones back to the right side.
(09/21/19 8:37pm)
Frankly, the scoreboard didn't matter. Even as IU trailed at the time to a UConn team it was supposed to crush, what mattered more were the three people sitting near the 50-yard line.
Coy Cronk lay on the ground, holding his right ankle. He had been fallen on from behind, and rolled onto his back with a gruesome twist of his foot.
The aircast was on his leg immediately and the cart left streaks on the turf as it sprinted toward the IU logo at midfield.
As Cronk was lifted into the cart his teammates left the sideline and circled around him. They all tapped him on the shoulder. No one told the players to go out. It was instinct.
Cronk was IU's starting left tackle from the moment he arrived at IU. Saturday's game was his 40th career start. He's only missed one start in his career. He's played alongside NFL-bound offensive lineman such as Dan Feeney, Wes Martin and Brandon Knight. This year, it was his turn.
"Now we're playing for him," wide receiver Nick Westbrook said. "This season goes out to him now."
Cronk was in the locker room to greet his team at halftime. He had a boot on his foot stretching all the way to just under his knee, his leg resting on a scooter.
He sat up in the cart as he was driven off, looking back toward the field the whole way. At least with pads on, it might the last time he sees it.
"He just saying, 'Keep fighting boys, fight for me," Westbrook said of Cronk's words as he left the field.
(09/19/19 10:38pm)
In week one, Ball State stacked the box against IU's offense looking to contain 1,000-yard rusher Stevie Scott and instead force Michael Penix, in his first career start, to throw.
It worked, and it's been a strategy copied by Eastern Illinois and Ohio State in consecutive weeks.
And it's surprised Tom Allen.
"When you come back and you're like Stevie, there's so much emphasis on taking him away," Allen said. "So, that's what they've been over determined to do."
So far, it's worked. Scott has just 125 yards on 37 carries this season. He's averaging 3.3 yards per rush.
Scott is coming off a game against Ohio State where he nine yards. Nine total yards. He's running behind an offensive line in need a of reprieve. During his weekly radio show, Allen said his two younger starters, Caleb Jones and Harry Crider, were "baptized" against Ohio State. His senior left tackle, Coy Cronk, and two fifth-year interior men, Simon Stepaniak and Hunter Littlejohn, haven't had the success expected of such an experienced group.
"The bottom line is, I do feel like we have not gotten a lot of separation up front, so the push off the football," Allen said. "And to me, (we need to) create structural answers to make them pay for over-loading us."
It may be why a game against UConn, a team ranked among the worst in the FBS, couldn't come at a better time.
IU is favored by 27.5 points against UConn on Bovada to close out one of the nation's weakest non-conference schedules.
With Big Ten play looming a week away, UConn is one final weak opponent to clean up mistakes. Missed tackles remained — worsened, in fact — against Ohio State. The running game is yet to find traction, top receivers lack production and yet again, there is uncertainly under center.
Penix, once again, is a game-time decision. Allen said Penix is still day-to-day at this point, and he plans to learn more Friday and Saturday morning in the lead up to the game which will determine his status.
The expectation is Peyton Ramsey will be the starting quarterback. He's prepared as such.
IU had 16 players miss tackles for 166 yards last week, regressing back to the performance against Ball State.
Allen said Monday that he didn't want missed tackles to become a weekly update. In the fourth game week of the season, it's become just that.
Though while it's easy to say IU just needs to clean up mistakes against a weak opponent, it isn't necessarily that simple.
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IU has entered every game this season looking to clean up mistakes. It faced Ball State looking to patch up mistakes in fall camp as the offense put its new system in a game for the first time. It took the field against Eastern Illinois needing to clean up missed tackles. Against Ohio State, IU still needed the tackling to improve, and searched for the running game to reach the expectations such a deep group provided.
And against UConn, it's the same issues, again.
IU leaves Indiana for the first time next week to play Michigan State. After UConn, the chances to face a weak opponent as a chance to rebound vanish. Rutgers may serve as the only let up in a daunting conference schedule.
It's why in a season where IU has perpetually been fixing mistakes that this game is so important. It's the last time IU will be favored by such a margin. It's the last opponent on IU's schedule of a significantly lower caliber.
It may not matter who's playing quarterback this week. IU likely won't need Penix to win, or at least it shouldn't. Instead IU needs to see a bounce back, to take the kind of jump it did between Ball State and Eastern Illinois. It might not have that chance again.
"First couple weeks, worked through things," Allen said, "but I expect us to kind of settle down a little this week here and get back into our flow of where we want to be."
(09/16/19 10:05pm)
The message was clear. It was reiterated from players to coaches.
"Don't let Ohio State beat us twice," IU senior offensive tackle Coy Cronk said.
Head coach Tom Allen watched the film Saturday night after losing 51-10 to Ohio State. He was angry. He watched a team that fell short of his expectations in every phase of the game. That feeling was still there when he arrived to work Sunday morning.
Cronk said it was just as hard when he watched the film Saturday too.
During Monday's practice the team walked through the mistakes from Saturday's loss. It was the last time the team would linger on the loss.
It's a mindset shared from Cronk to teammate Nick Westbrook and to Allen. "Flush it."
"You have something like this happen and not allowing it to linger and one loss affecting how you perform the next week," Allen said. "It just cannot happen. So that's where your leaders have to rise up and these guys have been here and have experience. And the coaching staff and what we, the message that we send to our guys — and we have to live that out ourselves, I have to flush it as well."
More responsibility will fall on the shoulders of team leaders such as Cronk and Westbrook this week. They are the ones that will be expected to flush the loss just as Allen requires and make sure the younger players, experiencing this for the first time, do too.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how we respond," Allen said. "I'm excited to see what this will make us into. Because when you have strong leadership, which I believe we do, then adversity only strengthens you. Because it can do one of two things, it can either make you or break you."
Allen wants to leave the anger he found watching film behind him. He wants his other coaches to have the same message, to move on and keep everyone's head up after a loss where many, were down. His coaches have to flush it too.
Except for one, one who isn't ready to let it go just yet.
"There are parts of it that you flush," defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said. "But I told our guys this morning, I said, 'Look it's September 16, about 8:30 in the morning, let this be a memory when you walk in that locker room for your bowl game.'"
"When". It's a strong statement. When IU is in a bowl game. For IU to get there, Wommack doesn't want his team to forget the loss. He'd rather it push them forward. Push his players just that much harder in practice. His defense got punched in the mouth, but the pain isn't gone when it stands up.
"At some point every great program has eventually said enough is enough," Wommack said. "We're going to get it changed and we're going to be the read why."
IU allowed 528 yards against Ohio State. Sixteen players missed tackles, resulting in 166 yards for Ohio State. A large amount of that to J.K. Dobbins. Allen said it and Wommack re-affirmed. It wasn't good enough.
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"We didn't play to standard we're capable of defensively," Wommack said. "Part of having grit is when adversity comes, you play against a good football team, you have to decide that enough is enough. When you walk out there on that field you say that enough is enough and I'm going to do my job and focus on my plays so that I can go execute at a very high level. That's not what we did enough in that game."
With quarterback Michael Penix's injury causing him to miss the game, IU's offense lacked a spark it had in the first two games. It extended to the running game, which again struggled. IU rushed for 42 yards. Total. For the second straight game, Stevie Scott wasn't the leading rusher.
"We had nine third and longs, which make it really, really difficult to convert," Allen said. "So run the football on first and second down and even having the threat of it on third does make a difference. So but to me it's a combination of a lot of things, but it's something that we know is a huge issue and a huge focus and something that we will work tirelessly on to get fixed."
Eastern Illinois was a chance for IU to clean up mistakes in the win against Ball State. Now IU faces UConn, ranked among the worst FBS teams. IU again has a chance against a weak opponent to fix mistakes before taking on a top-tier Big Ten East team, Michigan State.
UConn gives IU a final chance to clean up mistakes before heading into conference play for good. It will be a week of preparation with a simple theme.
Let the loss fuel them. But don't let it linger.
News and Notes
Tom Allen already listed Michael Penix as a game-time decision for Saturday. The nature of the injury is still undisclosed, but indications are it is at least related to his throwing shoulder. To already be a game-time decision likely doesn't bode well for Penix's availability against UConn. Peyton Ramsey will likely practice with the ones this week.
Tackling drills will again be a focus. Nine of the missed tackles were due to the leg drive, four due to wrapping up.
IU only has two takeaways against three teams, a number below the coach's expectations for a team that has been among the nation's leaders in takeaways. Creating takeaways too will be a focus in practice. Defensive end Allen Stallings noted the coaches requiring the defense to create three takeaways every practice.
(09/14/19 9:44pm)
Tom Allen stared at the ground and paced away from the south end zone, holding his hands on his hips. J.K. Dobbins had just scored a 26-yard touchdown, breaking five tackles on his way to the end zone.
It was the same pose he maintained throughout the game, pacing back and forth between the 35 yard lines.
Allen put it quite simply in his first words in the post game press conference.
"Rough day for the Hoosiers."
Everything that could go wrong had. Haydon Whitehead had a 12-yard punt. The running game totaled just 42 yards and the defense being carved up by an Ohio State defense led by a Heisman contending quarterback and a bulldozer of a running back.
"We got off to a bad start and people starting hanging their heads," tight end Peyton Hendershot said.
IU fell behind by 27 late in the second quarter on the Dobbins touchdown run, gray bleachers emerging from rows of red as fans returned to their tailgates.
Allen continued to pace in the second half as the Buckeyes cruised past the Hoosiers each trip up and down the field. IU was out-gained 528-257, never leading and only competing for a short burst in the first quarter, as Indiana fell at home 51-10.
"They played at a high level today and we didn't match it," Allen said.
During Monday's press conference, Allen said that facing Ohio State would show how far IU had closed the gap against the top of the Big Ten. After Saturday's result, it's rather clear that the gap is still open wide.
Allen has brought in the top two recruiting classes in school history in consecutive years. But he didn't have the quarterback that had given the offense a spark a year ago against Penn State in Bloomington -- and during the first two weeks of the 2019 season. Michael Penix missed the game with what is believed to be an injury to his left shoulder.
His absence was obvious every time backup quarterback Peyton Ramsey threw the ball. The velocity and strength of Penix simply wasn't reciprocated, as Ramsey ran the same plays of a Kalen DeBoer offense better fit to the skillset of his younger counterpart.
Instead, it was under thrown passes alongside a rushing game that had just nine total yards in the first half, Ramsey being the leading rusher.