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Analysis: What do you say after beating an FCS opponent 48-47?

IndyHutch

By IndyHutch

    • There is really not much that can be said after Indiana escaped Memorial Stadium Saturday with a 48-47 victory in the season opener. But before you start screaming "The sky is falling, the sky is falling," here is my take on IU's season opening victory.

Indiana won.

 

That’s really all that matters for now.

 

I can’t tell you how many times over the years covering Indiana football that Indiana has had games like that one and lost.

 

But it has been a bunch. It has probably been too many to count. One of them was in 2006 against this same Southern Illinois University team that came into Bloomington and beat the Hoosiers 35-28.

 

So for Indiana to say it is 1-0 today instead of 0-1 is ultimately the most important – and only – thing that matters.

 

Beyond that there was a lot of football played Saturday that was hard to watch. Most of it was being played by an Indiana defense that was having difficulty getting out of its own way. Southern Illinois had players wide open over the middle, there were missed tackles at every turn, and an endless number of short gains that became big, big plays. Remember than 80-yard screen pass debacle early in the fourth quarter that went for a TD?

 

Yeah, that kind of thing.

 

After all, a Football Championship Subdivision quarterback just put up 517 yards on a Big Ten defense. Do you think there are a few quarterbacks on IU’s schedule coming up who can’t wait to get their hands on the tape of this IU defense? The only thing IU may have going for it is that some teams are clearly going to be overconfident when they face the Indiana defense.

 

That’s definitely going to be the case until Indiana proves it can stop someone. It certainly didn’t show that on Saturday afternoon.

 

Now, there is one reason why I haven’t completely mailed this season in already based on that first performance we saw from IU football on Saturday.

 

It’s a few names. Guys like Tegray Scales and Darius Latham who can be impact players on this Indiana defense. Ralph Green III is another one. Greg Gooch has done some good things, too. Chase Dutra is expected to be the most experienced player in the defensive secondary.

 

All of them had something in common Saturday with the Southern Illinois game.

 

None of them played. The first four were suspended for not living up to their responsibilities with the program. Dutra was out with an undisclosed injury.

 

If I was to guess, you’ll see them all back next week. They sat out a game, hopefully learned a lesson and now will have a chance to contribute.

 

I do know this: When Scales is on the field running around and blowing people up, this is a better defense.

 

When Latham is throwing guys around up front it will be more difficult to run the ball against Indiana than Southern Illinois was able to do Saturday. The same is true with Ralph Green III. When Dutra is roaming the field from the free safety position things will be better.

 

Perhaps that’s my glass half full way of looking at it, but I believe that to be true. You have to believe that to be true or it’s going to be a long, long next 12 weeks.

 

It may be any way.

 

All I know is there’s only one statistic that anyone cares about when thinking about Indiana right now.

 

The Hoosiers are 1-0.

 

It wasn’t pretty. In fact at times it was downright ugly.

 

But Indiana is 1-0.

 

We’ll see what happens next week.

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jmsgws

The problem with the showing from Yesterday is all about perception.  The perception is that our defense is no better today than it was 3 years ago.  

This sets an awful tone.  IU fans are waiting for something to get behind.  Just look at the student section at the start of the game.  It was the most full I had seen in years (maybe decades).  However, by 1/2 time it was empty.  I will still go down to my one game per year, but hunting season starts next weekend.  I was hoping to be able to work my hunting times around the IU games, but they get next week to prove something, and then I go back to following them online, and not giving up my time to watch.

That is the problem.

mdn82 reacted to this

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HoosierReb01

Great job, Hutch. And yes, at the end of the season, its the number of wins we have. Or as a poster put it yesterday, we count them, we don't weigh them.

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IndyHutch

The problem with the showing from Yesterday is all about perception. The perception is that our defense is no better today than it was 3 years ago.

This sets an awful tone. IU fans are waiting for something to get behind. Just look at the student section at the start of the game. It was the most full I had seen in years (maybe decades). However, by 1/2 time it was empty. I will still go down to my one game per year, but hunting season starts next weekend. I was hoping to be able to work my hunting times around the IU games, but they get next week to prove something, and then I go back to following them online, and not giving up my time to watch.

That is the problem.


While I agree to a point I think it's hard to gauge too much based on student attendance habits.

I think a good number of the students on hand were the freshmen class that ran out of the tunnel and on to the field 10 minutes prior to kickoff. They had their moment, saw a little football, and likely were gone at halftime regardless.

But overall I think you'll always attract a decent student crowd with 4 p.m. kickoffs any way. It's probably a decent starting time for the student population.

The better question will be how many show up for next week's 8 p.m. kickoff? Taking them away from Saturday night college student party life is something else entirely. It's also not a great start time for the out of town crowd that goes back and forth for a game.

And I think Western Kentucky is 4 p.m. too.
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IndyHutch

a win is a win...at the end, they ask how many not how...


It's a good thing they don't ask any other questions though.

Because there would have been an investigation worth of questions from yesterday.

Think of how that game plays out if they don't miss that extra point at 38-all?
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IndyHutch

Great job, Hutch. And yes, at the end of the season, its the number of wins we have. Or as a poster put it yesterday, we count them, we don't weigh them.


I just keep coming back to how many times when watching IU football the last two decades that IU loses that game. It's a large number.

The other point and I made this to people in the press box in the fourth quarter was that even when IU had taken a lead there was not a single IU fan out there who felt comfortable until the game was over and IU had won.
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IU Hoosier41
Unfortunately we will always remember the ugliness of this game when looking at the schedule and seeing the score.

1-0 is the same difference as 49-48... Ugh that game was bad.

Hope you are right Hutch. Hope the defense responds in a big way. I'm sure they were just trolling us all and are actually amazing...

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HoosierReb01

I just keep coming back to how many times when watching IU football the last two decades that IU loses that game. It's a large number.

The other point and I made this to people in the press box in the fourth quarter was that even when IU had taken a lead there was not a single IU fan out there who felt comfortable until the game was over and IU had won.

You got that right.

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IU Hoosier41

I just keep coming back to how many times when watching IU football the last two decades that IU loses that game. It's a large number.

The other point and I made this to people in the press box in the fourth quarter was that even when IU had taken a lead there was not a single IU fan out there who felt comfortable until the game was over and IU had won.


I'm with you in we normally lose that game... The only difference was complete luck... They dude dropped the game winning catch. Should have never come down to that.

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jmhbone
You can win ugly or lose ugly, but a win is a win. IU is 1-0, so the season started out in the right direction. The offense looked good and confident and just as Hutch noted, it will look different with the return of some key players. At the U.S. Open and was fortunate to catch the second half. Jmhbone - Jim Hammond
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JaybobHoosier

Great job Hutch, and I think next week will be a better gauge than this week. Offense was phenomenal. but the defense was missing a ton of key players. I'm not expecting a decent defense in their return, but hoping for at least an okay defense. We have an offense to be in most games, just need our defense to help support that.

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IndyHutch

Unfortunately we will always remember the ugliness of this game when looking at the schedule and seeing the score.

1-0 is the same difference as 49-48... Ugh that game was bad.

Hope you are right Hutch. Hope the defense responds in a big way. I'm sure they were just trolling us all and are actually amazing...


You know better than that. With IU football you need to have a short memory. How else do you lose to Bowling Green one week and then beat Missouri the week,

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IU Hoosier41

You know better than that. With IU football you need to have a short memory. How else do you lose to Bowling Green one week and then beat Missouri the week,


Because it's Indiana Football. Lol


My family has always said after any good play, good drive or good game by IUFB... "LOW Expectations... LOW EXPECTATIONS"

IU football is never as high as you feel, but never as low as you feel either. BG & Mizzou is a perfect example of that. Hell we could have lost the first 4 games this year and then knocked off O$U. It's what Indiana football does, the unexpected.

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mdn82
Hopefully they have a chip on their shoulder after an atrocious win as opposed to an atrocious loss.
Naturalhoosier, HoosierReb01, JaybobHoosier and 3 others reacted to this

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