akhosrof

Here's how I see a realistic path to victory for next year: Wins against Ball State, FIU and Wake. Rutgers and UMD are rebuilding with new coaches. Win against Purdue That's six right there. Now, the point on competitiveness. With how close we were last season, is it much of a stretch to think we could win ONE of the remaining games against OSU, MSU, PSU, Michigan, NU or Nebraska? The difference with CKW is in the past you would chalk up the six games above as losses. Now we have a legitimate chance to get at least one upset.

Love it! Hopefully CKW was able to negotiate additional investments to the program (assistant pay raises, facilities, South End Zone?). I agree with you that wins will be more difficult to come by. Especially with conference slate going to nine games. Next year we have out of division games against NU, Nebraska, and Purdue of course. Yes, small margin for error. Need wins for the three out of conference games, plus Purdue, Rutgers and UMD. However, I think this team will win a game or two that's it's not expected to. Last year was a six win year, but look how close we were in 2013! We beat PSU and Illinois. We had close losses to Navy and Minny. We could have easily been a seven win team that year. We were not competitive in any of our losses in 2013. 2015 every loss sans PSU was an extremely close game. This team is close to breaking through with winning a game against one of PSU, MSU, Michigan or OSU. NU will be a tough game, but I think Nebraska is winnable. So if we slip up against a team we should beat, the path to six wins should be there. 2014 was a set back, but people don't give credit to how big a step 2013 was and 2015 built upon that. I have no reason to believe 2016 we'll keep building. Next year, I think 7 wins plus a bowl win is achievable.

I wish Hill the best. However, if Stoops doesn't make a bowl game next year he's probably fired. Stoops is 4-20 in the SEC and 0-3 against Louisville. The SEC East has been weak. There hasn't been a lack of talent either. His recruiting classes have been highly ranked. The offense took a big step back this past year. Stoops is on his third OC in four years (Neal Brown left to be the HC of Troy, Shannon Dawson originally from WVU was fired this offseason and they hired Eddie Gran from Cincy). UK has spent a lot of money on football since they hired Stoops. Stoops is in a similar situation to CKW coming into this past season: go to a bowl get an extension. No bowl and you're likely fired. The seat is getting hot...

Tough loss. The strength coach is pretty much the head coach in the offseason when the coaches are not allowed to conduct practices. I wonder why he left, and if it was pay related.

Good point. I wonder if long-term the B1G will regret not admitting Mizzou instead of Nebraska (or short-term with TV rights negotiations)? Tons of B1G alumni in St. Louis. Easy trip from Indy and Chicago. Much bigger overall market than Lincoln/Omaha. Great academics. Pinkel probably maxed out what Mizzou could achieve as a football program. Obviously, the hope is that Nebraska gets back to being a national powerhouse, but if Nebraska does not, will we say the conference compromised it's academic values for football?

I meant from a travel perspective. IU loses easy trips to NW and Illinois, but kept Purdue and gets an easy trip to Columbus. All the other schools play their immediate geographical rivals each year. Lol don't feel sorry for Rutgers one bit. Out of all the schools that were affected by realignment in the early 2010s, Rutgers made out like bandits. They wouldn't care if they never had a winning season again. I am exaggerating there but the point remains.

Speaking of PSU, did anyone read Hackenberg's message declaring for the pro's? He thanked Bill O'Brien, the strength coach and nearly every offensive coach, but no mention of Franklin. He must have really not liked Franklin.

I also wouldn't worry about the balance. The SEC East is incredible weak compared to the West. If Nebraska gets back to being a national powerhouse, the conference will look a lot stronger.

I love the East-West setup. Yes, IU probably got the short end of the stick more than any other school in the split, but for every other school this setup makes the most sense as far as travel and rivalries. The Purdue game as the only fixed cross-division game was a good compromise. In all honesty, IU is better off associating with the schools in the East. As evident in the Pin Stripe bowl, we have a large alumni presence. We get great traveling crowds from OSU and Michigan to help with attendance. Most importantly, we had prime time, nationally televised games on ABC this year against Michigan, MSU, and OSU. We would not get that sort of coverage in the West division. We are where the money is. The Big Ten is already on its second divisional alignment, I don't see the conference changing the alignment anytime soon unless it expands (Oklahoma and Kansas?).

Great point. Also, CKW has been great at finding the right guys for his offense and developing them. WR was seen as a weakness last season and now it's a position of immense strength. We have a solid group of offensive linemen and CKW has these guys well coached (except for not reacting to defenders in the neutral zone, but that's a pet peeve of mine[emoji1]).

Can't stand the "SEC" chants. Alabama carries the league and is heads and shoulders above anyone else in the conference. The SEC East is weak. The rest of the SEC fans should feel pathetic riding off of Alabama's success.

Love the signing. The kid is enormous and seems to have a lot of natural talent. Like Hoosier41 said, get him in a weight and conditioning program for a year and he'll be a man-child. CKW's offense doesn't really have a FB/H-Back, and we don't throw to our RBs much, but with Howard leaving we have a huge need for a pile mover. I bet Tyler is a wrecking ball catching a screen pass as well. Great signing! Also awesome to see Tyler so focused on academics and realize the opportunity and value of getting a Kelley degree. I wish I was able to realize that at 17/18!

Congrats on an awesome college career, Jordan! Jordan's performance against Michigan was one of the greatest games I've seen by a RB (offensive line did ok too!). Heck, the toughness he showed trying to play on a severely sprained ankle against OSU earned my respect for his toughness. Jordan is a big guy with outstanding balance and never goes down on first contact. There is a spot for him in the NFL. If he is able to run in the mid-4.4s early-4.5s like he did this spring, he will hear his name on the second day of the draft.

Thanks for the info DJS. I think as Hoosier fans we will realize how good we had it with Suds. The kid was a prodigy. He always had solid fundamentals, great pocket presence and an outstanding football intelligence. The kid was sharp and knew CKW's offense front to back, and it seemed the two had great in-game chemistry. Lagow fits the profile of a Suds replacement: big, strong-armed QB. Lagow is even a better athlete. However, Lagow will have a steep learning curve to be comfortable with CKW's offense. We'll quickly see how smart Lagow is. Where Lagow differs from Nate: Lagow has poor mechanics. He is a pure upper body thrower, so there might be accuracy issues. He has all the arm strength you could ask for, but he has a hitch where he moves the ball waist level on longer throws. Nate threw the sideline outs and back shoulder passes so beautifully as he had a consistent throwing motion. There are only a handful of NFL QBs that can make these types of throws with ease. I worry about B1G corners jumping Lagow's hitch, but Brett Favre had the same hitch and proved a strong arm can get away with things other QBs can't. Maybe if CKW gets Lagow using his lower body more there is no need for the hitch. Lagow's pocket presence is nowhere near the level of Nate's. Yes, we had a great offensive line, but Nate did more than his part subtlety avoiding the pass rush. Where Lagow might have an advantage on Nate is Lagow throws an accurate deep ball. Nate has an awesome arm, but he sometimes lacked touch. There would either be too much air under the ball, or he'd launch it too far. Lagow seems to have an uncanny ability to put the ball in a place where the receiver can make a play. Cobbs should be in line for a spectacular year... I agree with the sentiment that there will be a legitimate QB competition between Zander and Lagow. Zander has a big head start knowing the offense. Zander is a tireless worker, which should hopefully push Lagow as well. However, CKW's offense is not the same without a QB who can throw the deep out or the nearly unguardable back shoulder throw that Nate had down so well with Cobbs and Jones this season. It would not surprise me to see Zander open, and maybe end the spring as the starter. Ultimately, I think what Lagow can provide the offense with his arm will make him the starter. Although I also wouldn't be surprised if Zander shows up another 10 pounds heavier and has a little more arm strength. I cannot wait for spring!

With how deep we are at WR, would any of those guys project well as a DB and possibly switch in the spring? Not only to strengthen that position but to see the field more quickly.

Great post! I think this program is close to breaking through for a 8-win season!

Last night was extremely disappointing. I couldn't stop thinking about the game and put myself to sleep by 9. After waking up this morning, still disappointing but it doesn't hurt as much. If anything, I'm even more excited for spring ball. This team played arguably one of the toughest schedules in all of college football. The B1G East is legit, and we keep going to bowl games the level of recruits we get will pick up like we've never seen before. Yes, we are going to lose Suds, Spriggs, and possibly Howard and Feeney. However, we are LOADED with talent on offense. The defense is only going to get better as guys mature and get healthy. The secondary played its heart out last night. Fant, Dutra, and Crawford all back next season. Plus we get the JUCO transfer Thompson. Nine conference games will be tough, but we have proven we can compete with anyone. Winning your three out of conference games, plus beating Purdue, Rutgers and Maryland, the latter of two who are reloading with a new coach, gets you to six wins. No reason we cannot steal a game or two from the remaining big boys on our schedule. NW and Nebraska are the two other out of division games, add that to our annual games against OSU, MSU, Michigan and PSU, and we will likely have one of the toughest schedules in college football again.

For those complaining about the defense, the secondary played a spectacular game against a very good passing team. Secondary only let up 163 yards passing and had two INTs (three if you count Latham's). Yes, we gave up two 70+ yard runs, but when your defense is as young and beat up as our's is, we have to take risks stacking the box and blitzing. Defense made some big stops today when it mattered, utilizing the same strategy. Simply stated, we don't yet have the talent or depth to line up and play a traditional defense. Want to point a finger, all season we only had eleven, ELEVEN give always. LEAST in the B1G and we had the third best turnover margin. Today we had two INTs and a huge fumble. For those saying CKW needs to go because of the defense, you're crazy.

I'm not going to question the play calling. We got 41 points, the "cute" play call on the end around pass should have gotten us 45 total. CKW made a hell of a play call with five seconds left in the game getting us in FG position. Each team had mistakes. Duke made two tough FGs (the 52-yarder and the one in OT), and we missed two. Like free throws in basketball, you have to kick FGs in close football games, much less have your holder spin the football laces out to even give your FG kicker a chance. The team fought till the end every game this season, win or lose. I'm heart broken the seniors couldn't go out with a win. It doesn't get any easier next year with nine conference games, but we'll be back next year with tons of talent.

Go get the TD, Suds!

Let's go Suds!!! End your college career with a bang! Lots of scouts in attendance!

Touchdown!!!! The freshman!!! Outstanding throw and catch in superb coverage by the DB.

Just off of my memory of watching that play in real time, it looked like a zero coverage to me. Strong safety was in the box, free safety was in man coverage. Once the QB beat the LBs and SS, there was no second level of defense. It's a common defensive strategy we've been playing all season. If you take out the big runs, our run defense has been stout this season. Of course, we run the risk of these sort of big plays (think the OSU game). I have no problem with it. When you have a great offense, and a defense that is likely not as physically talented as the opposing offense, we need to take risks with the extra support in the box. We've gotten our good share of three and outs this season stuffing the run.

Someone needs to coach our offensive linemen to react when a defender jumps into the neutral zone!!!! We haven't done that all year and it's driving me nuts! We get plenty of jumps with our snap counts, it's free yardage! CKW is a former offensive lineman, this should be a no brainer!

I love Thomas Bryant's passion. The kid is a beast. That back door pass on the give and go to Troy on the first possession in the second half was a thing of beauty. Sure, his defense could use some work but at least he hustles. On offense every time we gave Bryant the ball it opened up opportunities or ended with a good look. There were points in this game where I shook my head and said "what talented big man in his right mind would want to play for Crean?" Bottom line... Get Bryant the ball!