IndyHutch

Yeah, I think Indiana wins this week but I'm not sure about the holding them under 30 things. When you throw the ball around the yard 60 times or more there are big plays waiting to happen ... and this defense struggles giving up big plays some times.

The funny thing for me here is how that one performance against Southern Illinois has just put a complete Kabosh (sp?) on the optimism people had for this team early on. That image of SIU going for two and the win in the closing seconds is going to stick with people for a long time. And while I get that I also look at how different the D line looked last week with Latham and Green in there and how different I think the LB position, for example, will look when your most athletic linebacker is back out there in Tegray Scales. Add in Chase Dutra and things are coming back around.    The truth is with Indiana this is a "Just Win Baby" scenario. Ultimately that's the only thing that is going to turn the tide. Winning six or more football games. And if that record gets to 3-0 heading to Wake Forest I just think the stars are beginning to align with the explosiveness of the offense and the potential of a defense post SIU.

I'll admit what you said about being more comfortable with IU than the Colts right now did cause me to step back for a moment but the reality is I think there's a lot to that.    The big difference for me though is that IU's schedule once Big Ten play rolls around is extremely difficult. Not a good division and you just hope you're not completely banged up when you get around to playing the teams you should be competitive with.   With the Colts, some people think that with the exception of New England that Buffalo may have been one of their toughest games. I think the Colts' schedule alone will allow them to bounce back and have some success. Andre Johnson and company need to step up for sure and Luck needs to file last week's performance away as one that's not to be repeated. I thought he was awful.    The only thing that saved me on Sunday was that my wife made this killer guacamole that we had while we watched the Colts game and it caused me to fall asleep for two quarters. That may be an 'old' thing, too. Not sure.

Wilson said this week he didn't think Dutra would practice but he might still play in the game. That was the situation last week with Fant.

  I go back to this way of thinking a lot but when someone says how good was the IU defense last week, I always think 'compared to what?' If you're trying to compare this defense to top level college football defenses they likely don't stack up. If you're comparing this defense to IU defenses of the past though, I think it's better. And the point I continue to make is that if this defense can give up 30 points or less to most opponents (and Florida International is not that bad of a team by the way) this team will win enough games to go to a bowl with the potent offense that Indiana has.

  indiana just posted the depth chart for Western Kentucky and Scales is listed as No. 2 behind Marcus Oliver and Chase Dutra is back on the depth chart at No. 1 at free safety. Now we'll see what all of that means. My guess is we see both a lot on Saturday.

My point after game one was that it wasn't a large enough sample size. I still feel the same way after game two. Now, if IU is 3-0 this time next week I would think the chances are solid that this team is bowling by the end of the year.   It's funny though, the same question being asked here is being asked of Colts fans on talk radio. How big of a deal as that first loss to the Bills? Lots of people jumping off that bandwagon, too, but I bet the Colts will be just fine as well.

  Still haven't seen Tegray Scales or Chase Dutra this year. One because of a suspension and the other an injury. Scales is back this week and if he plays like last year he'll be flying around making plays. Have heard it may be another week on Dutra. They're really not saying about about what it is only that it's not something that will require surgery.

  About the same, maybe a few less that Southern Illinois, at first.   Small, but mighty, in the second half.   Considering how late the game got over, I was surprised at how many people stuck around until the end.

  Traffic hasn't really been an issue. I tried to get there 2 hours early both games. The first one I had a small bottle neck just south of Martinsville but it broke up pretty quickly and then it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. Took me about 10 minutes longer than normal coming from the NE side of Indy.   Saturday, it was a normal drive to Bloomington as if there was no traffic. I don't think I hit my breaks. One thing that has helped is that they've left College Avenue open (and then you can take the short cut up on Dunn and ease right into the stadium area). I'm sure you knew that short cut but if you didn't it can save you 10 minutes some times. Now, see you just don't get that kind of insight at every site.   :wink:

  I completely agree. Now I'd like to see one more guy really step up. It could be Mitchell Paige or it could be one of those true freshman or even Dominique Booth if he gets healthy. But if you can have the two guys mentioned above, good tight ends like Cooper and Corsaro and then get another guy to be a solid 4-5 catch per game guy, I think the offense is really stacked

Here are a few things I took from Indiana’s 36-22 victory over Florida International Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. · If the Indiana defense can hold opponents to 22 points or less the Hoosiers will win a vast majority of those games. · Jordan Howard is so much fun to watch. You have to love how hard he hits a hole and what he does after an initial hit. And here’s a factoid I like as well: Howard has carried the ball 47 times and gained 304 yards and two games. More importantly, he has only lost 1 yard total in two games. · Indiana has never been known as a turnover creating defense in recent years but the three Florida International miscues Saturday night resulted in 20 Indiana points. · Nate Sudfeld has had a couple of near picks this year but for the most part he’s making great decisions with the ball. His inside fake to Howard at the goal line that resulted in him walking in for a 1 yard TD was a thing of beauty. · If you want to talk about Jameel Cook’s 96-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter you had better talk about the pass deflection that Dawson Fletcher made in the back of the end zone on the play before. One play set up the other. · How about Marcus Oliver’s game on Saturday night? He led the Hoosiers with seven tackles, had a big fumble recovery and pancaked FIU quarterback Alex McGough after that pick 6 play. · Through three quarters Indiana had run 70 offensive plays. It finished with 85. · Indiana has outscored its first two opponents 23-0 in the second quarter. · IU has now trailed at halftime in both games and rallied from at least an eight-point deficit in each game. · Mitchell Paige’s spin move on his 16-yard touchdown catch may not get the same attention that Braxton Miller’s did but I’m looking forward to watching the replay of the game just to play that back a few times. Ricky Jones had a nice downfield block on that play, too. · Some of Indiana’s tackling in the first half in particular left a lot to be desired. IU’s young secondary in particular has to be better in that area. · Eleven penalties for 110 yards is just too much. I know it was getting chippie out there but the five off sides penalties on Indiana in particular were hard to watch. The pass interference calls were close, and at least one of the roughing the passer calls were questionable, too. · I must admit I didn’t expect to hear a referee say into his live microphone during a game, Bob Knight’s favorite word. Looking forward to that on the replay, too. · Indiana had 205 net yards rushing against a defense that only allowed 46 yards rushing a week ago. · The defense played much better than it did a week ago, and having Ralph Green III and Darius Latham inside was significant. Looking forward to seeing what Tegray Scales does next week when he returns to the lineup. · You had to love seeing the tight end position get involved in the IU offense Saturday night. Michael Cooper had three catches for 66 yards and Anthony Corsaro also had a catch. · It was good to see Griffin Oakes bounce back to hit his third field goal of the night (that one from 40 yards) after badly hooking one wide left from 44 yards out two quarters before. Those are some free flowing thoughts off the top of my head. I’m sure there are many other topics to discuss, too. What have you got? I’d like to hear from you the ones you think I missed. Stay tuned to a couple of more stories today and in the morning as Ryan Palencer was also on hand with me at Memorial Stadium Saturday night.

IU 44, FIU 24

Every Sunday during the football season, BtownBanners.com will have a regular feature we’ll call Sunday Morning Quarterback. It’s a chance to look back at some interesting decisions or play calls from the game the day before and second guess them as most football fans ultimately do. We should always remember that the actual decisions are made in real time without the benefit of being able to go back and forth and discuss potential options. We’ve had a good message board discussion today regarding clock management in the final minute of Saturday’s 48-47 Indiana victory over Southern Illinois. We know the way Kevin Wilson and his staff chose to let it play out in real time on Saturday. I wonder, however, if after he has had time to digest the situation if he would do it the same way? I think I’ll have to ask him that question at Monday’s weekly IU Football Press Conference. Here’s the situation: With the score tied at 41 and a little over a minute to play in regulation Saturday, Indiana was faced with a second-and-10 situation at its own 28 yard line. Nate Sudfeld threw a deep ball that was caught by Ricky Jones and the redshirt junior wide receiver took the ball down to the 1 where IU would have first and goal at the 1. Indiana chose to use a timeout with 1:01 to play and talk things over. It should be pointed out that Indiana’s defense had done little in the way of stopping Southern Illinois all day. The previous two SIU possessions, however, had ended when IU’s Nick Mangieri had sacked SIU quarterback Mark Iannotti and the Salukis were forced to punt and the previous drive where things had stalled when the QB fumbled on third down and SIU was forced to make a 46 yard field goal. So what should have Indiana done in this situation? A. Run the ball up the middle, try to score quick, take a seven point lead and let your defense attempt to stop Southern Illinois from likely going 75 yards after it gets the ball back. B. Take a knee a couple of times, let the ball go back somewhere between the 3-5 yard line, force SIU to call all of its timeouts, then run the ball and try to score a TD on third down. If that doesn’t work, kick a field goal on fourth down and leave just seconds on the clock. C. Take a knee a couple of times, attempt the field goal on third down just in case you have a bad exchange and give yourself a backup plan. D. Pass it like the Seahawks did in the Super Bowl. Wilson chose to run the ball up the middle with Jordan Howard, SIU basically let him walk into the end zone, and the junior tailback scored a touchdown with 58 seconds to play to put IU up 48-41 with 58 seconds to play. Of course, we know what happened next. SIU needed just five plays to march down the field aided by a questionable pass interference penalty on IU near midfield. The Salukis scored a touchdown with 18 seconds to play and went for the two-point conversion play and the win. The two-point conversion attempt failed when the receiver couldn’t hang on to the ball at the goal line (Myself, I think I would have let the quarterback run it instead of throw it any way but …). And so Indiana hung on for a 48-47 victory and a 1-0 start to the 2015 season. NOTE: If Southern Illinois had converted the two-point play and taken a 49-48 lead, you could make the argument that the Salukis had scored too quickly, too, as my guess is that Griffin Oakes still would have had a long field goal try for the win. It’s just the way the game had been going. You figured whatever team had the ball last was going to win. So what do you think Indiana should have done in that situation? There seem to be several Sunday Morning Quarterbacks (one in particular who is the founder of this site) who believe you should take a knee, run the clock down to the closing seconds and kick a field goal for the win. His point, and it’s well taken, is that you should have never allowed that IU defense on the field Saturday (sans some of its better players) to have the game in its collective hands. There are too many things that could go wrong with that group on the field. Myself, I think the path that was chosen was the correct one. Here’s why: 1. You score the touchdown, put yourself up by seven points, and you have to figure that the worst that is going to happen is you’re headed to overtime. The Southern Illinois coach said he had planned to go for two from the time he got the ball back but I still wonder if that was the right call. Myself, I think he short-changed his kids a little bit there. Kick the extra point and take your chances in overtime. It’s not like you’re worried that IU is going to stop you and maybe your defense can force a field goal or something. 2. If you take a knee twice and the ball goes back to the 5 yard line, then what’s your play call if you go for a touchdown before at the very least attempting a field goal on fourth down? Do you throw the ball or give it to Howard or Redding? If you throw it you take the chance of it getting picked and a couple of passes almost got picked late in that game. 3. If you settle for a field goal a lot of bad things can happen. You have a first year long snapper for instance so you have to hope that the exchanges are good. When IU went for the field goal from 22 yards out that put it ahead 41-38, it appeared as if Oakes’ field goal was partially blocked. At the very least it was low and ugly. If IU was kicking from the 5, it would have been another 22 yard field goal attempt. 4. What if on third or fourth down, you had a holding penalty and all of sudden that chip shot field goal is from 35 yards out or more? I just think a lot of things could go wrong and my point on the message board thread today was that if you think people are second-guessing Wilson and the Hoosiers today, imagine what it would have been like had Indiana gone this route and somehow got beat? That’s how coaches get fired. And we have all seen IU lose games like this one in the past. I still don’t have a problem doing it the way that Wilson and company did it. My guess is that many of you will disagree. So go ahead and have at it. I’ll try to respond to as many of your posts as I can.

  Wilson wasn't definitive on that topic in his postgame press conference on Saturday. Here is what he said when he was asked that question:   "I don't know, we may have some (more) between now and then. Somebody is college football is doing something stupid tonight, I can guarantee it. Hopefully it's not 47408 but that's the world we live in. Eighty percent of Americans, 80 percent of college kids, 80 percent of college athletes drink. That's why we talk to our guys about lifestyle and how to give up some things and how to be a great team to recover. We'll see. I promise you, were going to put 11 out and play hard and not give up like those guys did today. If there was a problem, the team would have folded. There's not a problem. The team has to play better.''

We're not going to see the 60, 70 and 80 yards run that we saw a year ago but he still has good speed.   But he's a powerful runner. IU has great offensive balance now.   Now if the defense can just hold someone to 28 points or less, this team has a chance.

You had me until then. Did you mean "wasn't a pick 6"?

  Or IU getting a delay of game penalty on the opening kickoff of the season opener.

The first Sunday Morning Quarterback analysis has been posted.   Have had it 41 ... make yourself look bad. It's all good.   :yes:

or maybe they block it and run it back for a touchdown

I love this topic and still think it was done correctly. But let's talk about it some more after I make it my Sunday Morning Quarterback analysis topic. It should be up in 30 minutes or so. You can disagree with me there too

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.

I thought he was ok but that drop late did hurt. Hard to judge a guy on one game but I think it's someone we want to keep an eye on.

Don't agree. Too many things can go wrong in football in that situation. I think you okay to score the most points and take your chances. Take it down to the end, kick a field goal, kickoff to SIU and they run it flack for a touchdown. Bad things can happen. I think what IU did was the lesser of two evils.

Precisely my point