Indiana vs Northwestern Game Thread (Oct. 22 - 12:00PM - BTN)

[ThompsonHoosier]

So how about our basketball team this season?   Anything to get away from another funeral sermon on a football loss.  Same old IU football; 50+ years I've followed  a mostly sub-mediocre football team.  Much like the 17-year cicada every so often we emerge from dormancy for a fleeting moment of exhilaration only to quickly return to hibernation.  I don't think a genie's lamp and 3 wishes could give us a consistent winning team.  Bah!

Come on, you can't say we haven't made huge strides in football? When was the last time we were this close on so many games? Yeah we are still losing but it's small steps. Lose bad, then lose close, then win close,...one season at a time.

[WayneFleekHoosier]

Imagine if we had Sudfeld, Howard (or Coleman) and Cobbs with THIS defense....we would be top 3 in the East. I still think (or hope) we will make a bowl this year but next season may be awesome!

Why would next year be awesome?


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[Brass Cannon]

2 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Why would next year be awesome?


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Wondering the same thing

[Miller'sTheMan]

8 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Why would next year be awesome?


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Well, we do have the younger QB's (Ramsey, King) getting a year older.

Camion Patrick will be healthy (not coming off a torn ACL) and will be moved back to RB to help the running game.

We don't lose anyone on defense we can't replace due to graduation.

Simmie Cobbs and J-Shun Harris back for the offense.

[ThompsonHoosier]

Why would next year be awesome?


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Because we would have another year under (first year!) defensive coordinator Tom Allen and we would have a QB (Lagow or King or Ramsey or even Diamont) improve and learn the the playbook better. Plus we could have all offensive weapons, i.e. Cobbs and Harris fully healthy? Why can't we have a good season?

[Hoosierfan2017]

I'm starting to lose confidence that Coach Wilson is the right guy. Is that crazy? 

[ThompsonHoosier]

I'm starting to lose confidence that Coach Wilson is the right guy. Is that crazy? 

Well it depends on who else you think would come to Indiana to turn the program around?

[Hoosierfan2017]

2 minutes ago, ThompsonHoosier said:

Well it depends on who else you think would come to Indiana to turn the program around?

I don't know if there's anyone who would come here that would be a clear upgrade over him. I don't think he's a bad coach by any means. Recruiting seems to be improving overall. We have athletes on the field who look like they belong in the Big 10. His play calling drives me crazy though. He does things over and over again even after it's clear they're not working. I'm just worried that we're going to stay in this "getting better and coming close" limbo for forever 

[akhosrof]

I'm starting to lose confidence that Coach Wilson is the right guy. Is that crazy? 

Wilson has this program going in the right direction, no doubt. Recruiting is improving. We finally put the investment to get the right coaches. The southern end zone facility will be finished in 2018.

Play calling can be baffling at times, but we've always had excellent line and skill position play under Wilson. The defense has finally caught up, we just have to keep Coach Allen. If we can find our next Sudfeld, this team has serious 9 win potential.

Outside of hiring Les Miles, starting over would be completely insane. Any new head coach coming in as a P5 coordinator or a G5 head coach would take two to three years just to get to where Wilson is now. Sure, a new guy might be an improvement from Wilson in some areas, but would most likely have weaknesses elsewhere.

[Old Friend]

Wilson's mistake was not having a quarterback ready to replace Sudfeld.  That's killing Indiana right now.  Tom Allen is an excitable guy, clearly.   Can he game plan?  I'm not seeing it.  He can adjust, but his preparation leave lots to be desired.   Between the QB failures and weak defensive game plans, we find ourselves in a hole week after week.  We were able to dig out against Michigan State.   Wake?  Nebraska?  Northwestern?   3 very winnable games?   We were not.

[lucel15]

Wilson's mistake was not having a quarterback ready to replace Sudfeld.  That's killing Indiana right now.  Tom Allen is an excitable guy, clearly.   Can he game plan?  I'm not seeing it.  He can adjust, but his preparation leave lots to be desired.   Between the QB failures and weak defensive game plans, we find ourselves in a hole week after week.  We were able to dig out against Michigan State.   Wake?  Nebraska?  Northwestern?   3 very winnable games?   We were not.

Is the last part calling out Allen? The DC who has turned around the defense and it's hard to get stops after stops when your team is on the field for basically the first half in all of those games. It's the offense that is getting us in these holes. Defense gets a stop then offense goes 3 and out or throws a pic or can't convert a third down. So if it is calling out Allen I would think again on that. Yeah the first two drives on D weren't pretty but the offense didn't do didly squat.


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[akhosrof]

Wilson's mistake was not having a quarterback ready to replace Sudfeld.  That's killing Indiana right now.

I understand your criticism but "not having a QB ready" falls under the "much easer said than done" category. It's the most difficult position to recruit in CFB. Four and five star QB recruits bust all the time. Today we played a top ten four star QB recruit, whom we offered by the way, that is an excellent player.

After the 2014 QB fiasco, in 2015 we thought we had Tommy Stevens. Wilson then recovered nicely and switched high three star Austin King from NC State. That same class IU was a finalist for Chad Kelly as a JUCO transfer. Kelly took an official visit for the Purdue game. Wilson brought in his Oklahoma buddy WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross who was on the sidelines. Kelly took his picture with Good Ol' JR and looked to have a great time as we came back and beat Purdue. Bottom line: he didn't want to compete with Sudfeld. Kelly has torn up the SEC the past year and a half and will play on Sunday's.

The next year Wilson once again went after the top JUCO QB recruit, of course being Lagow and got the very promising Peyton Ramsey. Of course, Wilson put a lot of time recruiting Brandon Peters, whom we would have had a great chance at if it wasn't for Harbaugh. Hard to blame the kid.

If you want to fault Wilson for 2014, for not having a QB recruit that class (outside of Zander) and maybe not doing a better job of convincing Tre or Coffman to stay, fine that's fair. Wilson will be the first person to take responsibility for that. But after that, Wilson hasn't done anything different than any other coach. Finding a stud QB is extremely difficult.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

2 hours ago, ThompsonHoosier said:

Come on, you can't say we haven't made huge strides in football? When was the last time we were this close on so many games? Yeah we are still losing but it's small steps. Lose bad, then lose close, then win close,...one season at a time.

I'm sorry, but I've heard we're close far too many times in 50 years and losses are losses.  I like Wilson and I think he's the best we've had in quite some time, but the football gods simply do not look down favorably upon IU. 

[Miller'sTheMan]

1 hour ago, Old Friend said:

Wilson's mistake was not having a quarterback ready to replace Sudfeld.  That's killing Indiana right now.  Tom Allen is an excitable guy, clearly.   Can he game plan?  I'm not seeing it.  He can adjust, but his preparation leave lots to be desired.   Between the QB failures and weak defensive game plans, we find ourselves in a hole week after week.  We were able to dig out against Michigan State.   Wake?  Nebraska?  Northwestern?   3 very winnable games?   We were not.

Did we really dig a hole vs Nebraska due to our defense though? We got in a 17-0 hole where one touchdown was mainly from an incredibly lucky catch and another a pick 6 from the offense. I really disagree with your assessment of our defensive game planning. This is the first week our defense really dug us a big hole to start I thought and even then, they held Northwestern to 24 points and dominated for most of the game.

[JSHoosier]

2 hours ago, ThompsonHoosier said:

Come on, you can't say we haven't made huge strides in football? When was the last time we were this close on so many games? Yeah we are still losing but it's small steps. Lose bad, then lose close, then win close,...one season at a time.

People were saying 'lose close' last season as well.  At some point we have to stop settling for moral victories.

[JSHoosier]

I can't really see putting anything on the defense.  They've kept us in a few games despite the offense leaving them on the field constantly for 3 quarters, and they're the reason we beat MSU because they kept us in the game until Lagow could look like a B1G starter for 2 drives (out of 4 quarters and OT).

[akhosrof]

So what does everyone think happens at QB? Does CKW make a change?

[Miller'sTheMan]

1 minute ago, akhosrof said:

So what does everyone think happens at QB? Does CKW make a change?

I can't tell you if he will, but in my mind there is no excuse not to. Lagow isn't working. We put up 12 points against an okay defense, that screams we need to make a change.

[Crimson and Cream]

12 minutes ago, akhosrof said:

So what does everyone think happens at QB? Does CKW make a change?

As frustrated as I am with Lagow, is there really a better option? I don't feel like we'd win another game if we went with Diamont. I think we just have to ride it out and hope he does well enough to get us by Maryland, Buttgers, and little brother.

[akhosrof]

As frustrated as I am with Lagow, is there really a better option? I don't feel like we'd win another game if we went with Diamont. I think we just have to ride it out and hope he does well enough to get us by Maryland, Buttgers, and little brother.

I hear ya, I'm in the same boat. Have to hope he continues to improve. Austin King was a highly rated recruit and has lots of talent, maybe it's worth giving him a shot?

If we stick with Lagow, maybe Zander becomes the red zone QB? I think Zander's mobility opens up the play calling and the arm strength isn't an issue in that short space. Zander in the past has had success in the red zone.