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47 minutes ago, BobSaccamanno said:

Looking at the list reminds you how ridiculous the difference between the divisions is.  The west is like the JV division.  It is crazy that the league continues to go with it that way.  

Yeah, it has been talked about here and on other boards.  Heck, the OSU, MSU, UM, and PSU complain about it more than we do!

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2 hours ago, mrflynn03 said:

The east division is absolutely brutal when trying to build a program.  We should swap with Purdue and let them deal with it.

Or the Big Ten could just go North-South with the North being Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State and Northwestern and the South being Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland and Rutgers. But it'll never happen because OSU and Michigan call the shots in this league and don't want to potentially play on back to back weeks.

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2 hours ago, TheWatShot said:

Or the Big Ten could just go North-South with the North being Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State and Northwestern and the South being Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland and Rutgers. But it'll never happen because OSU and Michigan call the shots in this league and don't want to potentially play on back to back weeks.

I bet the way it is going....Michigan would be all for that!!!!!

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  • 3 weeks later...

My brain says IU likely finishes 5th to last in the East.My gut says that last year there was a lot of pressure on them to breakthrough and not enough experience at key positions to deliver.Although they lose a ot they have a lot of upperclassmen. I could envision an all around effort but with a breakout Oline and a mobile QB this team can keep fresher legs on the field late that might make up for what we lost in the end.I think we bend more on things such as opponent average YPC but the DBs and Husky bend not break as often.Ball is severely underrated.The big plays bit after Ball had an all-B1G freshman year in 2016.2016 was a talented defensive class for  the conference so in perspective and given the way I was losing close it was a big setback not having him for the most part..

If IU has a half way solid pass rush to go with all of the above watch out.They could sneak up on the contenders in the early portion of B1G play if they gel early and the offense clicks.But my prediction for now  is likely 5th to 6th with 4-7 wins.Bowl and Bucket will probably be  on the line again ,except in Bloomington.Overall I expect a wobbly statt to the season and a strong finish as the players stepping in to address key losses get accustomed to their roles.

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I think 2 things will be huge this year compared to last year.

Our new strength and conditioning program is going to pay massive dividends.  Sounds like an immense upgrade compared to what we had before and should help keep us fresh later in games.  It should help with the strength of our offensive line too.  I also remember seeing that some of Ballou's specialties are in speed and injury prevention.

Having another year with a head coach who cares about special teams should be a big help.  Wilson couldn't care less about special teams, and it will take some time to fully get past that.  Overall they weren't bad last year except for a couple games where they were disastrous (damn you Maryland!).  We now have Inge as a Special Teams Coordinator, so that area should only improve.  I wasn't sure if we should expect a drop off with Oakes graduating, but check out this video of our new kicker.  Even without a rush, that's pretty impressive.

https://twitter.com/chuck_campbell3/status/986341552892141569

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  • 6 months later...

I was hoping to see bigger on the field gains from our new strength and conditioning staff. I did feel like we had less guys get dinged up during games. No idea if that's accurate or not, just my perception. I'm interested to hear what their big thing will be this offseason.

Extremely disappointed in our special teams. Kickoffs were horrible on both sides. Couldn't return them and couldn't stop them.

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Ball let me down quite a bit  this year. 

IU ended about where I figured.   That is no less disappointing, since they left so many  points  out on  the field. 

Those take aways  came back.  I just thought they would do  better converting those into  scores.

On the positive several of the first year Hoosiers were a real nice surprise on both sides of the ball.

Also, Logan Justus is a kicker who I think  will help win them a  couple  of big games with his leg  before he is done with his career at  IU. 

 

 

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5 hours ago, jblaz13 said:

Ball let me down quite a bit  this year. 

IU ended about where I figured.   That is no less disappointing, since they left so many  points  out on  the field. 

Those take aways  came back.  I just thought they would do  better converting those into  scores.

On the positive several of the first year Hoosiers were a real nice surprise on both sides of the ball.

Also, Logan Justus is a kicker who I think  will help win them a  couple  of big games with his leg  before he is done with his career at  IU. 

 

 

I agree on Ball.  I expected him to be one of the anchors of the defense, but he was especially rough in pass coverage.  Missed quite a few tackles too.  He's still only 19 as a RS Sophomore, so maybe next year will be the year he'll make a big jump.

I hope we start looking to do more when we get takeaways.  A lot of times we'd be so focused on securing the int or fumble that we'd screw up the return.  I forget which game it was, but one of our safeties (Fitzgerald?) caught an overthrow right in the chest and fell to the ground to make sure he didn't drop it.  He had nothing but green in front of him and might have taken it to the house.  I want us to be like the Urlacher Bears or this year's Bears. They don't get a turnover just to give the ball back to the offense.  As soon as their defense touches it, there are 11 guys looking at the end zone.  That's something we need to improve on.

I thought Justus was really impressive.  I expected Campbell to win the job, but Justus was excellent.  Only missed 4 kicks all year.  2 in the mess against Virginia (both blocked?), and a 47 and 50 yard field goal.  That will be perfect to have him as a senior next year and have Campbell step in as a RS Sophomore after next year.

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Just saw this on Ball.  I'm surprised by these numbers. I'm guessing being the husky instead of CB helps because he covers shorter routes a lot, but it seemed like there were a handful of times he gave up big catches that really hurt us.  Maybe a few catches are standing out to me and skewing what happened most of the year.

 

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11 hours ago, Leathernecks said:

 

Just saw this on Ball.  I'm surprised by these numbers. I'm guessing being the husky instead of CB helps because he covers shorter routes a lot, but it seemed like there were a handful of times he gave up big catches that really hurt us.  Maybe a few catches are standing out to me and skewing what happened most of the year.

 

I could envision this since multiple truths can coexist in Ball's case this season. . He stopped plays, but I always thought guys who are targeted so often are also doing something to warrant it.

Considering that is likely pass game numbers, run support as a hybrid Husky guy was pretty suspect out of him at times , and I don't know if they saw the actual big pass plays allowed which by proximity, Ball could have done  more about had he came from the proper angle of pursuit more. I think it is spot on to point out, and it wasn't just your imagination. 

You could say it skews it, but it wouldn't be debatable at all how his year felt like it went  had he done more in big situations.Guys in the back have to keep the play in front of them better in general. Long scores allowed were on the entire unit since not enough was done to disrupt opposing offenses at times, but if you're supposedly a sideline to sideline guy like Ball is billed to be, the expectations are different ,individually.

When the impact is felt to a high enough degree, a lot more opponents throw opposite side instead of targeting the defender's area.. 

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