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5 hours ago, BobSaccamanno said:

In terms of vision for the roster, plus ambition and audacity for recruiting higher ranked talent, Allen is the best we’ve had since early Mallory.  Wilson brought this out to some level but Allen has extended that and is on another level. Our talent has been better for several years now but the next step is talent with depth and that’s coming along.  We are recruiting higher ranked guys and in higher numbers. But the other dimension frankly is in development. Wisconsin made a living recruiting big guys and building them up into top linemen. Whether we can pull that off is unproven at the moment.  I like the numbers and talent level but you’d like high level depth everywhere and that’s definitely a better situation now.  

DeBoer seems terrific. Landing him may be a game changer.  

We may have two assistants who end up power 5 head coaches in DeBoer and Hart. 

I am a little more wait-and-see with our young DC, Wommack.  Allen should be heavily involved there anyway and there are a lot of impact athletes over there.

I missed the point about Ballou and Rhea being offered by the NFL team (Miami). I am happy we paid up for them but that says a lot that they are coveted by the big boys.  

I think we are on a good track but I don’t know what to expect if we run a freshman quarterback out there.  I agree on Ramsey’s ceiling particularly with him losing accuracy throwing downfield. But if you switch in Penix or Tuttle we will have to see about a young qb.

I am hoping for s breakthrough now but if we can get to 6-6, maybe the breakthrough is in 2020. 

I've been most impressed with how Allen has raised the level of the bottom of our classes.  There used to be a lot of guys near the bottom that were lucky to have any D1 offers.  Now basically every recruit we're bringing in has at least 1 Power 5 offer.    We also seem to be doing a good job getting guys who have their ranking and offers go up after we get them.  I think the staff is doing a good job of finding talent before others can which is what we need to do.

The Ballou and Rhea talk was in a speech Allen gave a couple weeks ago.  I can't remember if it was linked anywhere here, but it is a good listen.

There would definitely be some ups and downs with a RS Fr quarterback, but where we're at as a program, we need to shoot for the ups.  We can't get to where we want to be with a consistent 5 (out of 10).  We are better off with somebody who is sometimes an 8 and sometimes a 2.  The way I see it, we have 3 non conference games that we should win 90+% of the time, a Rutgers game we should win 75%, a Maryland game that is probably close to a toss up, PU, NW, and Neb that are probably 60+% loss games and then MSU (maybe should go in the previous group), PSU, OSU, and Mich.  Maryland and Rutgers are really the only two games poor QB play could lose us that we should probably win, and the 3 non conference games we should win with a walk on QB.  The other 7 games are games that a hot QB could carry us to a win.  Ramsey can't get hot.  He plays a steady luke warm.  I think that is a great quality to have from a backup, but we need a game or two where Penix or Tuttle plays like an 8 and carries us to an unexpected win.

2020 looks to be a much more favorable schedule than this year.  Like you, I'm hoping for 6 wins this year, and then I'm hoping for 7+ the following year.  That is just the hope though, so even with 5 wins again this year, I still like the direction we are headed.

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It has been frustrating the last 4 or 5 years we seem to be right on the cusps of winning a Hugh game. The missed field goal to win a bowl game. Last minute long touchdowns given up to loss a game. We just seem to be so close. With all that though we always seem to be getting better, just been painfully slow. I guess my question is if we don’t at least go to a bowl game this year do we risk sliding back into the mine set of this is just another Typical IU team. I just feel we need to take that next step are we will start sliding backwards. 

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1 hour ago, Bob said:

It has been frustrating the last 4 or 5 years we seem to be right on the cusps of winning a Hugh game. The missed field goal to win a bowl game. Last minute long touchdowns given up to loss a game. We just seem to be so close. With all that though we always seem to be getting better, just been painfully slow. I guess my question is if we don’t at least go to a bowl game this year do we risk sliding back into the mine set of this is just another Typical IU team. I just feel we need to take that next step are we will start sliding backwards. 

Short answer is yes. The long answer is there are some great signs of great improvement....mostly on recruiting trail. Problem is until we get over the hump there will be a large segment of our fan base that unfortunately will say same old IU. Hate to make it that simple but this team and staff needs to win this year because if they do go 5-7 again and miss bowl the drums will start beating on recruiting front where opposing staffs can say very simply. We'll be here all 4 years your kid is. Can you say that about them?

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13 hours ago, Seeking6 said:

Short answer is yes. The long answer is there are some great signs of great improvement....mostly on recruiting trail. Problem is until we get over the hump there will be a large segment of our fan base that unfortunately will say same old IU. Hate to make it that simple but this team and staff needs to win this year because if they do go 5-7 again and miss bowl the drums will start beating on recruiting front where opposing staffs can say very simply. We'll be here all 4 years your kid is. Can you say that about them?

Most people said that before last season too.  I think we could survive with another 5-7 season because I do think we wouldn't have negative momentum yet.  Just stagnant.  I think 2020 is the make or break year.  The schedule looks a lot easier that year too.

A lot would depend on how we played if we miss a bowl this year.  If we go 5-7, and are real close in most of our other games, I think we'll be perfectly fine.  If we're 5-7 with a lot of blow outs, then we could be hurting a little bit.  With this year's tough conference schedule, we could be quite a bit better as a team than we were last year and still be 5-7.

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13 hours ago, hoosiertildeath said:

I'm with Rico  on this ! 6&6 and a bowl win would be a good start ! However  ,  if conditions stay good , I am looking for 7 or 8 wins in 2019 !

 

1 hour ago, Bob said:

I am hoping your right! How fun would 7 or 8 be! 

I'm trying not to get my hopes up for 7 or 8 wins, but we do have a ton of potential this year.  If DeBoer can make a significant impact on our offense, and our defense improves with age and experience, the opportunity is there to surprise people.  I don't know if I'm quite ready to bet on it at this point, but I could easily see it happen.

With a better offense, we could have pulled off at least 2 more wins each of the last 2 seasons.  I'm really hoping DeBoer and Penix/Tuttle can pull off a few more wins this year.

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24 minutes ago, Leathernecks said:

Most people said that before last season too.  I think we could survive with another 5-7 season because I do think we wouldn't have negative momentum yet.  Just stagnant.  I think 2020 is the make or break year.  The schedule looks a lot easier that year too.

A lot would depend on how we played if we miss a bowl this year.  If we go 5-7, and are real close in most of our other games, I think we'll be perfectly fine.  If we're 5-7 with a lot of blow outs, then we could be hurting a little bit.  With this year's tough conference schedule, we could be quite a bit better as a team than we were last year and still be 5-7.

I think 3 years in a row of no bowl game would hurt you guys in recruiting a bit. Especially with in-state guys. 

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8 hours ago, Leathernecks said:

Most people said that before last season too.  I think we could survive with another 5-7 season because I do think we wouldn't have negative momentum yet.  Just stagnant.  I think 2020 is the make or break year.  The schedule looks a lot easier that year too.

A lot would depend on how we played if we miss a bowl this year.  If we go 5-7, and are real close in most of our other games, I think we'll be perfectly fine.  If we're 5-7 with a lot of blow outs, then we could be hurting a little bit.  With this year's tough conference schedule, we could be quite a bit better as a team than we were last year and still be 5-7.

I'll actually take it a step further. Depending on who you ask (with what our basketball team did this past year) I think the two main sports are reaching all time levels of let's go, need to start winning, fan apathy,etc.....people are tired of hearing the excuses. Maybe it's more here in Indy market (radio, more fans,etc..) but I can assure anyone most football fans wouldn't be real happy if I said the 2020 schedule is easier. 

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7 hours ago, Stlboiler23 said:

I think 3 years in a row of no bowl game would hurt you guys in recruiting a bit. Especially with in-state guys. 

It would....which is why I was saying this year is so important. Recruiting is going great but if we miss again this year that momentum will more than likely stop a bit. 

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47 minutes ago, Seeking6 said:

It would....which is why I was saying this year is so important. Recruiting is going great but if we miss again this year that momentum will more than likely stop a bit. 

I’d say the same thing if Purdue missed a bowl this year too. Have to keep the momentum going. 

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6 minutes ago, Stlboiler23 said:

I’d say the same thing if Purdue missed a bowl this year too. Have to keep the momentum going. 

Definitely got the easy road in the West. Surely they will re arrange the divisions soon. It’s killing the BIG as a whole. You can’t have Michigan state, Michigan, Ohio state, penn state in one division that’s just ridiculous and then no one goes to the playoff.

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37 minutes ago, 5 championships said:

Definitely got the easy road in the West. Surely they will re arrange the divisions soon. It’s killing the BIG as a whole. You can’t have Michigan state, Michigan, Ohio state, penn state in one division that’s just ridiculous and then no one goes to the playoff.

The conference slate is usually easier but Brohm usually makes up for that by scheduling difficult non-conference games. IIRC, Purdue had a tougher schedule than IU last year because of playing Mizzou and BC out of conference. This year, it’s nevada, TCU, and Vandy. 

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29 minutes ago, Stlboiler23 said:

The conference slate is usually easier but Brohm usually makes up for that by scheduling difficult non-conference games. IIRC, Purdue had a tougher schedule than IU last year because of playing Mizzou and BC out of conference. This year, it’s nevada, TCU, and Vandy. 

Try playing tOSU, Michigan, Sparty, and Penn St. every year.  The hell with the non-con.

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2 hours ago, Stlboiler23 said:

The conference slate is usually easier but Brohm usually makes up for that by scheduling difficult non-conference games. IIRC, Purdue had a tougher schedule than IU last year because of playing Mizzou and BC out of conference. This year, it’s nevada, TCU, and Vandy. 

“Tougher schedule” that’s funny. I know that’s what the numbers say but I’d gladly take Your schedule over ours.  The east is absolutely brutal in the trenches and kills your team physical and mental health. 

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26 minutes ago, 5 championships said:

“Tougher schedule” that’s funny. I know that’s what the numbers say but I’d gladly take Your schedule over ours.  The east is absolutely brutal in the trenches and kills your team physical and mental health. 

I would too but it’s not like they’re night and day different. Playing teams like Iowa and Wisconsin is brutal in the trenches too. 

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The schedule is what it is ! The west teams we play this year is Purdue an Northwestern, I believe they both are picked to contend for the West champions aren’t they. That being said I don’t feel we are far off of either one of those two teams. Wouldn’t be a big upset if we won either of those games. After all we have beat Purdue 3 of the last 5, and only lost the last 2 by want a touchdown in each game. Hopefully we have a better OC this year. 

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6 hours ago, Stlboiler23 said:

I would too but it’s not like they’re night and day different. Playing teams like Iowa and Wisconsin is brutal in the trenches too. 

Definitely not easy playing Iowa or Wisconsin. 

Problem for us is they have both been crossover games the last two years. 

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38 minutes ago, Bob said:

The schedule is what it is ! The west teams we play this year is Purdue an Northwestern, I believe they both are picked to contend for the West champions aren’t they. That being said I don’t feel we are far off of either one of those two teams. Wouldn’t be a big upset if we won either of those games. After all we have beat Purdue 3 of the last 5, and only lost the last 2 by want a touchdown in each game. Hopefully we have a better OC this year. 

I think a lot of that losing 3 of 5 can be attributed to the Darrell Hazel effect haha. Brohm won two in a row with an inferior roster. 

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10 hours ago, Stlboiler23 said:

I would too but it’s not like they’re night and day different. Playing teams like Iowa and Wisconsin is brutal in the trenches too. 

I would gladly trade Michigan and Ohio St. for Iowa and Wisconsin.  Everyday of the week and twice on Sunday.

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