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Your opinionon IU's 2017 season


slojoe

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I was disappointed.

This team had a rash of injuries and a very tough schedule, but they still should have made a bowl game.  We lost to a very beatable Maryland team, and although Purdue was a much improved team this year, the Bucket game was a disappointing performance.  Purdue has a top 25 defense, but their offense sucks.  They just ran all over our defense.  Our offense racked up almost 500 yards but couldn't win.  Ouch!

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1 hour ago, slojoe said:

I was disappointed.

This team had a rash of injuries and a very tough schedule, but they still should have made a bowl game.  We lost to a very beatable Maryland team, and although Purdue was a much improved team this year, the Bucket game was a disappointing performance.  Purdue has a top 25 defense, but their offense sucks.  They just ran all over our defense.  Our offense racked up almost 500 yards but couldn't win.  Ouch!

They finished exactly where I predicted so my word would be predictable.

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I think that this season was what has always been in regards to IU football... enough positives to keep the fans interested but when crunch time arrives not enough substance to get over the hump.

We heard all year about a "break through " game or season. Didn't happen this year with this group of kids and I put the blame on the coaches. 

I keep getting suckered in by this program and then reality hits. As long as we are in the B1G East, we are going to struggle to get 6 wins a year. Have to accept the fact that IU football is just a diversion until hoops start

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Allen seemed overwhelmed, unfortunately.  Good man, but his max may be as a good defensive coordinator.  This could have been a 7-5 team with better coaching.  It’s too early to make final judgements, of course, but you can lay down markers on what we’ve seen in terms of mistakes, penalties, poor special teams, winning nothing in a 50/50 situation, etc.  IU lost anything that’d be a struggle.  Fundamental play was poor.  Somehow, they weren’t psyched up to play Purdue.  It does not matter that you had PSU, OSU, UM, MSU, and UW on your schedule when you can’t even beat Maryland with their third string quarterback in a mistake prone embarrassment of self destruction and then you aren’t up to play Purdue.  Those two games against mediocrity tell you who you are. A well coached team beats Maryland and perhaps slips by UM in overtime or against MSU.  But, Allen managed to lose every single tough situation   And I’ve got news for him, Rutgers, Illinois, Virginia won’t be automatic wins forever.  Right now, Allen won five games with talent brought in by Wilson.  This could trend worse.  2018 is a big year for Allen to pull his big boy pants up.   

 If we see all these same things again next year, then the fan base will disregard him.  Once that happens, he can linger a year or two due to his buyout but it will be over.  Once the fan base turns on you, it’s just time until the inevitable.  

There is no evidence that Fred Glass knows a thing about football either.  He owns the Allen hire and the clustermess with Wilson.  

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I'm a little disappointed by the season, but I expected a drop in offense due to an inexperienced line and running backs.

I think the disappointment this year rests on one man's shoulders, and he sits in the press box on game day.  Our offensive play calling was a joke, and killed drives and wore out our defense.  If just that one variable was better and everything else stays the exact same, we likely beat at least 2 of Maryland, Michigan, MSU, and Purdue.  At that point we're 7-5 and talking about how great Allen did in his first year.  My opinion of Allen this offseason is directly tied to who the offensive coordinator is next year.  Same one and I'm disappointed in Allen.  New (good) one and I have a ton of faith in Allen.

Shore up the offense, and a lot of other things will take care of themselves.  The punt team wasn't bad, but Whitehead was tied for the most punts in all of college football.  Instead of 50 chances for something to go wrong, there were 85 chances.  Overall I didn't think we were that bad there.  We just had one really, really big mistake against Maryland.

Harris was having a good year returning punts until he went down.  Oakes was fantastic this year.  Our kickoff returns sucked again, but our kickoff coverage wasn't great, but Oakes had a lot of touchbacks which helped out some.  We had bad special teams games against PSU and Maryland, but other than that our special teams was much improved over anything Wilson threw out there.  Wilson couldn't care less about special teams, so it's going to take time to get completely past that.

We actually had fewer penalties this year than last year.  5.8 per game compared to 6.1, and allowed a few more yards per game this year.  Pretty comparable.

Overall I'm still optimistic with Allen as the head coach.

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On 11/26/2017 at 9:39 PM, Leathernecks said:

I'm a little disappointed by the season, but I expected a drop in offense due to an inexperienced line and running backs.

I think the disappointment this year rests on one man's shoulders, and he sits in the press box on game day.  Our offensive play calling was a joke, and killed drives and wore out our defense.  If just that one variable was better and everything else stays the exact same, we likely beat at least 2 of Maryland, Michigan, MSU, and Purdue.  At that point we're 7-5 and talking about how great Allen did in his first year.  My opinion of Allen this offseason is directly tied to who the offensive coordinator is next year.  Same one and I'm disappointed in Allen.  New (good) one and I have a ton of faith in Allen.

Shore up the offense, and a lot of other things will take care of themselves.  The punt team wasn't bad, but Whitehead was tied for the most punts in all of college football.  Instead of 50 chances for something to go wrong, there were 85 chances.  Overall I didn't think we were that bad there.  We just had one really, really big mistake against Maryland.

Harris was having a good year returning punts until he went down.  Oakes was fantastic this year.  Our kickoff returns sucked again, but our kickoff coverage wasn't great, but Oakes had a lot of touchbacks which helped out some.  We had bad special teams games against PSU and Maryland, but other than that our special teams was much improved over anything Wilson threw out there.  Wilson couldn't care less about special teams, so it's going to take time to get completely past that.

We actually had fewer penalties this year than last year.  5.8 per game compared to 6.1, and allowed a few more yards per game this year.  Pretty comparable.

Overall I'm still optimistic with Allen as the head coach.

Great post.  Very well reasoned and I sincerely hope you're right.  I agree with every fact you presented.

Regarding the special teams, I bet we can find a conversation this time last year where we agreed that we thought Wilson did not emphasize special teams enough and that we were happy that Allen made a big point of turning around those units.  And, further, Allen had hands on experience on his resume with handling special teams.  I also agree that it was solid at times in 2017.

However, I cannot call it a success when there was very damaging leakage from the specials.  You could argue that special teams lost you a game (Maryland) and took you out of realistic contention in two others (PSU and Purdue).  You could further argue that they did not win you any games.  So, you have a loss and no wins due to special teams.  Certainly, there were some pluses, including Oakes.  Whitehead is a good directional kicker although his hang time did not seem that strong.  The punt return units were buoyed by Harris but the return and coverage units were not fundamentally sound enough.

At the end of the day, despite more emphasis and occasional solid play, I'd argue the units weren't good enough.  At IU, you have to make special teams a plus.  Instead of losing the Maryland game, they should win the Maryland game for you.  

When you see free coaches like Bielema, Indy native Kevin Sumlin, Jim Mora, and a number of other coaches, IU hired a complete unknown in Allen.  He's got a great defensive mind.  He is a very good person.  But, is the head coach's office too big for him?  It may be that he's another Bill Lynch.  People can mock critics all day long, but this is a person who does not have the resume to be hired.  Abstract ideas like continuity are not the reason to hire Allen.  Lynch and Allen have something in common.  They did not have legitimate resumes for the position.  

Next year, the schedule is favorable.  He will have a QB who has some experience.  The O line should be really upgraded as underclassmen turn into upperclassmen.  The O line loses no seniors and there is talent there.  They will have a running attack with Ronnie Walker and good depth.  The receiving corps will be solid even without Cobbs.  The defense should be solid although linebacker is a concern (I sure hope we are recruiting multiple athletic juco lb'ers).  With primarily Wilson's talent, Allen should be able to win 6-7 wins next year, minimum.  If he  does not, particularly if you have losses due to special teams and no ability to win 50/50 situations, then forget it.  Allen will get buried.  He may be a nice guy but this is big time sports. You have to produce.  IMO, bottom line, we underachieved this year.  You can't keep snatching defeat from the jaws of victory like this.  IU is finishing the stadium and has facilities.  They have what they need to win at least with reasonable success, 7-5 type years.  Now do it.

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23 hours ago, BobSaccamanno said:

Great post.  Very well reasoned and I sincerely hope you're right.  I agree with every fact you presented.

Regarding the special teams, I bet we can find a conversation this time last year where we agreed that we thought Wilson did not emphasize special teams enough and that we were happy that Allen made a big point of turning around those units.  And, further, Allen had hands on experience on his resume with handling special teams.  I also agree that it was solid at times in 2017.

However, I cannot call it a success when there was very damaging leakage from the specials.  You could argue that special teams lost you a game (Maryland) and took you out of realistic contention in two others (PSU and Purdue).  You could further argue that they did not win you any games.  So, you have a loss and no wins due to special teams.  Certainly, there were some pluses, including Oakes.  Whitehead is a good directional kicker although his hang time did not seem that strong.  The punt return units were buoyed by Harris but the return and coverage units were not fundamentally sound enough.

At the end of the day, despite more emphasis and occasional solid play, I'd argue the units weren't good enough.  At IU, you have to make special teams a plus.  Instead of losing the Maryland game, they should win the Maryland game for you.  

When you see free coaches like Bielema, Indy native Kevin Sumlin, Jim Mora, and a number of other coaches, IU hired a complete unknown in Allen.  He's got a great defensive mind.  He is a very good person.  But, is the head coach's office too big for him?  It may be that he's another Bill Lynch.  People can mock critics all day long, but this is a person who does not have the resume to be hired.  Abstract ideas like continuity are not the reason to hire Allen.  Lynch and Allen have something in common.  They did not have legitimate resumes for the position.  

Next year, the schedule is favorable.  He will have a QB who has some experience.  The O line should be really upgraded as underclassmen turn into upperclassmen.  The O line loses no seniors and there is talent there.  They will have a running attack with Ronnie Walker and good depth.  The receiving corps will be solid even without Cobbs.  The defense should be solid although linebacker is a concern (I sure hope we are recruiting multiple athletic juco lb'ers).  With primarily Wilson's talent, Allen should be able to win 6-7 wins next year, minimum.  If he  does not, particularly if you have losses due to special teams and no ability to win 50/50 situations, then forget it.  Allen will get buried.  He may be a nice guy but this is big time sports. You have to produce.  IMO, bottom line, we underachieved this year.  You can't keep snatching defeat from the jaws of victory like this.  IU is finishing the stadium and has facilities.  They have what they need to win at least with reasonable success, 7-5 type years.  Now do it.

I would agree that the special teams grade for the year wouldn't be great due to a few big mistakes and some needed improvement in some areas, but we were definitely improved and I think we'll improve more next year.  Losing Oakes hurts a lot, but another year of actually caring about special teams should really improve the fundamentals.

I've been one of the biggest proponents of the Allen hire.  I think he was an up and coming coach and it was only a matter of time before he kept working his way up the coaching ladder.  I really like his attitude, I love that he seems to be a genuinely good person, and he's a very good defensive coach.  To me he seems to be one of those guys who won't settle for mediocrity, and he's always looking to improve himself.

Another reason I am a big fan of the hire is that this doesn't have to be a stepping stone job for him.  If he's the coach to get us over the hump, I don't think he'll bolt for the next big thing.  He has a chance of being here for the next 15-20 years and really building this into a somewhat desirable job by the time he leaves.

Even if we got one of the bigger name guys out there, they'd leave within a couple years, and then we'd have to hit on another big name.  We'd probably have to hit on about 3 straight coaches to build up a successful decade.  That's really, really tough to do at a school like IU.

I like our schedule for next year.  We have a legit shot in all of our home games, plus a couple road games.  The O line should be a lot better.  I agree that Allen needs a bowl game next year or it would be a rough first two years to his tenure.  I think the difference for Allen's IU career will be who is calling the plays on offense next year.  DeBord has to go.  Allen definitely could have done some thing better, but if we would have replaced DeBord with somebody competent, we likely would have won 6-7 games and would love Allen.  He can't afford to hitch his horse to the sinking ship of DeBord.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Considering that it was Coach Allen's FIRST FULL SEASON at IU It went just about the way that I thought it might !! IF Peyton Ramsey had remained 100 % HEALTHY , I think IU would have gone to a BOWL Game again this season !! One thing in my mind is that Coach Allen needs to BUILD UP the DEPTH at QB to not be so hurt  when a QB goes down with an injury !!

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1 hour ago, hoosiertildeath said:

Considering that it was Coach Allen's FIRST FULL SEASON at IU It went just about the way that I thought it might !! IF Peyton Ramsey had remained 100 % HEALTHY , I think IU would have gone to a BOWL Game again this season !! One thing in my mind is that Coach Allen needs to BUILD UP the DEPTH at QB to not be so hurt  when a QB goes down with an injury !!

Peyton Ramsey would not have won us any more games than Lagow did.

Here's to hoping Reese Taylor is our starting QB next year.

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4 hours ago, hoosiertildeath said:

Considering that it was Coach Allen's FIRST FULL SEASON at IU It went just about the way that I thought it might !! IF Peyton Ramsey had remained 100 % HEALTHY , I think IU would have gone to a BOWL Game again this season !! One thing in my mind is that Coach Allen needs to BUILD UP the DEPTH at QB to not be so hurt  when a QB goes down with an injury !!

Don’t think it would’ve changed the outcome of your season at all actually. Think you still would’ve won 5 games. 

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Once again,I have to question the IQ of a certain pee yew fan making comments about IU Football when his own pee yew smellermakers had LOST FOUR STRAIGHT BUCKET GAMES TO IU PRIOR TO THIS SEASON !!  Go Arizona kick pee yew's arses tomorrow night !!

p.s. i THINK THE GREATEST pleasure THAT I WILL HAVE HAD IN MY 76 YEARS ON THIS PLANET WILL COME WHEN i SEE PEE YEW'S MENS BASKETBALL TEAM LOSE ONCE AGAIN  IN THE MEN'S NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT THIS SEASON-( Like they have done every time they've made the field) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. ( AGAIN) Fearless prediction :: Arizona 32 pee yew 29 !!! ( I'm not betting any money o n this !! This is just what the system I use to make predictions with kicked out !!

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1 hour ago, hoosiertildeath said:

Once again,I have to question the IQ of a certain pee yew fan making comments about IU Football when his own pee yew smellermakers had LOST FOUR STRAIGHT BUCKET GAMES TO IU PRIOR TO THIS SEASON !!  Go Arizona kick pee yew's arses tomorrow night !!

p.s. i THINK THE GREATEST pleasure THAT I WILL HAVE HAD IN MY 76 YEARS ON THIS PLANET WILL COME WHEN i SEE PEE YEW'S MENS BASKETBALL TEAM LOSE ONCE AGAIN  IN THE MEN'S NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT THIS SEASON-( Like they have done every time they've made the field) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. ( AGAIN) Fearless prediction :: Arizona 32 pee yew 29 !!! ( I'm not betting any money o n this !! This is just what the system I use to make predictions with kicked out !!

I would think that your greatest pleasures in life would center around faith, family, etc. , followed by successes that your beloved IU has, not that Purdue loses.

But that's just me.

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2 hours ago, hoosiertildeath said:

Once again,I have to question the IQ of a certain pee yew fan making comments about IU Football when his own pee yew smellermakers had LOST FOUR STRAIGHT BUCKET GAMES TO IU PRIOR TO THIS SEASON !!  Go Arizona kick pee yew's arses tomorrow night !!

p.s. i THINK THE GREATEST pleasure THAT I WILL HAVE HAD IN MY 76 YEARS ON THIS PLANET WILL COME WHEN i SEE PEE YEW'S MENS BASKETBALL TEAM LOSE ONCE AGAIN  IN THE MEN'S NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT THIS SEASON-( Like they have done every time they've made the field) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. ( AGAIN) Fearless prediction :: Arizona 32 pee yew 29 !!! ( I'm not betting any money o n this !! This is just what the system I use to make predictions with kicked out !!

What does the last 4 years of inept football under the worst coach in our history have to do with this year? My opinion that you would’ve ended up with 5 wins regardless of Ramsey’s health has nothing to do with me being a Purdue fan. A healthy Ramsey wasn’t going to beat Purdue. Purdue simply outplayed IU and Brohm outcoached Allen. Brohm is clearly legit and will continue to win at Purdue  

Purdue doesn’t play tomorrow night, they play a week from tomorrow. 

I simply think you’re overrating Ramsey’s abilities. Do you think IU would’ve beaten Purdue if he had played? 

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Going to be a very interesting signing day and somewhat of a continuation of the season. There are some significant unexpected departures soon to become public so a good portion of this signing class has to be focused on replacing players who are transferring or graduating. Hopefully a few who are considering transferring decide to stay. Grass is always greener, until you get there. The early signing date is at least a balancing effort by the NCAA in that bowl bound teams, the winners of the spoils, are clearly at a contact disadvantage because they are busy with the bowl preparation, but they still have the advantage of being bowl bound.

The season finished about as bad as it could considering one game was Charleston southern and without that purchased win our defensive stats and offensive stats drop considerably in the league and nationally. Them and southern really helped the stats. The offense was about as non creative as possible and Allen’s duties as a head coach decreased his time he could spend on defense and frankly, there is no way Purdue should have been able to run on us like that at the end of the season if our defense was as polished as we thought. I honestly thought the defense would win the Purdue game and if not for two td’s called back, maybe they would have. Looking back, it looked like a staff understandably trying to find their footing. Hopefully they will regroup and should have a good signing day. While I realize my position is influenced, I still believe if you ride the ups and downs with a passing qb you are in a bowl. Maryland and Purdue would be wins. The year before we beat Maryland, MSU, and Purdue and this year we lost all three and had Michigan beaten if we could throw. It is just impossible for a new coach combined with a first year qb to hit the ground running unless they are at a program that is already stocked with a lot of support. Fun fact: Allen bracketed his first college head coaching year with a bowl loss and a loss that eliminated his team from another bowl. So no matter how disappointed we might feel, there is no doubt he feels worse.

But, there is early signing, Christmas, bowl games, playoffs, all star games, etc, so it if you like football, no matter how your team ended, it is hard to be a grinch this time of year.

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To All pee yew trolls ! It  don't really matter WHEN pee yew plays Arizona !! The system still says ARIZONA 32 pee yew turdmakers 29 !!! ( Whenever the flipping GAME IS PLAYED , vbg !! GO ' Zzona get revenge FOR THE BASKETBALL UPSET BY THE PEE YEW SMELLERMAKERS !!

p.s IU SIGNED BOTH A 6'4" AND A 6'1" Wide Receiver yesterday and MISTER FOOTBALL from the State of Indiana , Ben Davis's own REESE TAYLOR and an OUTSTADING Quarterback from Florida in Michael Penix ,jr. who is 6'3"' and 205 pounds !! IU also signed another of the top 3 Mister Football candidates from INDIANA as well as a 6'1" 240 pound Running Back and a 5'11" Running back from the great state of VIRGINIA !!  This could be the BEST class that IU has ever signed !! No matter what you post  -pee yew will always suck to me !!!!

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