Play good sound defense. Enough of this talk you need to outscore people. If our program is to even have a wining season then we have to start hold teams to two scores not 27
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If Indiana can we can also
- Thread starter SnohomishRed
- Start date
our defense is the last of our problems, in fact I see offense getting worse before it gets better- major issues in the years to come around talent at the receiving position..
I can see Indiana coach leaving for a football school he’s a hot commodity now imo he should jump at the first school to offer him big cash
Indiana rush defense: allowing 4.0 yards per carry
Nebraska rush defense: allowing 4.0 yards per carry.
The biggest difference between Indiana and Nebraska is special teams. The Hoosiers dominate field position and are required to defend far less plays than Nebraska.
The second biggest difference is turnover margin. Indiana doesn't cough up the football or throw it to their opponents.
Lastly, Indiana scores in the red zone because their receivers are ridiculous athletes and physical mismatches.
Scoring defense is a great stat because it measures the value of a whole football team, but it's more than just the defense.
Nebraska allowed 24 points to Illinois off of turnovers.
Nebraska's special teams and turnovers basically handed Iowa 10 points.
Nebraska's special teams handed Purdue 10 points.
I feel like our defense is not the problem. The offense is the issue. If our offense didn't screw up in Illinois we win. Northwestern and Iowa we win.
Defense did not play well against Illinois, but your point remains accurate. 5 turnovers that game certainly made it tough on the defense. But overall, If NU was less mistake-prone, they could certainly be 5-1. The catastrophic penalties, turnovers, and other breakdowns have primarily been on the offense and special teams.
The lack of quality control (i.e, coaching) leads to NU's crippling mistakes week after week. This has been a constant problem in Frost's 3 seasons.
Allen came to IU as DC when Wilson's Offenses were doing pretty good and the defenses were horrible...around 120th in the nation. He worked a miracle that first year as DC in '16, moving the D up probably 60-70 spots. That's only reason they went back to a bowl in '16 as the IU O turned out bad. His first yr as HC '17, he also was running the D. Finished near the top nationally in 3/outs, but again the O with Lagow/Ramsey was not good. Finished 5-7 losing 1 possession games to UM (OT), MSU and giving games away at PU and MD.
His vision of winning by playing great D and special teams has come together slowly. His ability to change the attitude has been the biggest key to the last 2 yrs success. That, the team's ability to build depth and hiring good assistants/letting them do their jobs have also been encouraging for this IU fan who goes back to the Corso days of being trounced by Nebraska and plenty of others.
His vision of winning by playing great D and special teams has come together slowly. His ability to change the attitude has been the biggest key to the last 2 yrs success. That, the team's ability to build depth and hiring good assistants/letting them do their jobs have also been encouraging for this IU fan who goes back to the Corso days of being trounced by Nebraska and plenty of others.
Why do you think we will be right back to being old Indiana. No one outside of Indy fans expected this kind of season, but we knew what was being built for the long haul.
Don’t believe this is the opinion of our whole fan base..
Tom Allen is a damn good football coach and there is no reason why that can’t be as good as Michigan, Penn St and definitely Sparty..
Eventually any defense is going to break when put into bad situations by the offense. Add to that no ball control on offense, and they are also tired.
Tom Allen is a defensive minded coach. Not sure comparing IU to Nebraska is prudent.
They beat a struggling Wisconsin program and an under performing B1G East lot, not named Ohio State.
They play a train wreck Purdue team next.
1967 was a long time ago. IU is having a similar season.
They beat a struggling Wisconsin program and an under performing B1G East lot, not named Ohio State.
They play a train wreck Purdue team next.
1967 was a long time ago. IU is having a similar season.
Who would you want coaching Neb? Your coach or Allen. Maybe not a fair question this year or last.
Look, I have no delusions of IU ever becoming UM, PSU, OSU. Those schools have a century or more of history, huge fan bases, and investment in the program advantages that IU has never had (And likely will never have). But the IU Administration in recent years seems to have learned that you do have to actually make investment in the program to be competitive (Bill Mallory did more with less $$ than he should have had to endure, but eventually he became a victim of his own relative success and lack of investment). Closing in both ends of the stadium, paying a coach and staff a somewhat going rate, etc have shown some buy in by the University.
Indiana is a state with 3 Power 5 schools. Much greater population states OH has one, PA has 2, IL 2. While the IN in-state HS talent has improved considerably, it pales in volume to that of OH, PA and NJ (all BT East states). And every school in the league, but Rutgers and MD, recruits here. There just hasn't been a great tradition for in-state kids growing up to say "I want to play at IU or PU" like happens in states like Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin, all who have great walk-on programs to boot.
Now, for reality, I think most IU fans, after 50 years of being kicked in the sack, would be tickled to have the kind of relative success that the likes of Iowa, MSU and Northwestern have achieved over the last 20-30 years. THAT should be the goal. Do that, and they will build a statue to the coach who can average 8-4 seasons.
Indiana is a state with 3 Power 5 schools. Much greater population states OH has one, PA has 2, IL 2. While the IN in-state HS talent has improved considerably, it pales in volume to that of OH, PA and NJ (all BT East states). And every school in the league, but Rutgers and MD, recruits here. There just hasn't been a great tradition for in-state kids growing up to say "I want to play at IU or PU" like happens in states like Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin, all who have great walk-on programs to boot.
Now, for reality, I think most IU fans, after 50 years of being kicked in the sack, would be tickled to have the kind of relative success that the likes of Iowa, MSU and Northwestern have achieved over the last 20-30 years. THAT should be the goal. Do that, and they will build a statue to the coach who can average 8-4 seasons.
One word: SPEED!
Indiana and Tom Allen figured out that the name of the game is having speed on the field and lucked out with having one of most innovative minds in the strength and conditioning space as an alumni.
David Ballou and Matt Rhea figured out that being able to squat 800 pounds doesn't really translate to the field and don't have any player max out at more than 1.7 times their body weight. They increased the Indiana team speed by an average of 3 MPH from 2018 to 2019. Indiana went having mediocre team speed to boasting one of the fastest rosters in college football.
If curious here's a fascinating article on their philosophy to training. So far ahead in their approach that Nick Saban hired both of them away this past spring. Simply put, we are still using the 1.0 approach to lifting.
Indiana and Tom Allen figured out that the name of the game is having speed on the field and lucked out with having one of most innovative minds in the strength and conditioning space as an alumni.
David Ballou and Matt Rhea figured out that being able to squat 800 pounds doesn't really translate to the field and don't have any player max out at more than 1.7 times their body weight. They increased the Indiana team speed by an average of 3 MPH from 2018 to 2019. Indiana went having mediocre team speed to boasting one of the fastest rosters in college football.
If curious here's a fascinating article on their philosophy to training. So far ahead in their approach that Nick Saban hired both of them away this past spring. Simply put, we are still using the 1.0 approach to lifting.
I love the Indiana football story this season..Gives me hope for our Basketball program for the future...
Nebraska and Indiana have been polar opposites when it comes to Football and Basketball history..
Nebraska and Indiana have been polar opposites when it comes to Football and Basketball history..
The Dr Matt Rhea and David Ballou (an IU Alum) experience was an interesting one. Most IU folks were realistic about their departure to bigger, better things at Alabama. A few felt betrayed.
That said, IU went out and got about as good of a replacement as they could by bringing in the guy from the NY Giants (whom I think was a GA at IU back in the Cam Cameron days).
That said, IU went out and got about as good of a replacement as they could by bringing in the guy from the NY Giants (whom I think was a GA at IU back in the Cam Cameron days).
Indiana has a really good coaching staff that knows how to teach low mistakes and good QB play. We won't be catching up to Indiana anytime soon.
Defense absolutely is a problem. Our defense got boatraced by Illinois. Northwestern and Iowa always force low scoring games and we couldn't keep the score low enough.
They're not even comparable honestly. They're a much better team in every facet. Especially their wide receivers and quarterbacks are much better than ours. They also have a great offensive coordinator
Their offensive scheme is basic, ball control passing game for 340 yards per game. Its extremely simplistic. But their personell is exceptional for the way they play. It will be interesting to see how they handle the future when they lose Philyor, Fryfogle, and Stevie Scott.
All three of them are heading to the NFL in the off-season.
Further food for thought on how our S&C approach is polar opposite to Ballou and Rhea. An athlete's max strength has less of an impact on speed and once an athlete can squat 1.7 times their body weight, increases in squat strength beyond that are not contributing to speed. If we were running 2-tight and a 3 yards and a cloud of dust offense I would be more excited about packing on team muscle but the fact remains we are running and facing up tempo spread teams that value speed in open space. Further evidence that we're heavily invested and openly bragging about our philosophy of lifting as much as humanely possible:
- 2018 Social Media brag that Tanner Farmer is lifting 765 in response to a Texas SC post. Under IU philosophy Tanner would have been maxing at 510.
- Nash Hutmacher squatting 685. At 330 his squat max should be closer to 560.
- Article from last November with Duval's approach to lifting hard late into the season. "What we don't back off is the amount of weight that they lift – the intensity of it," Duval said during the radio appearance. "So once every 14 days, once every 17 days we have to put a maximum load on their backs and rep it out once or twice to maintain all the gains that they worked for in winter conditioning and summer conditioning. So Scott's mantra of 'no fear of failure' and attack, that really works with us. Because the in-season is something where we're not trying to just maintain, and if you do just maintain, you're always going to lose. So we're very aggressive in-season."
- Scott Frost media days 2019. Duval told him that players averaged an extra 100 pounds on their squats, and were up an average of 13 pounds of lean muscle, from last season. Duval texted him this morning and said, 'Old Nebraska is just about back.'
- One more from 2019 media days with Scott Frost bragging about 800 lb squats. Frost said at Big Ten media days that he can stroll through the weight room and see half a dozen defensive linemen do two back squats of more than 800 pounds — something they couldn’t come close to a few years ago.
this post is a bit confusing, as you bold your concerns about speed then highlight defensive linemen as, I suppose, proof?
I don't find it all that confusing.
The original post is equating that if a traditional middling program like Indiana can turn transform into a top 15 program than surely a traditional blue blood like us can too. Many posts are equating their offensive or defensive approach as the key and I'm trying to point out that they have also taken a radically different approach to player development and developing overall team speed. As opposed to our S&C approach which is to pack on muscle mass and lift heavy.
I'll add that lineman squatting 500+ lbs is nothing to sneeze at but when we're openly bragging about our guys lifting 700-800 lbs it just further illustrates that we are invested in an old-school 1.0 approach whereas guys like Ballou and Rhea seem to be on a more cutting edge in terms of S&C speed development.
The original post is equating that if a traditional middling program like Indiana can turn transform into a top 15 program than surely a traditional blue blood like us can too. Many posts are equating their offensive or defensive approach as the key and I'm trying to point out that they have also taken a radically different approach to player development and developing overall team speed. As opposed to our S&C approach which is to pack on muscle mass and lift heavy.
I'll add that lineman squatting 500+ lbs is nothing to sneeze at but when we're openly bragging about our guys lifting 700-800 lbs it just further illustrates that we are invested in an old-school 1.0 approach whereas guys like Ballou and Rhea seem to be on a more cutting edge in terms of S&C speed development.
So it’s that easy...recruit speed to IU. IF (and that is a huge if) Allen doesn’t strike while the iron is hot and head somewhere where success and national contention will be easier, I could see IU elevating to a Northwestern level of success. As an IU fan I would be happy with that...being in contention for the division every 2-3 years. Hell as a Nebraska fan I’d welcome that sort of success right about now.
There may be balance in this. No question we were getting physically dominated far too often at the line of scrimmage when Frost took over.
Now that we’ve gotten bigger, we need that speed work. At certain spots I think we look slow.
Either way, Allen’s getting it done at IU and Frost is not here.
We did put 31 points and 520 yards on them with our backup quarterback last year who was set to be 3rd string this year so it’s not like hope is lost
Probably because you are what you are and don't expect the BIG to be as historically bad as it is this year. Michigan, Penn St, and Nebraska are all putrid this year and everyone else has declined too. Don't expect that to continue.
We can talk about lifting, speed, coaches etc. but the fact of the matter of this is that the B10 outside of Ohio St is not good this year. Period
Tanner is strong and fast. Tanner ran a 5 flat at his pro day. Sean Callahan, among many others timed him, just reporting what was.
Unfortunately, I don't think Scott is going to change his scheme. In the past I also would have liked to see them play less aggressively in order to give the team a better chance to win games since the offense was not up to doing quick strike scoring, but I don't think they even teach how to operate that way. My guess is they only teach being aggressive, no fear of failure thing, so that is probably why there is no adjustment on D. They are all in on that scheme, so the only way to win more games is to fix the offense. AM has to mature into a better decision maker and the play calling and offensive personnel groupings have to come together. Special teams needs a lot more work too.
Indiana was also very cutting edge in the S&C. We have Duvall still thinking it is 1985 and that we need to lift the heaviest weights possible to be good.