Indiana Football Wants to be 'Big Dogs' in the Big Ten

Stevie Scott and Whop Philyor talked to the media about their excitement regarding Indiana's season and how they are embracing the tough schedule.

Dylan Wallace | Aug 7, 2020

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Whop Philyor feels like the Tasmanian Devil.

Over the last few months, Philyor has felt like he's been the Looney Tunes character trapped in a box, spinning around, bouncing off the walls, trying to get out.

When he was at home in Florida with his mom, she didn't want him to leave the house so he wouldn't bring COVID-19 back. Now that he's here in Bloomington, after every practice, he doesn't want to leave his house so he doesn't bring COVID-19 to his teammates.

Philyor feels trapped, but there's one place where he can run wild, and that's on the football field.

In less than a month, Indiana is scheduled to open the season against Wisconsin in Madison on Sept. 4. The schedule that follows the opener doesn't get any easier with Penn State, Illinois, Ohio State, Minnesota and Michigan.

Indiana's first six games are all against teams who went to bowl games a season ago.

As daunting as that seems, the Indiana roster has no issue with it.

"Man that's what we wanted," running back Stevie Scott III said. "Our team is full of players that want the best competition. We love this schedule. We love how we got Wisconsin first game, then come back and Penn State. That's just shows we have to compete every week and show the world we can be a top big dog in the Big Ten."

Scott was unable to play in The Gator Bowl in early January due to an injury, so he's been ready to get back on the field for awhile.

Tom Allen alluded to Indiana's one-point loss to Tennessee in The Gator Bowl as a motivating factor for the Hoosiers heading into this season.

"We can't keep coming up short," Scott said. "That's been one of our things we've been doing for the past few years, so that's something we've been trying to work on in practice is just finishing strong and hard."

The preseason coaches poll was released on Wednesday and Indiana received just one vote to be ranked in the top 25.

Allen and the players believe the 2020 Indiana Hoosiers have what it takes to be a top 25 team all season long. No schedule presents a better opportunity to prove that than Indiana's.

When Allen first spoke about the schedule when it was released, he said it gave them a chance to make history. Because of the 10-game conference schedule, Allen said it's an opportunity to win more Big Ten games than Indiana ever has in a season, and that's the kind of mindset they are going to bring to it.

It's why all the Hoosiers are itching to get out onto the field and start playing games. During Friday's media session over Zoom, Philyor was bouncing up and down in his seat, shrugging his shoulders, expressing his anxiousness to get out onto the field.

Whop Philyor catches the ball during Indiana's first day of fall camp / Indiana University Athletics

"We all Tasmanian Devils, basically," Philyor said.

For Philyor, that symbolic box doesn't officially open until the Hoosiers find themselves on the field in Madison, Wisconsin, and the ball is kicked off.

"They in some trouble cause they gonna let us all out the box," Philyor said. "They in some trouble this year. They in some trouble."

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