At Indiana, Wild Fantasies Have Turned Into Realistic Expectations

After two successful seasons, it's finally time to set higher goals for Indiana's football team. As fall practice starts on Friday, coach Tom Allen said that chasing a Big Ten tile – Indiana's first in 54 years – is a reasonable goal.

Tom Brew | Aug 5, 2021

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – It's a new day and a new time at Indiana, and that's blatantly obvious during a stroll through the football complex at Memorial Stadium. The sign on every position-room door says so.

"What have you done today to win the Big Ten?''

The last time Indiana won the Big Ten was 1967, a mere 54 years ago. When Tom Allen took over as head coach five years ago, that streak was a number that mattered to him. He didn't talk much about it then – ''we weren't ready then. It would have been wasted words'' – but it was a goal that he had put on the table, and he brought it up with recruits.

That's where he wanted the program to go. to be a conference contender. Players started buying in and in 2019 the Hoosiers went 8-4 in the regular season, something they hadn't done since the late-1980s.

Then last year, during the COVID-shortened 2020, season, the Hoosiers went 6-1, beat three ranked teams and finished second in the Big Ten East for the first time ever. They've got a ton of returning stars, so there's more growth to look forward to in 2021.

Hence the sign.

The sign on the wall of all the position rooms at Indiana's football complex says it all about what Indiana's goals are this season. — The sign on the wall of all the position rooms at Indiana's football complex says it all about what Indiana's goals are this season

"We've been pretty clear on our goals, and we haven't shied away from it,'' Allen said Thursday when meeting with the media in Bloomington. "We finished second in the Big Ten East last year. Our goal is to play in the Big Ten championship and win the game. But there are a lot of things that have to happen before that occurs.

"Right now the next step is having a great fall camp. How well this team comes together is going to be a major factor. How well we perform on game day. How hard are these guys willing to work? We have our first team meeting tonight. There's going to be very specific challenges with our guys. We mapped out what we expect them to do. To me, how they buy into that, how hard they work, how focused they are in meetings, taking notes, paying such an attention to that process, that matters.. What we've been challenging them is chasing greatness every day. How do you get one percent better every day. You have to be determined every day.''

And the goal is very clear. It's no longer about ''hoping'' to win every Saturday, it's about ''expecting'' to win. Indiana, 14-5 over the last two seasons and residing in the top-10 for a while means expecting even more in 2021.

Like winning that ever-elusive Big Ten title.

"Do we have talent? Yes, we have a lot of talent,'' Allen said. "Do we have a lot of good players? Yes, I believe we have a lot of good football players. And I love our coaching staff. The thing to me is you've got to get better every week. If those things all happen as they are, I'm excited about what this team can become.

"Yeah, I got high expectations for this football team. I haven't shied away from that. I believe we can have a very talented, effective offense and defense. I think we have talent on special teams. We have a lot of expectations. That's been the challenge, to go from believing, and I believe we have a team that believes, to now expecting a certain outcome on game day.''

Indiana's team is as talented as it's been since those great late 1980s Bill Mallory teams. It has All-Americans on defense in linebacker Micah McFadden and cornerback Tiawan Mullen, and depth two or three deep at every position, something that can rarely said about Indiana football.

They have an offense with great skill position players in quarterback Michael Penix Jr., wide receiver Ty Fryfogle and tight end Peyton Hendershot. They have a talented and crowded running back room and veterans all across the offensive line.

The pieces are all there to make more noise.

Penix, recovering from an ACL injury suffered last November, is ready to go when practice starts on Friday. He's expected to be 100 percent by the Sept. 4 opener at Iowa, and the Hoosiers coaching staff – and medical staff – will be careful with him throughout camp. No one is hitting him, that's for sure.

He's ready to go, and he's the key to the Hoosiers chasing titles this year.

"We feel really good about where he is,'' Allen said. "Does he need to continue? Yes, it's a process to go through and say, OK, this is the goal date, Sept. 4th, and to get him to be 100 percent for that date.

As you move through fall camp, we got a good plan for that. Obviously he'll be fully practicing, doing everything with us. Nobody is going to be hitting him, as is the case with all our quarterbacks. They'll be in blue jerseys like they always are, and there will .probably be a heightened sense around him. You get guys that trip or fall or whatever in different drills. You want to eliminate all that threat, but continue to develop.''

The rehab process has gone well right from the beginning. And now that it's time to get to work, he's ready.

"I think he's right where I kind of expected him to be coming into fall camp, where I hoped he would be coming into fall camp,'' Allen said. "We're expecting him to be our starter on Sept. 4. To me that's really the most accurate part I can say in regards to that. I feel good about where he is mentally and physically. I know it's been a long haul for him, but once again, he's responded and stepped up to the challenge.''

Indiana doesn't get a chance to ease into the season, either. They open at Iowa, a huge conference game between two likely top-20 teams. It sets an amazing tone for fall camp, because there is a very immediate and critical goal that starts right from Day. 1.

"There is, without a doubt, a built-in, natural sense of urgency that's created by playing a conference opponent (in the season opener),'' Allen said. "This is the first time we played one on the road since I've been here and just playing an opponent of their caliber, as good as they have been for so many years – and are going to be again this year – is going to be tough. It's going to be very challenging, without question.

"Everything gets heightened. I think it allows you to get even better than if you're maybe playing somebody different to start the season. There's always excitement about game one. That will always be the case. But it's cranked up a few notches because of where we're playing and who we're playing.''

Since he arrived, Allen has always been that eternal optimist. Those wild fantasies have turned into realistic expectations. It's easy for those jaded critics to question whether Indiana is really that good.

The perspective of others helps, though. New defensive coordinator Charlton Warren has coached at several colleges where there are national championship trophies in the football complex. He's been at Nebraska, Tennessee, Florida and Georgia, and he knows what a top-level college football program looks like.

He was asked point blank how present-day Indiana compared to some of those other blue-blood programs.

He's a believer, too.

"I think the commitment to win, the drive for excellence and the commitment and work that these guys put in are at the highest level of college football,'' Warren said. "When it comes to work, it doesn't matter what your buildings looks like or your stadium. The work that these kids put in are the same level as all the places I've been before.

"For me, when you have that level of work inside the building, the product on the field shines through as well. I think that's what you're seeing here. When I come here, I don't say, 'man, I don't have enough bullets in my gun right now. I don't have enough tools in my toolbox to go out there and win a football game.' I don't see that if I walk on the field.''

And anything that's happened around Indiana football the last 50 years doesn't mean a thing, Warren said. It's all about this group in 2021. It's a room full of confident people ready to do big things.

"So if didn't know the history that people talk about of Indiana football, that's different but this program is ready to win,'' Warren said. "This program has players who have bought in and worked their tails off to go win football games.

"Now we've got to go do it. We've got to execute. We can't bust. We've got to do all the things you need to do to win games. The environment here is set to go win football games and that's what we're going to do.''

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