My Two Cents: Indiana's Nick Sheridan Validates Tom Allen's Hire By Calling a Perfect Game

Indiana coach Tom Allen had to take a bit of a leap of faith when he hired Nick Sheridan as his offensive coordinator. Sheridan proved Saturday that he was the right hire, calling a great game in leading the Hoosiers to a huge 38-21 win over his alma mater, the Michigan Wolverines.

Tom Brew | Nov 7, 2020

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Tom Allen is a man who is defined by his faith, and he never shies away from that, either. His faith is his pillar of strength.

He has faith in God, first and foremost, and faith in his family. He has faith in his football team, in the players he recruits and the coaches he hires.

Sometimes, though, doing what he does requires a little blind faith.

That was certainly the case last January when he tabbed Nick Sheridan to be his new offensive coordinator. He was just 31 years old at the time, and had never called plays before. He had been part of Allen's staff as a position coach since he got here, but this was a bold move.

A leap of faith, if you will.

On Saturday, Nick Sheridan smacked a huge validation stamp on Allen's decision. The former Michigan quarterback pushed all the right buttons and Indiana's offense totally dominated the Wolverines, winning 38-21 to go to 3-0 on the season.

And no one was happier for Sheridan than Tom Allen.

"Nick Sheridan did a phenomenal job. I'm just so proud of him,'' Allen said. "I picked him for a reason. But I will say this, you make that decision for a guy that's never called plays before, and there's no question there's a little bit of faith you're putting in him, and it's not been founded because he's never physically that done that before.

"But I believed in him and I believed that he had the talent and the skill set and the leadership qualities to lead that side of the football. He's proved it. Today was a tremendous accomplishment for him to do it against a very difficult front. They create a lot of issues.''

In Indiana's first two games, Sheridan tried to run the ball early, without success. But all week long as the game plan was getting established, Sheridan and his coaches knew that they would have to be aggressive, and use the pass to set up the run.

It worked. To perfection.

Indiana scored on its first drive, with quarterback Michael Penix Jr. throwing the ball on the Hoosiers's first five plays. They went 74 yards to score, with Penix going 7-for-9 on the drive for 65 yards.

Hair on fire.

And Sheridan never stopped dialing it up. Penix threw the ball 32 times in the first half for 254 yards and the Hoosiers scored four times in taking a 24-7 lead. He finished with a career-high 342 yards on 30-for-50 passing.

If there was one person who might have been happier for Sheridan, it was Penix. The two of them have known each other for five years now, dating back to Penix's early days in high school when they were recruit and recruiter.

Now they're QB and coordinator, and they have a great relationship. Just three games into the season, it's very clear that they are on the same page.

“That was just Coach Nick Sheridan making great calls,'' Penix said. "We were just reading the defense and he called what he felt was fitting, and it was working. So, we just continued to go with what was working.

"The offensive line was doing a great job, just gave me time to be able to make those plays, so Coach Sheridan it was just easy for him in the box to just rip those plays out, and just give them to us without any hesitation.”

There's no doubt the offensive line had its best game of the season, and it wasn't even close. Michigan likes to get after the passer, but Penix was never sacked. And when he was pressured, he hung in there and waited until the last second for receivers to get free.

And they did. Senior Whop Philyor had 11 catches, the sixth double-digit game of his career. Ty Fryfogle had seven catches 142 yards, a career high.

They were in synch from start to finish. A week of preparation showed them that Michigan could be attacked. This Indiana team was confident, and they played like.

“It just started earlier in the week with practice, building our confidence up with throwing the deep balls,'' Fryfogle said. "We knew we were going to have to throw the deep balls because they play man most of the game. You have to make plays against man. There is no other formula to it.”

And they did. Penix was pin-point accurate most of the day. He's had to slowly shake off some rust after not playing for nearly a year because of injury, but he was crisp on Saturday, and it's clear this passing game is getting better every week.

“Michael has been really great. We have been progressing each and every week and that is what is scary for us,'' Fryfogle said. "The passing and the offense is getting better each and every week.

“Overall, I am just happy for him and excited for the future. He is a great quarterback, and he is a great person on and off the field. I am really happy for him and the progression he has made coming off of an injury.''

Sheridan hit all the right buttons with the running game too, and the Hoosiers had their best day of the season on the ground. Stevie Scott had 24 carries for 97 yards and two touchdowns.

"We felt like we had to throw the football to set up the run game. That was the plan going into this thing, and it played itself out,'' Allen said. "We ran the ball well, and we ran the ball well when we had to, when we had to close the game out.

"I thought Nick and the whole offensive staff, just give them tremendous credit for the job they did this week against a very tough defense.

The players noticed it, too. Sheridan was awesome, from start to finish. And everyone bought in, from the skill guys to the entire offensive line, which played great.

“The offensive line, they did a great job today,'' Scott said. "All week, coach Sheridan was stressing to our linemen that they needed to straighten out and finish out their blocks. Sometimes the guys would get frustrated up front, but the coaches are only doing it to help us so we can translate it to a game. It paid off. They were great.''

Everyone was, really. This was a total team win, 33 years in the making.

A Michigan man beat Michigan on Saturday. Sheridan and Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh are both former Wolverines quarterbacks. Harbaugh had the far better playing career, but in their first meeting Saturday as coaches, Sheridan won this battle.

And it wasn't even close.

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