My Two Cents: Indiana's Brutal Football Season is Over, So Does Exodus Begin?

Several decisions by Indiana football coach Tom Allen and his staff have backfired over the past two seasons, and now that a 4-8 disaster is over, how hard is it going to be to keep Indiana's best players in town? It's Allen's biggest challenge, for sure.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — There were tears in the eyes of players and parents alike when the two dozen Indiana seniors were introduced before the Hoosiers' final home game of the 2022 season Saturday against Purdue.

The 30-16 loss to their archrivals ended a very disappointing 4-8 season for the Hoosiers. And it was tough to say goodbye to this group, because many of them were the big reasons behind Indiana's turnaround in 2019 and 2020, where they went 14-5 combined in the regular season and had breakout wins against Penn State, Michigan, Wisconsin and others.

They're heading out the door now, with the bitter taste of two awful seasons that have followed. Last year, it was easy to blame the 2-10 clunker all on injuries, when the Hoosiers basically lost all of their quarterbacks and running backs, and then several players quit at the end.

This year, though? It was another disaster, one that included a seven-game losing streak that featured several blown leads. A stunning win late at Michigan State provided some hope, but more proof in the second half against Purdue proved that Indiana is a program in trouble.

Big trouble.

Those two dozen seniors — including some who have been here in Bloomington for five or six years — are out the door. And now the big question comes. How many more are leaving behind them? Now that it's easy to walk away from one program and transfer to another school without sitting out a year, the Hoosiers could have a mass exodus on its hands. The transfer portal is going to be a very busy place.

There is a lot of unhappiness inside the Indiana locker room right now, and it all started before this season even got going. Certainly, the records are dramatically different the past two years compared to the two years' prior.

Wins and losses have a lot to do with that internal anger, of course. The biggest difference, though, is the buy-in. Every player was all-in during 2019 and 2020, and that's certainly not the case now. They had mad love for their teammates and coaches, and that respect ran both ways. It's not that way right now.

There is plenty of blame to go around, of course, for this current disaster. Much like Tom Allen got a lot of credit for 2019-20, he deserves a lot of the blame now, too. 

Because, frankly, he's made a lot of mistakes.

Big losses to his coaching staff has caused problems for Indiana coach Tom Allen (USA TODAY Sports)

Losing former coordinators Kalen DeBoer and Kane Wommack to head coaching jobs really hurt, because it's blatantly obvious that both are great coaches who know how to run winning programs.

DeBoer left after the 2019 season where Indiana went 8-4 and had one of the best offenses in the Big Ten behind Michael Penix Jr and, later, Peyton Ramsey. He left to be the head coach at Fresno State, where he went 12-6 in two years, and now is 10-2 at Washington in the Pac-12, with the transfer Penix starting all 12 games at quarterback — and leading the nation in passing. He threw for 485 yards in Saturday night's win against Washington State.

DeBoer is a great coach, and had a ton to do with Indiana's success. So did defensive coordinator Wommack, who left in 2021 to become the head coach at South Alabama. He inherited a mess and was 5-7 his first year, but is 10-2 as well this year. More greatness.

Allen, to be frank, has done a poor job of replacing them. He's had to do it twice, with new coordinators on both sides of the ball this season, and his own hands all over the Indiana defense this season.

When DeBoer left, Allen simply promoted Nick Sheridan in that role and he did a good job during Indiana's 6-1 regular season in 2020. Last year was an offensive disaster, and Sheridan was the scapegoat, getting fired the day after the 3-9 season ended.

Sheridan, who hails from a football family, took full responsibility for Indiana's failures under his watch, but it was Allen who retained Darren Hiller as offensive line coach, not Sheridan. Indiana's epic failures on the offense line fall on Hiller, who was fired at midseason this year, about nine months too late. That delay? Well, that falls on Allen and his misguided loyalty.

Indiana's offensive line actually played much better this year after Rod Carey took over. Hiller should have been gone before Sheridan, and Tom Allen didn't get that done.

Allen hired Walt Bell to be the offensive coordinator this year, which was something of a surprise because his resume is littered with a lot of losses. Bell came in and changed things around, and he was attached at the hip to Connor Bazelak, the transfer from Missouri that Bell favored from the day he arrived.

That's turned out to be a huge mistake, which probably cost Indiana some games this year and might have a profound effect on the level of loyalty in the Hoosiers' locker room going forward.

Allen said all summer long that the quarterback who performs the best in the summer and fall would get the starting job when Jack Tuttle and Bazelak were battling. Several people have told me that Tuttle was the better QB, and Tuttle even told me last month when he announced that he was entering the transfer portal in 2023 that Allen told him he was ahead.

But Bell pushed hard to have Bazelak start, and Allen let that happen. Bell has been Bazelak's biggest defender, even through Saturday's final game. But we have learned with our own eyes that Bazelak is a wildly inaccurate thrower — no pun intended — and has no running ability. 

There were a lot of players upset that Tuttle didn't get that chance to start the season. They voted him a team captain despite not winning the job, that's how much they think of him. Bazelak did a few good things early — the fourth-quarter drive to beat Illinois in the opener was memorable — but when he started to struggle and the losses started to mount, there were a lot of people who were wondering why Bell and Allen were sticking with Bazelak.

Allen's decision to defer to Bell on this was a huge mistake. He fired Hiller and blamed the offense's problems on the offensive line, but once the linemen started to play better under Carey, Bazelak didn't. 

Giving Tuttle a chance to take over for the Nov. 5 Penn State game apparently wasn't Bell's idea. Tuttle started the game and was 9-for-12 passing for 82 yards, throwing most every pass under extreme duress, and making a few plays with his legs. He led the Hoosiers on an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive.

But the offensive line, which was brutal, couldn't protect him. He was sacked four times, and on the last one, when he was taken down hard by two Penn State defensive lineman, he was injured so bad in the upper body that he was knocked out for the season.

Indiana quarterback Dexter Williams went down with a knee injury early in Saturday's game with Purdue. (USA TODAY Sports)

Redshirt sophomore Dexter Williams, who missed all of last year with an ACL tear, finally got his chance, playing against Penn State after Tuttle went down and starting against Ohio State and Michigan State. He earned his first win as a starter against the Spartans in East Lansing.

He didn't throw much, but was a running threat and helped the entire running game get going. Bell, who liked playing at a frenetic pace with Bazelak, slowed it down for Williams and it made a huge difference in the Hoosiers' offensive production. They ran for 150 yards against Ohio State and 257 versus Michigan State. The six previous games? They never had a single 50-yard rusher.

It also makes you wonder about Bell playing at that fast pace, especially when it became very clear that Indiana's offensive linemen couldn't handle it. When they were fatigued, they couldn't block anyone.

Bell's decision to start Bazelak in September fractured Indiana's locker room, and didn't do much for the fan base either, to be honest. Bazelak missed a lot of open receivers all year, and got a pass on it early because of the offensive line struggles. But the line was better these past couple of weeks, and he missed several throws in the loss against Purdue. A lot of fans were questioning why he was even in the game, he was that bad. 

There are a lot of Indiana players who aren't happy about how all of this played out this season, and with it being so easy to transfer these days, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I asked Allen last Monday about the importance of recruiting his own players, and he gave a great — and very honest — answer. 

The most important recruiting week on the calendar is THIS WEEK, but he's got a lot of explaining — and convincing — to do with this team. It's no 9-to-5 work week this week for sure.

Tuttle is staying in the transfer portal, and despite his upper body injuries, he's hoping to find a new home in 2023. I think Indiana's fan base will be very disappointed if the Hoosiers started next season with Bazelak running the show. That just doesn't seem like a viable answer at all after all we've seen with our own eyes this year.

Dexter Williams getting hurt on Saturday changes everything, too. That looked very much like a serious knee injury against Purdue, and we know from Penix's attempt to come back too soon from a torn ACL last year that Williams will not be able to be counted on for the start of next season.

Williams seemed to provide some hope for the future at the QB position, because he is a dual threat and he has a big arm. He learned a lot from his playing time this year. I think Indiana fans would have been fine with building around him in 2023. 

Now, that's out of the question, more than likely. And if not Williams, then who? Bazelak is clearly not the answer, and there's no way to talk Tuttle into sticking around. There is no official word on Williams' injury yet, but it certainly didn't look good getting carted off and then going straight to the hospital.

There's a lot to like about both Williams and true freshman Brendan Sorsby. But let's be honest. Can we safely say that they won't transfer this offseason, too? Bell's allegiance to Bazelak might be a real problem in keeping them around.

That's where Tom Allen's very first conversations have to be made this week. They better be happening on Sunday. Williams, if he had any thoughts about transferring, might be out the window now if that injury is indeed serious. Sorsby, a Texas native, has some serious upside. There are a lot of Indiana players who rave about his arm and think he can win a lot of college games.

The question is going to be if that will be at Indiana? There is a lot of frustration over the failures of this team this year. We didn't even get to the defense yet — we will, soon — but the issues on offense are going to be closely watched.

This turned out to be a mess. Do we miss Kalen DeBoer? We sure do. Is Walt Bell really the answer? There are millions of dollars tied up with this coaching staff — from top to bottom — and there is serious concerns about whether they're capable of earning all those dollars. But it would be awfully expensive to make changes. Is it even a fixable situation?

The offseason, dare we say, is probably going to be even more interesting than the season itself.

Related stories on Indiana football

• GAME STORY:The 2022 Indiana football season came to an end on Saturday night in a 30-16 loss to the Purdue Boilermakers, who won the Big Ten West division and Old Oaken Bucket trophy with this victory. CLICK HERE
• DEXTER WILLIAMS II TAKEN TO HOSPITAL Indiana redshirt quarterback Dexter Williams II was carted off with a non-contact injury late in the first quarter of the Old Oaken Bucket game against Purdue. CLICK HERE
• WATCH JAYLIN LUCAS' 71-YARD TOUCHDOWN: Watch this replay of Indiana freshman running back Jaylin Lucas as he scores a 71-yard touchdown to put the Hoosiers up 7-3 in the first quarter over Purdue. CLICK HERE
• TAILGATE TALES Join Hoosiers Now reporter Haley Jordan at the Indiana tailgate fields to talk to both Hoosier and Purdue fans ahead of the Old Oaken Bucket rivalry game. CLICK HERE