My Two Cents: Indiana Keeps Proving Doubters Wrong, Week After Week

7 Dec 2020

Sports Illustrated

My Two Cents Indiana Keeps Proving Doubters Wrong Week After Week

Following their "Earmuffs and Blinders'' mantra, Indiana didn't listen to all the pre-game noise that they were two-touchdown underdogs to mighty Wisconsin. They went out and kicked their butt anyway, just like they've been doing all year in this generati

MADISON, Wis. — When you play out Indiana's football season on computers or in the heads of learned oddsmakers, the Hoosiers should be 3-4 right now. The experts and the eye tests made Indiana an underdog in four games already in 2020.

But, thankfully, college football games aren't played by computer nerds or degenerate gamblers. Nope, in 2020, games are played inside TV sets, and for Indiana, that's a good thing.

It's a good thing because Tom Allen's team just keeps proving the doubters wrong one Saturday after another. This weekend was supposed to follow the storyline that the Hoosiers couldn't handle Wisconsin's physicality, and that new Indiana quarterback Jack Tuttle would struggle on a big stage in his first opening act.

And the experts, including me, were wrong. Very wrong. Indiana's defense was sensational and Tuttle did enough to give No. 12 Indiana a thrilling 14-6 victory over No. 16 Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium, throwing two touchdown passes in the win.

Indiana has had plenty of big victories this season, but this one was the biggest. I've told you often enough that I thought Indiana had surpassed Penn State and Michigan in talent, and it didn't surprise me that they beat them both as underdogs.

But against Wisconsin, a team that had beaten Indiana 10 times in a row by an average score of 51-15, it sure looked like the deck was stacked against them. The last time they played at Wisconsin, they lost 51-3 in 2013. The two previous trips were 59-7 and 83-20 beatdowns in this House of Horrors.

But on Saturday, it didn't matter. Not one bit. It's not up to me to tell you or the rest of the country just how good this Indiana team is. And why?

Because the Hoosiers told the nation themselves. Again. That's a team, a damn good team, and Tom Allen's players proved that once again, even with a backup quarterback who had never once started a college game.

"They just do not blink, and that's why I am so proud of them,'' Allen said. "This season, it hasn't been easy. Today was a tough, hard-fought win against a very good football team on the road. We haven't beaten Wisconsin in Madison in 19 years. So, we just keep checking off historical wins and opportunities for this program.

"Really, when you think about a football team, and we talked about it just in the locker room, I just kept saying that word over and over again, and that's what this is. A team. This is a really good football team."

One of Allen's coaching staples is to have one word to focus on, for a season or for a week. His word for the season was "Relentless'' and wow, have the Hoosiers followed that mantra this season.

The word of the week this time was "Prove." They knew they still had to silence the doubters, and they had to go out and prove it. And they did, in impressive fashion. They also block out all that outside noise, following Allen's "Earmuffs and Blinders'' lectures.

It worked. The Hoosiers are 6-1 now and this needs to be shouted from the rooftops. They are the ONLY team in the Big Ten with six wins during this conference-only schedule. And their only loss was by one score to No. 4-ranked Ohio State.

They just keep impressing, week after week.

"Even though we fell short at Ohio State, the grit, the toughness and the fight that this team showed on the road down 35-7 and ending up losing by a touchdown in that game, I think was another growth opportunity and another growth step in this program,'' Allen said. "I am not into those (moral victories), just because we are close, but I understood what that showed about this team.

"That's why I said what I said when the game was over. Moral victories are not cheered, and I get all of that. That's not what that was, but it was a growth time for our football team, and that's why I emphasized that, and it showed up today. To be able to go on the road again against a top program that perennially has been the best of the (Big Ten) West for a long time is what this is about. So, I'm just really proud of the growth that you are seeing from this football team and we have just got to keep working hard, just keep getting better, because this season has got a lot left."

It sure does. The first seven weeks have been generationally great, but there is still much more to accomplish. It starts next Saturday with Tuttle leading the way in the Old Oaken Bucket game in Bloomington against Purdue.

Some years, this is the only game that matters all season. That's not the case in 2020, but it's still Purdue, it's still the Bucket and it's still a chance to go 7-1 in the Big Ten, which has never been done before.

Let me repeat that. Going 7-1 in the Big Ten is something that Indiana has NEVER done before.

And after that, who knows? It's very possible that Indiana will finish the Big Ten regular season 7-1, and because Michigan won't want to play Ohio State next week, the Buckeyes could possibly finish 5-0.

The Big Ten made a rule at the beginning of this truncated season that you had to play six games to qualify for the Big Ten Championship Game on Dec. 19 in Indianapolis. If Ohio State only plays five, then Indiana, with its seven wins, should go.

The Big Ten might pull a fast one and change the rules to benefit Ohio State, but that's a story for another day — maybe later today. In any case, Indiana will get a ninth game in the Big Ten's crossover plans, probably against Iowa. That will be another proving ground, followed by what should a grand-stage New Year's Day bowl game.

High times for a program on the rise. Just like Tom Allen said it would.

"Everybody in the organization respects Coach Allen, how he leads in his actions, and how he is just in sight of God,'' Indiana sophomore cornerback Tiawan Mullen said. "He doesn't get the credit he deserves, but from the players, he gets the credit he deserves.

"When no one is giving him credit, we give him credit because we see what goes on inside the building. Everybody else outside the building doesn't see what's really going on. As we continue to win games this year, they see who the Hoosiers are and who the leader is of the Indiana program. That's why everybody did that joyfully, (celebrating with Allen at the end of the game)."

The Hoosiers aren't done yet either, and they want everyone to know it.

"We just need to keep winning,'' Mullen said about getting the national attention they deserve. "Everybody in this program knows what we've got going on. Like we said, we are trying to prove people wrong and trying to prove people right. Either way, everyone has an effect in this program, and everyone can see what Indiana is all about."

We sure can. What we see now is that the Indiana Hoosiers are one of the best teams in the country.

Imagine that.