Bowl Game All About Making a Statement for Indiana's James Head Jr.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — You can say all you want about who they beat, but for Indiana's players, winning eight games this year has been an accomplishment they take a lot of pride in. They've shown that you can win at Indiana, and they want to win more.
Players like sophomore defensive end James Head Jr. have been saying all year that the goal was not to just GET to a bowl game. The goal was to get somewhere nice and WIN a bowl game.
That's the opportunity that presents itself in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on Jan. 2, 2020, when the 8-4 Hoosiers take on the 7-5 Tennessee Volunteers from the SEC. It's a high-profile January bowl game in Florida — Indiana's first-ever bowl game in Florida — and it's on television in prime-time on that Thursday night, with no competition from any other college or pro football game.
"It's one more opportunity to show out with my teammates with a whole lot of people watching,'' said Head, Indiana's best defensive end who played his high school ball in Florida at Miami Southridge. "It's especially nice with it being back in my home state in Florida.
"Getting another win would mean a lot to me, and mean a lot to the program.''
It would mean a whole lot to the program, because only two Indiana teams have ever won nine games, the 1945 and 1967 Big Ten championship. Expanded schedules certainly make a difference — the 1945 team, for instance, was 9-1 overall and the '67 team was 9-1 before losing to O.J. Simpson and USC in the Rose Bowl to finish 9-2.
Head is part of the Class of 2018 that started the recruiting turnaround for Indiana coach Tom Allen and his staff. They followed that up with another great recruiting class last year, and those two classes are the highest-rated recruiting groups in school history.
They spurred this turnaround, which has been a long time coming in Bloomington. The eight wins, for instance, are the most since 1993. That's a long time. Everyone on the IU roster was born AFTER that season. So changing the culture — and the won-loss record — means a lot, especially to Head and the 25 kids from Florida who have helped turn this Indiana program around.
Winning big and getting to a Florida bowl game is a big accomplishment. It means a lot to everyone, but it means a little bit more to the Florida kids, because their family and friends will get to see them play in person in the Gator Bowl, something that rarely happens during the course of the year.
"The family's getting a tour bus to come on up. There's going to be 30 or so people coming,'' Head said. "It's going to be great. It really makes me feel good to know that my whole family can come watch me play in the last game of the year. I'll get to spend Christmas with all my family, and then come up to Jacksonville to ball out for the game with all of them there.''
Indiana defensive end James Head Jr. brings down Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke during a Big Ten game in late September. (Mandatory credit: USA TODAY SPORTS)
For Head, a 6-foot-5, 260-pounder who just turned 20 two weeks ago, there's still a bit of unfinished business to this season. Indiana's defense has had a decent year, finishing 37th in the nation in total defense out of 130 teams. It was good, but not great. They strive to be a top-25 defense every year, but came up a little short.
They dropped a dozen spots in yards allowed during the final three games, back-to-back losses to No. 9 Penn State and No. 13 Michigan, and the thrilling 44-41 overtime win over Purdue.
The Indiana defense gave up 114 points in those three games — an average of 38 per game — and allowed 371 yards against Penn State, 453 against Michigan and a whopping 589 yards against a Purdue team that finished 4-8. That's an average of 471 yards per game, which is shocking considering the Hoosiers had been allowing only 309 yards per game prior to that three-game finish.
"We didn't have our best games, but our defense, we came up big at the end and made some plays against Purdue to help win that game,'' Head said. "Michigan and Penn State, too, we made some plays. We've just got to be better with playing great for 60 minutes.''
The quality of the opposition had something to do with that. Penn State and Michigan were both top-13 teams this year, with talented and experienced offensive lines. They stopped Indiana from getting pressure on the quarterbacks early, and when the Hoosiers were forced to send five or six guys in blitz packages, oftentimes the IU defensive backs got exposed.
So it's great to be back at work and having one last opportunity to erase some of those negative issues and play well in game No. 13.
"Their offensive lines played great in all three of those games, and it was hard (to get pressure),'' said Head, who had a strip sack and a forced fumble against Penn State. "It's more about executing better, and we've worked a lot on technique and things we can do better individually in this first three bowl practices.
"We'll get tuned in for Tennessee. We haven't started game-planning yet; we'll do that next week. But we'll be ready. We all want to go out with a win, that's for sure.''
Tennessee is 7-5, turning their season around on the back end by winning their last five games of the year. Tennessee is currently a 1.5-point favorite, but that doesn't mean anything to Head and the Hoosiers. They are going to Jacksonville to get a win.
"It's definitely a statement game against an SEC team. We're not just going there to play, we're going there to win.''
"It's critical (to get a win). We'll have fun, but we'll play the game the right way and come back with a win. We know everybody will be watching that night, so it's important to go out there and play our best game.''
Indiana defensive end James Head Jr,, a sophomore from Miami. (Courtesy IU Athletics)
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