Indiana Football 'Beyond Excited' to be Back
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The noise in Bloomington has been fairly quiet since the Big Ten postponed all fall sports in early August.
But based on a few tweets from Whop Philyor saying he misses football and some Zoom calls with head coach Tom Allen, it was evident the Hoosiers wanted to play this fall.
While other schools in the Big Ten tried protests, lawsuits or petitions, Indiana waited idly by as rumblings emerged from the surface that the Big Ten could see a return in October.
Now, the Hoosiers can rejoice as the Big Ten officially announced it will be returning to play Oct. 23-24.
"We are beyond excited to get back on the football field," Allen said in a statement Wednesday. "Our players have kept their focus and attacked workouts waiting for this day."
Jovian Swann tweeted "Live Right, Be Smart, Play Hard. Let’s Get Back To It!"
Michael Penix's mom, Takisha, tweeted "What a beautiful birthday gift to me."
Indiana football tweeted out a video of its players saying "We're back."
“From the outset, we have relied on and followed the guidance of our expert medical professionals in determining when it was safe to resume football competitions," Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson said in a statement Wednesday. "I am very confident in their recommendations, and appreciate their dedication to keeping our students, coaches, fans and communities safe.
"I also want to thank President McRobbie, who has provided tremendous leadership and has been a great support throughout this process. Finally, I am thrilled for Coach Allen and our student-athletes, who have shown tremendous resiliency and focus. This is an exciting day.”
Ever since the season was postponed, the Hoosiers have been working out 12 hours a week, split between Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
They've been spending most of their time in the weight room with Aaron Wellman, working on speed, agility and strength.
"I also want to thank Aaron Wellman and his staff for keeping our team sharp and our coaching staff for all their tireless work," Allen said.
The schedule has not yet been released, but Indiana's season-opener in both the original schedule and modified 10-game conference schedule was supposed to be at Wisconsin.
The other nine conference opponents Indiana was supposed to play before the season was postponed were Penn State, Illinois, Ohio State, Minnesota, Michigan, Maryland, Rutgers, Michigan State and Purdue.
Minnesota was the only team Indiana wasn't planning to play in their original 12-game schedule with nonconference opponents.
The Big Ten now is expected to have an nine-week season with nine games, and the ninth game is going to be championship weekend, where each team on the Big Ten East will compete against its equal in the Big Ten West. So, No. 1 in the east will play No. 1 in the west, No. 2 will play No. 2, and so on.
There's a little over a month until the Big Ten is expected to start its season, but whether it was Allen or Wellman speaking on the team's preparation during this uncertain time, they both said the team will be ready whenever the Big Ten decides to resume play.
"Thank you to President (Michael) McRobbie, Scott Dolson and our medical staff for their relentless efforts to make it safe for all of us to return," Allen said.
"We look forward to the 2020 football season!"
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