Ramsey Looking Forward to One Last Ride With DeBoer

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana's offense under Kalen DeBoer has made great strides this season, and no one has benefited more than quarterback Peyton Ramsey. His quality play has been a big reason why the Hoosiers are 8-4 and looking for a ninth win in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.

The pair gets one last ride together in next Thursday's bowl game. Immediately after the game, DeBoer will jet west to Fresno, Calif., to take over as the head coach at Fresno State. But first, there's work to be done in outscoring Tennessee in a primetime game in Jacksonville, Fla.

"Coach DeBoer has been monumental in my development as a player and a person,'' Ramsey said. "To be able to have another game with him means the world. It's awesome. It says a lot about him that he was willing to come back and want to be a part of this one.''

He's right about that. It would have been easy for DeBoer just to say goodbye and start his dream job as a major-college head coach. But this has been a dream job, too, and he feels the need to see this magical Indiana through to the finish.

It means that much to him.

"This team, these players, it's a special group,'' DeBoer said last week. "To be able to help them get that ninth win is important to me, and I'm glad to see it to the finish.''

The Hoosiers will wrap up the Bloomington portion of their bowl preparation on Tuesday, and then players and coaches will all disperse for Christmas for a few days before getting back together in Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl, Indiana;s first-ever Florida bowl game.

Ramsey said these bonus practices have been great for all involved, especially the young guys that can get in extra work.

"I think we've had a good week or so, two weeks of developmental work and just staying sharp,'' said Ramsey, who threw for 2,227 yards and 13 touchdowns after taking over for Michael Penix Jr. on several occasions this season. "Not necessarily game plan for Tennessee, we just hopped into it (Sunday). Guys are staying sharp, younger guys are getting reps and continuing just having fun out there and being with the guys another month."

These past two weeks have been a lot about looking inward and getting better individually. Techniques have been preached, but there's been plenty of energy too, which is a nice bonus in late December. The past two years, Indiana wasn't bowl eligible, so they didn't get all this extra work.

"I think it's a learning process for sure, kind of going all the way back to spring ball practice,'' Ramsey said. "You're not necessarily preparing for anything, but you're just going out and trying to get better. That can be hard at times and I think the guys were getting used to that whole process of going out and playing football just to get better.

"It's been good for them to learn, I think, as they will have to go through spring ball and that whole process. I think it's been good for those younger guys to develop in that way."

December has been all about putting a big exclamation point on this season, where the Hoosiers have won eight games for the first time in 26 years. They are a young team on the rise, so that means finishing this season off with a victory over Tennessee, a team with a fine SEC pedigree.

"We've had some good practices here,'' Indiana coach Tom Allen said. "We are now into focused work on Tennessee. This was a really good practice (Monday). Our guys were really locked in. Final exams are over with and here a couple days before Christmas, it was a chance to kind of lock in and get a lot of good work in.

"We'll wrap up (Tuesday), a good go in the morning. That's my expectation and then we will get our guys home for Christmas.''

Allen is thrilled that DeBoer will be part of this final game.

"That is something we have been working toward and hoping to have done. Both sides have worked together to make that a possibility,'' Allen said. "We really appreciate that. He wants to finish well here and finish what we started.

"We are excited for that. I know that our players are as well."