Indiana football: What Tom Allen said on his radio show Wednesday night

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana is back to work this week, and so was head coach Tom Allen Wednesday night, when he did his radio show at the Holiday Inn with legend Don Fischer.

He had a lot to say about the bye week, this week's game with Rutgers and the loss to Michigan State two weeks ago prior to the bye,

"I was on the couch for hours, just watching football,'' Allen said of his day Saturday after a full few days of recruiting prior to that. "I ordered some pizza and just watched a lot of football. It was a nice day.''

Here's what he had to say about Michigan State, a tough 40-31 loss where the Hoosiers had a great chance to steal a win on the road:

"They had nine starters back from a top-five defense a year ago, and we did well against them. I was very proud of what we did offensively against them,'' Allen said. "They were a very talented football team, and we hung with them right till the end. It was 31-31 with 5 seconds to go. We didn't win it, but those are all fixable things. A lot of it is just a one-on-one, and you've got to make a play.''

Here's what Allen said on all the young guys he's been relying on, especially on defense:

"It's hard to watch the film, because you know you're that close, even with all those kids. We did good things on defense, but it was really just one play here and there at made the defense.''

On what Allen had to say about true freshman cornerback Tiawan Mullen:

"He's really become our top cover guy. When he was on (Darrell) Stewart, he shut him down and he's the No. 1 receiver in the Big Ten right now,'' Allen said. "We expected him to be that kind of player when we recruited him, and he's been proving it.''

On who stands out most in the weight room:

"We have an effort board and we keep track who wants to be great,'' Allen said. "If I had to pick one guy, I'd say that's Marcelino Ball. He's a workout freak.''

Wide receivers Whop Philyor and Donovan Hale, two Florida guys who are doing big things in Bloomington, were the player guests.

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