My Two Cents: Still Plenty of Concerns to Keep Tom Allen Up At Night

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Even a pandemic-infused year won't change the one true constant in college football. Tom Allen knows that all too well. And as his Indiana football team creeps closer to finally starting its season a week from Saturday, he knows one thing for sure.

There's going to be a lot of sleepless nights between now and then, worrying and wondering if his football team will be ready for No. 9-ranked Penn State on Oct. 24.

"It's always the same with the Game 1 nerves that you have because we have not played a game since the bowl game,'' Allen said. "The whole execution piece, the tackling piece, it makes you nervous going against somebody else, especially to someone of Penn State's caliber.''

There is no warm-up, no ramp-up, no preseason game or scrimmage against an opponent in college football. You practice among yourself, and hope it's good enough. And this year, which has started and stopped so many times, just adds to the fear of the unknown.

Allen, who's a bit high-strung anyway, will definitely be tossing and turning a lot the next 10 nights. Any opener is problematic, but this is Penn State, a team loaded with talent. It's a lot to lose sleep over.

"They are going to have some of the best running backs in the country, some of the best receivers, tight ends and skill guys,'' Allen said. "And then defensively, they've got some of the best pass rushers in the country, great athletes in the secondary and a very active linebacker corps.

"They have elite specialists that have great legs. Covering kicks, you don't really do those live. That is always a big one for me. They always have had great returners. Those are the kind of things that make me not sleep at night and be pretty restless.''

Indiana hasn't played a football game in more than nine months, dating back to the Jan. 2 Gator Bowl that ended its season. Spring football got shut down after four days, the first fall camp got shut down after four days and then, after the Big Ten decided to play football in the fall after all, it's been a mad dash to get ready.

Throw in three new assistant coaches, three more in new roles, and a new strength and conditioning staff, and it's prep on the fly.

"Jason Jones and I talk about it all the time,'' new Indiana tight ends coach Kevin Wright said, referring to new safeties coach Jason Jones. " I think two different times we got to four practices. We got to four practices in spring and we got to four practices in the fall before we had to shut it down. We did not know what happened here after practice four.

"It's been a little bit different than your normal learning curve. Usually we would go through the whole install in the spring and then come right back in the fall and go through your whole install. It has just been a little bit more chopped up. I think that from my standpoint, it has been really good for me getting to know the players, getting to know the coaches and getting to know the system. We have had probably one of the longest fall camps on record. I am excited really to get to the point where we start game-planning and start paring down a little bit.''

Indiana won eight games a year ago for the first time in 26 years and it has 16 starters back. They are unranked — for now — but enter the year with high expectations. There is plenty of experience, especially at the most important positions, and those big dreams are at least reasonable.

But there is no easing into this eight-game schedule, with everyone playing all conference games. The first two home games are against No. 9 Penn State and No. 19 Michigan, with a road trip to Rutgers in between.

We all know that history. Indiana is 1-22 all-time against the Nittany Lions and have lost 24 games in a row to Michigan. Now is the perfect time to change that.'

But are they ready?

Allen likes to think they are, but you never really know for sure.

"We are one of the few sports that does not have a preseason game,'' Allen said. "That nervousness, it has been growing as kickoff gets closer, and that's not that unusual because of what we are dealing with in this first game.

"But then I think they are heightened this year because of the amount of time that we have been apart and not being able to do game-like things full bore as much as you would like before you play a team like Penn State.''

Allen isn't too concerned about how healthy his team is. He's been very impressed with how well his players have stayed in shape through these various phases of the pandemic. And the transition in the weight room from David Ballou to Aaron Wellman has been seamless.

Physically, they are ready to go. And with nine games in nine weeks — everyone gets one extra game during Championship Week — that's a good thing.

"I know it was an interrupted preparation, but we had eight full weeks of a winter workout that we got completed before spring ball started, and then tried to do everything we could to not get a drop off during the pandemic,'' Allen said. "Now that we've had this chance (to resume the season), we have actually lifted three days a week, this entire time.

"This is the first week that we're going to go back to two lifts and more of a game-week schedule. It has been an emphasis. We felt like we had to get more physical at those (offensive line and defensive line) positions, the point of attack. We knew what we had coming in. Nine-straight Big Ten games without a bye and all the opponents are going to be within conference. I am hoping that what we are seeing is legit and it shows up on game day.''

Indiana has scrimmaged the past two Saturdays, and has done its fair share of full-go drills during the week as well.

Who's been winning? Allen said he would probably give the offense a slight edge during the last scrimmage, but he also quickly noted that the defense has been doing some good things, too.

"The defense overall probably had some advantages where they would have won some of those situations, but when I say that, there was definitely back and forth,'' Allen said. "For instance, the offense drove down the field and the defense held them to a field goal, to me that's a win for the defense. In today's game, if you force a field goal, that is a win.

"I felt like it was pretty balanced. From an objective perspective, I did not like that we missed some tackles on defense. I thought we jumped offsides too many times on defense, but we did not have any illegal procedures on offense, so I would give the edge to the offense for the overall scrimmage, but it was definitely back and forth.''

From a coach's standpoint, a draw is often a good thing in a scrimmage. That seems to be the case with the Hoosiers right now, too.

Are they ready? We'll see in 11 days. Until then, grab some sleep whenever you can.

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