My Two Cents: Lower Expectations? That’s Not Happening With Indiana’s Tom Allen
BLOOMINGTON, Ind — Success might breed success, but it also raises the bar so high that oftentimes disappointment is inevitable. That's certainly the case for Indiana's football team as it flips the calendar into October with a modest and disheartening 2-2 record
This season started with so much hype, so much excitement. Thanks to last year's 6-1 run through the Big Ten regular season, even more greatness was expected in 2021. There was the first preseason national ranking in 52 years, and signs all over Indiana's football facility that asked a simple question:
"What have you done today to win the Big Ten?''
But two early losses — even against highly ranked teams — has alleged fans jumping off the bandwagon in droves. Indiana has a third top-10 opponent and Penn State on Saturday night, and two more ranked teams waiting after their bye week, Michigan State and Ohio State.
On some sites, Indiana has the toughest schedule in the country. And those negative nellies who jumped ship wonder if Indiana will even win another game.
That's foolish, of course, but talk of winning a conference title seems a bit hollow right now.
Maybe we were wrong in the preseason.
Maybe we should lower our expectations for this team.
Maybe.
Or maybe not. Even after witnessing his team play underachieving football for a month, he's not changing his expectations one bit.
"I don't believe so,'' Allen said when asked about lowering his goals. "We've talked as a team that everything we want to accomplish and that everything this team has set out to do is still right in front of us.
"We now begin an eight-game Big Ten slate. As you see, as you look across this conference, every single week it's going to be a dogfight. The margin for error is very small for everybody. It's the team that can execute the best each and every week, find ways to protect the football, play great on special teams, do a good job of winning that game. Just take them one at a time.''
Nothing changes, he said. Not in approach, not in attitude and not even in confidence.
"There's no different focus than from the beginning,'' Allen said. "There's no question that I think we've had to work through handling all those different expectations, and what does that feel like in the season? It's one thing in the offseason, but it's different during the season. I think guys have continued to work through all that.
"To me the goals have been set. The vision has been set. Our guys are chasing after being our very, very best. We talk about chasing greatness. That's our one word for 2021, it was picked for a reason. I think that the process has helped each of our guys just focus on being your best. Every time you practice, every time you take the field, try to learn to just live in that moment and be in that moment.''
The message remains the same, it's just that sometimes in needs to be delivered differently. When starts Michael Penix Jr and Tr Fryfogle struggled out of the gate, there wasn't any yelling. The message was clear; just go out and play. They did that last Saturday in the win at Western Kentucky.
"The meesage, like I said, I think those things have been emphasized in different ways. There are different ways of presenting it. At the end of the day, you have to learn how to play with those (expectations) in front of you, but you also have to be able to really block it out, so to speak. That's easy to say, and hard to do.
"I think this team has a tremendous amount of character and a lot of players that believe in themselves and believe in each other. It's about coming together and putting all your energy into this one week. You just block each week off and you focus on that. That's all you do. Everything is about being our best at 7:30 on Saturday night at Penn State. That's the whole focus.''
Living in the moment becomes critical.
"When you get in that moment, it's every single snap, every single series, every single quarter, every single half, then you focus to finish the game,'' Allen said. "That's where this team is. I know our guys are very excited about continuing to focus on getting better as a football team.''
It's foolish to bale on this team because there are still so many opportunities to do something special. They play in the toughest division in college football — yes, top to bottom, it's ever-so-slightly better than the SEC West — are there a some great challenges that lie ahead.
Playing at night at Happy Valley is an absolute challenge. It's OK.
What people tend to forget is that there was a legitimate reason why they were ranked No. 17 to start the season. There's a lot of talent on this team, and Penix proved last weekend that he's getting more and more comfortable every week.
The glass half-full theory forced this reminder, too: What if they were 3-1 right now, with a win over then No. 8 Cincinnati. Indiana played well enough to win that day, fumbling at the 2-yard line midway through the fourth quarter as they were getting ready to take the lead.
Sure, they stunk in the opener at Iowa, but they dominated a very good Cincinnati team for long stretches of that game. They could have won, should have won.
The negativity is real, but it can go away, too.
"We have to prove it; it really doesn't matter what we say,'' Indiana offensive coordinator said of his group performing better at Penn State. "In the first game, we didn't do anything well enough. But I thought in the game against Cincinnati, we did a lot of things well, we just had some errors that cost us. I have no objection or argument about that (criticism of his offense), and I take full ownership and responsibility for that.
"I'm looking forward to the opportunity to getting back on the grass on Saturday night against our third top-10 team in the first five games. It's a tremendous challenge and we've got to do our part. There's no doubt about that.'
VIDEO: Nick Sheridan on Indiana's offensive struggles
To a man, the players aren't about to abandon this season either, not the way so many fans already have. That question — should expectations be lowered of this team — was the last one asked of Indiana linebacker Micah McFadden and Cam Jones during the Mike & Micah podcast.
They were very clear that a nonconference loss and a Big Ten West loss isn't going to define their season.
Not now.
Not ever.
"Our two losses, as a team and personally it hurts, and we would never want lose a game,'' McFadden said. "But Coach (Allen) made it very clear that all of our goals and aspirations are still very much in front of us for the rest of the year.
"We have a lot of big Big Ten games that are going to be coming up here, and it's on each and every individual player to lock in make sure they're doing there part to get themselves and the guys next to them ready for this stretch that's ahead of us.''
Cam Jones still believes, too. That's never wavered.
"I believe in my team and what we can do,'' he said. "I can't wait to watch my guys attack every day. I can't wait to see what we do.''
VIDEO: McFadden, Jones won't lower expectations either
Related stories on Indiana football
- OPPOSING SIDELINE: Penn State is off to a 4-0 start so far, and has moved all the way up to No. 4 in the country. They've beaten two ranked teams along the way, Wisconsin and Auburn. Here's the inside scoop with five questions of our Penn State publisher. CLICK HERE
- MATTHEWS TEARS ACL: Standout wide receiver and return man D.J. Matthews tore the ACL in his left knee while fielding a punt last week at Western Kentucky, and will be lost for the season. CLICK HERE
- POINT SPREAD: Indiana is a big underdog in its game with Penn State on Saturday night in Happy Valley. Here's the latest. CLICK HERE
- REPORT CARD: Here are the grades for Indiana after its 33-31 win over Western Kentucky last weekend. CLICK HERE
- REDEMPTION SATURDAY: Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and wide receiver Ty Fryfogle are best of friends, but even though they've both been struggling, their confidence in each other hasn't wavered. Both had huge games on Saturday, a bit of redemption for both. CLICK HERE
- INDIANA TOPS WESTERN KENTUCKY: Indiana rolls up 507 yards of total offense and Michael Penix Jr. and Charles Campbell have record nights in the Hoosiers' 33-31 win over Western Kentucky. CLICK HERE
