Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

The Hoosiers traveled up to Indianapolis to practice in Lucas Oil Stadium, the site of their season opening tilt against the Ball State Cardinals, on Thursday afternoon. “It's beautiful,” Indiana head coach Tom Allen said, “they've done a great job and it has a great feel to it. It's first class all the way. I didn't get a chance to coach in here at the high school level, they hadn't built it yet, but I've watched a few games here, but this will be my first time on the field here and it's awesome."

Playing in an unfamiliar venue comes with its own issues. Much like baseball stadiums, every football stadium is a little bit different. Lucas Oil Stadium has a retractible roof and the sight lines are different. Every time a team goes into a new stadium one of the first things coaches and player have to look for is where the play and game clocks are. Then there is the issue of catching the ball against a different background.

Tom Allen told reporters that “it's important. It really is from the perspective of walking in here, but it's the reality of catching punts, catching kicks and catching passes. The lighting is different. Being able to know what it is going to feel like, going to look like, being able to find the ball when you're tracking it, especially on special teams. Those are the things that really matter and just the familiarity helps, so it feels like the next game and not something new."

While the Indiana Hoosiers open the regular season at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Big Ten Championship closes it out. Tom Allen would like nothing more than get the program to the point where it can bookend the season with games in Indianapolis.

“The Big Ten Championship game is played here,” Allen said “so our season starts here and the regular season ends here. That's the goal, that's what we set and that's our objective. Just being able to get in this venue, it's a beautiful place. This is kind of my second home. I was born in New Castle. I spent nine years in Indianapolis and at Ben Davis, so this a special to me and it feels great to be home."

Indiana Athletic Director Fred Glass also chimed in on the importance of Indiana football playing games in Indianapolis, while also keeping all of their conference home games in Bloomington. “I love having Indiana Football up here (in Indianapolis), particularly when it's a Ball State home game. We want to keep as many of our home games in Bloomington to create a tradition of people coming down there for games. I asked Coach Allen how many times he would like to play in Lucas Oil Stadium in a season and his response was twice, a non-conference game and a conference championship."

The Hoosiers season opener is scheduled for August 31st at noon inside Lucas Oil Stadium.

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