I don't necessarily think we look tired.  But Penn State sure looked fired up.

And it wasn't limited to the players.  The stadium was maybe 75-80% full at kickoff.  It took til around halftime to finally fill out.  For the first 2 1/2 quarters, it was as loud as maybe an average Illinois crowd, or an IU crowd in the before times.

But those players are talented.  And those fans aren't fresh off the boat.  When it got down to nut cuttin time and they felt the chance to win a big game, they were all in.  The players went out to win the game & the fans made the place shake.

And, to your original question, at that point our players had taken some pretty stiff body blows and were shook up.  So, while I don't think they were physically "tired," they definitely didn't have the fire they otherwise would want to have.

Penn State played the 4th quarter like they were on a 5-game losing streak and well on their way to a 6th straight game.  They were playing loose, aggressive and just flying around.  IU had to make plays on that final drive.  Almost all of those catches were contested and most were 50/50 balls where IU was making the play with ALL the pressure on their backs.  The skill and talent they showed to overcome what they were facing was why you see IU dominate teams.

I think it was more Penn St was at home for big noon kick off against the #2 team in the country.  How do you not get jacked up for that no matter what has come before that.  

that said I do think we have some injuries and that has shown.  The week of rest before Purdue will do them all some good.  

Yeah, Penn State looked like a malnourished lion that saw fresh meat for the first time in weeks. I was particularly focused on #33 Dani Dennis-Sutton. That guy was locked in and you could tell by his body language he could taste blood. That’s when I was worried. They had all the momentum and were playing on pure adrenaline. 

Our depth is certainly being challenged, so hopefully we get past Wisconsin with both a W and no new injuries. Then that BYE week afterwards should be super-helpful. Then Purdue, then some more time off before the playoffs.

My nightmare scenario is analogous to (in hoops) when Scott May broke his arm vs. Purdue at the end of the 1975 season (I am OLD). Or Alan Henderson's knee in a late season practice in the early 90s. If that happened to Mendoza we would be screwed.

@hoosiers94 what gives with a bye week before the final game? With the injuries we've had, we could have really used it the last couple of weeks. A bye before the last game seems penalizing to that team. Seems to me, byes should be done at the latest, before the 2nd to last game to give a fair window for a rehabbed player to be back in the lineup. In our case, it might help us get healthy for the B10 championship, but that only impacts 2 teams.

I think everyone's forgotten by this point that we lost 1 of our top 2 backs after like the 2nd week. Then Sarratt, Fisher and Evans. Been bitten a bit more by the injury bug this year. Wasn't our kickoff kicker also injured for a game?

@shooter You need to delete that and never even THINK those words. I am throwing salt over my shoulder, spitting and everything else one does to break a jinx. Words like that must NEVER be spoken!

I think the team is definitely tired, and we all know they are banged up

Someone in the B1G office screwed us with this schedule. Note how we are one of the few teams who has played 10 games to this point in the season - why is our 2nd bye week as late as possible? And if they are going to do that to us, maybe dont have us out on the road for 2 months

This team has had to travel a LOT. We have only had 2 home games in the past 7 weeks. 

@shooter I checked yesterday, but I believe the B10 championship is the week after Purdue, so no break. Then I think 1 week break before the first round of playoffs, so a 2nd week off if we get a bye.

@hoosierdaddy Yeah, I just made a post about this, but a bye before your very last game seems stupid. I don't ever remember that being the case. Have we just not had that, or was that added with the most recent round of expansion? Seems like byes should be finished with 2-3 games left to allow it to have an impact and be fair to everyone.

@kkott This is why the SEC loves to schedule that November FCS game. They usually get a bye thrown in there too, gives them plenty of rest before rivalry week and post-season games. 

I would guess it probably has to do with expansion. We arent the only team who has played 10 already, but its just bogus they gave us the late bye + the amount of travel

@yothn I wish IU would play loose, agressive and fly around in these big games.  Oregon, we did.  Saturday, no.  At Iowa, no. OSU, no.  ND, no. We have a tendency to get tight in these games.  I know that the talent level of the opponents changes things, but it seems like we let our opponents dictate the flow and playcalling too much.

Posted by: @hoosierdaddy

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I think the team is definitely tired, and we all know they are banged up

Someone in the B1G office screwed us with this schedule. Note how we are one of the few teams who has played 10 games to this point in the season - why is our 2nd bye week as late as possible? And if they are going to do that to us, maybe dont have us out on the road for 2 months

This team has had to travel a LOT. We have only had 2 home games in the past 7 weeks. 

IU has had about as good of a schedule as possible for the past 2 years.

Take a gander at Wiscon's schedule this year.  It's as if they sold their soul in exchange for 30 years of good football and basketball starting around 1994.

So IU has a bye week because they play Purdue on a Friday night. This was IU’s 5th game in a row and 2nd week on the road. So yeah, they’re beat up.

This IU team doesn’t jump around like the CTA teams do, so I don’t know why that’s a criteria for fatigue.

The BTCFG is December 6th and the first round of the Playoff is 12/19-12/20 so that’s two weeks off. I think IU gets a bye no matter what so that’s two weeks means they’d have nearly a month off.