A Breakthrough of Sorts Is Happening Now for IUFB

Written by: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)

When Tom Allen took over the Indiana Hoosiers in 2016, he promised a breakthrough. He vowed winning seasons, postseason victories, even Big Ten championships. He assured Hoosier Nation that those moral victories that the Indiana football program had grown so accustomed to would turn into actual victories.

Then came two 5-7 seasons. Both ended in heartbreaking fashion with losses to Purdue in the season’s final game, while the Bucket and postseason eligibility went to the Boilermakers. Purdue’s “only the strong breakthrough” motto seemingly mocked Indiana’s stumbles along the way.

Even in 2019, with Indiana securing its first season with five wins in the conference and eight wins overall since 1993, there has been doubt. Those eight wins came against opponents with a record of just 24-60 and that vaunted victory over a top-tier Big Ten opponent had to wait for another year.

Certainly, many of the to-do list items on the breakthrough checklist remain.

Or, dare I ask, do they?

Last week did not culminate in an Indiana victory in the Big Ten Championship, no. The Hoosiers did not even play a game Saturday. But immediately following a Bucket-securing eighth victory in West Lafayette two weeks ago, Tom Allen and the Indiana football program had a breakthrough week – of sorts.

Last week, Tom Allen was able to sit down with Athletic Director Fred Glass in Memorial Stadium – a now, completely enclosed and equipped with premium training, nutrition, and academic support Memorial Stadium, I must add – and sign a seven-year contract that more than doubled his current salary.

Investment in football? Check.

Later in the week, Indiana added five members to its 2020 recruiting class. A recruiting class that, for the third year in a row, has the makings of being one of the program’s best in history.

The weekend’s additions included: a graduate transfer offensive lineman from Stanford, a running back that had previously committed to Michigan and also held offers from South Carolina and West Virginia, an athletic 6’5” tight end from Ohio with a Michigan State offer, a speedy defensive back from Texas, and the all-time leader in rush yards in the state of Indiana.

The state’s leader in rush yards? Oh yeah, he’ll be joining the program as a walk-on.

Going toe-to-toe with some of the nation’s best programs to bring in a different breed of recruit? Check.

Meanwhile, amid some confusion with the SEC’s bowl placements, Indiana was selected to play in this year’s TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on January 2nd, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. This will be the program’s first ever appearance in a bowl game in the state of Florida, a state they have recruited better than any other in the past few years.

Their opponent will be one of college football’s premier brands, the Tennessee Volunteers. Though they have slipped a bit from the nation’s best teams, the power of their brand and fan loyalty remains. Indiana will be playing one of college football’s blue-bloods in the sixth-oldest college bowl game, the first bowl to ever be televised nationally.

Earning the right to play in elite bowl games against the nation’s best? Check.

So yes, the breakthrough that was originally advertised may still require some work. But I’d struggle to say there has been no breakthrough.

You must crawl before you walk.

You must have a breakthrough of sorts, before you breakthrough.

And Indiana football is in the midst of a breakthrough – of sorts.