Allen and Bell Have Seen a Different O-Line Heading into Week One

Written by: Zachary Greene 

There is no question that the IU Football Program has struggled at the offense line the past two seasons especially against the Buckeyes. Things seem and hope to be changing according to head coach Tom Allen and Offensive Coordinator Walt Bell. 

“I feel like we've made progress. I guess we'll know for sure on Saturday. Obviously it's a tremendous test. I've been here, this is going on my eighth season overall. Running the football against these guys has never been easy.” Said Allen during yesterday’s press conference. 

Allen specifically mentioned the Hoosiers' struggles running the ball against against Ohio State the past couple seasons. Overall the Hoosiers have averaged 3.4 yards per carry in 2022 and 3.3 yards per carry in 2021. Thus last season, the Hoosiers fired their former Offensive Coordinator Darren Hiller mid-season.

Yesterday, Offensive Coordniator Walt Bell went into depth about how he felt the Offensive line wasn’t working as hard as they should in the past couple seasons.

“The first thing with Coach Bostad and by no means is this an attack on Daren Hiller, he’s a great man” Bell said, “but the amount of repetitions the amount of time on task, how many reps they get on an individual basis. When they are out their they are working. We are starting to see technical proficiency. From a marking stand point your starting to see guys understand what we are trying to get done. We have seven or eight guys that have played a lot of football. We have an experienced group but to me is your starting to see technical proficiency. Your starting to see a little bit of an edge which is earned. They earn it in practice. There isn’t a position group on our team that devotes more time than the offensive line.”

It can’t get much worse at the position than the past two seasons. If what Bell says is right, the Hoosiers should see drastic improvement at the offense line position. Bell has always emphasized getting into third and short situations. With two young quarterbacks, putting themselves in a third and manageable could make all the difference. 

Lastly, Allen also specifically stated said that he’s seen improved from the offesnvie line which goes hand-in-hand with the bolstered defensive line unit.

“I do feel like our O-line has improved, but at the same time, they've got to show it on game day. It's got to be a consistent thing we see each and every week. But I know the work they put in. I know the work our coaching staff has put in. As we know, it's a huge part of the game just being able to run the football, protect the quarterback, and do a great job of playing great defensive football up front.” Bell explained.

Time will tell to see if things change from the offensive line but judging from the comments the offensive line should be much better than it’s rough past.