Hoosiers Prepare for A New Look Idaho Team

Written by Matt Smith

The Indiana Hoosiers are coming off one of their biggest wins under head coach Tom Allen. Following a season with zero power 5 wins, the Hoosiers came into their first game against Illinois and won in a late drive led by transfer Connor Bazelak.

The Hoosiers will now turn their sights to Idaho, a team that they won convincingly against during their second game last season. However, Allen doesn’t want the Hoosiers to live in the past, as the Vandals have an entire new scheme this season.

“You got a new scheme, you know on all three phases. And not a lot of film to really evaluate. There's no question you go back and evaluate,” Allen said during his Thursday press conference.

The Vandals have a new coach this year coming over from South Dakota State, Jason Eck. Allen said that SDSU is one of the top programs in the FCS. Allen also said that they do a tremendous job on offense.

The Vandals are coming off a close loss last week at Washington State, which is the only game tape the the Hoosiers have on their offense. 

“They've got some dynamic receivers that caught our attention, some dynamic running backs that I think are really talented, and a really talented young quarterback,” Allen said.

On the defensive side of the ball, Allen saw guys who would fly around and created a lot of problems for the Washington State offense. 

Overall Allen is looking for his team to improve on all aspects of the game.

One thing that has come back this season is that Allen is calling the plays on defense this year, with new defensive coordinator Chad Wilt handling the personnel and adjustments on the sidelines. 

“My biggest concern was the sideline. When we come off the field, getting those adjustments with the new group of coaches. I thought Chad [Wilt] did a tremendous job with that,” Allen said. “He was very good communicating with both the guys that collected data, the coaches on the field, as well as getting that communicated to me so we could get things fixed. I thought that was good.”

Allen said there is also room for improvement with his play calling this week as well, wanting two or three of the play calls back from last week against Illinois.

The Hoosiers took a blow to the offensive line last week as Matthew Bedford tore his ACL and is out for the rest of the season. This allows Parker Hanna to have the starting role and step up for the team.

“I feel like he's responded very well, we'll see. He gets a chance to prove it on gameday like everybody else does. But that's why he came here, was for this opportunity,” Allen said.  So, he needs to step up and elevate his play, and rise to the occasion. It's what we expect him to do.”

The Hoosiers are still improving and forgetting about last season, their next test is hosting Idaho Saturday night.

“Fortunately, we've got a lot of new faces, and we've got a team full of guys that still have a really bad taste in their mouth about how the season went a year ago,” Allen said. “To me, that combination is going to create a focus and an edge that we have to have to play our best football.”