Indiana Enters Bye Week on a Five-Game Skid with No Identitiy
/Written by: @zachegreene
Indiana Football suffered an agonizing loss to Rutgers on Saturday. It was the tale of two teams. Indiana, who now has a five-game losing streak, and Rutgers, who is above .500 and won a conference game at home for the first time since 2017. However, the most troubling thing is that, IU has no identity.
“Highly disappointed. In the third quarter, we had three straight third and outs. We weren’t able to stay on the field. Our defense took too many reps but they bowed up and gave us a chance. Continuing to not execute on offense is very disappointing.” Tom Allen said in his post-game presser.
IU looked lost after their second drive of the game. They managed just 85 second half yards and have nothing easy to go to on offense when they need to stop the bleeding.
There were little to no winning plays that swung the momentum back into the Hoosier's hand. The program which is built on their defense and forcing turnovers has yet to play the way it did two years ago.
“Takeaways are huge for our defense DNA and we are not getting them right now. We can be more creative and do more things but the bottom line is that we are not getting turnover right now.” Said Allen after the game
The defense failed to drive through tackles and stop the ground game. Rutgers just looked like the tougher team.
“There’s a weight room part of that. But I felt a lot of it was our leg drive. When we make contact we need to execrate our legs through the contact. We hit ‘em a yard or two behind the line of scrimmage and then pushed through.” For fans and coaches it was frustrating to watch.
Everything the coaches talk about or try to do whether it’s about execution, adjustments, or game planning simply has not worked.
“Whatever we got to do, we have to be more productive on offense. We will look at every possible option. Said Allen on the quarterback position.
He will be evaluating the program as a whole and the quarterback position during the bye week.
There were two little bright spots today. Freshman Jaylin Lucas’s opening kick return touchdown and the offense's first possession were the two.
“I talked about and know that we needed to start better. It doesn’t get much faster than that in the opening play of the game. It was a long return for a touchdown. He’s a dynamic player. One of the most explosive guys on our team. One of the fattest players on the team and the quickest guy. He’s a special talent and we need to continue to find ways to give him the ball.” Said Allen after the game.
The season is entering its final third and IU heads to the bye week riding a five-game slide and lacking an identity on both sides of the ball.