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Welcome back to our Throwback Thursday series! Over the next 13 weeks we will get IU football fans fired up be going back and reliving each game from last season. Hopefully this will wet your appetite for the 2016 season, which kicks off on Sept. 1 at Florida International. So let's get started with the Hoosiers season opening last second victory over Southern Illinois.
Read MoreIt has been three-plus weeks since the Hoosiers walked off the field at Ross-Ade Stadium with a third straight bronze "I" to link to the chain on the Old Oaken Bucket and a bowl bid to fulfill. Now we know the Hoosiers next game will be on Dec. 26th at the New Yankee Stadium (Yes, it is still New Yankee Stadium) in the Pinstripe Bowl against the Duke Blue Devils from the Atlantic Coast Conference. So, let's refresh how the Hoosiers actually ended up playing in a bowl in what looks to be a balmy 60-degree New York City.
Read MoreThe Hoosiers enter their open week at 4-4, winless in the conference, and riding a four-game losing streak. Indiana will have to go at least 2-2 over the last third of the season to reach that elusive six-win mark. The Hoosiers started the 2015 campaign with an extremely promising 4-0 start. Part of that success was due in part to the stellar play of quarterback Nate Sudfeld and the passing attack. However, if you go inside the numbers a little closer you can see the difference in the four game win streak and the four game losing streak is how the Hoosiers run the ball and control the clock.
Read MoreWe spend months and weeks thinking about the non-conference opponents the Hoosiers have on their schedule. Each game comes, IU wins or loses and then both team's seasons move on. It's very easy to forget all about the team IU matched up with in early September. While strength of schedule or "who you beat" likely won't factor into IU's destination at the end of the season (barring a miracle College Football Playoff bid), it's helpful to look back at what IU's non-conference opponents did before and after the Hoosiers knocked them off. This isn't meant to say anything definitive about IU's 4-0 record or about any game in particular but it does help provide a bit of contextualization to each week's result and to the 4-0 start as a whole.
Read MoreWritten By: Nick Holmes (@HoosierHolmes)
Kevin Wilson and every other football coach talks about getting their opponent off schedule on offense. Why is this so critical for defensive success and how can it be leveraged into getting your offense back on the field more quickly? Well if you have watched a lot of football, and I’m assuming you have, otherwise I doubt you would be here reading this story in the first place, you know that a team’s success rate is largely a product of how well their defense does of getting off the field, and I’m not talking about giving up a touchdown.
Read MoreWritten By: Nick Holmes (@HoosierHolmes)
Before the Hoosiers defense even took the field they were facing an uphill battle.
Prior to kickoff the team announced that multiple players were suspended for the game for not living up to program responsibilities. Among them were starting defensive tackle Darius Latham, starting inside linebacker Tegray Scales, second-string defensive tackle Ralph Green and backup bandit linebacker Greg Gooch. To make matters worse, the team was also without starting safety Chase Dutra due to an undisclosed injury.
Read MoreIndiana players Nate Sudfeld, Marcus Oliver, Devine Redding, and Jonathan Crawford talk about their own and the team's performances in the narrow win over SIU.
Read MoreWritten By: Nick Holmes (@HoosierHolmes)
I am sure you are fairly familiar with the saying, 'it doesn't matter how pretty it was, a win is a win.' And while I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment, outside of the outstanding third period in which they held the Salukis scoreless, the team's effort on defense raises plenty of concerns. But it's only week one, the team was without multiple play-makers on the defensive side of the ball, and the Salukis had nothing to lose, a recipe for a potential upset. Inside are the major stats for tonight's games and there are plenty of things to take a look at, but one positive that can be garnered from this matchup outside of the final score is that the Hoosiers won the turnover battle two to zero.
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