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2007 was the year of the underdog, like few others in the history of college football. South Florida briefly rose to number two in the polls after a series of upsets. Missouri rose to number one in the country, only to lose to Oklahoma in the Big XII title game and fall out of the NCS bowls completely. That was because two teams from the Big XII were already in BCS bowls after Kansas’s improbably run to 11-1 (later 12-1 after their Orange Bowl victory.) West Virginia lost a chance to participate in the National Championship game after a loss to 5-7 Pitt. Illinois made the Rose Bowl after going 9-3 and upsetting #1 Ohio State in Columbus. Hawaii went undefeated in route to the Sugar Bowl. LSU lost in double overtime to Kentucky, came back to number one in the country, then lost in double overtime to Arkansas, all before becoming the first team to ever lose two games and still win the national championship.
Somewhat lost amidst the commotion was a touching season in Bloomington, as the woebegone Hoosiers were expected to struggle after the sudden death of head coach Terry Hoeppner. Assistant coach Bill Lynch was elevated in Hoeppner’s absence and led the Hoosiers to an improbable 7-5 record. There were no particularly impressive victories that season—their best win was over an 8-5 Purdue team—and Indiana somehow missed both Ohio State and Michigan, but winning victories are hard to come by in Bloomington, and the season was good enough to earn the Hoosiers their first bowl birth since 1993. The season ended with a 49-33 loss to Oklahoma State in the Insight Bowl; not exactly the stuff legends are made of, but all in all, it was at least something to build upon for a program that has been unequivocally the worst in the Big Ten for the past two decades.
2008 was a crash to reality. After early victories against I-AA patsies Western Kentuckuy and Murray State, the Hoosiers lost five consecutive games, none by fewer than two scores. Besides from an improbable victory over an otherwise decent Northwestern team, Indiana struggled to contain any of the Big Ten offenses they faced, giving up 42, 42, 16 (Minnesota), 45, 55, 19 (Northwestern), 37, 55, 34, and 62 points against their competition. Any foundation that could possibly have been built was undoubtedly left in ruins.
Expectations were just as low in 2009, and Indiana did finish last in the Big 10 (tied for 10th with Michigan, technically, although Michigan defeated Indiana in Ann Arbor). The lone conference victory was over Illinois. The out of conference schedule was not particularly challenging, and yet victories were hard to come by there as well—six points over Eastern Kentucky, four points over Western Michigan. And a 40 point loss to an awful Virginia team.
But for all the surface similarities, there was undeniably something there. Indiana lost at Ann Arbor by three points, but a final drive was cut short after an extremely controversial interception by Donovan Warren of Michigan that appeared to be simultaneous possession. Indiana somehow relinquished a 21 point lead to Northwestern at home, then went into the fourth quarter against #4 Iowa in Iowa City with a ten point lead, only to allow Iowa to score 28(!) points in the final quarter. The meltdown had every conceivable cause—missed calls by referees, missed assignments by defensive players leading to quick scores, and a quadruple-ricochet interception returned for a touchdown. The gods mostly frowned upon Indiana.
The defense was still atrocious, but the losses were competitive losses (11 points at Penn State; three points against Wisconsin in another heartbreaker), and the offense was quietly consistent from the Illinois game forward: 27, 28, 24, 28, 20, and 21 points. Indiana finished last in the Big Ten, but this was maybe the best worst team in the Big Ten of the decade, if that’s any consolation.
I commented at some point towards the beginning of last year, what do you do if you are Indiana? You have no real recruiting base, as Indiana is mostly barren, and you’re surrounded by Big Ten powers (not to mention Notre Dame). You have no history of success of which to speak. Eliminating failure becomes a chicken-and-egg problem, as you can’t turn things around without some success.
My suggestion was to go the Georgia Tech route: adopt some crazy scheme that no one else in the conference will see for the rest of the year, and recruit accordingly. Indiana doesn’t run the triple option, but they did take my suggestion (sort of). Indiana is one of about three programs in the country that runs a significant percentage of snaps from the pistol formation, so-named because it’s a “half-shotgun.” The QB lines up about three yards behind center, and the RB lines up behind him, almost like an I formation where the QB sets up where the fullback would normally be.
The pistol is the brainchild of Chris Ault in Nevada, who has used it to launch a running attack upon WAC competition unlike almost any in the country (for the first time in NCAA history, Nevada had three 1,000 rushers last season). The “traditional pistol” (if there is such a thing) is a veer option, quite a bit like what Nebraska ran out of the I formation during the Tom Osborne heyday.
At first blush, the pistol is a strange fit for Indiana. The veer option offense may have fit mobile QB Kellen Lewis, who was dismissed a few months before the 2009 campaign, allegedly for drug problems. But current QB Ben Chappell is more of a traditional pocket passer, although he does have a little mobility. Still, the pistol worked, and Indiana ran a more-or-less traditional offense out of the strange alignment. The offense improved, and with Chappell returning as maybe the best QB in the Big Ten along with outstanding wide receiver Tandon Doss, there’s no reason to think the offense won’t put up some respectable numbers.
Recruiting has picked up a bit as well—Indiana is near the top of the Big Ten in number of commitments right now, though the quality is a little suspect, and even more than 2007, a little success in 2010 could prove to be sustainable (though Indiana will have to replace Chappell). The OOC schedule is a joke, once again (toughest game—Western Kentucky) and the Big Ten inexplicably allowed Indiana to give away a home game to Penn State for a “neutral” game in Landover, Maryland. But if you get four wins OOC, Michigan, Illinois, Northwestern, and Purdue are all on the schedule is at least potential wins, and they weren’t that fall off from taking Iowa or Wisconsin last year. 3-5 in conference gets you a bowl game, and that’s not inconceivable.
But the defense will have to stop someone, and it hasn’t been shown that they can do that just yet. Another season of shootouts with Indiana falling just short may be more exciting than the sad-sack 2008 team that got pounded at every turn, but it won’t be enough to save Bill Lynch’s job, and it won’t be enough to rescue the Indiana program from the perdition it has inhabited for as long as most of us—and all its recruits—can remember.
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Fire Phil Emery
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