ENEMY RECON: What Indiana Fans Are Saying

JonDMiller

JonDMiller

Publisher/Founder
Sean Neugent returns with this week’s look behind enemy lines and lets us know what Indiana fans are saying in advance of Iowa’s game in Bloomington.

Reasons for Reassurance:

They need two more wins to become bowl eligible and Iowa looked very beatable last weekend
They typically play the Hawkeyes well and Iowa is going to have trouble with their offense
RB Jordan Howard has been a beast and is the key to beating Iowa
Head coach Kevin Wilson is coaching for his job and knows that a top-10 win will look very nice on his resume
Iowa has beaten them handily at home, but lost to them the last time in Bloomington
They are getting healthier and according to Coach Wilson, they had their best practice on Sunday night
Iowa will have to pass to set up the run because Indiana’s front seven is good
The Hawkeyes have not played an offense like the Hoosiers or anything close. When at full strength, they can hit you in so many ways

Reasons for Concern:

Iowa has shut down every team they have played and will slow down their offense
Iowa has won 5 of last 6 and put up 45 points last season
The secondary is a big weakness for Indiana and is the downfall of their defense
Stopping third and long is where Indiana has gotten into trouble, allowing big plays

Indiana Fans Level of Confidence for a Victory (out of 5 stars):

1 Star – No shot
2 Stars – Improbable, but “you’re telling me we’ve got a chanceâ€
3 Stars – Game could go either way
4 Stars – We are going to win this game, but it will be tough
5 Stars – No shot Iowa wins this game
Indiana Confidence vs. Iowa:
2.9 Stars

While Indiana fans are not completely confident, they do feel they have a chance to knock off the #9 Hawkeyes for one main reason: their offense. They believe they have one of the best offenses in the country, but their defensive secondary is pitiful and is the main reason they are iffy on if the Hoosiers can pull this one off. Indiana fans are still optimistic on this season, but know that Iowa’s defense is stout and likely the best defense they have played. However they also believe Iowa has not faced an offense as explosive as theirs and believe they can score on the Hawkeyes. Their keys to a victory are limiting mistakes and forcing a turnover or two. Most picked Iowa to win in a close game.
 
Hawks wont win a close game, if we win it will be comfortably.
If we lose it will be a nail biter. Indiana hasn't won comfortably over anyone this season, including pre conference.
 
I'm surprised they could find enough Indy FB fans to make any data statistically relevant.
 
You do know they have a legendary basketball program, which translates into fans of all sports (not for all), right Seth?

:)
 
I'm getting the feeling all the worry (mine included) over this game will feel stupid when it's over. We are playing against a straight up pro style team and QB, we feast in that. No worries about a mobile QB killing us.
 
I don't know how anyone can argue against the fact that we looked beatable against Maryland, and a few other games this year. There's 100% proof to it.

I'm cautiously optimistic all the way until the end of each game, and season.. and I have been all year. It's not that I don't believe in the players, or coaches at this point.. it's the fact that Iowa usually has that one game where they just come out absolutely flat and get rolled over against a "lesser" opponent.
 
HawksMN said:
Hawks wont win a close game, if we win it will be comfortably.
If we lose it will be a nail biter. Indiana hasn't won comfortably over anyone this season, including pre conference.
Click to expand...

We've won every close game we've played and against far better teams than this.
 
I enjoy these recon posts. Thanks Jon.

I agree with the fans who say Iowa needs to slow the game down. We need to just pound the ball play after play. Greg Davis tried to lean more on the pass in the second and third quarter against Maryland and really bogged Iowa's offense down. Iowa needs 1-2 sustained 5+ minute drives each quarter.

Also Indiana basketball fans are quickly becoming similar to Nebraska football fans. They keep wondering around looking for the ghosts of the 80's and 90's and meanwhile fall out of the national picture a little more every year.
 
ottoman89 said:
I don't know how anyone can argue against the fact that we looked beatable against Maryland, and a few other games this year. There's 100% proof to it.I'm cautiously optimistic all the way until the end of each game, and season.. and I have been all year. It's not that I don't believe in the players, or coaches at this point.. it's the fact that Iowa usually has that one game where they just come out absolutely flat and get rolled over against a "lesser" opponent.
Click to expand...
I have to agree. No matter how good of a season we are having, there has always been at least one game that screws things up. Looking at the remaining schedule, the most likely culprits are Indiana and a terrible Nebraska team that could derail things.
 
ottoman89 said:
I don't know how anyone can argue against the fact that we looked beatable against Maryland, and a few other games this year. There's 100% proof to it.

I'm cautiously optimistic all the way until the end of each game, and season.. and I have been all year. It's not that I don't believe in the players, or coaches at this point.. it's the fact that Iowa usually has that one game where they just come out absolutely flat and get rolled over against a "lesser" opponent.
Click to expand...


21-0 by the end of the first half and MD only had one offensive score after an entire second half of cruise control? The MD game was never in doubt. Not the best example of the season as far as looking beatable. Maybe you can say Illinois? But not really. Wisconsin? But that was just like watching two freight trains run into each other over and over. Technically one will do more damage than the other, but both are so messed up afterward that you can't really say which train was "strongest." The Pitt game was similar. So the most beatable we've looked was maybe against ISU? I just don't see it as clear cut, maybe, and Indiana is NOT as good as wisconsin or pitt or NW. Not even close, and those three teams were essentially pro-style offenses like Indiana is but with much better defenses and less awesome offensive outputs.
 
What they are saying:

"Are you going to the Bellarmine exhibition game?"

"Oh my god, Tom Crean autographed my boob!"
 
And IU's "ridiculous" offense is still only putting up a hair over 33 points a game, not much higher than Iowa's 32.6.

And they give up 37.25 points a game... not exactly instilling great fear in me.
 
Props to the writer being able to actually find Indiana football fans. I bet that wasn't an easy task.
 
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