Indiana Hoosiers Football Season Preview

Going from Norman to Bloomington is usually not the top choice, but with full control former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson has the brains and mental toughness to improve the program of Indiana.

Taking over for Bill Lynch is something Hoosier nation hopes turns into gold. Lynch went 19-30 (6-26) and continued the long, awful losing streak of 45 consecutive losses to either Penn State, Ohio State or Michigan, which is something Wilson will attempt to break. 

The Hoosiers had the Wolverines on the ropes before allowing the eventual game-winning touchdown with under a minute to go in regulation.

Many of the reasons why the Hoosiers have struggled through the years and why they have the fewest bowl appearances of any Big Ten team since 1988 (5) is because their defense has been lousy in comparison to the rest of the upper-echelon Big Ten teams. 

The secondary has been abysmal the past five years. How abysmal you ask? The Hoosiers secondary has not ranked inside the top 80 for the past five years! They finished 93rd in 2006 (228), 81st in 2007 (243), 105th in 2008 (260), 95th in 2009 (242), and 93rd in 2010 (238).

Outside of Tracy Porter the Hoosiers have lacked NFL corners that can play bump and run coverage without getting burnt. There is no wonder they struggle every year because they have simply have not had the players.  

Lenyatta Kiles (senior) and Lawrence Barnett (sophomore) do not have much experience, which is great news for the rest of the Big Ten. The safeties are not much better as Jarrell Drane (senior) and Greg Heban (sophomore) are the expected starters. Heban started as a freshmen at corner and is making room for the depth they have at corner.

Indiana does not have many passing oriented offenses on the schedule, but teams like Penn State, Wisconsin and Iowa have stud receivers who can stretch the field.  Unless Indiana can bottle up their running games, it will be tough to avoid the basement in defensive production.

Though the defense has had it issues, the offense has actually been productive. They have not been among the best in the Big Ten, but finishing near the middle of a power conference is nothing to be ashamed of. A year ago, they finished seventh in total offense, 387.50 yards per game. 

The quarterbacks like always are extremely deep and former coach Bill Lynch said he would take his seven guys over any team’s top seven signal callers in America.

Unfortunately, college football does not reward you victories by having a deep roster full of quarterbacks but it does help the Hoosiers out in case of freak game injuries occur.

Edward Wright-Baker is expected to beat out Dusty Kiel for the starting gig, but whoever wins the job will have their stud back Darius Willis and receiver Damarlo Belcher, both back. Willis has had some off-the field issues but is expected to get the majority of the snaps still.

Belcher may very well make First Team All-Big Ten and sophomore tight end Ted Bolser is looking to avoid the sophomore slump by improving upon his 27 catch, 407 yard, five TD freshmen campaign. 

As far as the schedule goes, there are not many winnable games after September. If the Hoosiers cannot find a way to win any of the home dates with Illinois, Northwestern or Purdue (season finale) then it may be a winless conference season. The road games will be an albatross facing Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan State. All of those teams may very well be ranked when they face off.

Hopefully the Hoosiers come close to running the table in the non-conference slate against Ball State, Virginia, South Carolina State and North Texas or else new chief Kevin Wilson will be wondering how the weather is in Norman.

Predicted Finish: 3-9, 0-8

Predicted Bowl: None

Predicted order of finish in Big Ten: Sixth in Leaders, 12th Overall