Indiana University Athletics
Wilson Wants Positive Response This Week Against PSU
10/8/2015 2:21:00 PM | Football
By: Sam Beishuizen | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Up until this week, Indiana's script has been the same all season.
"Good win. Now forget about it," head coach Kevin Wilson would say to his players. "Go prove you're good. You won, but can you do it again?"
This week is different. For the first time all season, Indiana will travel to Penn State for a noon kickoff Saturday looking to bounce back from its first loss of the season last week to Ohio State. Both the Hoosiers (4-1, 0-1) and Nittany Lions (4-1, 1-0) are looking for their fifth wins of the season.
In their first chance to respond after getting knocked down, Wilson poses a new question to his players.
How are you going to get back up?
"We've shown as a program we can be good," Wilson said Monday. "We've shown we don't consistently move on. It's going to be another great week, another great test."
In Wilson's eyes, every opponent is the same. He wants his players to embrace that same mindset.
Wilson emphasizes that a win against unranked Penn State is worth the same as a win against No. 1 Ohio State or Purdue or Michigan or any other team on Indiana's schedule.
Getting a fifth win this weekend will require focus, Wilson said, as Indiana will be playing only its second road game of the season in front of a potential crowd of 106,572 at Beaver Stadium.
"Their arena allows a lot of distractions—great crowd, great atmosphere, great music pumping," Wilson said. "At the end of the day, there's always distractions in athletics. It's your ability, whatever the distraction is, to try to minimize that and keep your eyes on the target. We've talked about it. We'll see if we're mature enough to handle that."
Wilson wouldn't have it any other way. Crowd environments like Penn State's this weekend and Indiana's last weekend are what attracted many of his players to IU in the first place.
"When you play Big Ten ball, you've got to bring it every week," Wilson said. "We showed earlier against the non-conference slate what we could do. Now do you have the guts? I like (Clemson head coach) Dabo (Swinney's) comments, 'Bring your own guts.' Do you have the guts and determination to do it again? It's easier said than done."
Wilson said it's important to embrace the challenges of adversity and playing in difficult conference divisions like the Big Ten East because he's seen programs forced to build because of it. Playing the likes of Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers and Michigan State in four opening Big Ten games before a bye week is difficult, Wilson said, but it forces teams to grow.
"That's what we've tried to do is just develop our team, the program, to be good enough to play consistent Big Ten football, and Big Ten East football," Wilson said. "We're slowly getting there."
Saturday's matchup with Penn State provides another opportunity to prove how close Indiana is to the level Wilson wants the Hoosiers playing at.
Wilson said he liked the way his team came back to practice ready to correct things from both last week's loss and from previous wins. He said winning this weekend will likely require sharp play in all three phases against a Penn State team riding a four-game winning streak.
"I think our kids buy in and believe in the way we prepare," Wilson said. "This game is not perfect and life is not perfect, but you keep fighting and pushing for it."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Up until this week, Indiana's script has been the same all season.
"Good win. Now forget about it," head coach Kevin Wilson would say to his players. "Go prove you're good. You won, but can you do it again?"
This week is different. For the first time all season, Indiana will travel to Penn State for a noon kickoff Saturday looking to bounce back from its first loss of the season last week to Ohio State. Both the Hoosiers (4-1, 0-1) and Nittany Lions (4-1, 1-0) are looking for their fifth wins of the season.
In their first chance to respond after getting knocked down, Wilson poses a new question to his players.
How are you going to get back up?
"We've shown as a program we can be good," Wilson said Monday. "We've shown we don't consistently move on. It's going to be another great week, another great test."
In Wilson's eyes, every opponent is the same. He wants his players to embrace that same mindset.
Wilson emphasizes that a win against unranked Penn State is worth the same as a win against No. 1 Ohio State or Purdue or Michigan or any other team on Indiana's schedule.
Getting a fifth win this weekend will require focus, Wilson said, as Indiana will be playing only its second road game of the season in front of a potential crowd of 106,572 at Beaver Stadium.
"Their arena allows a lot of distractions—great crowd, great atmosphere, great music pumping," Wilson said. "At the end of the day, there's always distractions in athletics. It's your ability, whatever the distraction is, to try to minimize that and keep your eyes on the target. We've talked about it. We'll see if we're mature enough to handle that."
Wilson wouldn't have it any other way. Crowd environments like Penn State's this weekend and Indiana's last weekend are what attracted many of his players to IU in the first place.
"When you play Big Ten ball, you've got to bring it every week," Wilson said. "We showed earlier against the non-conference slate what we could do. Now do you have the guts? I like (Clemson head coach) Dabo (Swinney's) comments, 'Bring your own guts.' Do you have the guts and determination to do it again? It's easier said than done."
Wilson said it's important to embrace the challenges of adversity and playing in difficult conference divisions like the Big Ten East because he's seen programs forced to build because of it. Playing the likes of Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers and Michigan State in four opening Big Ten games before a bye week is difficult, Wilson said, but it forces teams to grow.
"That's what we've tried to do is just develop our team, the program, to be good enough to play consistent Big Ten football, and Big Ten East football," Wilson said. "We're slowly getting there."
Saturday's matchup with Penn State provides another opportunity to prove how close Indiana is to the level Wilson wants the Hoosiers playing at.
Wilson said he liked the way his team came back to practice ready to correct things from both last week's loss and from previous wins. He said winning this weekend will likely require sharp play in all three phases against a Penn State team riding a four-game winning streak.
"I think our kids buy in and believe in the way we prepare," Wilson said. "This game is not perfect and life is not perfect, but you keep fighting and pushing for it."
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