DIPRIMIO NOTEBOOK: Hoosiers ‘Energized’ For Final Football Stretch

By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana has its football reward.

Wait.

The Hoosiers have part of their football reward. They are 7-2 with a four-game winning streak. A bowl bid and a winning record are secured.

They want more.

Indiana is 4-2 in the Big Ten, and needs two more victories to tie its most conference wins since going 6-2 in 1987.

It has a top-tier offense and a defense that has delivered two shutouts and held two other teams to three points.

It also has a kicker (Logan Justus) who won't miss (he's 12-for-12 on field goals this season) and a punter (Haydon Whitehead) who pins opponents inside the 10-yard line with the greatest of ease (a major-college best 13-of-36 punts).

Justus, a fifth-year senior and former walk-on, has been nominated for the Burlsworth Trophy, given to the country's best player who began as a walk-on. He's made 19 of his last 20 field goal attempts, and is 27-for-30 for his career.

Whitehead, a Ray Guy Award candidate for the third-straight season, averages a career-best 41.9 yards a punt. He's had six 50-plus yarders this season, with a long of 65.

All this has the Hoosiers pumped as never before under Allen, who is in his third season as head coach.

"The energy keeps growing each week," he says. "That's the by-product of having success. You work so hard and sacrifice so much that it's awesome to see our guys rewarded.

"Now it's the challenge of how do you stay hungry and focused? You have to be starving to be great. That means keep improving and playing to the high level every game.

"That's what we're seeing in practice. It's a lot of fun to be around these guys."

This week fun has meant a bye. The Hoosiers' next game is Nov. 16 at Penn State, which ranks fourth in the college football playoff rankings.

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IU is closing in on its first national ranking since being No. 25 after a 3-0 start in the 1994 season. It is 56 votes away from cracking the Top 25 in the AP poll, 48 votes in the coaches' poll.

The Hoosiers have big opportunities in their final three games. After the bye week, they play at No. 4 Penn State (8-0), host No. 14 Michigan (7-2) and play at rival Purdue (3-6).

This success doesn't surprise Allen, who is driven to build a consistent winner at a traditionally struggling program.

"I told our team in fall camp we were a Top-25 team," he says. "I believed it. I said, 'We've got to prove it,' but that's what I believed this team was going to do.

"We can't control who decides to vote (for us) or not. But there is an expectation here. You set those things out there. You don't back away from them.

"You want to be a program where you're recognized as (a Top-25 team), and then you've got to sustain it. That's a weekly thing you have to do."

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Opposing defensive coordinators are no fools. When they face Indiana, a primary goal is to stop tailback Stevie Scott III.

"They're trying to take him away," Allen says.

More and more this season, that's becoming mission impossible.

Scott has surpassed 100 rushing yards three times in his last four games. After punishing Northwestern for 116 yards and two touchdowns, plus a 20-yard TD catch, the 6-2, 231-pound sophomore was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career.

He ranks fourth in the conference by averaging 81.9 rushing yards per game. His nine rushing touchdowns are tied for third in the Big Ten.

He's become a much more effective receiver under offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer. He's fifth on the team with 23 catches for 203 yards and a touchdown. In 12 games last year, he had 16 catches for 86 yards and a TD.

"I appreciate and respect the way he's handled his success," Allen says, "and how hard he's worked and the humility he has. He appreciates his offensive line. He knows how critical they are.

"He's a talented guy. He's big and strong. He ran over one of (Northwestern's players) early in the game and that sends a message. That happens in just about every game where he just blows right through somebody.

"That's no fun to take on for 60 minutes."

Scott is a big reason why IU has outscored opponents in every quarter, including a 55-33 advantage in the final 15 minutes.

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Quarterback Michael Penix Jr.'s season is over, but not his Cream & Crimson football future.

He has three more years of eligibility to rock opponents with his big-time arm and athleticism, but for now he has to heal from surgery to repair his right sternoclavicular joint, which is basically where the sternum meets the clavicle.

The 6-3, 202-pound Penix will spend the months until next season getting bigger, stronger and better able to absorb high-level competition punishment.

"He needs to get bigger and gain a lot more muscle mass on his frame," Allen says. "He's got a good frame and we have a good plan for him to grow in that area, to put on good weight and get thicker to be able to take the hits he's going to take at this level and beyond."

Allen and DeBoer will devise ways to try to reduce the number of hits Penix and every Hoosier quarterback takes, but only so much is realistic in such a collision sport.

"You always have to be careful in how you use them to limit the number of hits they take," Allen says, "but you can't eliminate them. It's not possible."

When healthy, Penix is a game changer. He threw for 1,394 yards, 10 touchdowns and four interceptions this season despite being replaced by Peyton Ramsey in three games, and missing one, because of injuries. He completed 68.8 percent of his passes.

IU has a big edge with Ramsey, a proven winner fully in command of an offense that averages 34 points a game. He completes 72.0 percent of his passes for 1,302 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions.

Penix and Ramsey have combined to produce the Big Ten's top passing attack at 308 yards a game.

And then there's Jack Tuttle, who becomes the backup. He's completed 5-of-10 passes for 27 yards in limited action. Hoosier coaches have used the bye week to get him as many practice reps as possible.

Indiana University Athletics

DIPRIMIO NOTEBOOK: Hoosiers ‘Energized’ For Final Football Stretch

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Players Mentioned

Logan Justus

Michael Penix Jr.

Peyton Ramsey

Stevie Scott III

Jack Tuttle

Haydon Whitehead

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