Column: Losing culture is biggest issue for IU football

I feel bad for Damarlo Belcher. I really do.

The IU receiver was made the scapegoat for yet another close loss — 18-13 to Iowa on Saturday.

While there’s no debating the fact that he dropped a ball he should have caught, there’s a bigger issue at play here: The Hoosiers can’t beat good teams. They can’t even beat average ones (i.e. Michigan, Illinois).

And the concerning thing is it has less to do with the actual players on the field and more to do with the football program as a whole. A losing culture has been established, and the current players are left with the burden of fixing it.

That’s not fair.

Can you imagine all the things going through Belcher’s head as the pigskin spiraled toward him in the south end zone? This is an Indiana kid — he knows the history of this program. He knows a history of struggle. He knows a history of tough losses. He knows a history of “so close, yet so far.”

Belcher admitted he was thinking about what the catch would mean while it was in the air.

“I was thinking about the big picture before I even caught it,” he said.

I have a feeling, because of the program he plays for, he was also thinking about what a drop would mean. How could he not be?

This team has played so many Big Ten teams tough in the last two years. Six of the Hoosiers’ last 13 conference games have been decided by a touchdown or less. They lost all six games.

Belcher had an opportunity to change everything with one catch — a catch he makes in his sleep — and he couldn’t do it.

If it were a recurring problem, than I’d be quick to put the blame on Belcher.

But it’s not. This is the conference’s leading receiver, a guy who has kept the Hoosiers in several games with key catches at key moments.

What is a recurring problem is these close conference losses. There is no doubt this program has taken the small step to at least make the games close, but it still has a giant leap to make if it wants to start winning these games.

What can be done? While I believe it’s still too soon to make a coaching change, that would undoubtedly help change the culture about the program. That is, if the next coach were to actually change the culture.

Terry Hoeppner was making changes around here. He began to turn the program in the right direction, as was evident when Lynch took the Hoosiers to a bowl game the year after Hoeppner passed away.

Since then, little to no progress has been made. IU gets close but rarely wins. The Hoosiers are a dismal 1-12 against conference teams the last two seasons.

“We’re very, very close,” IU Athletics Director Fred Glass said. “Why we don’t get over the hump may be a different answer for each of those times.”

Glass seemed to suggest the football team can’t catch a break, and maybe that’s true. If the Hoosiers were to play Michigan this week, they might beat the Wolverines. If they had another shot at Northwestern, who knows?

But this team needs somebody to step up and make a clutch play one time, and then things will change. The team will know how it feels to beat a good team, not just play with it. The team will have the confidence when the game is close late in the fourth quarter.

Belcher wasn’t that somebody on Saturday, but he’s not the only one to blame. Who’s to say cornerback Matt Ernest couldn’t have come up with a clutch interception instead of giving up the go-ahead touchdown? Who’s to say quarterback Ben Chappell couldn’t have taken a sack instead of throwing a pick?

One play at a clutch moment late in the game is all this team needs. Until then, the Hoosiers will continue to lose these close games.

If IU trails by five points with time winding down in the fourth quarter at No. 6 Wisconsin this weekend, how do you think it will end?

PREDICTION
Last weekend was IU’s best chance for an upset. I don’t expect this one to be nearly as close.

Wisconsin is simply too good at home and the Badgers will keep their Big Ten title hopes alive with a lopsided win against IU.

Wisconsin 34, IU 14