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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports football

Column: Wilson era of IU football off to slow start

Indiana football fans, wait.

Do not jump off the bridge — not yet, at least.

Building a program takes time. Take Tom Crean’s team, for example.

Many, myself included, thought the Hoosiers would get through the non-conference season with, at worst, a 3-1 record. At least, they should have, considering they only played one BCS automatic qualifying team.

First-year IU Coach Kevin Wilson’s team has fallen flat on its face.

The offensive and defensive lines are a wreck, the run game is non-existent and the defense has been shaky at best.

Wilson called the effort against North Texas “a bad start, not-very-good defense and horrible offense.”

Sounds like harsh words coming from the head coach, but Wilson described exactly what Hoosier fans, players and coaches witnessed this past weekend.

A 1-3 non-conference record has been nothing short of embarrassing. To make matters worse, Big Ten Conference play begins Saturday against Penn State.

IU’s hopes of a bowl game are technically still intact, but let’s be realistic. It will take a minor miracle for this team to be playing 13 games this season.

Indiana’s next eight opponents have a combined 24-6 record, and no team has more than one loss.

If Indiana finds a way to win five games in Big Ten play, it would be the most conference wins since 1993 with Bill Mallory. I would not expect to see that happen, at least not with these players giving lackluster efforts.

Therefore, it looks as if it will be at least another year before IU becomes bowl eligible for the first time since 2007.

The one bright spot, if you can even call it bright, is that the Hoosiers have lost their games by an aggregate 13 points.

Unfortunately they have not yet found a way to put together four solid quarters of football.

Two second-half rallies have fallen short against Virginia and North Texas, whereas the Hoosiers could not hold a halftime lead against Ball State.

“We were lucky it was only (a 21-point lead) at the half,” Wilson said, referring to Saturday’s game. “We battled in the second half, but maybe (North Texas) was a little lax.”

The loss this past weekend was embarrassing, and now IU has a chance to rebound with two straight home games.

Bad Tuesday practices and poor preparations are inexcusable, but it is
exactly what the Hoosier players have given, according to Wilson.

After four games, there has to be a question of whether or not Wilson is just another coach who will not succeed at building a contending football program.

The players must rally around their coaches and take pride in their school, fans and families. The time to put together a winning effort is now.

If you saw the team fired up on the sidelines against Virginia, you have to be wondering where that fiery attitude has been during the other three games.

Now the question is: Which IU team will show up to Memorial Stadium on
Saturday?

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