Being an IU football fan has not been for the faint of heart.
Some amount of optimism is always required to be a sports fan, but a smart IU fan has learned to limit the optimism and increase the realism to avoid a broken heart.
IU football fans are more similar to Morgan Freeman’s character, Red, from ” The Shawshank Redemption,” fearful of hope.
“Hope is a dangerous thing,” Red said. “Hope can drive a man insane.”
The perpetually cautious optimism of IU fans has been increasing little by little since IU Coach Kevin Wilson took over in 2011. No bowl games yet, but noticeable improvements and an exciting unit to take note of: the offense.
The Hoosiers were second in the Big Ten in total offense and fourth in scoring offense. As long as a team has an elite feature, they can compete. It doesn’t matter if it is speed or strength, offense or defense. Having an elite feature at least puts a team in ball games.
Then there is IU’s other key feature, albeit a negative one, that keeps them from winning big games: defense.
It’s not a new topic of conversation for IU faithful, nor is the defense an area that has shown any improvement yet.
Giving up 423 yards a game makes winning games difficult, regardless of how talented the offense is.
Then again, none of this is new.
The news of the week has been Big Ten Media Days in Chicago. Coaches and players giving their input on the upcoming season and answering questions about the ins and outs of this year’s squad.
IU’s representatives, Wilson, seniors Shane Wynn and David Cooper and junior Nate Sudfeld, said all the right things and made it clear they hope to improve.
What should give IU fans the most confidence was something simple Wilson said about the hiring of IU Coach Brian Knorr to run the defense.
“We’re not expecting it to be lights out, but you just want to see some consistent, constant improvement,” Wilson said. “My first thought was not identifying a person. I looked at teams that I thought were comparable to us, talent-wise, who they played and statistically for a couple, three years, who had played pretty good.”
I know, it isn’t that enthusing of a quote, but it is the pragmatism he approached the situation with that is exciting.
He did not go for some possible home-run hire that could turn things around in a year.
That is unrealistic.
He made the hire that would field teams that can play solid defense. This is an IU team that can win several more games if given at least a quality defense. One of the top offenses can win three or four more games if their defense can improve from the worst in the Big Ten by a margin of nearly 50 yards to a serviceable crew that can keep teams in the 20s.
“If we get a couple of stops and get the ball back, think how much better the offense could be,” Wilson said.
Drastic improvement is not needed. Only slight improvement would have a drastic impact.
This is a squad returning 10 starters on defense, so the experience is there. Also, Knorr is a proven coordinator who turned the struggling Wake Forest defense into a consistently reliable unit. Lastly, there are some potential impact freshmen that could provide a boost, such as linebacker Tegray Scales, who was mentioned by both Wilson and Cooper during interviews.
In Chicago, Sudfeld kept discussing how this defense has made trouble for the offense and even beat them a few times in spring practices. If this defense is proving capable of stopping an offense that was putting up 442 yards per game in the past season, then it is probably is not the worst in the Big Ten anymore.
There I go with the optimism again.
brodmill@indiana.edu
