Success can be a little dangerous.
If one is not careful, success can breed complacency. It is human nature, really.
It’s not conscious, but success can diminish the hunger or fire that drives someone to be great.
For IU, the success of defeating then-No. 18 Missouri last week may have played a big factor in the Hoosiers’ 37-15 loss to Maryland on Saturday.
It takes a certain type of person or team to be able to stay hungry after reaching success. The best football programs are the ones that expect to win and therefore maintain that drive to get better each week.
IU was pretty excited about their win last week.
I do not think this affects how good Indiana is at playing football. It doesn’t work like that. It just slightly affects that mental desire to work harder throughout the week. It can lessen the passion leading up to that first snap.
Yes, Maryland played an awesome game.
They had a sound game plan for containing Coleman and put the pass defense basis on tightly covering receivers because there is no one guy that can dominate a corner.
I just feel it’s clear that success had some effect on IU, because last week we saw how good they can be.
Regardless of how good Maryland is, it is not 22 points better than IU. The little mental things IU did so well against Mizzou were not in attendance for this game.
That probably stems from viewing Mizzou as one of the biggest games of the season and maybe not looking at Maryland with that same ?intensity.
From the press box of Memorial Stadium, there is a solid view of the stadium parking lots. Saturday, there was a prominent increase in the amount of cars filling those lots compared to opening day against Indiana State.
That’s why this performance is such a shame. People were far more excited for IU football this week, and the Hoosiers proceeded to solidify the belief that IU football will always let them down.
Then we come back to the inability to handle success.
In 2012, Albert Pujols was awarded a contract worth $240 million by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Since then, his play has gone downhill, and he has regressed into an above-average first baseman but by no means someone worth one of the bigger contracts in MLB history.
Once someone has that validation of their abilities, it is human nature to want to somewhat relax and not feel that compulsive need to be the best anymore.
Some people are better at it than others.
To stick with baseball, Miguel Cabrera was awarded an eight-year deal worth $153.3 million in 2008. He has gone on to only get better and has evolved into one of the best hitters of all time.
I do not think the Hoosiers simply woke up after the Mizzou game and said to themselves, “All right, we’re done now.”
What I am saying is, if IU ever wants to be a winning team, which I genuinely believe they can be from a talent standpoint, they have to be able to treat each week like it is Mizzou week.
Teams are more complicated than a player who just earned a lot of money. A team involves a large group of personalities trying to work together.
There is a reason the national championship is never won by an out-of-nowhere contender. A school with a history of playing winning football always wins it.
This may be where the real problem lies.
Maybe to be an elite football program you need to have developed a culture of winning first. Maybe you need the team to not just be competing against their opponents but also the players of the past and the legacy they leave behind.
IU has no culture of winning. IU will be commended and be remembered in school history if they even go 6-6 and make a bowl game.
The win against Missouri might have given these players that feeling of validation because they did something that had not been done in a long time.
They won a big game.
The Hoosiers are only four games into the season and already they have experienced heartbreak, glory and heartbreak again.
Maybe, the Hoosiers will play better in the final eight games because now they have experienced both ends of the spectrum.
All I do know is that this team experienced success and then let it get the best of them.
brodmill@indiana.edu
