With kickoff only a little over a month away, IU coach Bill Lynch said his team is ready.
Eighty-four starts return to the offensive line while the defense boasts the best sack tandem in the country with Jammie Kirlew and Greg Middleton. Kirelew and Middleton combine for 36 1/2 career sacks.
But Lynch said he changes in schemes include quarterback Ben Chappell.
"We got a quarterback in Ben Chappell," he said. "Great leader. Outstanding student. And he's got some experience. He started and played the entire game last year where we beat a very good Northwestern. So he has experience and he's proven himself a winner in the Big Ten."
Chappell's experience alone is not going to win games.
"I think on our offensive side we need to be more multiple in what we are doing," Lynch said. "We have been exclusively a spread and, honestly, I think in some ways defenses have caught up with the spread. And I think the really good teams that have been in the spread have taken that next step and have done something a little bit different."
"With Ben Chappell being our quarterback, we knew staying in the spread every snap wasn't in our best interest, so, we looked around and I think the first thing that we wanted to do is we wanted to run the football better."
Lynch wants to try working the ball straight upfield, rather than working the sidelines.
"Downhill running, now that's kind of a cliche but in the spread lot of things is lateral and we wanted to run some power football where we could have some different blocking schemes up front instead of being a total zone team," he said.
Lynch said as of now, defensive plans remain the same.
"On the defensive side, we certainly need to make improvements but we like what we're doing"
