Tom Allen talks about Indiana’s loss last weekend ahead of Saturday’s game against Rutgers.
On Saturday, Indiana will be looking for its first conference win of the season when they take on Rutgers. The Hoosiers are coming off a 52-7 loss to a Michigan team ranked second in the country. While it was an afternoon in which not much went right for Indiana, head coach Tom Allen still took some positives from the game.
When Allen addressed the media on Monday, he highlighted the Hoosier’s strong start before things fell apart. Going forward, the Hoosiers’ focus will be keeping the same consistency for an entire game.
“Obviously now the next step is, okay, start strong and be able to consistently play well as a football team on both sides of the ball, at all positions because every position is being evaluated and being able to be in the spot where you’ve got to perform and do a great job of continuing to be on the rise,” Allen said.
“If you’re not, then we have to figure out why.”
Against a team like Rutgers, a consistent effort throughout four quarters will be critical. Last week, the Scarlet Knights showed they can’t be counted out of any game. After being outscored by Michigan State 24-6 through three quarters, Rutgers scored 21 points in the fourth quarter and emerged with a 27-24 win.
To keep the Rutgers offense in check, Indiana will need its defense to step up. On Monday, Allen was not afraid of singling out his defense, which struggled in the second half against the Wolverines.
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“Well, the ones recently I would say, just really, when you go through and watch, especially you talk about the defense, it was some critical mistakes in critical downs to me jumped out to us on Saturday,” Allen said.
As the Hoosiers look to return to the win column, they face a formidable team in Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights have already won two conference games and are off to one of their best starts in years. However, if Indiana can make adjustments, Allen is confident that his team will improve.
” If it’s something we’re doing as coaches we have to make adjustments. If it’s something they’re doing they have to make adjustments. But we do it together. Even as a staff, talking with our players as well. I think that’s something we’ll continue to do and to allow us to be able to keep getting better as a football team,” said Allen.
