Tag: Tom Allen

Indiana players kept interrupting coach Tom Allen’s postgame interview to show their love for him

Tom Allen and the Hoosiers are having an incredible season.

The No. 12 Indiana Hoosiers are having an incredible 2020 football season. They’re 6-1 with wins against then-ranked opponents Penn State, Michigan and, after Saturday’s game, No. 16 Wisconsin, and their only loss was to Ohio State — by a single touchdown.

They’re second in the Big Ten East standings — behind the Buckeyes — and still put together a 14-6 victory over the Badgers without starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who tore his ACL in last weekend’s win over Maryland and will miss the rest of the season.

And after beating Wisconsin — quarterback Jack Tuttle threw for two touchdowns — the Hoosiers were beyond pumped to continue winning, and they showered head coach Tom Allen with love and praise.

Delightfully, they kept interrupting Allen’s postgame interview with ESPN with their excitement and recruiting pitches, but mostly, they had nothing but great things to say about their coach. It’s simply wholesome.

As Allen said, “I just love this football team,” his players continued to give him hugs, repeatedly calling him “the best coach in the nation.”

Similarly, college football Twitter advocated for Allen to win — or at least be seriously considered for — the national Coach of the Year award. And when you look at what he’s done with Indiana this season, it’s hard to argue against that sentiment.

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Greenfield’s Don Pitt details coaching for Hugh Freeze and his ability to get players ‘ready to go to war’

Greenfield’s Don Pitt details coaching for Hugh Freeze.

Greenfield High School head coach Don Pitt discussed the 2020 season on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days.”

Greenfield finished the 2020 campaign 8-2 before losing in the playoffs. It was the first region championship for the Yellowjackets since 1986.

Pitt was part of Hugh Freeze’s coaching staff at Lambuth from 2008-09. He served as offensive line coach. Indiana head coach Tom Allen was also on staff at Lambuth as defensive coordinator and overseeing linebackers.

“He could take a room full of young men and it wouldn’t take long until everybody in the room was bought in, 100 percent and ready to go to war,” Pitt said of Freeze. “He was a great leader that way of getting everybody to believe. It was one of the greatest things that I saw him do.”

Greenfield coach Don Pitt walks the sideline as the Yellowjackets played West Carroll during a Class 1A second round game at Greenfield on Nov. 13, 2020. © GAIL BAILEY/USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Vols Wire analyzed Freeze’s three-man surface offense.

Freeze previously discussed on “Tennessee Two-A-Days” his offensive principles that he still executes at Liberty.

“I will never change what we do offensively. I don’t know all but what we’ve done, it’s had success everywhere we’ve been. It’s what I am familiar with and what I feel comfortable calling the game with, so we’re doing the same stuff.” — Hugh Freeze on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days”

“It was a good thing that I got to spend those two years with those good coaches and learn so much,” Pitt said of his time at Lambuth. “I carry things that I learned from them many years ago and we’re still doing them at Greenfield, and I know Coach Freeze is still doing them at Liberty.

“The game has changed a lot, but it is still some principles and sort of the same type of offense, calls and things of that nature that I still see on game day through them, and then things that we are still doing at Greenfield.”

The entire show with Pitt can be listened to here or below.

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Ohio State vs. Indiana 2020 enemy territory preview, get to know the Hoosiers

Ohio State is all set to host Indiana in the ‘Shoe on Saturday for a top ten matchup. Here’s everything you need to know about the Hoosiers.

Just like we’ve done over the last couple of seasons, we’ll be providing a preview of Ohio State’s opponent for the upcoming week. It’s a coronavirus pandemic shortened slate, and a chance of other games being canceled, so we’ll have to stay on our toes.

So, if you want to impress your friends while watching the game, we’ve got your cheat code right here. We do the research, you drop nuggets. You win on Saturdays. It’s as simple as that.

Ohio State’s fourth official game of the year is against an Indiana squad that is remarkably ranked inside the top ten, the two teams first and only matchup when both are that highly ranked. This one is for the lead in the Big Ten East Division, and even though the Buckeyes have been installed as an almost three-touchdown favorite, this could be a donnybrook.

Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s Indiana Hoosiers.

NEXT … Indiana’s vitals

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Watch what Indiana head coach Tom Allen said about Ohio State prior to the game Saturday

Indiana coach Tom Allen met with the media during his weekly press conference and had some high praise for Justin Fields and Ohio State.

Ohio State and Indiana are all set to engage in a top ten battle this weekend in the ‘Shoe. When you panned down the abbreviated schedule when it came out after the Big Ten decided to reinstate the fall football season, it’s unlikely that this one was circled on the calendar as a huge contest. But that’s what it is.

Frankly, this might end up being the biggest regular-season game in 2020 for the Buckeyes, we just don’t know yet. As it stands right now, the Hoosiers are first in the Big East Division courtesy of the extra game it has played because of Ohio State’s inability to play last weekend because of the coronavirus pandemic taking a toll on Maryland’s program.

Hoosiers’ head coach, Tom Allen, also knows how big of a game Saturday’s contest is, and also knows what a talented team his squad is going against. That was evident when he made his media appearance Monday to preview the Ohio State.

If you didn’t catch what he said, we’ve grabbed the video from Indiana University Athletics YouTube channel for your viewing pleasure. Click on the below video and listen to Allen talk about how impressed he is with the improvement Justin Fields has made, the state of mind with his team, what this game means to the program, and much, much more.

Ohio State will host Indiana at Noon EST. The game will be televised on FOX with the network’s Big Noon Kickoff Show originating from Columbus.

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Big Ten Bowl Impact: Indiana vs Tennessee

We look back on the Gator Bowl game between Indiana and Tennessee and see how it impacted both the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

With the 2019 college football season officially in the books, it’s time to look back on how the Big Ten did in bowl games.

As we go through all the bowls, in no particular order, we will focus on two main things:

1. How did the bowl performance end the 2019 season? Was it a fitting end or a poor performance, etc.
2. What impact, if any, will it have on the 2020 season.

2020 Gator Bowl: Indiana vs Tennessee

The matchup

Indiana came into the game as an underdog. The Hoosiers were a solid team, but facing an improving Tennessee team that had better recruits, better skill athletes, and ended the season on a five-game winning streak. Indiana, meanwhile, did not beat a single team of note during the season, but also avoided bad losses. It was a huge opportunity for the Hoosiers, but they couldn’t take advantage.

What went right

Indiana punched well above its weight class for almost the entirety of this game. The Hoosiers had a brilliant offensive strategy, got precisely the quarterback play it needed, and had the defense hang with Tennessee’s talent all game long. Tom Allen and his team very clearly brought a perfect game plan, which they managed to execute almost to perfection. The longer the game went, the clearer it was that Indiana was the better-coached and better team. But the Hoosiers let Tennessee stick around.

What went wrong

There’s a lot I can point to throughout the game about this, but I’m only going to focus on the mistakes towards the end. In a terrible minute-long span, Indiana played horrible defense, wasn’t at all prepared for an onside kick, and then played terrible defense again. In the blink of an eye, a 13-point lead turned into a one-point deficit.

Indiana fans and the program should be all over Tom Allen for not being prepared for that onside kick. He coached an incredible game and season, but he couldn’t do the little things that were absolutely needed. This tweet sums it up better than I could:

Next… 2019 wrap-up and 2020 impact

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What Indiana is saying about Michigan before their matchup

Michigan football takes on Indiana this week. Check out what their coaches are saying before the game on Saturday.

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Michigan takes on Indiana this week and the main focus for the Wolverines has been to not overlook Indiana as Ohio State is on deck next week. The team knows that Indiana can’t be overlooked as a trap game opponent and that they have to focus on them before Ohio State.

Before taking on Michigan this week, Indiana head coach Tom Allen spoke to the media and gave the Michigan football program some praise for their success.

“Really a lot of respect for them and their coaches and the talent that they have and how they have recruited and they are who they are historically,” Allen said. “But they just, they’re playing their best football, watching them on film the last couple days. And really impressive football team, physically and athletically and just doing a lot of great things in all three phases, they have got talented specialists. And excellent quarterback and stable of running backs. And, boy, really impressive receiver core. Big, physical, experienced offensive line.”

He then transitioned to their defense led by defensive coordinator Don Brown and how good they are behind him.

“Some new faces on defense,” Allen said. “But very, very athletic. Very explosive. And Don Brown does a phenomenal job schematically and they play really hard. And Coach Harbaugh has got them playing really, really well. So I know they had a big game last week, an important game for them and they played really, really good football, so, in all three phases. So just really an opportunity for them to come here.”

Allen wasn’t the only coach to speak to the media as defensive coordinator Kane Wommack spoke about facing Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson and how he’s changed since playing at Ole Miss, where his dad, Dave Wommack was the defensive coordinator when Patterson was there.

“I’ve gone against Shea Patterson now when I was the defensive coordinator at South Alabama when we went up there to play Ole Miss, then of course last season and this season,” Wommack said. “My dad was the defensive coordinator when he was at Ole Miss, so I’ve kind of known about him for a long time. I think very highly of him and how he plays the game. Certainly, I was a much bigger fan when he was with my dad at Ole Miss, now he just seems to be a big pain in the tail, but he’s just a very talented football player. He’s very gifted, he can make all the throws, he can extend plays and drives with his feet. I think what they have done and evolved to offensively certainly meshes well with what his skillset, and I think they’ve taken advantage of their quarterback and their outside skill.”

“I think they have done a good job of developing him into becoming more of a complete pocket-passer,” Wommack said. “I think the emphasis for him has been to stay in the pocket, keep his eyes downfield. I do think one of the best things … I think him and Johnny Manziel are the two best players that I’ve faced in terms of when they escape the pocket, they keep their eyes downfield. … He does a great job of keeping his eyes downfield, always looking to extend drives and throw the ball and not scramble and rush.”

Indiana offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer also spoke to the media about the Wolverines defense, led by Brown.

“Yeah they’re really good on defense,” DeBoer said. “They have good personnel, and obviously Coach Brown with what he’s doing with his group, he’s having a lot of fun with them, you can tell. He’s letting them play, and the thing that’s really impressive I think is how disciplined they are with what they do. They come at you a lot of different plays, they’re going to keep you off balance. Up front, there’s just a lot of things happening. It’s really impressive, you can tell there’s a lot of experience that’s going into the plans that he puts out there on the football field each and every Saturday.”

DeBoer also brought up how Indiana quarterback Peyton Ramsey will put his past issues against Michigan behind him this week and focus on the game this week.

“I’ve flipped through those games and understand what’s taken place,” DeBoer said. “But we’ll figure out how to attack their defense and lay out the plan of what we’re going to try to accomplish on Saturday.”

Michigan takes on Indiana on Saturday, November 23 at 3:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana.

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