Indiana athletic director Fred Glass is pleased with the buzz around his department as the IU Tailgate Tour begins. And that energy was palpable at the tour's first stop in Fort Wayne on Tuesday.
BLOOMINGTON – Indiana isn’t going bowling. That doesn’t mean the Hoosiers have had a bad year.
“I think we’ve made some solid progress,” Indiana coach Kevin Wilson said Tuesday. “I think we’ve got some scoreboards that we needed to get on our side that we let go. I don’t think we managed the game right or call it right or execute it right or make a play.”
Wilson says IU has a lot of work to do, but it has certainly made progress after last year’s one-win debacle in Wilson’s first season.
“Now the foundation is taking off and we’re moving,” Wilson said. “We’ve had a little bit more success. We’ve got an opportunity this week to get our third Big Ten win. So that would be a nice finish.”
This weekend’s game at rival Purdue would certainly do that. Indiana defensive tackle Adam Replogle will play his last game as a Hoosier on Saturday, and he thinks Indiana is headed in the right direction.
“We just need to improve every day,” Replogle said. “I think we’ve done that as a team, we’ve done that as a program and we just need to do that on Saturday. We just have to get better. And I think you’ve seen that and I think you’re still going to remain to see that here in years to come.”
Indiana has higher expectations for itself.
“To me, we have a long way to go because we’re not trying to be competitive, we’re not trying to be close,” Wilson said. “We cautioned our team early in the year to not accept being patted on the back for playing a close game. Our object is to win, play winning football …”
It’s been a rough two weeks for the Hoosiers, getting blown out at home against Wisconsin, 62-14, and on the road at Penn State last week, 45-22.
The losses rewrote a feel-good story for the Hoosiers, who had won two straight and were even a longshot at making the Big Ten title game in certain scenarios.
Replogle thinks a future bowl appearance by the Hoosiers is possible, and he’s happy that he was part of the success.
“For me, it would be huge knowing that we kind of laid the foundation for what’s going to come,” Replogle said. “I would feel privileged to have played with some of the guys that would go to the bowl game. We just have great players, great coaches, so it’s going to happen.”
But first it’s off to West Lafayette, where Wilson wants to send his seniors off with a sweet taste in their mouths.
“They’ve made a lot of investment here,” Wilson said. “I think they’ve helped us significantly. They’ve earmarked our program with their commitment and work, and it would be nice to send those guys out on a positive note.”
