Virginia 47, Indiana 7: a look at the ugly box score.

by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Oct 11, 2009 9:07 AM EDT

I'm still trying to figure out what happened. I doubt that even the most optimistic Virginia fan thought that yesterday's game was within the realm of possibility. Again, by the numbers, Virginia's offense was one of the very worst in Division I-A before yesterday. Here's what that offense did against IU:

Total offense: 536 yards

Yards per play: 7.1

Yards per rush: 5.1

Jameel Sewell, who was completing 51 percent of his passes before yesterday, completed 67.7 percent yesterday, the second-best percentage of his career. The 308 yards were the second best total of his career, and his 10.3 yards per attempt were his third-best. As for Mikell Simpson, his four touchdowns were by far a career-best. The Hoosier defense sacked Sewell twice, but IU's ability to pressure the quarterback wasn't as might have been hoped considering Virginia's difficulties in that regard.

As for IU's offense, the Hoosiers generated only 272 yards of offense and only 82 yards on the ground. Perhaps the loss of Darius Willis was that big a deal. I suppose we will find out if he is able to play against Illinois next week. Chappell was sacked twice by a previously inept Virginia pass rush and IU turned the ball over twice while forcing none. of IU's 272 yards, 148 were generated on IU's last four drives, meaning that when UVa took a 37-0 lead in the third quarter, IU had generated only 124 offensive yards.

It's tough to avoid overreacting to a game like this. The scoreboard does indeed reset to zeroes next week. Still, as I said last night, this continues a disturbing pattern of blowout losses to unremarkable teams. The caveat, of course, is that it's possible that Virginia has turned the corner. Still, there was nothing in the Cavaliers' performances of 2009 that suggested such a dominant offensive performance was possible. This wasn't a game that got out of hand late. Virginia dominated this game from the beginning.

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Hey look....

Basketball starts this week.

by hoosierdaddynow on Oct 12, 2009 7:21 AM EDT reply actions

I honestly don't know what to say about this team anymore.

I think they definitely have more talent than what they showed on Saturday, but I have little reason to believe they will display any of it the rest of the year.

Time to start making phone calls to “sources close to” Jim Harbaugh, Brian Kelly, Turner Gill, Butch Jones, Chris Peterson, Gary Patterson, or anyone else who might be even remotely interested in this job.

by acelion on Oct 12, 2009 10:34 AM EDT reply actions

Sadly, I’m not sure that the job is a promotion for anyone on your list other than Gill and Jones.

I really don’t want to get too deep into coaching candidate discussion when we only have three losses, but one guy to watch, not just for IU but in general, is Charlie Strong. Strong has been Florida’s DC under both Zook and Meyer, and he worked for Lou Holtz as well (as D line coach at Notre Dame and as defensive coordinator at South Carolina). Other than his stint at ND, Strong’s work has been almost entirely in the south, and he has pretty explicitly opined that he won’t get an SEC job because he’s a) a black man and b) a black man married to a white woman. I remember hearing that he was due for big things back when he was at ND. I’m not necessarily advocating for him, but he is an intriguing candidate. While IU would never admit doing so, I wonder if aggressively searching for an African-American head coach might not be a good way for IU to exploit inefficiencies in the system. Astounding and depressing as this stat is, Miami’s Randy Shannon is the only black head coach in the six major conferences.

The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog

by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Oct 12, 2009 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions

I just pulled out a lot of guys for the sake of variety. My point was mostly that there are about a hundred better options.

I do think any of those I listed could consider the IU job an upgrade if the salary was good. It will be interesting to see what IU is willing (or able) to pay if they do indeed seek a new head coach after the season.

Strong is definitely another good candidate. It’s interesting what you mentioned about him thinking his hiring outlook in the South would be hurt by his being married to a white woman, because that was a big concern of Turner Gill when he was considering interviewing for the Auburn job. In fact there are many people who believe that is the reason he didn’t get the job. I think your view is an interesting one. I have often wondered if black players feel more comfortable playing for a black coach. Unfortunately, there is not enough data to even try to answer since there have been so few black head coaches at big time programs.

If I had to choose the top two candidates at this point I would favor Harbaugh and Gill. To me there is just something about it being Harbaugh that makes a great deal of sense to me. He is well liked in this state from his Colts days, which should help in recruiting the state. He played at Michigan, so he has a good understanding of the conference. His dad was the coach at Western Kentucky for years, which means more recruiting contacts in the midwest. He is a former NFL player, which should help recruiting in general. He seems to be a pretty high energy guy with good charisma, which is a necessity for this job. He isn’t afraid of a challenge if he’s willing to coach at Stanford. And of course, his sister is married to Tom Crean. To me, that last one is a big factor. Then again, it all comes back to whether IU is willing to pay him.

by acelion on Oct 13, 2009 1:11 PM EDT up reply actions