Purdue 33, Indiana 25: Hoosier comeback attempt falls short.
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Nov 26, 2011 10:36 PM EST
in Indiana Hoosiers Football
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PrintIU turned in one of its better efforts of the 2011 season, but it wasn't enough to keep the Old Oaken Bucket in Bloomington. The Hoosiers failed to fully take advantage of Purdue's vulnerability in the first half, and an attempted fourth quarter comeback fell short, thanks in part to a very strange call that was reminiscent of IU's 2009 loss to Michigan. I have to admit that I am to some degree flying blind on the joint possession issue. I am out of state and watched much of the second half in a restaurant with no sound on the TV, so until catching wind of it online I didn't even realize that the play was deemed unreviewable. I don't understand it, and I thought the IU receiver caught it and hit the ground with it, but I'll defer judgment until I have a chance to read more about it.
I thought the key sequence of the game came in the middle of the second quarter, when IU had the Boilermakers on their heels. IU led 14-10 and had the ball first and goal at the 8. Increasing the lead to 21-10 would have put Purdue under some serious pressure. Instead, Tre Roberson was sacked for a 15 yard loss, IU settled for a field goal, gave up a huge return on the kickoff, and one play later Ralph Bolden jogged into the end zone to tie the game at 17. That was a nice microcosm of the season, with breakdowns on offense, defense, and special teams within a 30 second window.
All that said, it was a reasonably competent performance compared to some we have seen this year. The offense, at least, seems to be in reasonably good hands with Roberson at QB, Stephen Houston and D'Angelo Roberts at running back, and Kofi Hughes at WR. The defense was brutalized once again, giving up 508 yards, including 292 on the ground. We will have to see if the juco fix works for the defense.
I don't have time to give a full post-mortem of the season at this point. With some Saturday to Saturday gaps in basketball coming up, I'll take a look back at the football season in the near future.
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Bit of a heartbreaker this one was
never expected to be in it but when you get the rug pulled out from under you on a possible comeback it just stings a little more than it should. Either way there were a lot of positives to take away from this game and into the off season. We may actually be able to look back on this year at some point and say it was necessary to make the transition in the Kevin Wilson era.
Lots of good things were seen out of the young guys this year and the major flaws were field discipline and mental. Those are fixable and though I don’t think we’ll be a major contender any time soon, we’ll be a much better football team than what we saw this season.
The running game will be fine with the gimicky triple option. The passing game will be serviceable. It’s great to see the potential in that offense yesterday and even better to see Wilson outcoach the opposition in a loss. With a few higher caliber/veteran players at some key positions that game was a W.
The defense should come around as more learning and capable guys get plugged in in the off season. Juco players galore will be coming in with the 2012 class to provide major reinforcements to a secondary that is just not up to par. Should at least be an interesting year next year if not super successful one.
-Contributing Writer at The Crimson Quarry.
outcoaching
out coaching Danny Hopeless is not exactly a challenge
How do you figure Danny Hope was outcoached in this game?
Everything's more important with bunting.
by Veni Vidi Vici on Nov 27, 2011 8:49 PM EST up reply actions
Close and on to next year
Offense is going to be very good next year. The defense will determine if they will make a bowl. Houston, Roberson, Kofi Hughes, and Wynn will provide plenty of highlights. Next year the Bucket game will be determining if the Hoosiers go bowling.
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