The beginning of IU Coach Tom Allen’s tenure as head coach will start when IU takes on No. 19 Utah in the Foster Farms Bowl on Dec. 28 in Santa Clara, California.
Some predictions had the Hoosiers in Nashville, Tennessee, in the Music City Bowl, a destination that would have fit IU well, but the Foster Farms Bowl still presents the team with an opportunity to prove itself against a quality opponent.
Allen said the Hoosiers’ challenging Big Ten East schedule has prepared them well.
“I think anytime you play a great schedule like we play, it allows you to have the confidence to know, ‘Hey, we played some awfully good football teams this year,’” Allen said.
Utah is a really tough opponent, but this game offers IU that chance to break through against top-level competition on the national stage.
In Allen’s introductory press conference, he noted his intention to continue to grow the program.
“My goal for this program is to break through in 2017,” Allen said. “We’ve been close. I joked about it in my last press conference. I’m tired of getting text messages from my buddies telling me how hard we play, how close we are. Those things are true. It’s time to break through.”
While Utah isn’t a traditional power like Ohio State and Michigan, beating Utah would be a perfect way to kick off the Allen tenure.
Utah also offers IU a new opponent because IU doesn’t typically play Pac-12 teams.
The Hoosiers have not played a Pac-12 team since 2004, when they played the Oregon Ducks.
“It’s fresh, and it’s new, absolutely,” Allen said. “It’s a team where there’s not going to really be any common opponent. There’s going to be a whole new challenge.”
Teams’ mindsets are often hard to gauge heading into bowls because the game is so far removed from the regular season and their normal schedules.
Add to that coaching changes and players deciding if they want to enter the NFL draft, and there’s nothing consistent about bowl games.
Allen said his players were chomping at the bit to get back to practice, and from what we’ve seen from their messages of support on Twitter, the players are going to use this bowl as an opportunity to rally around each other and their coach.
However, the turmoil swirling around the program makes this game more difficult for the Hoosiers than previously expected.
The location, from a travel standpoint, is far from ideal. It’s going to be hard for Hoosier fans to watch in person the first game of Allen’s time as head coach, but California is a nice reward for the players who have earned this opportunity.
IU’s moving forward as a program, and the Foster Farm’s Bowl is just another step in the right direction.
aphussey@indiana.edu
@thehussnetwork
