IU Coach Kevin Wilson’s goal through fall camp and the two regular season games leading to the current bye week was development.
Florida International and Ball State had the team’s full attention, Wilson said. IU’s recent history with those programs required that. But there was a larger goal in mind.
“The first two teams had our full attention, but we were looking at getting through this game and next week because now we’re going to truly stand and play 10 weeks of Big Ten, FBS football and (see) what kind of team we’re going to be,” Wilson said after defeating Ball State.
IU faces Wake Forest on Sept. 24 before starting a nine-game conference schedule in October with No. 12 Michigan State and No. 3 Ohio State.
The tough run will test IU’s depth, possibly more than it already has been.
Juniors Jordan Fuchs and Simmie Cobbs Jr. are out for extended periods of time with ankle injuries, meaning IU is without its No. 1 options at tight end and wide receiver.
Senior offensive lineman Dan Feeney suffered a concussion against Ball State, and although the time off should provide time for Feeney to recover, Wilson said IU takes concussions very seriously.
If obstacles arise, junior quarterback Richard Lagow said he is confident the Hoosiers can manage.
“There’s guys at every position. They’re deep,” Lagow said. “If one guy goes down at any position, I believe the next guy is going to come in and be just as effective. That goes for every position. My position, receiver, lineman, anything.”
When Fuchs went out, junior Danny Friend stepped up. Sophomore receiver Nick Westbrook came in for Cobbs and senior lineman Jacob Bailey filled in for Feeney. All three found success.
But even with that depth, Wilson said the team has to keep developing and improving in all three phases. This year that approach is going to be a bit different compared to the bye weeks of years past.
Instead of practicing a few days and then giving the team the weekend off, Wilson had everyone review tape Sunday, and now the coaches are recruiting through Wednesday.
“I want to get them back next weekend and on Friday and Saturday be thinking football instead of off-time, because sometimes when you come off the open dates, you’re a little sluggish,” Wilson said.
If Wilson had had a choice of when that open date came, IU’s bye week would have come a bit later in the season between the fifth and seventh weeks. Wilson said it’s not ideal if it’s too late in the season because he’d like to get out and recruit, and that it’s also not helpful if it’s too early because too many games would be played without a break.
Still, how IU’s schedule shook out did give the coaching staff some wiggle room.
Fall camp led into a Thursday game, which gave IU time to look at Ball State. Now, IU has a bye week before facing Wake Forest.
“We thought we had time to keep evolving,” Wilson said after Ball State. “We needed to be good enough to win. We needed to have enough offense and defense to win. We needed to attack and be aggressive enough to win, but we also felt because of the Thursday night, this game, we had like four weeks to keep growing.”
Wilson said he’s interested to see how IU plays out of the break because teams sometimes play poorly after an open date. If his new strategy works, IU could sweep its non-conference slate for the second consecutive year.
