The 2020 season was one of broken streaks for IU football. The team was ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 Poll for the first time in 51 years. IU broke decades-long streaks all season long, including its first win over a top-10 team and first win over Michigan since 1987.
While many streaks were snapped in 2020, some still remain. The team has not won the Big Ten since 1967, has not beaten Ohio State since 1988 and has not won a bowl game since 1991.
In 2021, head coach Tom Allen and his team are looking to sustain and improve on last season’s success.
Related: [IU football transfers step up in spring practice]
“Do I expect us to compete, to go win a Big Ten championship? Absolutely I expect us to do that,” Allen said in February. “I was asked that earlier when the season was over, and that to me is what we’re chasing after. To get there is going to be a lot of hard work, and a whole bunch of guys doing a lot of little things we haven’t done before in the offseason.”
Allen’s championship-driven mindset extends throughout the coaching staff, including new associate head coach and running backs coach Deland McCullough.
McCullough served as IU’s running backs coach from 2011 through 2016 before heading to University of Southern California to coach in the same capacity 2017. He rejoined IU’s staff this offseason having most recently coached for the Kansas City Chiefs from 2018 through 2021, winning Super Bowl LIV with the team.
Related: [‘It was worth the risks’: An inside look at IU football’s historic pandemic season]
“We’ve had different guys step up and show various levels that can help us win championships, and that's what I'm here to do,” McCullough said.
The coaching staff’s message has resonated with the players, who view 2021 as an opportunity to accomplish things the team couldn’t grasp in the historic 2020 campaign.
Senior wide receiver Ty Fryfogle, an AP third-team All-American and the Big Ten Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year in 2020, said that the team is hungry for more in 2021.
Related: [Penix, McFadden win 2020 MVPs in IU football team awards]
“With this football team I feel like we still left some stuff on the table, we got a lot more that we can accomplish,” Fryfogle said. “The future is bright for this team. We’re getting better each and every day.”
IU returns the third most production in the Big Ten and 24th most in the nation in 2021, according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly. With so much production back from a team that was a touchdown away from the Big Ten Championship Game, the Hoosiers expect to compete for a conference title this season.
“We have a lot of great guys coming back. This football team is gonna be really special,” Fryfogle said. “We play in a very tough conference, week in and week out, you’re gonna be facing top-tier teams. You can’t overlook anybody.”
Related: [Which IU football players are leaving, and how will it affect the team?]
While IU football achieved many things it had not for decades in 2020, Allen said the Hoosiers still have a lot more to accomplish in order to fully realize their vision going forward.
“We gotta work now, we haven’t done anything,” Allen said. “We haven’t won the Big Ten East. We haven’t won the Big Ten. We’ve gotten better, yes, we’ve finished higher, yes. We haven’t won a bowl game. There’s a lot of things we haven’t done. To me, there’s a lot of fire and passion inside of me to keep building this thing.”
