What Indiana head coach Tom Allen & his coordinators said about Penn State ahead of Saturday’s matchup
Indiana football entered a new stratosphere last season after it defeated Penn State in the season opener. The Hoosiers knocked off the Nittany Lions, 36-35, in a home game for Indiana and head coach Tom Allen.
That game changed how the program was viewed and altered its trajectory for the rest of the season.
“There’s no question that it was a big win,” Allen said Monday at his weekly press conference. “I think that’s been stated many times since. When you beat a team of that caliber in regards to their tradition and the way they’ve won and how good they were, being a top-10 team at that point in the season.”
The win was the starting point for a historic Indiana season that led to the team going 6-2 and winning at least 80% of its games for the first time since 1967.
The Hoosiers had been close in the past to upsetting ranked teams, which Penn State — led by head coach James Franklin — was at the time, but that was the game where the team finally crossed the finish line and sealed the deal.
It was also the game that showed the team’s belief in itself was warranted.
“To be able to come back there at the end of that final drive and then win in overtime, it just gives a tremendous surge of confidence to your guys,” Allen said. “I just think that the ability to experience that whole situation, as we’ve gone through and talked about many times ... Being able to find a way to finish. I just think those are parts to building your program.”
Now, just under a year later, the Hoosiers will take on the Nittany Lions again with the teams in similar positions to where they were entering last year’s matchup. Indiana is looking to once again pull of the upset to get its program on the right track against a Penn State team that is currently ranked No. 4 and coming off four straight wins to start the season.
Here’s everything Allen and his coordinators had to say about the Nittany Lions going into the game.
Indiana head coach Tom Allen
(on playing Penn State)
“Great challenge against Penn State in a very, very difficult environment at night. Excited for it, though. Obviously a really good football team, a top-5 team in the country right now. Coach Franklin does a tremendous job in both recruiting and player development and the way their teams perform. Tremendous challenge and opportunity for this football team this week. Excited to be able to get back together tomorrow, and get ready and prepare for the Nittany Lions.”
(on how win last year changed program)
“There’s no question that it was a big win. I think that’s been stated many times since. When you beat a team of that caliber in regards to their tradition and the way they’ve won and how good they were, being a top-10 team at that point in the season. Had been close with them before, and just being able to find ways to finish and we all know how that game played itself out. To be able to come back there at the end of that final drive and then win in overtime, it just gives a tremendous surge of confidence to your guys. I just think that the ability to experience that whole situation, as we’ve gone through and talked about many times ... Being able to find a way to finish. I just think those are parts to building your program. ... Road games are hard. The environment you play in is tough. Now the next step is to get one of those big road wins, where you do beat a top-10 team or ranked team on the road. It’s just building a program, step-by-step, day-by-day. It’s building belief and it’s building expectation, then when you experience it, it elevates those things and you just keep growing and building.”
(on Penn State’s environment)
“The good news is we’ve played on the road. Obviously Iowa was a hostile environment and then we had a chance to play a night game here this weekend (at Western Kentucky). It was a great environment that they had and I knew they would. It was loud, and it’ll be louder this weekend. I think those things prepare you, for sure. Experiencing that as a team is very, very important. Definitely a lot different than a year ago, without question. That experience, we have a lot of older players and we’ve got some younger players too, that had a chance to experience both of those. You learn from that and I think that does nothing but help us. But yeah this is one of the toughest places to play in the country and that’s also exciting as well. I’ve coached in a lot of these types of venues, and it’s why you do what you do.”
Indiana offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan
(on playing against Penn State when he played for Michigan)
“There was a big family wedding that was going on that day, obviously I wasn’t attending. It was a nationally televised game. I came in off the bench, I didn’t start that game. I got sacked for a safety, I think by Jared Odrick, so my whole family was able to enjoy that while one of my cousins was getting married. It’s a wonderful environment, and Penn State’s fans and the atmosphere that they create, the history of the program, the quality of football that that program has had for a long, long time is a testament to all the players and coaches and people in that community. Tough place to play, but an opportunity for our guys that I know they’re looking forward to.”
(on Penn State’s defense)
“They’re very aggressive, they’re very fast and athletic and powerful. They have a good combination of everything. They have big, strong players up front, they have second and third level players that can run and cover and hit. I think their defensive staff does a phenomenal job and they’re very aggressive, they’re very multiple, they present a lot of challenges. That’s why they’re very good each and every year. Certainly the talent of player that they’ve recruited is excellent, but I think their coaches do an exceptional job as well. It’ll be a tremendous challenge for us in a very loud environment. We’re gonna have to be on it. We’re gonna have to execute at a high level and I think our guys are looking forward to that.”
(on Penn State’s pass rush)
“It’s a big challenge, there’s no doubt. ... The longer the routes take to develop, the longer the quarterback has to hold on to the ball, so there’s always a fine balance of that. Our guys up front recognize the challenge that they’ll face on Saturday. ... They do a great job up front, a lot of movement, a lot of pressure, really good players. They do a great job. They have our full attention. There’s no doubt as far as the quality of players that they have and the great job that their staff does.”
Indiana defensive coordinator Charlton Warren
(on Penn State’s offense compared to last year)
“They have a body of work this year, in the games they’ve played, (that’s) enough to see what (offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich’s) identity is a little bit and what he likes to do, and the things he does to make it difficult for a defense. So I haven’t really showed them last year’s film, because they are a lot different. Between tempo and formations ... they’re just a different tree of offense to me. Really been focused on their sample from this year, which is four games that you can dig into and see what they’ve done and allow you to give your guys an example of what to expect on Saturday.”
(on challenges of defending Penn State)
“I think they do a great job of tempo, going fast. They do a tremendous job of giving you weird formations. You watch the Auburn game, they’ve got an offensive lineman lined up at wideout and they hide the tight end and throw it down the middle for, basically, a wide open touchdown. Reverses, jet sweeps, putting three guys into the boundary tight, putting four guys wide to the field, they just give you a lot of things. They give you three tight ends but they give you a formation that looks like there’s four wide outs in the game. Then if you get small, they put those three guys in the core and try to bloody your nose. They take (TE Tyler Warren) and put him at quarterback. They give you a lot of packages, formations, things that break tendencies of normal offense. You gotta be versatile enough in your scheme to be able to combat those at any time, between 13 personnel, 12 personnel, 11 personnel and then all of the formations. And then (they add) the tempo.”
