Kalen DeBoer is not naïve.
As IU's new offensive coordinator, he understands that Indiana fans clamor for an exciting product on the field that fills Memorial Stadium's stands and avoids putting team in perilous situations.
Ultimately, though, what DeBoer wants to see is exactly what Allen demanded in his final postgame press conference in 2018: an offense that doesn't turn the ball over and generates more explosive plays.
"Really what it comes down to offensively and as a team is creating more turnovers, and for us taking care of the football, and then having more explosives than your opponent," DeBoer said. "When you do that, you're going to win over 90 percent of the time."
His resume backs up his words.
Prior to DeBoer's arrival, Fresno State struggled to take care of the ball, sharing with eight other schools for 47th nationally in turnovers lost with 18 in 2016. That same year, they also generated only 31 completions of 20-plus yards according to cfbstats.com, tied with five others for 102nd nationally.
In 2017 - DeBoer's first season with the program - the Bulldogs lost only 13 turnovers, tied with 10 other schools for eighth nationally. They also had 54 completions of 20-plus yards, tied with Mississippi and Buffalo for 21st nationally.
In 2018, Fresno State lost only 14 turnovers - tied with seven other schools for 14th nationally - and had 56 completions of 20-plus yards, good 16th nationally. (Note: 20-plus yards is being used because it was the closest to 15-plus yards which Allen defined as how the IU staff measures explosive plays).
"We want to make sure we're putting the points on the board, but we're also not so reckless that we're putting our defense in a vulnerable position," DeBoer said.
From a schematic standpoint, DeBoer wants to see a run game that sets up play action and takes advantage of the size of Indiana's receivers.
"There was a consistent run game for the most part. You should be able to have some play action to go along with it. Play action always doesn't have to be shots down the field, but it should open that up. We've got some big receivers from what I've seen that can go up and get the football and some guys that can get it down the field, as well.
"You know, that to me marries up pretty well, and then just that aggressive -- we want to have the ability to speed things up and play with some tempo. When you know you've got them or when it's the right time or you need a little kick start, there's a lot of different reasons why you do that. So the ability to have some tempo.
"We're going to try to keep it simple, but we also want to be complex from the defensive side of things and how they look at us."
Ultimately, those things go into creating an attitude. That attitude, in turn, is what will lead to the a product on the field that IU fans look forward to seeing on Saturdays.
"You know, a lot of plays are kind of cool and guys like those and they can feel it, and they know it's going to be big, but in the end, it's how you manipulate it and how you create the attitude that I think ends up with a product on the field that's exciting to watch," DeBoer said.
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