Indiana football sits at just one win away from bowl eligibility. It's the first time since 2007 that the team can play for an elusive sixth win before the end of October. Redshirt junior safety Marcelino Ball has exemplified the Hoosiers' season as an unselfish player on the defense, quietly doing his job in order for the team to win.
For the Indiana Hoosiers, redshirt junior husky Marcelino Ball is having a quiet season. He's not jumping off the stat sheet or making splash plays every week on defense. Instead, he is doing whatever is asked of him so that his teammates can be put in better situations.
It's this team-first mentality that has helped propel Indiana to a 5-2 record, with a chance to earn a sixth win this upcoming Saturday in Lincoln, Nebraska.
To maximize the speed and athleticism of the 6-foot, 223-pound Ball, Indiana has played him on special teams in tandem with his defensive responsibilities. Despite the extra playing time, the team's starting husky has just 23 tackles on the season.
It wasn't until last week against Maryland, when Ball didn't take a single snap away from his husky position, that he was able to break through and receive recognition for his play in a gutsy win on the road. He not only accounted for five tackles and a sack, but continuously did the little things correctly.
“I’m just doing my job," Ball said on Monday. "I just happened to be a situation to make the tackle. Ain’t nothing about the stat sheet, just doing your job.”
When the team needed it most, down three in the fourth quarter, redshirt sophomore safety Juwan Burgess forced a crucial fumble and recovered the football on the very same play. He ran downhill at Maryland running back Javon Leake, bottled him up near the line of scrimmage and pulled the football away from his body.
He was in the position because Ball refused to be blocked by a wide receiver on the edge, allowing Burgess to fly in and make the play. Indiana would kick a field goal on its next drive, which would be the final scoring play of the game.
“I was just focused on destroying the blocker," Ball said "Me and Juwan, and the other rovers that come in to play, our bond has been good. Really, it’s our trust that we’ve built up throughout the year and so he knew what I was going to do, and I knew where Juwan was going to be.”
Ball's ability to play in multiple roles on defense is a parallel to Indiana's season up to this point. Players are executing for each other and not boasting about stats posted in the game. Against Maryland, Ball was fortunate enough be there for his handful of tackles.
Despite a stellar game, he and Hoosiers are now solely focused on Nebraska. A victory on the road against Maryland is in the past.
The team has continuously pushed for a one-game-at-a-time mentality. Win or loss, the team moves on. There's no mention of winning six, Allen said. This game is the most important game for the Hoosiers because it's the next one.
“Shoot, how many games we got left?" Ball asked, the answer being five. "So we trying to get five wins. Simple as that. If we had twelve games, we’d try to get twelve wins. It’s not about the bowl, it’s about the wins.”
When Allen became the head coach, he set goals for himself to reestablish things that haven't happened within the program in quite some time. He said the players embrace that culture of change. Consequently, the team set its own goal of not only reaching a bowl game, but winning one, and to do that they've fully prepared for each opponent without looking ahead.
The last time Indiana won six games and reached a bowl game was when the team played in the 2016 Foster Farms Bowl. It was the season when Allen was named head coach during the season. At this point, the Hoosiers aren't thinking about representing the university again. Not yet at least.
"It's completely on Nebraska," Allen said. "We give them our very, very best effort, focus during the week, we play our best game of the season on Saturday, then we'll like the outcome. And then when that's done, you go work on the next one. That's been our approach all season long, and that's not going to change.”
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