9/18/2020 football Edit

No Opt Outs? A Good Sign for Indiana Football

Jordan Gould • TheHoosier

Staff

Jordan Gould is an incoming senior and sports media student at Indiana University. Gould is interested in video production and broadcasting, in addition to writing.

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Despite the Big Ten postponing fall sports, with the commissioner standing pat on the decision— then reversing the league’s stance and announcing on Wednesday that football will be played beginning next month— members of the Indiana football program have made it clear from the start: they came to play.

“No one ever came to me and said, ‘Coach, I’m not doing this,’” Indiana head football coach Tom Allen said. “I think our guys are pretty locked in and believe in what we’re doing.”

With an unprecedented season looking to get underway, NFL draft prospects such as Ohio State’s Shaun Wade and Wyatt Davis have rescinded their initial statements that they would be opting out of the season.

“Now it’s back,” Wade said in an interview with ESPN. “Since it’s back, we’ve got a chance to win a national championship. That’s been my goal since day one.”

Ohio State, fresh off a college football playoff appearance last season, will play a surging Indiana program. Indiana is coming off their best season since 1993.

Indiana football looks to build off of their impressive 2019 campaign. The Hoosiers finished 8-5 overall. (Photo Courtesy: IU Athletics)

“We have a maturity about our team,” Allen said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who have played a lot of football that are playing for us this season. To me, that gives us an advantage.”

The Hoosiers are returning 17 starters from last season’s squad, and adding graduate transfer Dylan Powell into the mix for the offensive line will give Michael Penix Jr. the protection he needs to be successful.

Even though a schedule has yet to be released to this point, Allen knows his program has to take this season one game at a time— a COVID-19 outbreak for Indiana or one of their opponents could wipe out everything.

“All we can control is one thing, getting ready to play game number one,” Allen said. “We [will] play our best football week number one and do everything we can to start this season out 1-0.”