10/2/2017 football Edit

Notebook: Monday With Tom Allen, Mike DeBord

Jordan Wells • TheHoosier

Staff

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IU head coach Tom Allen and offensive coordinator Mike DeBord met with the media on Monday to review last weekend's loss to Penn State and preview the upcoming game against Charleston Southern.

TheHoosier.com was in-attendance and has a couple takeaways below.

J-Shun Harris is probable for Saturday's game against Georgia Southern. (Jordan Wells/TheHoosier.com)

Injury Roundup

As the season progresses, naturally a number of injuries occur.

Allen updated the latest status of several players for Saturday's game against Charleston Southern:

Redshirt junior receiver/returner J-Shun Harris - Probable.

Freshman running back Morgan Ellison - Probable.

Junior running back Mike Majette - "Should return."

Sophomore defensive back Marcelino Ball - Doubtful.

Sophomore defensive back A'Shon Riggins - Doubtful.

Some Positives In Defeat

It's not a fact Indiana fans want to hear after the final margin, but it's the truth - there were certainly some things that did go well against Penn State.

Especially when you consider the context of going on the road against a top five team in the country.

For example, even Penn State folks concede the Hoosiers won the line of scrimmage on Saturday.

That's an assessment Allen would agree with.

"If you're losing that battle, you have some legit concern," Allen said on the battle in the trenches. "The future, there's not a lot of answers to change that.

"There's no question that the opening kickoff for a touchdown, fumble a punt that they run back for a touchdown, fumble a run on the second play of the game after a 20-yard run...those are three huge, early plays that made it hard.

"But defensively, we won the line of scrimmage. 16 total plays behind the line of scrimmage, tackles for loss which includes sacks, that's a lot. Offensively, once again, not getting sacked and running the football effectively is what you need to do.

"We're not looking for moral victories or anything like that, but when you go through and evaluate, the score didn't really match the play. We turned the ball over, and that's a huge part of the game and cost us the game, in my opinion. That's my fault, you can't do that and we have to have that fixed. But there are definitely some things to be encouraged by."