At 6-1 and having put together a historic season, Indiana head football coach Tom Allen believes his football team has done everything necessary to earn a New Year's 6 bowl bid this season.
On Tuesday, he laid out his case while meeting with the media.
"I believe so. It is a unique year and every conference has different numbers. Some have more than that, some less than that and some in between. We played a consecutive Big Ten schedule, all those games in a row, seven of them, physical football, tough football, every single week, no bye weeks, I think our guys did a great job of being refocused each year and playing at a high level each week. I know it's a unique year, and there will be a lot of debates and conversations, but I think when you play in this league and play that level of physicality each week, it makes a difference. I feel like our guys done a tremendous job putting themselves in position. We've done what we've done, and there's nothing we can do to change that. Now we sit and wait and see what happens," Allen said.
Allen said the Rose Bowl of 1968 is the last big time bowl the Hoosiers have played in, but they will welcome any bowl berth.
"Massive opportunity for us at our finger tips, but any bowl opportunity is huge for us and we haven't won a bowl game in a long time. It is a very high goal we have in our program and next breakthrough opportunity for us to check off. Wherever that is we are going to be excited, but the New Year's 6 is prestigious and shows you are one of the top teams in the country. I believe we've played to that level to be given that opportunity. The chance to go to the Fiesta Bowl and play in that setting would be awesome for our program, but wherever we go we will be fired up and ready to play," Allen said.
When it comes to the season's accomplishments, Allen admits he is impressed, especially considering all the team endured on and off the field.
"To see the guys fight through all that, stay together and play at a high level, that to me is what sticks out. I've seen the list and it's really long of all the things this team has not done in a long time, and it's impressive. I'm blessed to have an awesome group of men to coach with and an unbelievable group of players," Allen said.
Allen said he has addressed the CFP rankings with his team and has made it known how he feels.
"I get it, it's a tough job. They have a very challenging job. At the same time, I just want, it doesn't matter how many games you lose and there's consequences to losing. Our one loss is to Ohio State at their place and we lost by a touchdown. We had the ball twice in the fourth quarter to go down for a score... We won the rest of our games. I didn't make some statement or tweet something out and told guys to follow my lead on that and we would handle it the right way and let our play do the talking. We can't control that," Allen said.
When the Hoosiers take the field again in a bowl game, Allen said they will be ready and highly motivated with a chip on their shoulder.
"When we get that opportunity, this is a very motivated team, that has a chip on its shoulder and something to prove. So whoever picks us will get a highly motivated, highly prepared football team who will play their best on that day," Allen said.
The Hoosiers have been shelved since last week due to Covid-19 positive cases. Allen said the team has a total of 28 positive cases and that includes both players and coaches.
"Significant number, and we've had those since our Wisconsin game. It's caused us to be on pause. Goal is to be in a position to have a regular practice next Monday in preparation and have two full weeks of bowl prep," Allen said.
Allen said that he believes the players who have tested positive will have a full week of practice preparing for the bowl game, which would allow them to be physical ready.
"We expect to have all our guys with us," Allen said.
----
• Talk about it inside The Hoops Forum or The Football Forum
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Follow us on Twitter: @IndianaRivals
• Like us on Facebook.
