Across The Web- Indiana

0-5 is a rough way to start in the Big Ten.  What does Kevin Wilson need to do to get this Indiana team a conference win? Now that he has more experience, do you think Wilson is the right fit for Indiana?

Well, he needs to beat Purdue.  That’s the only hope for a conference win.  IU could improve its play 100 percent in each of the next two games and wins at Ohio State and at Michigan State still would be unlikely.  The offense, led by true freshman QB Tre Roberson and RB Stephen Houston, seems to be coming around, but to have any hope of beating Purdue, we will have to cobble something together on defense.  As for Wilson, I think it’s too early to say.  I really liked his qualifications when he was hired and I still do.  I really liked the qualifications of his staff and I still do.  This season has been a disappointment, particularly on defense, and Wilson seems willing to blow things up to some degree and start from scratch.  We’ll see if it works.  Plenty of successful coaches have had rough first years (Barry Alvarez, Bill Snyder, Bill Mallory at IU).  Plenty of unsuccessful coaches have had rough starts as well.  It’s just too early to tell.

What is one thing that Indiana fans are hopeful can get sorted out by the end of the season?I would hope that the defense can look a bit more competent in these last three games.  Maybe they could only get beat by 5 yards instead of 15.  I don’t expect an immediate turnaround, but some level of competence would be nice, and will be necessary if IU is to win another game.

What style of offense does Wilson employ?  Does he have the players to execute it well?

Wilson has shown flexibility over his years as an offensive coordinator, running more of a pure spread at Northwestern with perhaps more of a pro style attack at times at Oklahoma.  I’m far from an expert on strategy, but my sense is that IU is running more of a spread attack, with most of the snaps coming from the shotgun.  Tre Roberson adds much more of a running element to the QB position, and you also will see WR Kofi Hughes take some snaps in a Wildcat formation. 

Does the recent dismissal of Demarlo Belcher impact this team in a meaningful way? What was he like in the locker room/in the huddle?

Unfortunately, Belcher has been hurt and has apparently had disciplinary problems earlier in the season, so I don’t know that he has had much impact on the offense this year.  I can’t speak with any authority on what he was like in the locker room or the huddle, but I would say the terms of his dismissal, the ever-present and vague “violation of team rules,” suggest some problem in that regard.

At this point, it’s Tre Roberson, the freshman quarterback.  He definitely has given the offense a spark since he has begun starting, and he’s an excellent runner, and looks surprisingly solid as a passer given his inexperience.  Also, he looks really comfortable on the field taking charge of the offense, including guys who are years older than he is. 

How has losing the commitment of uber-recruit Gunner Kiel been discussed by Hoosier fans? Are the chances still good that he ends up in Bloomington?

It’s a big disappointment, because recruits of Kiel’s caliber don’t come our way that often.  It’s not that a five star recruit is necessary to IU’s success, but it would have been a big shot in the arm.  I have no personal knowledge of the circumstances of Kiel’s decommitment, but based on the opinions of people I trust, I consider it extremely, extremely unlikely that he will end up at IU.

I generally avoid Notre Dame in this discussion, because it’s the obvious fit but is extremely unlikely to happen.  Most of the programs I would consider already have moved.  As a fan of a basketball school, I think that if the Big Ten were going to expand to 14, going westward with Kansas and Missouri would be a good fit culturally and geographically.  Of course, the Mizzou ship seems to have sailed, and I have no idea if such a move would work financially, given that football is the revenue king.  Alternatively, I wouldn’t have minded going east and adding Pitt and Syracuse, but again, that’s moot now.  Really, there is no school that is seemingly on the market that appeals to me other than Kansas, and I’m not sure that move would make sense without Missouri.

Who would I want to avoid?  I have to fight the urge to strangle anyone who mentions Rutgers.  I don’t care how many TV sets there are in NYC and New Jersey, the Big Ten should have more respect for its brand than to add a school that would drag down the quality of the conference in both football and basketball.  If we were to go that far east, I would much prefer Connecticut.  Also, I have no interest in second-tier commuter schools such as Louisville and Cincinnati.

This is the first I have heard of it.  It works for me.  Longtime Bloomington sportswriter Bob Hammel once pointed out that while it’s difficult to compare recruiting of old to its modern counterpart, perhaps the most impressive recruiting stat ever is that Ohio State ended up with three members of the Basketball Hall of Fame in the same class: Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek, and Knight.

As anyone who has read A “Season on the Brink” knows, Knight had no affection for Ohio State for a long time, so I actually see it as a hopeful sign for an eventual return to be honored by IU.  Also, perhaps while he is in Columbus, someone will remind Coach Knight that his idol, Woody Hayes, eventually mended fences with the university that fired him.  I know that IU athletic director Fred Glass and coach Tom Crean would love to have him back.