IU football optimistic about proving doubters wrong in this crucial season: ‘It’s going to be some real good football played here at Indiana.’

In all reality, there is not a lot of optimism from the Hoosier fans based on the product that IU football has produced the last two seasons.

The IU football program went 4-8 last season and in the past two years, it has combined for a dismal 6-18 record.

To say that this upcoming season is a crucial one for this program is a understatement. Tom Allen and IU football simply cannot have the same type of product it has had as of late. They just can’t.

While the fans may not feel the optimism about the 2023 season, the IU football players certainly do and are excited for the chance to prove the doubters wrong.

It is not going to be easy, but the program is wanting recapture the magic from the 2019-2020 seasons.

“Getting in that leadership role, trying to push those guys to believe that we can get back to that,” said senior defensive back Noah Pierre at Big Ten Media Days. “Winning the games we are supposed to win and winning the games that the media might not think that we can win. We’ve done it before. We’ve beaten these guys in the past so its very doable. We just gotta get back to believing that we can do it.”

Last season, IU football started off well winning their first three games, which included a conference victory over Illinois. Things would quickly go downhill after their third win with the Hoosiers dropping their next seven games, only winning one more for the rest of the season.

For the players that were a part of that collapse last year, you really have to reflect on everything that went down, both the positives and negatives.

“Having a season like that, looking back and reflecting, it’s building on the positives things that we did last years and developing the negative things that didn’t lead to our success last year,” said senior linebacker Aaron Casey at Big Ten Media Days. “So just building off the things that we did, coming together as a team to make things better.”

Yes, there were more negatives than positives a season ago. That is a fact. However, when you solely focus on the positives, there are quite a few to zero in on that will translate into this upcoming season.

For starters, you look at the group returning and the guys that will lead this team like Noah Pierre, Aaron Casey, and Jaylin Lucas to name a few. Then, you look as the success in the portal this offseason and the guys they added.

“We have a strong nucleus returning, and we had great success in the portal,” said Indiana head coach Tom Allen at Big Ten Media Days. “We’ve been very focused on identifying young men across this country that were the best football players that fit our culture, that wanted to be at Indiana.”

More: ‘I knew what I had to do’: An in-home visit between Tom Allen and Jaylin Lucas? In today’s age of NIL, yes.

The portal additions for Indiana are highlighted by guys such as Andre Carter, DeQuece Carter, Kobe Minor, Joshua Rudolph, and Philip Blidi.

When speaking to the IU players at Big Ten Media days, they expressed how important it was to add these guys to the roster in the offseason and how they as well have just as much to prove as the returners.

The players that transferred in really sparked the optimism this Indiana team needed.

“Transfers,” Pierre said when asked about what brings optimism to this team. “The new guys that we got in. We gotta lot to prove this year as you got all the guys that are returning and then when you bring in those guys that also have a lot to prove that left their schools for different reasons…they got a lot to prove and they understand that we got a lot to prove to get Indiana football back on the map.”

“I’m gonna say my thoughts on the upcoming season, the guys from the transfer portal, the guys that we needed, It’s going to be some real good football played here at Indiana,” sophomore running back Jaylin Lucas added.

For the Indiana fans, it is understandable that even with the returners, new guys brought in, and the different mindset, you still are not bought back in. After being one of the programs on the rise, this program went crashing down fast the last couple of seasons.

As a fan however, if you were to ask the players why you should be invested and optimistic about this season, they would say that they have put in the work this summer to get this program back to what it was a few a years ago.

“They should watch us because Indiana University, the football team, has been giving everything they have all summer long,” said Aaron Casey. “They (Indiana) have been putting in the time and dedication to work and to come in and learn and grow to make this a good team.”

Electric running back Jaylin Lucas is also confident that the fans are going to like the product that IU football puts on the field this season.

“I’d tell them to be ready to see a lot of balls being thrown and a lot of plays being made on the field.”