Tom Allen and his Indiana Hoosiers have been kicked in the teeth this season, plain and simple. The team has been decimated by injuries, and their schedule only exacerbated depth issues they were experiencing as a result. For a team that entered the season with so much promise (16th in the preseason AP rankings), 2021 has been a disappointment. Teams in every sport deal with a run of bad luck at some point, but fortunately for Indiana, this stretch should not end up being a momentum-killer for an ascending program.
I believe Allen is a hell of a football coach, and he has the Hoosiers heading in a positive direction… but a program like IU can only deal with so much adversity and roster depletion before it becomes too much to overcome.