Indiana football: 10 takeaways from the 2022 regular season
Indiana failed in its quest to get back to a bowl game in 2022.
Instead, the Hoosiers finished 4-8, with a 2-7 record in the Big Ten. While not what coach Tom Allen had hoped for, the season did mark an improvement from ’21, when IU went 2-10. The Hoosiers picked up 2 wins in the conference this year, beating Illinois in the Friday night opener in September, then Michigan State with a gigantic comeback on the 2nd-to-last weekend.
As Indiana hits what will be a critical offseason, let’s look back at our 10 takeaways from ’22.
Doubled up
The Hoosiers can take at least some feeling of improvement from the season. After all, they did double up their win total from the season before, when they finished 2-10 and winless in the Big Ten. It wasn’t what Allen had hoped for — before the season, he wanted to prove ’21 was an outlier — but he can at least claim that 2 Big Ten victories shows improvement.
October/November woes
While Indiana might have improved from 2021 to ’22, the jump wasn’t as big as what many would have liked, including fans who thought IU could get back to a bowl game.
But for Indiana to be able to go to the postseason again, like it did to end the ’19 and ’20 seasons, it’ll have to be better in the months of October and November. In the past 2 seasons, the Hoosiers are 1-15 during those fall months, with the 1 victory coming against Michigan State in the penultimate game of this year. Otherwise, Indiana has repeatedly come up empty.
Next year’s October/November slate includes home dates with Rutgers, Wisconsin and Michigan State, along with road games at Michigan, Penn State, Illinois and Purdue.
Inconsistent start
Even in its wins early in the season, over Illinois, Idaho and Western Kentucky, Indiana was inconsistent, showing a vulnerability that was exposed more frequently once the competition was consistently better.
The Hoosiers would play a solid quarter or half, followed by one in which it could do virtually nothing correctly. The issue persisted even into the 1st couple games of October, when IU was tied at the half vs. Nebraska and Michigan in back-to-back weeks only to be outscored a combined 35-0 after the break in the losses.
Had the Hoosiers found even a bit of consistency from one moment to the next in those early games, maybe the season turns out slightly differently.
QB quandary persists
Perhaps Dexter Williams II can recover from his injury — he appeared to suffer a potentially significant right knee issue during the 1st half Saturday vs. the Boilermakers — to claim the Hoosiers’ starting quarterback job in 2023.
Or perhaps not.
Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, the trend lately has not been a positive one at quarterback. Since Michael Penix was injured early last season, then left the program afterward, the quarterback position has been in flux. IU started 4 QBs last season, then 3 more this year.
Williams’ victory at Michigan State was a highlight and showed his potential as a running threat. But he needs to grow as a passer, and now the injury is likely to set back that development. Can he return to be the man next fall? Or will the Hoosiers need to hit the transfer portal once again?
Either way, IU needs to find the right answer at quarterback.
The loss of Cam Jones hurt
The Hoosiers’ chances this season were significantly hurt in early October when linebacker Cam Jones, the heart and soul of the defense, was lost due to a foot injury.
The senior had 55 tackles in 5 games, a total that still ranked 6th on the team by the end of the season. But even more than the statistics, Jones provided the Hoosiers with steady leadership and gave his teammates comfort in knowing he was out there to make plays. Indiana even traveled Jones to road games, a rarity for injured players, because he was of value on the sideline.
The defense in the last 7 games simply wasn’t the same, however, without him on the field.
Coordinator carousel
If for continuity only, Allen has to hope that the Hoosiers are settled at their coordinator coaching positions, because they’ve had far too much change there in the last several seasons.
Walt Ball spent 2022 as the offensive coordinator, while Chad Wilt was the defensive coordinator; both were in their 1st seasons at Indiana. Maybe they will stick around for a 2nd season? Since 2018, the Hoosiers have had 4 offensive and defensive coordinators, leading to schematic changes — even if small ones — nearly every season. It’s not a sustainable model to run a program effectively.
O-line issues (again)
For a 2nd straight season, Indiana had massive problems along its offensive line.
After ignoring it during the last offseason, Allen must address the issue through the transfer portal as soon as possible, bringing in veteran bodies to add talent, experience and depth to a unit that needs all of those things.
This season was a struggle, so much so that Allen decided on a midyear position coach change, as veteran Rod Carey replaced Darren Hiller. It didn’t matter much. Indiana allowed its quarterbacks to be sacked 38 times — more than 3 times per game — the 2nd-worst rate in the Big Ten. A year ago, IU was 12th in the Big Ten in sacks allowed, giving up 29 in its 12 games.
Allen has a lot to prove
Allen likely did enough in ’22 to get another year, especially with a buyout of more than $20 million.
But he’ll have pressure to get Indiana back to at least 6 wins and into the postseason after back-to-back years in which Indiana’s combined record was 6-18. And Indiana has a seemingly endless list of personnel areas to improve, from quarterback to offensive line to its rush ends and the rest of the defense.
Needless to say, it’s going to be a big offseason.
Rushing game remains stuck
Indiana brought in backs Shaun Shivers (Auburn) and Josh Henderson (North Carolina) to help fix its running game.
But the added personnel didn’t help. The Hoosiers finished 13th in the Big Ten in rushing offense, averaging only 110.8 yards per game. That wasn’t all on Shivers and Henderson. Indiana’s offensive line, which was poor in pass protection, also too frequently failed to open running lanes.
The lack of a consistent running game put too much pressure on a passing attack that wasn’t consistent enough and lacked playmakers, especially once wide receiver Cam Camper was injured midseason.
Struggles on D
Perhaps the biggest disappointment for the Hoosiers this season was their unexpected struggle on defense.
A veteran secondary, led by All-America cornerback Tiawan Mullen, couldn’t slow down opponents’ passing attacks — a lack of pass rush didn’t help — as Indiana allowed 274.2 passing yards per game, dead last in the Big Ten. It wasn’t a good look for a unit that had been considered one of the best in the conference only a couple year ago and still had many of the same players from then, like Mullen and Devon Matthews.
It was an incredible step backward that hurt the Hoosiers’ chances significantly.