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Tom Allen reveals motto for Indiana’s 2023 season, preparation for Ohio State opener
By Keith Farner
Published:
Tom Allen spoke from Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday as the Indiana coach made it to Big Ten Media Days. He revealed that the word of the season for the Hoosiers will be toughness.
“We define that as mental and physical strength to persevere,” he said, and noted that 8 games last season were decided in the 4th quarter as the season finished with a 4-8 record. “So for the past 7 months we’ve been building our toughness and developing this football team to be able to finish those opportunities.”
In what has become a trend for the Hoosiers, they will again open with a Power 5 opponent and a Big Ten Championship contender in Ohio State. In fact, 5 of Allen’s 7 years in Bloomington, IU has opened with a B1G opponent.
“Challenging yes, but I would say it forces you to grow up real fast,” Allen said. “And so the urgency of the offseason is impacted by this reality, who you play Sept. 2 to open the season, I think it helps you. It helps you grow, it helps you have that attention to detail at a high level. Everybody’s excited about the start of the season, but I think when it’s that kind of opponent, it all gets raised to another level. So our team knows that, we understand that, there’s an urgency that our staff has because of it and fall camp is affected by that in a very positive way. So it’s a challenge that we embrace without question.”
Keith Farner has written about college football for newspapers and web sites since 2005.