The Indiana football team has reached heights not seen in more than three decades.
Following Saturday’s win at Rutgers, the Hoosiers have climbed to No. 13 in the nation in the latest Associated Press and coaches’ polls. It’s their highest ranking since 1987, when they topped out at No. 11 for one week.
The last time Indiana was ranked inside the top-15 team came the following year in 1988 when it reached No. 14. But that, too, lasted just one week as IU then lost at Michigan.
That began a string of 25 straight losses to the Wolverines, the team the Hoosiers will host Saturday for a noon kickoff.
Indiana coach Tom Allen knows the Hoosiers’ historic futility against the Wolverines – they’re just 9-60 overall – will be a talking point leading up to the game.
“The record is what it is, you know,” Allen said Monday. “We talk about things pretty openly and honestly in our program, and this fall camp have been challenging our guys about the way they think, I'm always a big believer in mindset, we talked about that all the time. But, just more specifically, talking about the past not being predictive. And I don't believe it is unless you don't change what you do on a daily basis, and then it will become predictive.
“The past is real, but it's not predictive unless you don't do something to change it. And so to me, it's, it's what you do next.”
Allen has been working to change the mindset at Indiana since taking over the team as head coach for the Foster Farms Bowl in 2016.
Indiana had close loses to ranked teams in each of Allen’s first two seasons, then went 8-5 in 2019, including an appearance in the Gator Bowl.
Then, this year, the Hoosiers opened with the win over then-No. 8 Penn State.
“You find a way to win those very games that we in the past had had found a way not to win, you know, or just fallen short,” Allen said. “So, then once you start experiencing that, then it just starts growing.
“So everything you've been talking about to your players, now changes from me saying it, and me trying to convince them and create that belief within them before it happens. So now, we just did it. And they've experienced it. … And, you know, the bottom line is that changes the way you think about the future, and you start expecting to win those games instead of that proverbial waiting for something bad to happen.”
Indiana will take Tuesday off for the election. Then it’s back to work on Wednesday as the Hoosiers eye a 3-0 start in Big Ten play for the first time since 1988.
