IU football’s player-led meeting Monday started coming together moments after loss to Iowa

Jordan Guskey | IndyStar

Show Caption Hide Caption IU football coach Tom Allen talks Iowa loss IU coach Tom Allen meets with the media during his weekly Monday press conference, discussing the Hoosiers' weekend defeat to Iowa.

BLOOMINGTON – Jacob Robinson didn’t need much time to think it over.

The Iowa Hawkeyes outclassed the senior defensive lineman’s Hoosiers, extended IU’s homecoming losing streak Saturday and cast doubt on the likelihood IU would make a bowl game. As redshirt senior left guard Wes Martin put it, “We got our butts whupped.” And Robinson, who hasn’t been healthy enough to play since the Week 3 win against Ball State, couldn’t just watch anymore.

More: How IU moves on from embarrassing loss will define 2018 season

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So Robinson went to coach Tom Allen with an idea. A players-led meeting. An opportunity for seniors to address issues with the team. The 42-16 dismantling that took place at Memorial Stadium had to mean something.

“I talked to coach Allen briefly after the game and said, ‘Hey there’s some stuff that we think needs addressed,’” Robinson said. “We brought that together, talked with Wes and the other captains on Sunday, and had it (Monday) morning.”

Robinson declined to go into specifics about what he and others discussed during the meeting. What the seniors said will be kept in-house. But he and his teammates aren’t characterizing the fact it happened as a cause for alarm. These meetings happen. It’s when they have to happen more than once that concern is warranted.

Allen credited Robinson and Martin on Monday with bringing him the idea and was encouraged that two players who “have been here for a long time, seen a lot,” stepped up to challenge their teammates. He knows players hear the message differently when it comes from a teammate.

“This is the kind of point in the season — and every season has a point — where you can either keep continuing to rise and get better or you can stay the same,” Robinson said. “We addressed that and just kind of how this is the point in the season where we need to stick together and trust what we do, trust what the coaches are having us do, and just continue to work really hard.”

IU football's Jacob Robinson talks team's player-led meeting Robinson was one of the seniors who came to coach Tom Allen about the need for a player-led meeting.

Penn State’s trip to Bloomington Oct. 20 will test that resolve as much as any game this season. The No. 16-ranked Nittany Lions own four-straight victories against the Hoosiers and, although Penn State (4-2, 1-2) has lost two straight games, players won’t arrive with a lack of confidence.

PSU running back Miles Sanders is second in the Big Ten in rushing with 700 yards and seven touchdowns. Quarterback Trace McSorley has passed for two touchdowns and more than 300 yards the past two times he’s played IU. And the Nittany Lion defense is in the top four in the Big Ten in sacks, third-down defense and red-zone defense.

“We got a lot of new guys, young guys that haven’t been through the grind of a Big Ten season,” said Allen, whose team is now 4-3 overall and 1-3 in conference play. “We’ve had no bye week yet. It’s week after week after week. It can be draining on you physically and emotionally, mentally. I think they needed to remind the guys that it's part of the process.

“You have to own things on film when you get challenged by coaches, you have to own your play, your practice habits, everything that you do.”

Freshman Reese Taylor told IndyStar he thought the meeting came at the right time. Iowa was a talented team, which explains part of the loss, but Taylor thought each player had something they could take from the message the seniors imparted.

He understands they don’t have much time left with the program, while he’s just a game more than halfway through his first season.

“I’ve just got to put my head down, do what they tell me to do, work as hard as I can for them,” Taylor said. “Everything I do is for them.”

Taylor was a part of a players-only meeting while he played for Ben Davis High in Indianapolis, so he knows the changes the team needs to make will take time. But with so much practice time left this season he believes that change will come.

A bowl game is still the goal, and he has no doubts that Allen is the right coach to lead the team there.

“Bottom line is you have to respond,” Allen said. “It’s a tough league, tough schedule. You got to be a tough guy. I thought those guys stood up and really said some good things that needed to be said.”

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Jordan Guskey on Twitter at @JordanGuskey or email him at jguskey@gannett.com.