As a Mizzou alumus and ardent football fan, I’d like to speculate that this year’s IU squad is going to have a really fine football season if it continues to play as it did Saturday.
I was well aware going into the game that IU has been slowly improving under Coach Kevin Wilson, architect of some of college football’s greatest offenses while at Oklahoma. At times, you wondered if they would ever stop scoring.
What I sort of knew, but didn’t fully comprehend, was that the Hoosiers were good offensively. Indeed, they averaged 38 points per game last year. The SEC’s Alabama and Auburn averaged 38 and 39, respectively.
What I sort of knew, but didn’t fully comprehend, was that IU had come close to major upsets in recent years.
Indeed, during a three-game stretch two years ago, it lost three games by a total of eight points to bowl-caliber teams Michigan State, eventual unbeaten Ohio State and Navy.
And that last year it handily beat a good Penn State team and played quite competitively against a Michigan State team that was nearly undefeated and won the Rose Bowl.
What I sort of knew, but didn’t fully comprehend, was just how good Tevin ?Coleman is.
He’s the real deal. If he didn’t miss part of the first half Saturday, he’d be on a pace to rush for about 2,500 yards this year. That’s not merely good — that’s ?Heisman good.
I’ll be fascinated to see how this IU team plays the rest of the year. Is it the team that couldn’t keep Bowling Green off the field?
Or is it the team that went into Faurot Field and played a nearly perfect game against a good Mizzou team?
Only time will tell.
Until then, congratulations on a well-deserved win.
As much as the outcome initially shocked me, a closer examination seems to indicate that it was finally time for your Hoosiers to win one of these.
Mark Ziegler
mark@markziegler.com
