Football team plays waiting game

Junior defensive end Kemp Rasmussen plans on watching football this weekend.\n"Yeah, I'm going to watch football this weekend," Rasmussen said. "I watched football last weekend."\nSure, Rasmussen would prefer to play football rather than watch it for the second consecutive weekend. But when your team has a bye week in the first official weekend of the college football season, there's not much else to do.\n"I would much rather play," Rasmussen said. "I look forward to game day. The sooner it gets here the better."\nRasmussen, like the rest of his teammates, must wait until Sept. 9 to play their opener against North Carolina State at Memorial Stadium. Including the game with the Wolfpack, IU plays on 11 consecutive weekends this fall. Unlike 1999, there will be no off week during the season. \n"I'm glad we got that extra week to prepare," junior quarterback Antwaan Randle El said. "The way we have it scheduled we can look at some things and get some stuff taken care of before the first game. We aren't going to start focusing on North Carolina State until Sunday of the actual game week."\nNot playing the first weekend has its advantages and disadvantages for the Hoosiers. \nThe extra week gives the defense more time to work and learn new defensive coordinators James Bell's system. \n"We still consider this training camp," Rasmussen said. "There's a lot to learn this week. Guys need to be focused and ready to play."\nThe Hoosiers also have an opportunity to watch future opponents play this weekend. Ten of IU's 11 opponents play either Thursday, Saturday or Monday, so the Hoosiers will have an opportunity to get an overview of what future opponents are doing. \n"This weekend is an advantage for us because we got to watch a bunch of different teams play and see what offenses and defenses they run," junior running back Levron Williams said.\nA major disadvantage of not having the bye week during the season is the lack of a week to recover from bumps and bruises in the middle of the season. It's nearly impossible for a team to go through the Big Ten schedule without sustaining any injuries along the way. An extra week of rest during a stretch of conference games is sometimes desperately needed in the Big Ten.\nAlso, starting the season late means there's an extra week to collect opening game nerves.\nLast season, the Hoosiers' bye week was Nov. 6, which was wedged between the Michigan and Minnesota games.\n"That bye week during the year is nice because you have a week to recover," Rasmussen said. "But playing a week later also has its good points. I guess it doesn't matter to me. They both have their good and bad points"