Wrapping up a season on the brink

Ten games ago, IU looked as if it couldn't beat four pairs of grandparents, two socks and a kicking tee. \nNow, IU still can't kick, but it can beat some formidable foes. To my counterparts and bashers, IU exceeded my expectations, broke even in the Big Ten and just missed a bowl berth. On all three counts, I was wrong. \nBut I won't miss on this one: IU will beat Kentucky Saturday. The season will end just peachy (kind of), with Purdue and UK mad at IU. \nGood.\nNow, on to some random thoughts. \n• First team All-American Antwaan Randle El should be in New York for the Heisman Trophy presentation. He probably won't, thanks to Nebraska's Eric Crouch (who couldn't throw the ball through a 32-foot hoop if he was standing six feet from it), and two other quarterbacks -- Miami's Ken Dorsey and Florida's Rex Grossman -- who could throw balls through Crouch's stomach. \nRandle El has better career numbers through the exact same number (43) of games (7,275 passing yards and 40 touchdowns, 3,853 rushing yards and 44 touchdowns) as Crouch (4,421 passing yards and 29 touchdowns, 3,434 rushing yards and 59 touchdowns). \nCrouch is a tailback playing quarterback for a national power. Randle El is quarterback playing quarterback for an institute of mediocrity. \n• Levron Williams will play in the NFL. Somehow-- running back, receiver -- somewhere. Sure, he's gained a good number of his 3,010 career yards thanks to Randle El and the option (no doubt when Randle El pitches to Williams through his legs with one arm wrapped around his ankle and his helmet twisted sideways), but Williams is slick. His 6-foot-3, 228-pound frame will make NFL teams tingly, and his bash-the-defenders-head-in running style is impressive. If nothing else, Williams is fun. He smiles more than a circus freak who just grew a third nose. \n• Cam Cameron can coach ... Whoa! Hold your horses, all of them, and let me finish. The man can coach an offense. IU scored 120 points in Cameron's first season at IU. In wins against Northwestern and Wisconsin this season, IU scored 119. Yes, Randle El is a jumping bean with an arm and a brain, but Cameron's offensive schemes work.\nOther than that, he's more than questionable. In his 10 seasons as an assistant coach at Michigan, the Wolverines never lost more than six games and earned a bowl bid each season. In his nearly five seasons in Bloomington, Cameron's teams have won 17 games. \nHe's a nice guy, a likeable guy, who deserves success. But five years is plenty to turn around IU's program. It's time for change. Without Randle El next season, whoever coaches the Hoosiers might have better luck deer hunting in downtown Chicago.\n• Please, athletics department, if you do can Cameron, do not hire John Cooper. \n• Randle El will play in the NFL. Somewhere. Maybe he'll be a defensive back. Maybe a punter. Maybe a third-down back. Maybe a surprise quarterback. Maybe a receiver. Maybe a special teams stud. Maybe all of them. Maybe five at a time. He's far too talented to be wasted. \n• Randle El and Williams will have company. Craig Osika, Kemp Rasmussen and Justin Smith all have shots. Jeremi Johnson, the 275-pound wrecking ball who runs a 4.7 40-yard dash, could run over a large camel and around six rabbits on acid. Translation, he's good, and he'll be in the NFL after his senior season. He's only a junior.\n• IU underachieved this season. Four Big Ten victories is solid. A loss to Utah is not. But when IU was busy underachieving (and 1-5), it decided to overachieve and win at Wisconsin and Michigan State and over Northwestern and Purdue. \nFor the first time since 1993, IU will play in December. But it's Dec. 1 and not late December. \nThe 35-14 season-opening loss at North Carolina State was a perfect display of foreshadowing -- get buried early, then salvage the game with a couple of scores in the waning moments. \nIU has salvaged its season. Kind of.