Not a complete loss for IU

The tinmen of the IU football team discovered Oz in Kentucky Saturday and found their hearts. Despite losing 27-17 to the Wildcats, the Hoosiers showed more fight and enthusiasm than they had in the previous two games combined. After getting behind 14-0 in the first quarter, and then having to wait while lightning delayed the game, it would have been easier, and not surprising, had the Hoosiers given up. Instead, IU came out fighting, and nearly upset Kentucky. So here are this week's awards following the disappointing loss.\nBest resemblance of Babe, Paul Bunyan's Blue Ox:\nKentucky's quarterback, Jared Lorenzen. In fact, being as Lorenzen was completely clad in blue, the amount that Lorenzen resembled the fictitious ox was uncanny. This moose in quarterback's clothing was listed on the Kentucky roster as 6-foot-4, 275 pounds. Ugh, try adding 25 pounds to that. To put it in perspective, IU's quarterback, Gibran Hamdan, is listed as 6-foot-6, 231 pounds. That's two inches taller and 44 pounds less. It's not surprising that Kentucky didn't call any quarterback draw or option plays.\nBest follow-up play\nJoe Gonzalez's interception. Following the Hamdan-to-Johnson 67-yard touchdown, Gonzalez picked Lorenzen's pass and ran 36 yards to the endzone. This play by the defense gave the Hoosiers their first and only lead of the game. It was a good moment for the IU defense who played heinously in the game against Utah. For a majority of the game against Kentucky, the IU defense was solid, and Gonzalez's interception-touchdown capped it off perfectly.\nBest example of who's-laughing-now\nGerald Carr, former IU quarterbacks coach, and current Kentucky assistant and running backs coach. Last year, when IU coach Gerry DiNardo was hired, DiNardo completely cleared out former IU coach Cam Cameron's coaching staff. This included Carr, who was current Pittsburgh Steeler Antwaan Randle El's coach. If you'll remember, Randle El was named first-team All-America and the Big Ten Most Valuable Player last year. And now at Kentucky, Carr coaches senior tailback Artose Pinner, among others. Against IU, Pinner, the main attraction of UK's offense, rushed 25 times for 141 yards. Pinner also received the ball 10 times for 92 yards. That's a total of 233 yards, out of Kentucky\'s 327 total. Man, it's a good thing DiNardo got rid of him.\nWorst image of a martyr\nGibran Hamdan. Following the game, Hamdan said that the loss was on his shoulders and that he lost the game for IU. It's unfortunate that in a team sport, one player feels responsible for a loss that in which all players should be held liable. True, it's hard to ignore Hamdan's interception late in the game that led to UK's touchdown, which was the ultimate backbreaking moment. But earlier, Hamdan, who even after getting pummeled on more than one occasion by the UK defense, dove head first each time he scrambled for yards. In his first game as a starter, Hamdan completed 13 of 38 passes for 234 yards. Compared to Kentucky's seasoned quarterback, who went 19 of 32 for 183 yards, Hamdan wasn't that shabby. Accepting responsibility is honorable, but unheralded. Hopefully his teammates have told him the same thing.\nMost questionable play-calling\nIU coach Gerry DiNardo. It's simply unexplainable how DiNardo decided when to go for it on fourth downs and when not to. Specifically in the third quarter, IU was 4-and-inches from a first down, on the UK 44-yard line and DiNardo decides to punt it instead of go for it, ending a momentum-building series. This is confusing for the fact that at this point in the game, the defense hadn't allowed UK to score since the first quarter, and that the offense did go for it on fourth down in the first quarter, and picked up the first down on a quarterback sneak. It made no sense for DiNardo to halt the offensive drive, and give UK the ball. Who knows what might have happened.