Return home allows for fresh start

There's nothing quite like kicking off a new football season. Technically, IU has already done that. But they played two games on opposite sides of a very large country, which is no easy way to start a season, even for a good team.\nSo playing at home gives the Hoosiers an opportunity to start the rest of their season on a somewhat fresh note -- kind of like starting your day by throwing on some deodorant and a hat in lieu of taking a shower.\nFor the first time since the Central Michigan game last year, we get to see the Hoosiers enter a game as favorites. History is on their side -- the last time IU played their "rivals" from Terre Haute, they won 31-0. Of course, that was in 1925, and a lot has happened since the Coolidge administration left office.\nIt seems strange to me that a regular series has never been pursued between these two schools, though. Opponents that IU has played more recently include Harvard (1927), Butler (1942) and Marquette (1960).\nIn fact, I think that this should be made a trophy game. They could use an extra one to fill in the void left by the fact that the Bourbon Barrel is no longer awarded to the winner of the IU-Kentucky game. The Bourbon Barrel may have been the single greatest prize in college football history, with the possible exception of Floyd of Rosedale. (Floyd is a bronze pig awarded to the winner of the Iowa-Minnesota game).\nMy suggestion would be for the "Sycamore Stump." Maybe someone could chop down a sycamore halfway between Terre Haute and Bloomington, mount the stump on a board and present it to the winner at the end of the game. Also, they should plant another tree after chopping it down, because otherwise I would probably receive a letter of complaint in regard to my advocating lumberjacking.\nIf you do make it to the game from the tailgate fields and it seems like the playing surface doesn't look right, don't worry; you haven't done too many keg stands. That's the new AstroPlay surface that was installed during the off-season.\nUnfortunately, this puts IU in company with Michigan as one of the trendsetters in the return to artificial turf movement. Under no circumstance whatsoever should football be played on plastic.\nGranted, the stuff that they've put down is a lot better than the thin, cement-like rugs that were so prevalent in stadiums in the 1970s and '80s. Players actually like playing on the new surface. And it's a lot more cost-effective, considering that IU uses the stadium field for some practices. Last year, practices had the effect of turning the field into a beach that was spray painted green.\nBut this is football. And football was meant to be played in the mud. What's more intimidating -- a picture of Dick Butkus prowling around covered in mud and blood, or Dick Butkus covered with rug burns?\nJust imagine if the 2001 Old Oaken Bucket game had been played on an artificial surface. Played in a downpour, it seemed like even the guys who were standing on the sidelines the whole game got muddy. In addition to an IU win, the conditions on the field were what made the game memorable, and may have actually worked to the Hoosiers' benefit in a tight game.\nAfter waxing such stellar opponents as Troy State and McNeese State this week, No. 7 Kansas State takes on the mighty Massachusetts Minutemen. Are you kidding me!? This team shouldn't be allowed in the Top 25, much less the Top 10. If IU played all home games against such cupcake opponents, they'd be undefeated, too. And I don't think anyone would have them in the Top 10. If a team wants to be respected, it should start playing a schedule that reflects it.