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In order to regroup his team after a 1-5 start, this past Sunday and Monday Coach Gerry DiNardo met individually with every player who has played this season. \n"We have a team that has not had recent success. I just wanted to make sure we are all on the same page, and I wanted to make sure it was my page," DiNardo said. "Our guys are great, and they all are on my page. Some of the meetings lasted one minute, some lasted 10 minutes."\nDiscussed in that span were the player's academic standing, their special teams' points, and what the player thought he could do better in the second half of the season compared to the first.\nDiNardo must wait until Saturday's Homecoming game against Northwestern to know the final results. But meanwhile, the Hoosiers have responded with a solid week of practice including Tuesday's, which senior captains Joe Gonzalez and Brian Lewis said might have been the best so far this season.\nDiNardo said the team has improved since the Connecticut game and must progress through the season's close against Purdue.\n"We only control half of it," DiNardo said. "We don't control the other side. I want to make sure I'm controlling that half. That's why we met individually."\nGonzalez remembers the last time a coach met individually with his players during the season. It was 2001 when former coach Cam Cameron patrolled the sidelines, coincidentally, before the Northwestern game that year.\nFollowing Cameron's meetings, the 2001 Hoosier squad beat Northwestern, beat Michigan State the following week, lost to Penn State, and closed the season beating Purdue and Kentucky. \n"It just comes at such a perfect time for Coach DiNardo to have those meetings," Gonzalez said. "We have a lot of motivation going into this game. They beat us last year at their place. (Saturday's) going to be an exciting game."\nLast season IU didn't come close to stopping Northwestern's rushing attack as the Wildcats rambled for 240 yards in their 41-37 victory in Evanston, Ill. Senior running back Jason Wright torched the Hoosiers for 196 yards alone.\nGonzalez said stopping the run is the defense's focus against the Wildcat team, who in their two victories this season over Kansas and Duke have rushed for 248 yards and 286, respectively. \n"You turn on the film this year and their whole team got bigger, including (Wright)," Gonzalez said. "He fits their scheme perfectly. He's a real slashy type back, very quick, and great vision. They give him the ball and just let him find the seam. It's on the whole defense to play disciplined."\nGonzalez, a fifth-year senior, said he is looking forward to Homecoming Saturday and the return of former players he played with.\n"I'm still close with a lot of guys I played with my first couple years here," Gonzalez said. "I care a lot about this place, and I have a lot of pride playing here. It means something special to me."\nLewis, another fifth-year man, returns this week after missing the Michigan State game with a strained right hamstring.\nAnd Lewis said for him, Gonzalez and the rest of the Hoosier squad, now is the time.\n"Coach (DiNardo) keeps saying we're one step away," he said. "And that's what it's all about. We've just got to come together and play as a team."\n-- Contact staff writer John Rodgers at jprodger@indiana.edu.