The tipping point

This weekend could prove to be one of the most exciting weekends in college football of the year. Many teams have reached a turning point in their season culminated by decisive match-ups this Saturday. Some teams, such as USC, California, Georgia, Wisconsin and Purdue, are looking to remain undefeated and begin their trip to the Orange Bowl while others, such as LSU, Ohio State, Clemson and Maryland look to get their season back on track. IU, while not similar in terms of record, fits into the second category.\nAfter squandering halftime leads at Kentucky and against Michigan State, and then losing to Michigan last weekend, the Hoosiers find themselves stuck between a glacier and the earth's core. With six games remaining on the schedule, IU needs to win four in order to become eligible for a bowl game. That number becomes much more significant when you consider the fact that there only two home games left, and the road schedule includes trips to Ohio State and Purdue.\nSo can the Hoosiers do it? Can they win enough games to become bowl eligible? To be honest, I don't know. I'm not an expert and I don't want to pretend to be one. But I like to believe that these Hoosiers are capable of something they haven't been capable of in the past few years, and that is to be a player in the Big Ten battle. Past Hoosier teams already would've rolled over and played dead at this point in the season, but like I said earlier this year, these are not your Hoosiers of old.\nFor starters, the Hoosiers need to beat Northwestern. This game can't be viewed as just another Big Ten game or just another game against the Wildcats. This is a must-win for IU. The Hoosiers need to prepare for this game mentally as if they were going to play a team such as Purdue, USC, Oklahoma or Georgia. \nYes, it's true that Northwestern currently has the same record as IU, but they are by no means similar. This is the same Northwestern team that dismantled a talented Buckeye team last weekend en route to a 27-20 overtime upset victory in Evanston, Ill.\nIn earlier columns, I mentioned that the Hoosiers would be able to prove something even if they lost to Oregon and Michigan, but now the Hoosiers must win in order to prove themselves. This IU team is by far capable enough to win four more games, but it must start against Northwestern. \nThis weekend, the nation will be in for a college football treat. As college football fans, we'll be treated to some incredible match-ups including Texas-Oklahoma, USC-Cal, Wisconsin-Ohio State, Tennessee-Georgia and Michigan-Minnesota. The IU-Northwestern game can be lumped into that category, not because of the team's records, but because of the importance of the game to each team's season.