And the good news?

The good news: IU held Michigan scoreless for the entire second half.\nThe bad news: Michigan scored 41 points in the first half. Michigan had twice as many total offensive yards as IU. Wide receiver Steve Breaston had 201 all-purpose yards, 136 of them coming in the first quarter. And the Hoosiers lost their fifth straight game this season, 41-21. \nSo I guess the question remains: Will D.J. White be healthy before IU plays Duke? \nI'm kidding ... no, wait, I'm not. \nIn the last five games, which have also been the last five losses, IU has given up a total of 208 points. In each game, the opposing offense averaged more than 41 points. In each game, the opposing offense averaged 478.6 yards. More so, those same five teams have out-scored the Hoosiers 50-30 in the second quarter and 62-14 in the third quarter.\nSo there you have it. A 3-0 nonconference start followed by a 1-6 conference record. A once existent sense of winning now has us wondering our own sense of worth. \nThe bar has been lowered considerably on the expectations of these Hoosiers. And if you're willing to get your face dirty by placing it flat on the ground, you'll be able to see eye-to-eye with that bar. \nOf course it is not fair to pin this one game as the definitive end of bowl hopes in Bloomington. The Hoosiers' current losing streak to Michigan has been extended to 14 straight games, which would have made a win in Ann Arbor as rare as a fifth-year college senior without a drinking problem. \nThe most crushing reality, it seems, is that nothing has changed. With one game remaining in the 2005 season, the Hoosiers lie in limbo as a lower-echelon laugher. They are slightly above Illinois, which couldn't win a Big Ten game if it started with a 50-point lead. They are marginally below Purdue because at least the Boilermakers salvaged a season by sliding past the Spartans and eliminating the Illini during the last two weeks.\nWhat can fans feel proud of? Where can the Hoosiers hang their hats? \nThe only certainty I can come up with is that IU is not ready. If anything can be taken away from a 1-6 conference record, it is that the Hoosiers are far from possessing the talent, the tenacity or the tactics to perform in the Big Ten. \nScrew optimism. The Hoosiers' performance during the last five games would make Norman Vincent Peale put on a Dashboard Confessional album. (Peale wrote "The Power of Positive Thinking" -- obviously long before this IU football season.) The only good to come out of my positive thinking this year has been positively nothing. Each week I've found myself writing a column about the possibilities of IU halting a Big Ten train, but the track marks can still be seen from both the Ohio State and Michigan State games. \nThe bad news: The only bowl IU will be participating in this year is the Old Oaken Bucket Bowl next week.\nAnd the good news? I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.