IU will play in bowl game

IU will make a bowl game this season — that is a guarantee (Yes, the Kentucky Fried Chicken Bowl and The Mott’s Fruit Bowl do count).

However risky, stupid and ridiculous it might seem, I am willing to attach my name to that statement.

Before you write me off as a crazed homer, take a look at the Hoosiers’ schedule.

There are four built-in wins there: home against Towson, at Western Kentucky, home vs. Akron and homecoming against Arkansas State.

I’ve heard of scheduling patsies, but four in one season?

Maryland doesn’t even play Towson, a school located near Baltimore. Ohio State doesn’t even play Akron. Arkansas doesn’t even play Arkansas State. The four upcoming IU opponents posted a combined 9-38 record last year. If the Hoosiers lose even one of those games, the season automatically becomes a failure. (Note: While I know many of you are upset that Fred Glass sold the rights to a home game against Penn State to the folks at FedEx Field, that decision allowed Glass to schedule another non-conference home game — in other words, an extra win.)

So there are four in the “W” column. It wouldn’t be wise to guarantee a victory in a specific conference game, but IU will win at least two of eight in the Big Ten. Northwestern at home and Illinois on the road look especially good on paper, and a revenge game at Memorial Stadium against Rich Rod and Michigan also has to be circled on the Hoosiers’ schedule.

Give that soft schedule to a talented, experienced, ticked-off group of guys, and you have a bowl-bound ball club. These guys are angry, sick and tired of hearing how bad they are and how good everybody else is.

Who could blame them? IU football and mediocrity have become synonymous over the last few decades. But this year, the players claim, things will be different.

“We don’t focus too much on what the critics say,” junior wide receiver Tandon Doss said. “We know the things we’re trying to do here, and we are going to continue to work hard and get things done.”

Those “things” Doss mentioned have been drilled into the heads of the Hoosier players by coach Bill Lynch. Specifically, improving in red zone and third down situations — areas in which IU struggled in 2009.

When the Hoosiers first met as a team in January, Lynch told his players they were a mere 12 plays away from a special season last year. He showed a film to show the individual plays, many of which came in losses against Michigan and Northwestern.

After talking with many of those players at IU media day, it is clear they believe they were really that close.

And while it is true that good teams know how to finish, the importance of the Hoosiers having many of those painful experiences under their belts cannot be understated. These players are experienced — especially on the offensive side of the ball — and they now know what it takes to win a Big Ten game.

Four quarters.

Not three and a half.

“You never know when a play is going to happen, what quarter or anything like that. You just have to keep playing,” senior wide receiver Terrance Turner said. “Hopefully this year those plays will be in our benefit.”

Sophomore running back Darius Willis added that they want to play all four quarters.

“We want to win every game. We want to finish every game. We want to play all four quarters. We didn’t finish four quarters last year,” he said.

There are plenty of question marks for the Hoosiers — the new 3-4 defense and a lack of depth and experience on the line for example — but this team is good enough to make a bowl game.

Six, maybe seven wins. I guarantee it.

E-mail: jmalbers@indiana.edu