One week.
One week away from the roller coaster ride that has been the IU football season — or more accurately, the lift hill that reached its peak against then-No. 1 Ohio State and has been plummeting ever since.
The Big Ten season has left us with the same pitfall in our stomach as a theme park ride without any of the thrill.
But there’s something to be said about the grounding effect of a week’s reprieve as we buckle in for the final third of the 2015 schedule.
It’s time to come back to IU football with fresh eyes and a clear head, and — as senior quarterback Nate Sudfeld would say — reset expectations to 0-0.
The Hoosiers came off an energizing practice Sunday, in which Sudfeld said he and his teammates were “smokin’ down the field” and which IU Coach Kevin Wilson referred to as one of the best of the year.
This seems to attest to the healing properties of the bye week. Though IU entered the bye having just returned its most important injured player, junior running back Jordan Howard, against Michigan State, the time off still offered value to several Hoosiers who have been playing banged up.
Wilson also pointed out the value to his young starters, such as freshman cornerback Andre Brown Jr., who are still adjusting to the grueling demands of college play.
Brown Jr. celebrated his 18th birthday two days before the Michigan State game. Nonetheless, he already has seven Big Ten starts under his belt.
Saturday, he will make his third start against a top-10 Big Ten football team, No. 10 Iowa, a ranking many would argue — and reasonably so — is too low for the undefeated Hawkeyes.
Really, IU is quite fortunate.
It has plenty of practice now in this scenario, having faced the defending national champs and No. 7 Spartans, contests which came down to the fourth quarter.
Not many teams get three opportunities to pick up wins of this caliber in a single season. Not only that, but Wilson and his staff had a full two weeks to go back over the close losses to Ohio State and Michigan State and try to correct those shortcomings in preparation for the Hawkeyes, who IU will face at home.
What will be interesting is to see which one of these teams’ credos wins out.
Say what you will about IU, but it doesn’t get blown out. Its only lopsided totals this season resulted from being forced to play a third-string quarterback against Penn State and went on a garbage-time skid in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter against Michigan State.
Conversely, the Hoosiers also don’t blow out opponents, playing up and down to their competition this season as Wilson’s teams have an odd reputation of doing, mostly as the consequence of having a bend-and-don’t-break defense coupled with a prolific offense.
Iowa, on the other hand, is accustomed to winning handily by an average of 17.4 points. It is especially honed at putting away “bad” teams, such as Iowa State and Maryland, which as — let’s face it — IU can now be considered.
Heck, the Hawkeyes even beat No. 20 Northwestern by 30 points.
Does Iowa pick up its ninth win in Memorial Stadium? Probably. But there’s nothing keeping IU from being in this game the same as it has been in all of its others.
So get ready for some corkscrews, headchoppers and double dips.
This one is going to be another wild ride.
vziege@indiana.edu
