No, you aren't dreaming. It's college football season. And yes, we feel the exact same way.
Welcome to the IDS football blog, 'Under the Rock,' your number one source for all things IU football. This may very well be 'the season' that IU makes a bowl for the first time since they were downed by Virginia Tech 45-20 on New Years Eve 1993 in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La. That's the kind of detail we'll be offering you here all season long.
Okay, enough with the shameless plugging, lets get down to business. There will be three primary guys you'll be hearing from on this blog this fall, Lee Hurwitz and Tom Kirby (our football beat writers), and Matt Dollinger (our columnist). All three have been working the beat since the summer, and they've acquainted themselves quite well with the team.
We'll be sending our team (plus a photographer) to every game this season, home and away. We're kicking off our blog in anticipation of tonight's game, and as such, I'll give you some important pre-game notes I gleaned from Lee, Tom O. and Matt's coverage in the paper today:
-Look for James Hardy to have a big game. The tallest Indiana State defensive back is 6'1'' - Hardy is 6'7''. That's half a foot he's got on his tallest defender. Hardy already excels at jump balls, and it's safe to assume the Hoosiers will want to exploit serious size - and perhaps talent - differences early and often.
-Marcus Thigpen is fast, he just needs a hole. And as Dollinger pointed out today in his column, IU has 22 players 280 lbs. or more, while Indiana State has only eight. Additionally, Indiana State gave up over 500 yards a game last year and nearly 45 points per game as well. I have no idea how fast the Indiana State secondary is, but they will need track star speed if Thigpen gets around a corner or out of the box, something he looks geared to do a lot of tomorrow night.
-Indiana State isn't exactly a giant killer. IU fans certainly remember losing to Southern Illinois last year, and yes, the two teams are in the same conference. But the Salukis are a I-AA power. The Sycamores are not. They're 1-21 under current head coach Lou West, with that one win coming last year against Missouri State. Indiana State lost to St. Francis (Ind.) in 2005 by a score of 42-10. Granted it was two years ago, but St. Francis was an NAIA school. That's below D-III. That's more than just an off game.
-It's the Hoosiers' first game after Terry Hoeppner's death. This has been said a thousand times over, but there will be nothing but winning this game for Hep on each and every player's mind tomorrow night. Combine that with the fact that the team is much more settled this year than they were last - they were facing an abundance of questions about starters at several positions, including quarterback, this time last year - and the Hoosiers look set. Last year's greenhorns are this year's leaders, and this team has two solid captains in Josiah Sears and Tracy Porter. I don't think you'll see the Hoosiers lose their cool much this season as they might have in past years, and especially not tomorrow night.
The long and short of it is this: Indiana State has no chance. They may not score before halftime. They may not score at all. For the first time in a long time, the Hoosiers have their competition completely outmanned and outgunned, and this game should be over by halftime. However, that's the beauty of college football. Anything can happen. Anything. It ain't over til it's over, but this one should be a walk for IU and a fitting tribute to their late coach.
