Live Above Camp Randall -- Indiana 3, Wisconsin 33 (Final)
Indiana 3, Wisconsin 33 - [FINAL]
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Indiana 3, Wisconsin 33 - [FINAL]
So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet. Realizing that the Dalai Lama was in fact in Bloomington this week, I flew back across the Pacific and made my way over to the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center. \nI get in as a columnist, freelancing for a small paper back in the Himalayas. A columnist, you know, a writer, an author, a scribe. \nSo I tell the monks I’m a reporter. Unfortunately, they weren’t impressed. Stalling, thinking of something to say, I tell them my situation. I’m spiritually lost. I have burdens with no solutions and questions with no answers. \nAnd who do you think they give me? \nThe Dalai Lama himself. There he stood in front of me. A monk next to him asked me my name. Feeling insecure about “Matt” for the first time, I tell the monk I am “Dolly” – a name I felt would carry a little more clout in the Buddhist community. It also happens to be the nickname my friends affectionately use for me. \n“Dalai Lama, I need your help,” I said. “Every week, I have to predict the score for the IU football game; and every week it’s like telling Tony Soprano you don’t have his money. I need you. I’m a bigger mess than the Beijing Olympics. Things are getting so bad that I predicted IU to beat Michigan State and Penn State the past two weeks, even though I said before the season they would lose to them handily.” \nThe Dalai Lama looked me in the eye. Stoic. Unfazed. He remained silent. \n“I know you deal with bigger problems than this, but the Hoosiers are 0-for-5 in bowl-clinching games the last two seasons,” I said. “Kellen Lewis called it a ‘curse.’ I need answers!\n“Will the Hoosiers make a bowl game?”\nHe hauled off and whacked my question – a big answerer, the Dalai Lama. He vaults into a 10,000-word response to my seven-word question. He revealed the unknown intricacies of successful college football teams. He spoke of the speed and dynamics of Lewis, the effects of losing a leader like Terry Hoeppner and the possibility of James Hardy being a reincarnation of Plaxico Burress from his Michigan State days. \nI had heard great things about the Dalai Lama’s teachings before, but who knew of his sports knowledge? I was left speechless. Maybe it was the fact that the Dalai Lama knew who Burress was, or maybe it was the Tibetan food that the monks had just brought. Or maybe it was because I knew what the he was going to say next.\nSo we finish the interview, and he’s about to stiff me without answering the most important question of all. And I say to him, “Hey, hey, how about a little something, you know, for our readers? What is the score of the IU-Wisconsin game going to be?” \nAnd he said, “Oh, uh, I have never been one to predict the future. But when you die, on your deathbed, the team that wears cream and crimson will come full-circle and make a warm, sunny bowl game.”\nSo I’ve got that goin’ for me, which is nice.
Everything I know about soccer I've learned from playing "FIFA" video games. Which is a lot, considering exactly how much "FIFA" I've played. \nThat's why I looked forward to the release of "FIFA Soccer 08." Like many of you, I learned a majority of what I know from a pixelated screen. That's right, my soccer education came from a television screen, not time spent on a soccer pitch.\nThe new "Be A Pro" feature enables gamers to be single players on the field and take on the roles of those players' specific positions. For example, instead of being all 11 players on Chelsea, you can choose just to be Didier Drogba. While this game mode isn't action-packed, it's still a realistic soccer experience. \nThe other best new feature that has been added to "FIFA" is the refined dribbling controls that revolve around the gamer's dominance of the right thumbstick. Instead of the traditional "juke" button, "FIFA 08" enables you to dodge and dribble around defenders like an actual forward. \nBut it's tough to appreciate the moves you're breaking off without adjusting the camera angles. The standard game camera seems to be stationed 100 feet above the press box, and even the "dynamic" camera is still near the 23rd row of the balcony. \nThe graphics themselves are exceptional -- clear, crisp and detailed, but you can't appreciate them unless you're playing on a big screen. \nThe "Manager" mode still pales in comparison to other EA Sports titles. One thing EA Sports did incorporate into the "FIFA" line for the first time is the use of player icons. In "Be A Pro" mode, the player icons act as a compass--coach hybrid, telling you where to be and what to do. This comes in handy if you didn't grow up on a traveling soccer team or are not a direct descendent of Pele.\nBut despite its flaws, "FIFA" remains one of EA's strongest products. Bugs are as frequent as snowstorms in June, and the game play is more realistic than the run-and-dunk of "NBA Live" or the touchdown-happy "Madden." The focus "FIFA" puts on soccer's team aspect pushes it to the forefront of sports gaming.
Two weeks ago, the Hoosiers were the talk of the Big Ten.
I have no qualifications as an athletic director – I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night – but I think I could do a better job than our current administration. Just give me one day as athletic director ... with a pro-rated salary.\nRight after I rename Assembly Hall after a certain exiled general and bring the traditional Midnight Madness back, the main focus of my 24-hour power trip would be IU football’s woeful attendance rates.\nThrough four home games this season, the Hoosiers are averaging a miniscule attendance of 33,157, a staggering 94-person increase from last year. Out of 119 Football Bowl Subdivision schools last season, the Hoosiers finished a middling 69th in home attendance. Kirkwood on a Tuesday night has been outdrawing Memorial Stadium this fall. Despite having one of the smallest stadiums in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers are light years away from reaching their stadium’s capacity of 52,180. Last season, the average IU home attendance wasn’t even half the Big Ten average of 69,643. The only school with a more dismal home attendance was Northwestern.\nSo what can the Hoosiers do to outdraw the likes of East Carolina, Air Force and Fresno State (three of the 68 teams with better home attendance rates than IU)?\nThe Hoosiers have the perfect opportunity this weekend to “Pack the Rock.” They are playing Penn State on Homecoming weekend, and on top of that, ESPN is nationally televising the game. This is IU’s chance to show the world it cares about football. I don’t care if the fans have to drag homeless people from the Monroe County Public Library, just fill the seats.\nIf I were Rick Greenspan for a day, I’d recruit IU’s freshman class like it just verbally committed to Illinois. That’s 7,208 potential IU fans who have never heard of Gerry DiNardo. At the very least, it is 7,208 potential alumni donors – Aha! I got someone’s attention. \nEarlier this season, the athletic department began its recruitment of freshman, giving them free tickets to the Indiana State game. But that’s like giving someone a free sample of a stale pretzel. Instead of having the Memorial Stadium bleachers as naked as the girl from “High School Musical,” why not admit every freshman for free again? Think of it as a long-term investment.\nIf I were Greenspan for a day, I’d also mandate $13 game-day tickets for the rest of the season, in honor of Terry Hoeppner’s goal to “Play 13.” This way, IU would still be earning some revenue, while not suffering the embarrassment of a half-empty stadium. Here’s the advertising slogan: “Pay 13.”\nI would also organize a “Crimson-out” for the game. The athletic department has a little more push than a Facebook group delivering the same message. The school was able to raise enough money to build a North End Zone Facility; can’t it find a couple of sponsors to back 50,000 crimson shirts with “Don’t Quit” on the back? \nSomething also has to be done about the in-game “entertainment.” When did John Mellencamp’s over-played music replace the school song? Also, I don’t know how last year’s home basketball games didn’t get this point across, but IU male cheerleaders have the same effect on a crowd as tear gas and rubber bullets. Apparently Roseanne Barr’s rendition of our national anthem opened doors for undeserving people everywhere to be given microphones.\nThe cheerleaders are not at the root of IU’s attendance problems, they’re just easy targets. The athletic department will have to adapt and tweak some of its policies in order to purge Memorial Stadium of substandard turnouts. \nIf not, the Hoosiers will continue to play in front of 30,000 strong. I don’t have a degree in sports management, nor have I ever played someone who had one on television, but I would imagine that would be a pretty disappointing figure for an athletic director.
Remember the New York Yankees blowing the ALCS in 2004? Or how about Chris Webber in the closing seconds of the 1993 NCAA Championship game? Greg Norman’s notable Sunday meltdowns on the golf course?\nAll of the above have had something slip through their hands. The same could be said for the Hoosiers on Saturday. \nIn prime position to beat Penn State for the first time in history, the Hoosiers fumbled – four times, actually – their chances away and lost to the Nittany Lions, 36-31. \nIt was the type of stomach-punch game that pumped excitement into Memorial Stadium, but ultimately left IU fans feeling empty. Kellen Lewis’ three untimely fumbles crippled the Hoosiers’ comeback effort in the second half. \nIU’s offensive leader wasn’t the only one making mistakes that reminded onlookers of spring football. Cornerback Tracy Porter – one of the most reliable players on the team – poorly misplayed two punts that were equally devastating to the Hoosiers’ chances. One punt, fumbled in Penn State’s red zone, resulted in a turnover; the other forced the Hoosiers to go 95 yards if they hoped to make a game-winning comeback. \nBut a Lewis fumble would prevent that from being a possibility. With 40 seconds left, Lewis fumbled a snap from the shotgun. Penn State had already registered six sacks on the day, running through IU’s offensive line like plastic tape at the finish line. Instead of pouncing on the ball, Lewis heard the footsteps of the bruisers who had pounded him all game. \nThe quarterback looked up in anticipation of a big hit, but failed to grab the football that was resting on the field. Penn State recovered the ball, and Lewis experienced a blow that no Nittany Lion defender could deliver: The game had slipped through his hands. \nIU coach Bill Lynch refused to single out players in his postgame press conference, but Lewis and Porter’s mistakes stood out like the North End Zone Project. \nThen again, the Hoosiers would be miles away from Motor City Bowl consideration and bowl eligibility without the play of Lewis and Porter this season. Lewis is arguably the best quarterback in the Big Ten, and Porter is an elite cornerback and returner. \nWhich just makes the mistakes Saturday all the more puzzling. But like true leaders, Lewis and Porter accepted responsibility for their team’s loss. Neither player pointed out the fact they have carried the team all season. Rather, they admitted fault and honestly spoke of their blunders. \nLewis sheepishly said IU knew it would lose “if we had a lot of turnovers.” And Penn State coach Joe Paterno opened his press conference with a trace of guilt: “Really, it is a shame because they gave us the game … I told (Lynch), ‘You’ve got a good football team there. You’ve just got to keep the ball off the ground.’” \nFor a man who has been around football as much as anyone, Paterno’s simple words speak volumes about IU’s composition. It’s a talented team that can play with anyone in its conference, but it’s a team that still makes stubborn turnovers and mistakes that can easily be credited to inexperience. \nLewis, Porter and the rest of the IU football team let the Penn State game slip through its hands. Their focus now turns to not doing the same thing to their season. \n \nPrediction: Indiana 34, Penn State 27\nActual: Indiana 31, Penn State 36
Indiana 31, Penn St. 36
I hate the phrase “biggest game of the year.”\nIt’s the most overused phrase in sports aside from “alleged steroid-user” and “Grossman interception.” It’s the sportswriter’s version of “taking it one game at a time.”\nSo when I hear people refer to Saturday’s homecoming game against Penn State as the “biggest game of the year,” I roll my eyes like Kelvin Sampson during an NCAA compliance meeting.\nIsn’t a team’s next game always the most important – or “biggest” – one? When is it not? What does that mean for the games the rest of the year? Are they inferior? \nWhat if Bill Lynch came to his midweek press conference this week and told reporters, “Well, Penn State is a good football team, but we’re looking ahead to Wisconsin. That’s going to be the biggest game of the year.”\nIt just wouldn’t happen. In addition to being completely out of character for the even-keeled Lynch, it wouldn’t make any sense. It would be like me telling a girl, “Well Susie, you’re a good-looking girl, but I’m more excited about the girl I’m taking out next weekend. That’s going to be my biggest date of the year.”\nIn reality – also known as the place Stephon Marbury no longer resides – Penn State is the hot girl. Talented in just the right spots and decked out with blue-chip recruits – East Coast schools can’t beat it and Big Ten colleges want to be it. \nThe Hoosiers are similar to Penn State: Both schools have the same record (5-2, 2-2), both have signature victories this season and both have exceptional star players – the Nittany Lions just fill the clothes out better.\nThey’ve been a football powerhouse since Eli Whitney rolled out the cotton gin. The Hoosiers have been in college football’s good graces since mid-September.\nIf history played any factor in Saturday’s match-up, the Hoosiers would be 68-point underdogs at Memorial Stadium on homecoming weekend. In 10 career meetings, the Hoosiers have never beaten Penn State. In IU’s defense, the last time the two teams played, Gerry DiNardo didn’t think anyone was paying attention and started Matt LoVecchio at quarterback. Hopefully he takes more care making my calzone.\nLate in that game three years ago, the Hoosiers trailed by only four points on Penn State’s one-yard line on first down, only to be stonewalled on four straight running plays and lose the game.\nSince that frustrating November afternoon, I swear the Hoosiers have had more goal-line situations than anyone else in college football. The Hoosiers can’t gain an inch up the middle, and the end zone isn’t 50 yards deep, meaning they can’t complete a pass. It’s like watching a mime in cream and crimson try and escape from an invisible box, only to watch it fail over and over again and eventually freak out from claustrophobia. Except instead of the claustrophobic part, the Hoosiers just bring out Austin Starr.\nSaturday’s game could lead to a lot of firsts for the Hoosiers: the first time they’ve been bowl eligible in 14 years, the first time they’ve been on national television this year or maybe even the first time they’ve had 40,000 fans at a home game this season.\nBut most importantly, the Hoosiers will try and beat Penn State for the first time.\nJust don’t call it the “biggest game of the year.”
IU isn't the only one with a homecoming this weekend.
East Lansing, Mich. - I’ve never played a down of football in my life. But I’ve experienced enough losing to know what a demoralizing defeat feels like.\nFor lack of a more poetic expression, it sucks. A physical depression strikes your entire body, leaving you sluggish and frustrated. You keep running the game through your head, thinking about what you could have done differently. \nWords of encouragement are useless. All you want to do is curl up into a little ball and plot your revenge.\nI’ve never played the Spartans. But I assumed that the Hoosiers would be beaten up, broken and bewildered following their disappointing 25-point loss to Michigan State. \nShows what I know. \nBefore Saturday night’s kick-off, the Hoosiers were a victory away from being nationally ranked and qualifying for a bowl game. Less than 24 hours later, the Hoosiers were punted from the polls and once again banished into college football anonymity. \nSure, the Hoosiers were down after Saturday night’s loss, but not like I envisioned. Only 30 minutes removed from the carnage on Spartan Stadium’s field, the Hoosiers downplayed the game’s significance and credited their opponents. \n“We’re not all of a sudden a terrible football team,” IU coach Bill Lynch said. “We didn’t play really well and they played great. That’s the biggest part of it.”\nLynch’s quote oversimplifies how lopsided the game truly was. Imagine Adam Ahlfeld and Michigan State men’s basketball center Idong Ibok on opposite sides of a seesaw. The Spartans ran 90 offensive plays to IU’s 36. Michigan State ran for 368 yards and the Hoosiers finished with 22. \nThe Hoosiers touched the ball as much as Luc Longley and Bill Wennington did with the Chicago Bulls during the 1990s. The Hoosiers had the ball for 18:55, while the Spartans sat on the pigskin for 41:05. \nDuring his seven-minute press conference after the game, Lynch quickly dispelled a reporter’s question on whether he was worried that the Hoosiers would bounce back strong next week against Penn State.\n“No, not at all,” Lynch said. “We weren’t worried after we got beat against Illinois. That’s why you line up in practice and play.”\nLynch’s players echoed his sentiments after the game. Sophomore safety Austin Thomas, who recorded a career-high 22 tackles, said the team was “already over it.”\nJunior kicker Austin Starr made a school-record 11th straight field goal Saturday, but had no interest in talking about statistics. \nStarr has become the unofficial spokesman for IU’s players this season. He is often the first person made available to the media after games and has taken a vocal role that isn’t usually associated with kickers. \n“I don’t care about the record,” Starr said. “I’d rather have the worst game of my life and have us still win.” \nWith the team on the brink of bowl eligibility, every loss takes on the “end of the world” feeling for IU fans until the Hoosiers get to win number six. But junior wide receiver James Hardy denied that the Hoosiers are looking ahead to warmer games, and said the team was fired up for Saturday’s game.\nHardy, channeling Billy Crystal in “Analyze That,” described IU’s transformation into a good football team as a “process.” The wide receiver said that, despite the team’s bad loss, his opinion of IU football hasn’t changed. \n“We stood together,” he said. “As long as we stick together, it’s always a positive. We believe in ourselves no matter what the outside world or anyone else thinks. We’re going to reach our goal.”\nPredicted: Indiana 34, Michigan State 21\nActual: Michigan State 52, Indiana 27
Indiana 27, Michigan St. 52
Bowl eligibility isn’t the only thing at stake for the Hoosiers this weekend. \nThe winner of the IU-Michigan State game this Saturday will come away with one of the lesser-known rivalry trophies in college football – the Old Brass Spittoon. In addition to the Old Oaken Bucket (Purdue) and the Bourbon Barrel (Kentucky), the Spittoon is one of three traditional rivalry trophies the Hoosiers still play for. Thanks to IU’s 46-21 victory last season, the Hoosiers are in possession of the Spittoon for the first time since 2001. \nThe Spittoon has about as much meaning as a Thanksgiving wishbone. Do you have any idea how repulsive a 57-year-old tobacco spit pot is? If not, then you haven’t been to Assembly Hall lately. (Am I going to wake up with a dead horse in my bed because of that joke?) \nThis weekend, traveling with spitting receptacle in hand, the Hoosiers will play Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich., with the intent of returning the Spittoon to Bloomington for another year. But in 1991, the Spartans were unsure they’d ever have to relinquish the trophy. \nAfter holding possession of the trophy for the previous four seasons, the Spartans decided to leave the Spittoon at home before their road game in Bloomington, assuming they would retain ownership with an easy victory. \nAs you can guess by me telling this story, the Hoosiers ended up winning the game 31-0. Then IU coach Bill Mallory sent an assistant coach to East Lansing to personally pick it up. If only you could do some version of this with ex-girlfriends. \nIf you haven’t heard of the Old Brass Spittoon, don’t feel bad. I cry, bleed and piss sports, and I hadn’t heard of it before Wednesday. So as a nod to the Spittoon, I’ve come up with several trophy suggestions the Hoosiers should incorporate into their rivalry matchups.
or years, a new "NBA LIVE" meant nothing more than a roster update, a different soundtrack and a slight graphics overhaul. \nEA Sports didn't reinvent the wheel in "NBA LIVE 08," but it did re-invent just about everything else in its top-selling basketball game. Unlike last year's copy, "LIVE" has enough improvements and new features in this year's game to warrant attention. \nThe best addition is the refurbished ball-handling controls, which were in desperate need of a revamp. The "Quick-Strike Ball Handling" enables users to control a guard's dribbling completely and is much more realistic than previous versions. \n"LIVE" has something for the big men, too, with the incorporation of brand new low-post moves that don't handcuff you only to fadeaways and dunks anymore. You can be Shaquille O'Neal and shoot his patented baby-hook or you can execute a flawless Tim Duncan drop step at the ease of a few \nbutton manipulations. \nThe game has also significantly expanded its game modes. In addition to Dynasty Mode and the typical All-Star Weekend options, you can now compete in the FIBA World Championships or play Quick pick play, which is essentially a fantasy draft with only two teams for a single game. \nBut unlike a Ricky Williams drug test, there are more than just positives in "LIVE." Before playing a game, you most likely will have to endure a painfully long load screen, which EA Sports attempts to compensate for by putting in a new NBA trivia feature. It's like trying to make up for your friend's dead dog by giving them a Tamagotchi. \nLike the Indiana Pacers' last three seasons, the Dynasty Mode leaves something to be desired. You're constantly bombarded with unnecessary prompts, which you can luckily turn off, and the Off-Season Mode is boring compared to the similar features offered in "Madden NFL 08." \nThe artificial intelligence during game play can be as frustrating and uncreative as 50 Cent's last album. Even on the highest difficulty, "Superstar," the players' movements are boring and slow-paced, like the NBA's Eastern Conference. The only saving grace of the A.I. is its deadeye shooting and the occasional ridiculous dunks. \nDespite a couple of frustrating flaws, if you're a basketball fan, "LIVE" is still the best video game on \nthe market.
For a good portion of the last decade, IU football has been little more than a punch line. But Saturday the Hoosiers jumped on top early, and the joke was on their opponent.\nChicago Cubs fans should distance themselves from this team. There is no talk of “next year” surrounding Hoosier football. \nIU coach Bill Lynch is off to the best start of any first-year coach in school history, and the Hoosiers are close to ending the longest bowl drought in the Big Ten.\nTheir 40-20 pummeling of Minnesota confirmed what IU supporters have been saying all year – this is the best Hoosier football team in more than a decade.\nStanding at 5-1 for the first time since 1994, the Hoosiers are in more uncharted territory than the crew from “Lost.” \nThe Hoosiers have had so much success this year they’ve had to re-evaluate their goals. Before the season, bowl eligibility was a hypothetical situation. After Saturday’s game, junior wide receiver James Hardy explained to a reporter the team’s new goal. \n“We’re trying to get to a big bowl game,” he said. \nThe only disappointment from Saturday’s triumph was the lackluster attendance. There was talk last week to “Pack The Rock” and have 50,000 fans in attendance. Instead, there were 32,009.\n“You always want to have a full house, so it’s a little disappointing,” senior cornerback Tracy Porter said after the game. “But it’s not something you’re going to hang your head down low about, because you have those same loyal fans that come week in and week out. To have those fans there really means something for us. We’re not just going to give a half effort because there’s not 50,000 fans in the stands.”\nAttendance aside, things are different when it comes to IU football. No longer a doormat, the Hoosiers are now stepping on their opponents. IU has six games remaining on its schedule and needs only one victory to send the team bowling.\n“I believe we’ve had this in us the whole time since I’ve been here,” Porter said. “It may be a surprise to everyone else out there, but I’ve seen the talent we have and this is the most talented team since I’ve been here.”\nA lot of the lesser-known talent on IU’s football team had big days on Saturday. Junior kicker Austin Starr’s four field goal tied the school record, sophomore running back Bryan Payton ran for three touchdowns and senior cornerback Leslie Majors and sophomore linebacker Will Patterson made interceptions that will have people remembering their names. \n“Indiana is a much improved football team,” Minnesota coach Tim Brewster said. “Coach Hep put together a heck of a squad, and Bill Lynch is doing a great job coaching them right now, and they are playing great football.”\nWhen it comes to giving praise and credit, Lynch is the biggest distributor and smallest receiver in Bloomington. Lynch has done something that no football coach at Indiana has been able to do in more than 10 years: win consistently. \nIt’s a giant sigh of relief for Lynch, Porter and the rest of the Hoosiers when your fan base is laughing with you, not at you.
[Indiana 40, Minnesota 20] - (FINAL) --
The contents of Bud Mackey’s shoes and Isiah Thomas’s dirty mouth grabbed more headlines this week than the best IU football story all season. \nEven when the football team wins, the basketball team finds a way to steal the spotlight.\nCall it a blip on the college football radar; call it one small step for a sub-par football program. But unless my eyesight has deteriorated worse than Major League Baseball umpire Tim McClelland’s, I think the Hoosiers received a vote in the Top 25 Coaches’ Poll this week. \nI know it isn’t as scandalous as crack rocks or inner-office name-calling, nor does it have anything to do with Tyler Zeller, Eli Holman’s eligibility or DeAndre Thomas’ weight, but the Hoosiers receiving national attention for something besides their fallen coach is a breakthrough moment for the entire school. \nThe Hoosiers have lifted themselves from the Big Ten gutter and into the Coaches’ Poll basement. The poll is voted upon by 60 Division I-A head coaches every week, which means that one of those 60 coaches considers the Hoosiers the 25th-best team in the nation.\nI’m not trying to lead a witch hunt, but don’t you really want to know who voted for the Hoosiers? It’s like the tribal council meetings in old “Survivor” episodes where they would never show you who the contestants were voting off. Or watching a poker tournament on television without the pocket cam or trying to figure out who re-elected Bush in 2004. I play detective and wrack my mind trying to figure out these things. \nOf the 60 coaches who make up the poll, only two have faced the Hoosiers this year: Ron Zook (Illinois) and Bill Cubit (Western Michigan). But there is another person who is relatively familiar with IU’s program that has a say in the poll. \nCould it be that Bill Lynch decided to reward his team’s big victory in Iowa City with a little top 25 cameo? Will more people pack “The Rock” this weekend now that the Hoosiers are receiving some national attention? The Coaches’ Poll, which is sponsored and put together by USA Today, only releases who the coaches vote for in the final polling, leaving me curious and sympathizing with Pandora.\nWould finding out Lynch voted for the Hoosiers ruin the story? I’m still recovering from the realization that “The Rock” was not formerly a part of Memorial Stadium. Like the Greek myth I vaguely remember from third grade, maybe finding out what’s inside the box isn’t all its cracked up to be. Especially, you know, if it involves releasing all of the evils into the world. \nNot that gambling is legal, but the Hoosiers are 14-point favorites against Minnesota. To borrow a phrase from former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, I can’t recall the last time the Hoosiers were favored to win by such a large margin, let alone against a team they surrendered 63 points to last season. \nBut this weekend, the Hoosiers are likely favorites, thanks to an explosive offense, a defense that is first in the nation in sacks and one of the top special-teams units in the conference. \nWith a win over Minnesota, the Hoosiers are likely to gain more poll attention, which could ultimately lead to a sunnier bowl game if IU fulfills their goal to “Play 13.” \nThe Hoosier football team deserves a lot more attention than the basketball delinquents. Forget Zeke’s harassment conviction and Mackey’s crack rock. If the Hoosiers can harass their opponents and move the rock at “The Rock,” they just might be able to crack the top 25.
I just came back from my Sports Communications class (ugh, night class) with a little bit of relevant football information.
Shutdown corner, punt returner and special-teams gunner. Tracy Porter plays a lot of roles for the Hoosiers. \nOn Saturday, playing in front of 70,585 fans for Iowa’s homecoming game, Porter played a role that his teammates aren’t accustomed to. \n“I like playing the villain,” Porter said. “I like being the guy who everyone is booing against and then go out and make plays. The crowd gets quiet and makes you feel that much better when you are able to do that.” \nThe Hoosiers were able to stifle the Kinnick Stadium crowd early and beat Iowa for the second consecutive season, this time 38-20. Used to playing the role of bridesmaid the past few years, the Hoosiers had no sympathy for the Hawkeyes on their big day. \n“Losing a homecoming game sucks,” defensive lineman Jammie Kirlew said. Kirlew had a career day for the Hoosiers, finishing with nine tackles and 3.5 sacks. “We were here and we wanted to win. It’s who wants it more. Today, we wanted it.”\nLast week, disappointed with the attendance during the Illinois game, wide receiver James Hardy spoke out, pleading with Hoosier fans “to stay together no matter what” and support their home team. On Saturday, Hardy noticed that it was the opponent’s fans leaving early this time around. \n“Even with them leaving, they still had more than we had in Memorial Stadium,” Hardy said. “We still had thousands watching us ... but it was good to see the opposite team’s fans leaving instead of our own. We just need to have Indiana fans believing in us. There were still 50,000 fans there still believing in them no matter what. We just got to get that and turn it over in Bloomington.” \nSophomore linebacker Will Patterson described the Iowa game as a “real live college football environment,” while Kirlew said the Hoosiers were ready for the rowdy sea of black and gold. \n“I’m not going to lie – it felt good after they got silenced,” Kirlew said. “After we kept playing our game and silenced them, towards the end some of them started to congratulate us.” \nAnd for good reason. IU coach Bill Lynch said in his post-game press conference that this was “the best we’ve played for an entire game.” \nEven when things went wrong for the Hoosiers on Saturday, there was always a silver lining to numb the pain. \nIn the third quarter, Iowa pulled within a touchdown only to miss the extra point. Fullback Josiah Sears perfected the strategic fumble, fumbling once out of bounds and once to quarterback Kellen Lewis for a 71-yard touchdown. When Iowa converted a successful Hail Mary at the end of the first half, it was only an afterthought compared to IU’s three first-half touchdowns. \nLike Bob Saget after too many years playing Danny Tanner, the Hoosiers were desperate for a new role. Before Saturday, the Hoosiers had only one victory in conference road games since 2002. Instead of playing the lovable losers or the disappointed homecoming kings this time, the Hoosiers instead took the role of Sideshow Bob, Hannibal Lecter or Reggie Miller at Madison Square Garden. \nAfter the game, Porter said this was one of the most memorable wins of his career. Decked out in crimson and wearing a “Hep” pin on his jacket, Porter’s face lit up Saturday afternoon talking about the Hoosiers’ win. \n“To hear 70,000 fans get quiet, and to hear your little crowd ... cheer behind you, it really does a lot for us,” Porter said. “A lot for me.”
Back from the press conferences. I think there is a team-wide consensus that this is IU's biggest win since...the last time they played Iowa.
This just in...