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(01/09/07 2:20am)
I want the truth, not truthiness. \nThe Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "truthiness" as the truth that comes from the gut, not books. Truthiness, the 2006 Word of the Year, is the truth with a twist. Where once Americans used the phrase "stretching the truth," we now say "truthiness." To be fair, truthiness has been around long before Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert introduced it on his show in October 2005. More notably, truthiness relates more so to political pontifications. \n"I did not have sexual relations with that woman." Truthiness.\n"I am not a crook." Truthiness.\nIraq 2003: "Mission Accomplished." Forget truthiness. That's delusional. \nBut in the world of sports, especially across the country of college recruiting, truthiness comes with the character. \nAt first, the character is a door-to-door salesman disguised as a country-bumpkin collegiate coach whose priority is that particular family's son. In that moment, the coach croons lullabies of loyalty as lies leave through the spaces of his teeth. These coaches aren't looking for relationships; they are searching for a ringer who can gift wrap a big-bowl payout appropriately around Christmastime. \nBut one former college coach rang in the New Year tainted in truthiness. \nFormer Miami Dolphins head coach Nick Saban masked the truth in regard to his future with this statement: \n"I'm not going to be the Alabama coach."\nA week later Saban snuck from South Beach under the cover of darkness, accepting an eight-year, $32 million deal to coach the Crimson Tide. \nIn the interest of full disclosure, I am a devout Dolphins fan. Since I can remember watching football, the colors aqua and orange have pumped through my bloodstream. Saban's decision to leave Miami sliced me open and bled me dry. I came to with the bitter taste of truthiness in my mouth.\nSaban's decision is unusual because he left college football and the Louisiana State Tigers and upgraded to a head coach in the NFL. Soon Saban slipped out of his contract and splashed back into the warm waters of the Southeastern Conference and into a new era of Alabama football. \nLast season, Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino signed a 10-year, $25 million contract, insisting that the university is "where I want to be." On Sunday he packed his bags for the NFL -- the new head coach of the Atlanta Falcons -- and a five-year, $24 million deal. \nThen again, what are these coaches suppose to say to their teams? If they mention their flights, they'll lose their players' fights and possibly the multiple job offers. Instead they do as nature has taught us. They serve up lies that would make Benedict Arnold seem like an ardent patriot and paddle the pond to another profession. \nSaban surrendered, Petrino found greener pastures and the hierarchy of hiring coaches has been turned upside down. But lying inside these Wally Lowman lowlifes are the beating hearts of liars. \nOf course, in 2006 we don't call them lies. They're acts of truthiness.
(11/20/06 5:12am)
WEST LAFAYETTE -- The good guy was gunned down Saturday at high noon outside the Tippecanoe County Courthouse. The West Lafayette townspeople rejoiced as the bystanders from Bloomington recoiled back to reality. A man on horseback was quickly dispatched to Quarry Land with one message: Hoosier down, Boiler up. Same as it ever was.\nWith all said and done, the Hoosiers had three games, three chances to change. But the football team failed to make the miracle happen, and now Hoosier heroics lie desolate throughout the Bloomington landscape. \nThere are intangibles, certain intricacies people possess. Intangibles are the reasons that all results are reached. Simply put, those intangibles, which wield winners, did not lie inside the crimson hearts of these Hoosiers. That desire designates a sixth win and a 13th game. Instead, Saturday it was the same as it ever was.\nWest Lafayette is the antithesis of Bloomington. It's a barren wasteland of brick. It is an ugly campus masked only by its excess of male students. In a way, PurDude is a sort of Bizzaro Bloomington. But the boys of Brickville made losers out of our Hoosiers. As I previewed before the Minnesota matchup, these improbable champs pumpkin'd into chumps and shattered the Cinderella dream of a bowl berth. \nThen again, perhaps the Hoosiers' dreams died at the hands of bad timing. The game's noon starting time was misconstrued as the stroke of midnight. The spell has broken, and with it, every form the football team has taken this season has fallen apart. The wagons' wheels are broken and the S.S. IU has sunk straight to the ocean floor. These once-rocket men prematurely exploded as their shelter was stripped away. \nA question was posed to the IU football players a few weeks ago. Their answer is a 13th straight year bowl-barren in Bloomington -- same as it ever was. \nThere I found myself inside a press room of Ross-Ade Stadium. I watched as the media harassed a hoarse-voiced coach Terry Hoeppner. I watched a man whose face defined the word exhaustion answer to talking heads full of finely tuned what-if questions. It was then that I asked myself, "How did I get here?" Letting the days go by, I assumed that the arrival of coach Hep would halt the historic mediocrity of IU football. But what I found out while sitting inside that press room Saturday is that this type of change isn't easy.\nThe two years I have covered the IU football team provided me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I have seen this team stun the Kentucky Wildcats, only to lie down stunned by six straight losses in the remainder of its Big Ten schedule. I have seen this team sign its season away to the Southern Illinois Salukis, only to serve a hot dish of humiliation to the nationally ranked Iowa Hawkeyes weeks later. But out of the dust came the dismal, and I am left disappointed. The good guy was gunned down Saturday at high noon outside the Tippecanoe County Courthouse, and for two years, I've witnessed the man packing the pistol. \nOn Saturday, the Hoosiers were stopped on 4th-and-1 on their final offensive play of the season. They needed one yard. They needed one game. But they fell short, as I finally realized how I had gotten here.\nSame as it ever was.
(11/17/06 4:45am)
This is the tale of two gunslingers. Each man represents his respective home in the state of Indiana; each man has a dying deed for the other. Though they have faced off before, they have never done so under these circumstances. Boiler, the man from West Lafayette, has lassoed a long-lost friend of Hoosier, Boiler's adversary to the South. He has taken Hoosier's friend captive. That friend is Bowl Berth -- but his friends just call him Bowl. Right now Bowl is in a Bucket. \nThus, in the name of football -- in the state of Indiana -- and in the final stages of fall, these two foes face one final hurdle: each other. Saturday, in Boiler's backyard, the two gunslingers of Indiana will meet at High Noon outside the Tippecanoe County Courthouse. The two gunslingers will fight for honor with their hearts. They will fight for glory with their guns. They will fight for their lives. They will fight...for a Bucket? \nThey will not fight at the O.K. Corral; instead, the High Noon heat will hit the streets at the OaKen Corral. Since 1925, the Old Oaken Bucket has been the prize possessed by the winner of the IU-Purdue game. This is a bucket that is so old...(How old is it?)...that it has the word "Old" in its name (cue the drum-beat). Come Saturday, our friend Bowl is in that Bucket, and the only way to Bowl is to blow away Boiler. \nThe stage is set Saturday for football. Its conclusion rests in the players' response to one question: Do you want it bad enough? \n"I didn't sleep at all last night," senior offensive lineman Justin Frye said Tuesday. "I've played football since the third grade, and I have always been a football player. This is it." \nThis is it, Justin. This is the re-birth of a rivalry. This is High Noon at the OaKen Corral, and you've got four feats to finish before you get the hell out of Dodge. \nBeat Boiler, win a bowl berth, bring the bucket. Oh, and get the girl.
(11/13/06 5:17am)
Perhaps it was a cruel joke: On Saturday, the football gods forced IU to play No. 2 Michigan in the Hoosiers' final home game of the season. In the last decade, the Wolverines have played with the Hoosiers like a cat playing with a mouse. Before Saturday's game, Michigan had posted wins against IU in their previous 13 meetings. And perhaps it was only fitting that in the Hoosiers' final game at Memorial Stadium this season, it was Michigan that kept the Hoosiers from breaking their 13-year bowl game drought. \nThe Hoosiers were able to move up and down the field frequently, but as soon as they looked poised to score, the Wolverine with whiskers put its paw down and pounced, delaying the possibility of an IU bowl berth for another game. \nPerhaps it was only fitting that Saturday's gloomy weather spelled doom once more -- a 14th straight loss at the claws of the Wolverines. It was a fitting farewell for this senior class of football players. Season after season they have left every part of themselves on the football field. Season after season they have left it without an ounce of energy remaining and without a winning record. Bloomington has embraced these winless warriors as a city greets its defeated as they return from battle. Though home victories against Michigan State and nationally ranked Iowa have created happy hoopla, a bowl berth and victory -- winning the war -- has eluded these elder soldiers. The campaign began under IU coach Terry Hoeppner's mantra of "dispatch," a word with multiple definitions. It could mean the act of putting to death, or it could mean to send away with speed. So it was only fitting that the Wolverines dispatched of the Hoosiers -- with dispatch. \nOf course, the shame of the Wolverine whooping wasn't confined to our own backyard. The football gods continued their cruel joke as ABC and ESPN showed nationwide coverage of both Michigan and Ohio State games Saturday. The Hoosiers and the Northwestern Wildcats were both laughed at. Perhaps it was as an extension of ABC's hit show "Lost" -- a striking reflection of each team's mindset Saturday. (Then again, think of the alternatives -- "Desperate Football Programs," "Blowout's Anatomy," "Show Me the Funny" and "Ugly Setting.") Oddly, Michigan and Ohio State were playing a game against each other as well. It was titled "Who can outscore their opponent by more points?" The Buckeyes won, fittingly, by 13. \nFittingly for a game of cat and mouse, IU was mauled by Michigan. Now, one game on the season schedule remains, and with it hangs in the balance the number 13 -- only fitting for a football program that has endured bad years on top of worse luck. But more important is a question that will soon be answered at the conclusion of this final crusade in quarry land: Will the Hoosiers be bowl barren for a 13th year, or will they win next week and play a 13th game? \nFor more than a decade, the Hoosiers have cut their seasons short. One game remains before this team decides which 13th it will play for. A 13th straight year? Now that would be a fitting farewell for the Hoosiers.
(11/10/06 4:42am)
It could be the greatest game in Hoosier football history -- a victory against No. 2 Michigan that would secure both a bowl berth and a blurry Bloomington night. \nBut it won't be. \nInstead, the IU football team is likely to receive a beating in Bloomington that will leave it bruised \nThis column will not be full of what-if's for Saturday's soon-to-be slaughtering of the IU football team. I stopped showing up to my own IU football dreams when the Hoosiers didn't show up to last week's Minnesota massacre. That game, which should have locked a sixth win and a bowl game, instead locked the chances that this will be year No. 13 of a bowl-barren season in Bloomington. \nThen again, the Hoosiers could stir up success against Michigan. But if it comes early and in the form of a fight, Bloomington beware. A fight brewed before kickoff last season in Ann Arbor, Mich. IU punched first with a touchdown. The Wolverines responded with a crotch-kicking 41 points, leaving the Hoosiers down and drawing for air. If last week's 63-26 beat-down is any indicator, let's take a DeLorean and blast to the future matchup against Purdue Nov. 18.\nWhat is a columnist to do? I'll leave the sarcasm for the sad. I'll leave the delusions to the Republicans, and I'll leave the miracles to Moses. Instead, I have resorted to cinemantics. \n"Cinemantics?" you're wondering aloud. Yes, reader, particular semantics of popular cinematic moments. I have resorted to cinemantics, and as such, if IU beats Michigan, I'm going streaking ... right down Kirkwood Avenue. I will be as nuts and as nude as Will Ferrell, but I won't be stopping for KFC.\nHowever, if IU does beat Michigan, the rest of the collegiate football community will see us as party crashers. While the S.S. IU will be motor-boating its way to a bowl game, we will have spoiled next week's No. 1 Ohio State versus No. 2 Michigan game, which will likely decide the rest of the BCS picture. \nBut the truth is that both teams are looking beyond Saturday's game. Michigan is ready for a melee matchup against Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio. The Hoosiers sealed their fate after the aforementioned 63-26 ass-kicking. It's now in the hands of their final regular-season game versus Purdue. Of course, the difference is that Michigan can afford to look past us, but IU cannot look past any opponent. \nSo expect a Wolverine whooping, the Earth to remain round, Hell to remain hot and pigs to remain on the ground. Expect the ordinary, not the extraordinary. Expect the best from IU, but expect even better from the Wolverines. \nAs I stated earlier, this could be the greatest game in Hoosier history. But it won't be. It will once more give Hoosiers cause to hide their heads in red Solo cups and refried bean chili bowls. Yet the IU loss to Michigan, whether it is by seven or 70 points (keep laughing, you'll see) will put the Hoosiers' hopes behind the eight-ball, inches from erasing one of the more interesting IU football seasons in recent history.\nYes, sir, all hail the Hoosiers. Hail, hail to the victims!
(11/06/06 5:12am)
We knew it wouldn't be this easy. Not our team, not with our history and certainly not when bowl eligibility could come this soon. \nThen again, it doesn't help when Minnesota quarterback Brian Cupito throws for 376 yards and four touchdowns, a sign that the Golden Gophers decided to play their best game all seasons. While Cupito showed potential as a decent quarterback, Minnesota defeated IU for its first Big Ten victory of the season. On paper, this game should have been over before it began. But, in the words of Chris Berman, "that is why they play the game."\nThe Golden Gophers played a style of football faster than Berman talks. Contrary to IU's advantage on paper, the Hoosiers were bumbling and stumbling all game long, unable to erase the Gophers' 35 unanswered points to start the game.\nFor one Saturday, the new-look Hoosiers were whipped around by a Big Ten opponent the way we would have expected from the old Hoosiers. For one Saturday, IU returned to its natural state -- a tortoise. No matter how productive the offense played, it remained unable to catch up with the much faster hare. For one Saturday, the Hoosiers watched the hare -- in the form of the Gophers -- take an early 35-0 lead and never look back. Contrary to the childhood tale, this slow and steady tortoise lost the game.\nThis will be the question answered in the remainder of the season: Which Hoosier team will show up, the old or the new? Will it be the tortoise or the hare? \nContrary to Saturday's team's role as the tortoise, IU quarterback Kellen Lewis was running around like he was the hare. Unfortunately, Lewis' rushing yards are usually an accurate measure of whether or not IU wins. If his yards surpass the rest of the IU rushing attack, it's been a long day for the offense. In three of the Hoosiers' five losses, Lewis was the leading rusher on the team. So Saturday was no exception. Despite throwing for a career-high 321 yards, Lewis also rushed for 75 yards, more than both IU running backs combined.\nI have only a few words of wisdom now for the IU football team. They are words that I have drawn from my native New Jersey tongue: Forget about it. Forget about the 63-26 loss. Forget that this was the easiest game remaining on your bowl-eligible schedule. Forget that Saturday ever existed and certainly forget about next week's game versus Michigan (seriously, forget about that one). Just forget it all and march on.\nContrary to the celebration prepared for the Hoosiers had they won, these formerly frantic turned fanatical fans are once more frantic. As true fans always are, the Hoosier Nation is left to hope for the best and expect the worse. Contrary to anything Frank Sinatra sang: "The worse is yet to come for IU with the Wolverines waiting to get a kick out of IU. The difference could be night and day." \nNonetheless, there are two games left and a possible bowl berth lingering in the late autumn air. All we can do is hope that the Hoosier hare shows up in the remaining Saturdays.\nThen again, there is the contrary.
(11/03/06 4:53am)
This is the most important game of the season, period. It is so important that I had to emphasize the period ... period.\nFactoring in a massacre at the hands of Michigan, the Hoosiers have two games left to clinch a bowl game. The first game is set for Saturday against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who are 0-5 in the Big Ten so far this season. The second and final game of the season stacks IU against in-state rival Purdue. The Boilermakers have had the Hoosiers' number for quite some time. That number is four -- as in four straight Old Oaken Bucket victories.\nNormally, no ordinary Hoosier squad could respond to a Big Ten must-win game, but as we've seen in the month of October, this is no ordinary team. In fact, the Hoosiers are two road wins away from starting the season ordinarily and ending it extraordinarily.\nWe've also seen what the IU football team can do to opponents it should beat. I am nailing this declaration to the entrance of Memorial Stadium. This Hoosier team has two legitimate chances to clinch a bowl game. If the team can't do it, these players, their coaches and this season will have failed. Simply put, if the Hoosiers clinch, they're champs. If they don't, they're chumps.\nI know what you die-hard fans who have endured more than a decade of IU football disparagement are thinking: This team has already surpassed expectations. They're growing, they're learning and they're built for the future -- isn't that enough? \nNo, it's not. \nIf you want to be satisfied, grab a Snickers bar. If you want to be celebrated, grab a seat, and cheer this team on until your face has turned crimson.\nSpeaking of seats, Bloomington Herald-Times football columnist Chris Korman wrote last week that there are plenty of good ones left on the IU bandwagon. This is the same bandwagon that is usually dark, desolate and appropriately full of spider webs by the time Halloween hits the football season. This year, as we round the corner to November, IU is 5-4 and the bandwagon is building a crowd -- warming up the engine and waiting for one more win. Of course, as seen Saturday, that crowd will never build to 50,000.\nNonetheless, the IU fight song will continuously blare throughout Bloomington if the football team can secure a bowl berth. That is what this team has accomplished so far, highlighted by an upset against Iowa and a smackdown of the Spartans. If the Hoosiers leave Bloomington bowl-barren, then what was it all for? Well, OK, we helped cause Michigan State head coach John L. Smith to be fired. So we've got that going for us, which is nice.\nThe goal has been clear since the start of spring: play 13 games. If IU cannot win one more game for the remainder of the season, they'll finish another year without a bowl game and without a winning record. Once more, the Hoosier Nation will be without football in December, marking the 13th year in a row.\nSo what will it be, gentlemen -- 13 games or 13 years?
(10/30/06 4:24am)
In the two years I have covered IU football, I have never seen a Hoosier team like the one that played Saturday. I have never seen a Hoosier quarterback look so comfortable or an offensive line look so impenetrable. I have never seen a Hoosier defense dominate for four quarters. Perhaps due in part to IU coach Terry Hoeppner's declaration, in part to the homecoming weekend and in part to the Hoosiers' handling of Michigan State on Saturday, I have never seen a Memorial Stadium crowd so loud.\nAt the request of coach Hep, the crowds came out. Though they hardly numbered 50,000 -- the number Hoeppner called for after IU's victory over Iowa -- those who did show up were given a show. The offense overpowered, the defense shut down the Spartans and most of the 36,444 watching Saturday's game were asking themselves, "Who are these guys?" \nThey are your Indiana Hoosiers. They are fifth in the Big Ten standings. And they are one win away from clinching bowl berth. \n"I told the team we need to learn how to handle prosperity better," Hoeppner said during the post-game press conference. "Championship teams finish people off in the fourth quarter. I also told them get used to it. Get used to handling prosperity because we are going to have a bunch of it down the road." \nCould it be -- a collective calm in quarry land? There is prosperity instead of pandemonium. There is optimism for a football team that was once ostracized. In their first five games, the Hoosiers went 2-3. That record included a three-game home skid kicked off by an embarrassing 35-28 loss to Southern Illinois University. The Division I-AA Salukis are not even in the same league as IU -- literally. But after a 52-17 thrashing from Wisconsin at "the Rock," IU went on to win three of its next four games. These were not thankless victories, either. These were Big Ten conference games, which once marked the beginning of the end for the Hoosiers' schedule. This year, they simply mark the end of the Hoosiers' winless woes in October. \nThough their first bowl game appearance in 13 years is still uncertain, Saturday's Hoosier hammering of Michigan State was not. Of course, this rare sign of resilience begs several questions: Was this game a defining moment for this turned-around team? Has the Hoosiers' luck changed along with the seasons -- a metamorphosis from fall failures to winter winners? The colder the weather, the hotter this team seems to get. \nBut for the time being, Hoosier nation can embrace its team's 46-21 shellacking of the Spartans. It was an outcome as scary for Michigan State as the holiday weekend that the game fell on. Appropriately, the Hoosiers played possessed but also, more importantly, poised in these prosperous times. \nShortly after Saturday's game, the IU men's basketball team played an intersquad scrimmage, usually a time which signals the beginning of the basketball season and the bleak end of football. Instead, something else happened Saturday. Someone forgot to tell Hep and his Hoosiers basketball had begun. Go ahead, Hoosier football team: Live long and prosper.
(10/27/06 4:59am)
Who coaches the IU football team? Is it Terry Hoeppner or former Democratic presidential frontrunner Howard Dean? On Monday, Hoeppner wrote a letter to the student body asking for a crowd of 50,000 to attend Saturday's Michigan State game. Hoeppner, like Dean, has sorely overestimated his public's enthusiasm. In 2004, Dean was running away with the Democratic nomination for president when he gave a screaming sermon that made him appear, well, certifiably insane. Soon enough, it was Dean's staunch supporters, rather than his chances for the nomination, that were running away. \nSo when Hoeppner declared that he wanted 50,000 for a stadium that can only summon that much with the help of Ohio State fans, it seemed Hoeppner was now the crazy one. \nWith the help of Dave Chapelle's spoof on Howard Dean's remarks, this is what Hoeppner sounded like (at least in my head):\n"Not only are we gonna get 50,000 at the game, but we're gonna beat Michigan State, we're gonna go to Minnesota and beat them, then we're gonna beat Michigan, then we're gonna go to Purdue and beat them, then we're gonna go to a dot-com bowl game and we're gonna beat them! Byaah!" \nAs Hoeppner, like Dean, screamed "Byaah!" he flexed his arm across his chest like he was at a hoedown. Unfortunately for coach Hep, Saturday won't be a hoedown; it'll be a hose down. Like they always do, the students will come out in full support on the tailgating fields, forgetting that IU has a football team. Instead, the students will hose down Hoeppner's expectations and at the same time hose down themselves with beer bongs. \nWhile the football team might suck, the students -- in more ways than one -- suck even more. \nWithin this reality lies one fundamental football question in Bloomington: Who is to blame? The football coach for expecting such an outrageously large crowd (by Bloomington standards) or the student body who wakes up every Saturday morning in support of funnel towers over its football team? \nFirst, the students' perspective, which I have aptly named "If you build it, they will come:" Most students believe if the Hoosiers build a winning football program, the victories will be the key in capturing their attention. For more than a decade, IU football has been on cardiac arrest, and each losing season further clogs the football program's arteries. Football's failures further feed the students' "Why bother?" attitudes. \nEvery Saturday, tailgating IU students stand in front of two roads diverged at the Woodlawn fields. They take the road most traveled, stuffing their stomachs instead of stuffing the stadium, and that has made absolutely no difference. \nThe football team's perspective can be summed up in two words: staunch support. If students want to call themselves true fans of IU football, they must support the team in bad times and worse times. Even without staunch student support, this football has stayed the course at .500. Even without staunch student support, this football team still has a chance at a bowl game. \nSo is Hoeppner delusional, or is the student body undependable? Perhaps both, but either way it is a strange dilemma. It's a Catch-22 that would spin around a spinal cord. The fans won't show up if the football team won't win, and the football team won't win if fans won't show up. You know what I say? Screw the students, coach. Embrace the football faithful who attend every game, regardless of the opponent, the weather or the team's record. Coach, you and the Hoosiers won two weeks ago in front of a crowd of 31,392 against Iowa. Who needs 50,000 in front of Michigan State? And from there? Byaah! A bowl game.
(10/23/06 3:29am)
Do I understand your question, man? Is it hopeless and forlorn?" \nNot exactly, but IU expectations fell face-first flat against the crowned kings of the Bowl Championship Series.\nBefore Saturday, coach Hep likened the upcoming Ohio State game to walking across a 2-by-4 plank more than 100 feet in the air, the idea being that the high risk would lend itself to even higher rewards. It was about 2 p.m. that next day that Ohio State grabbed the 2-by-4 plank and smacked IU across the face with it. \nThe Hoosiers walked into the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio, whistling Bob Dylan. The times were-a-changin' for the football program -- with a two-game Big Ten winning streak -- and IU had nothing to lose against the Buckeyes. Instead, the Hoosiers were forced to change their tune. Instead, Ohio State showed up to slaughter. Instead, all game long, Captain Hep and his crew were seeking shelter from the storm. Instead, the whistling soon turned to wailing as IU was given a whooping.\nThe Hoosiers spent a Saturday seeking shelter from a Buckeye bombshelling. There would be no comeback from IU quarterback Kellen Lewis. The Comeback Kid has engineered three fourth-quarter comebacks for victories this season. Instead, Lewis was seeking shelter from the storm. He was burned out from exhaustion making plays with his legs. He was buried in the hail of Buckeye defensive linemen. Oh yeah, and junior quarterback Blake Powers was seeking shelter from the storm -- he got up off the bench, threw two interceptions and, instead, put the entire Hoosier offense back onto the bench with him.\nOn Saturday, freshmen offensive linemen Rodger Saffold and Pete Saxon were seeking shelter from the storm. They offered up their innocence and got repaid with sores. Both blockers represent part of Hoeppner's "Seven Blocks of Limestone" from his 2006 recruiting class. The storm disintegrated both blocks of limestone. \nIt was a cold world of steel-eyed death for Hoosier heroics Saturday, and the IU men were fighting to be warm. I hope this 44-3 Buckeye bombshell does not leave IU shell-shocked because in truth, this game did not matter. \nIU has a bigger challenge coming up. It has a more legitimate goal than beating the Buckeyes in Columbus. The Hoosiers host Michigan State in one week and travel to Minneapolis in two weeks. Both games are winnable. Both games will determine just what these men -- some blocks of limestone -- are really made of. \nBut nothing really mattered much Saturday, for it was doom alone that counted. And if I could only turn back the clock to when games against Southern Illinois University and the University of Connecticut were lost, then maybe IU would be six wins high. Instead, it remains at .500. \nInstead, it comes in seeking shelter from the storm.
(10/20/06 4:07am)
Don't expect anything else. The IU football team is on a two-game Big Ten winning streak after its upset of No. 15 Iowa last Saturday, and hopes are as high as the tide that is sweeping the S.S. IU swiftly across the sea of Big Ten competitors.\nDon't expect anything else but optimism from Captain Hep and his crew, who firmly believe they can win this game. If there were ever a Hoosier team in the past 20 years that can crash the party at Ohio Stadium, it's this year's team -- right at this moment, riding this particular streak. \nOriginally this column was going to contain numerous lengthy examples of spectacular sport upsets -- as a way of indicating how to overcome the impossible. But Bob Dylan has never been more relevant, for the times they are a-changin' in Bloomington. And, at least for the time being, this football team is capable of almost anything -- yes, even beating the big, buckeyed bullies of the Big Ten.\nA simple twist of fate is all the Hoosiers will need to hound their opponents at the Horseshoe this Saturday. OK, I'm lying -- we need a mother of a miracle. But for coach Hep, it's not about marginalizing miracles (he wouldn't acknowledge the Iowa win as an upset). Instead, it is about teamwork, trust and tightrope walking. \n"It's the story about the two-by-four -- if you lay that two-by-four on the ground, we can all walk across it because the risk is not very great," coach Hep said in an Oct. 17 press conference. "But put that two-by-four up about 100 feet in the air. Now who wants to walk across it? The risk is greater when the rewards are higher. That's when you really have to trust yourself, trust your teammates, trust your coaches." \nThis week, the risks and rewards are at their highest for IU. And true to form -- true to a Dylan mantra -- IU has got nothing to lose. Of course, the critics, the downers, still doubt. Some suggest that the devil will have to put on a sweater when hell is that cold. Others have argued that the closest the Hoosiers have come to competing with any No. 1 is when the Princeton Review comes to campus.\nLast season, I wrote a column about the Buckeyes being the schoolyard bullies in the Big Ten playground. The Hoosiers were a newly adopted, small and skinny but capable kid who was no longer willing to be bullied. Well, we were beaten that next day in Bloomington -- six feet under the sandbox. So despite this little engine that could, the S.S. IU, running full steam ahead, there in our sights is still the Titanic of the Big Ten.\nOhio State has won 13 straight games against IU, dating back to 1988. The cream and crimson are also 0-13 overall when facing the No. 1 team in the nation, and before Illinois, IU was 0-16 in Big Ten road games.\nAs coach Hep describes it, this game, this streak and this team are all a story about a two-by-four. \nIt will be about this Hoosier team. This roster of men needs to band together to beat down the bullies. So when this team, right at this moment, riding this particular streak, takes the field against the No. 1 team in the nation, expect its best. \nDon't expect anything else.
(10/16/06 3:57am)
Both IU and Iowa fans had reason to cry Saturday. \nIowa fans shed tears with shock, leaving them unable to swallow the lump in their throats. IU fans, meanwhile, cried tears of victory, as a day of deluge impeded years of drought. \nEven IU coach Terry Hoeppner was holding his emotions back, only able to focus on the sky above as an ESPN sideline reporter interviewed him after the game. \n"This is a young team just gaining confidence," coach Hoeppner said. "Obviously after last week, this is even bigger. Our football program is a shooting rocket."\nA shooting rocket? For years IU football has been as stagnate as a sea shell stuck in sand. We haven't even crawled inches, let alone yards, and suddenly in the stunning formation that only football could figure, we've turned from a sea shell stuck in the sand to a shooting rocket soaring for the stratosphere.\nWhat could have turned these tumultuous times around?\n"Attitude," coach Hep told his team before the game. "You control your attitude, and your attitude will make all the difference. ... We will win the game because of your attitude."\nFunny, I thought attitude was something that led to a smack in the face from my mother. But attitude was what led IU to smack Iowa straight in the mouth Saturday. By the time Kellen Lewis completed his third touchdown, Iowa was starry-eyed and stunned, wobbling about like a Mortal Kombat character ready for the Hoosiers to finish them.\nThat's just what Will Meyers did.\nMeyers, a senior defensive back, made the IU miracle complete with an interception that is sure to be a staple in the Hoosier football highlight reel for years to come. A tipped ball from Iowa quarterback Drew Tate flew in the air one millisecond long enough for Meyers to wrap one hand around it and field possession.\nThe one-hand grab slammed shut the door to a possible Iowa comeback and gave Hoosier fans everywhere the right to say the one word they've only uttered in jest: upset. We did the impossible and now anything -- that's right anything -- is possible. \nMy fellow Hoosiers, Saturday our football team recorded its biggest upset since 1987 -- when IU ousted then-No. 9 Ohio State at home. \nFreshman quarterback Kellen Lewis' completed his 255 passing yards with sophomore James Hardy's record-setting three-touchdown game. Freshman running back Demetrius McCray became the Hoosiers' workhorse in the second half, netting 84 key yards.\nSaturday's win against Iowa was the illumination Hep's dim record as the Hoosiers' coach needed. He deserved a game like this. He deserved a game that fueled his eternal optimism -- the same optimism that drains weekly from the crimson hearts of loyal Hoosiers. It might have taken until now, but Hep has exorcised the demons that darkened his early season woes. \nWhen the play clock finally expired, the IU players launched into a Lambeau leap across the student section. Their tired bodies were lifted by the loyalty of the IU students who have believed in these players since the start of spring. Together they rejoiced, wrapped in that single moment, bound by football's benevolence. \nSo Saturday, with a stunned smile permanently marking my face, I felt I had every right to shout the word "upset." I screamed it from "the Rock" through the rafters and onto the rooftops. \nAnd from the rooftop, I was able to make out that shooting rocket. It was the same rocket that Hep had figuratively seen hours before, a rocket that held the high hopes and hallowed dreams of IU football fans everywhere, appropriately soaring towards the stars, where wishes -- like Saturday's upset -- come true.\nI decided then and there to make another wish: I wish that IU beats Ohio State next week.\nHey, it could happen.
(10/13/06 4:49am)
IU did something last week that it hasn't done since 1999. \nWhat's that, you say -- win a football game? \nNo, no. That's not it, but good guess. \nTuesday, IU sophomore Marcus Thigpen was named Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week for the first time in more than half a decade. The last time an IU player claimed that title was when punter Drew Hagan won it in Oct. 31, 1999. \nThat's right, our punter -- once again demonstrating that IU football has a history as illustrious as NBC's short-lived sitcom "The Single Guy" starring Jonathan Silverman. Oh, you don't know what that is? That's the point. \nBut now IU has got "The Return Guy" in Marcus, and you know what? He's Thigdiculous.\nLast Saturday against Illinois, Thigpen had 311 all-purpose yards including 197 yards on four kickoffs and 91 yards at running back. The Detroit native ran for a 98-yard touchdown in the third quarter, giving the Hoosiers their first lead in a football game since IU did so three weeks ago against Southern Illinois University. \nAnd the accolades continue. Thigpen is first in the nation with 543 return yards. He is 16th nationally and fourth in the league in all-purpose rushing yards per game with 137.2. Thigpen leads the nation with an average of 41.8 yards per kickoff return. \nAnd football isn't the only sport Thigpen excels at. He is also a track and field star -- er, superstar. Thigpen ran the 40 - yard dash in 4.4 seconds when he arrived at IU in 2004, according to Peegs.com. He also ran IU's fastest time at the 60 meters with a 6.77 last spring at the Hoosier Hill Invitational. \nIn short, he is a Thigdiculous Superstar. \nHere's the point: If IU plans to sneak a win by the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday, it's going to need big plays from Thigpen and, more importantly, solid play from special teams. So far this season Iowa is No. 3 in the conference in passing yards per game, and quarterback Drew Tate is third among Big Ten quarterbacks in the category. But special teams are Iowa's Achilles heel. This is why IU needs its special teams to be the Trojan horse and Thigpen to play the role of Paris. \nOf course, Thigpen is no secret to the warriors to the west. \n"(Thigpen is) scary. He's averaging, what, 43, 44 yards a touch?" Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said in an Oct. 10 press conference. "Our lack of consistency (on special teams) gives us reason to be concerned." \nThere is an easy way for Iowa to take Thigpen's returns out of the game: don't kick to him. The Hawkeyes can squib the ball or onside kick it. Hell, the kicker can thrust his entire body forward and knee the ball. Do anything. Anything that doesn't have Saturday's game-day announcer utter the phrase "Marcus has done it again." But whatever Iowa's game plan is, Ferentz is well aware of Thigpen's Thigdiculous talents. \nIn the last few weeks, he has been re-Marc-able on the football field. That's why I had to give him a nickname Marcus is the Mad Electrician. Give him a little light, and he'll create sparks.
(10/09/06 4:27am)
our seconds. In the words of immortal actor Al Pacino, four seconds is a lifetime. In a life's length, then, the Hoosiers' questions were unanswered. Did they leave too few seconds on the clock? Would the snap be flawless? Would the hold be firm? Would the kick fit between the uprights? \nIn four seconds unanswered, the IU football team knelt in a straight line, shoulder-to-shoulder, along the sideline ready to embrace questions that the football gods would soon answer. In the four seconds -- three more than what was on the play clock -- the football spun in the air, and everything else that hung in the balance remained unanswered. \nThis is sport. It is the four seconds in which everyone involved, player and patron, cannot exhale in ecstasy or inhale in indignation. Instead, we all lay perfectly motionless. In our personal purgatory we have no other choice than to watch, wait and pray. \nThis is sport -- the game of inches. Had the field goal gone several inches to the left -- I wouldn't be writing this column. Instead (and once more) I would be walking and whistling through the graveyard where another IU football game lay wasted six feet below. \nIn that moment -- in those four seconds unanswered -- IU kicker Austin Starr's kick sliced through the air, saddling the left upright. In that fourth second, men wearing black and white striped shirts signaled with both hands, each pointing that IU led Illinois. \nIn every aspect Saturday, the Hoosiers did it together -- to the "T." It was a total team effort. When the offense ignited, the defense stalled. When the defense came together, the offense fell apart. When either side of the ball tripped over each other, it was special teams that picked them both up. \nMarcus Thigpen returned a kickoff for six points for the third time this season, while Lance Bennett remained allergic to the football, sneezing away every punt return offered to him. Kellen Lewis finished the game with a career-high 20 completions for 240 yards, throwing an amazingly accurate ball. Meanwhile, James Hardy forgot how to catch any ball -- dropping key completions early in the game -- but did redeem himself with five catches for 67 yards. \nNone of that matters now because of one kick. One kick that dissolved a 17-game road conference losing streak dating back to 2001. One kick that dismissed seven consecutive Big Ten losses since Oct. 15, 2005 against Iowa. One kick that disarmed a current three game-losing streak for the Hoosiers.\nIt was one kick that wiped clean IU's slate of stagnation. \nHey, IU -- have you heard? The Hoosiers won Saturday. On the legs of Marcus Thigpen, the arm of Kellen Lewis, the head of Terry Hoeppner and the foot of Austin Starr. \nThis is sport. It requires a team effort that might last nine innings, three periods, two halves or four quarters. It wasn't four quarters that mattered most; rather it was four seconds. In four seconds unanswered, the IU football team knelt in a straight line, shoulder-to-shoulder along the sideline, awaiting their collective football fate. \nThat was when Starr, in the lazy Saturday sun, sliced the football through the sky to capture IU's third win of the season. \nThough a football game might last four quarters and a football season might last 12 games, a lifetime lasts four seconds. In a life's length, in four seconds, the Hoosiers' questions were finally answered.
(10/06/06 3:44am)
I was ready to make fun of Illinois from the very start of the season once they lost to Rutgers University.\nAs a New Jersey native, I know all about Rutgers football. The Scarlet Knights are more like Scarlet fever in the dirty Jerz. Their losing is a chronic illness, and the only antidote -- wins -- are few and far between.\nIn the first week of the season, the Fightin' Illini inoculated the Scarlet Knights, losing 33-0. I laughed and was tempted to put a "W" next to the IU schedule that read, "Oct. 7 at Illinois." But Rutgers hasn't lost a game since and remains unbeaten at 5-0. The Scarlet Knights have staved off their Scarlet fever, but IU and Illinois remain infected.\nIf the Big Ten were a family, IU and Illinois would be twins with leprosy. No one in our family will talk to us, acknowledge us or even admit that we're related. Quarantined and ostracized, these two football programs might as well be dead this season.\nSo what is important about this unimportant game? Only one thing -- the one thing Illinois has and IU has been without. It is momentum, and Saturday we'll find out just how important it can be. \nLadies and germs, this is it. This is the final game of the football schedule that IU should win. And in IU's true underdog fashion, the Fighting Illini enter the game flaunting full momentum, while the Hoosiers have all their momentum, of course, going against them.\nHow do you define momentum in college football? In an average 12-game schedule, one win or one loss can fuel or fool a football team. \nLast week, IU should have lost to Wisconsin. They did, 52-17.\nLast week, the Illini should have lost to Michigan State. They didn't, winning 23-20.\nThe Fighting Illini won their first Big Ten game in three years. IU lost its seventh consecutive conference contention. Repeat those last three words five times fast. Now, imagine that on a football field. The Hoosiers have stumbled, stammered and stuttered in their recent three-game homestead. They went from undefeated to only defeated, and Saturday they will stumble, stammer and stutter their way into Champaign, Ill., against a Fighting Illini squad that actually has a fight in it.\nAn inoculation, like the one with which Rutgers was treated with, is hard to come by several weeks into the football season. Now, it's about overcoming the disease dubbed losing, overcoming our leprosy.\nThat is the importance of being cured. That is the importance of being a good football team. That is the importance of being earnest about the rest of your season. And if IU can't shake off this sickness Saturday, that'll signify the importance of being momentous.
(10/02/06 4:09am)
The good news: IU scored 17 unanswered points against Wisconsin on Saturday. \nThe bad news: Wisconsin was winning the game 52-0 at the time.\nSorry, IU, that joke was too easy. And this game, like the last, was a joke. We were playing checkers on Wisconsin's chessboard. \nThe debacle was aired nationally on ESPN2. Not only did the state of Indiana see Saturday's game, but households across the continental United States were exposed to IU football.\nI should know. I've got the text messages to prove it. \n"IU is on TV in New Jersey! How exciting!" -- my mother at kickoff.\n"Did you know that your school has a football team?" -- my grandfather (14-0, Wisconsin).\nThat text message was followed shortly by:\n"Apparently we don't have a football team" -- my friend Alex (21-0).\n"Uncle Jesse is kicking our ass right now" -- my roommate Louie (21-0).\nYes, he is, Louie. Wisconsin quarterback John "Stamos" Stocco threw for 304 yards and three touchdowns against an outcoached and outplayed IU defense. \n"Why is everyone in the crowd wearing the color gray on TV?" -- my mother (21-0). \nThey're not, Mom. That's the color of the granite bleachers.\n"Someone should tell IU that the game has started" -- my brother Ryan (28-0).\nAt this point in the game, Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback "Big Ben" Roethlisberger -- a former player of IU coach Terry Hoeppner -- is being interviewed by a reporter on the sidelines.\n"Big Ben is at the game! Get me an autograph!" -- my sister (28-0).\nNo. But I will buy him a shot at Kilroy's later. Oh yes, I will.\n"Do you think this game reminds Big Ben of a motorcycle accident?" -- my brother Ryan (28-0).\nThat was my favorite text message of the game. Big Ben still hasn't recovered from that catastrophe; will the Hoosiers recover from theirs?\n"So ... we really are this bad" -- my roommate Chris (35-0).\n"Hey! Basketball tickets are on sale right now. Let's go!" -- my roommate Louie (42-0).\nYep, when the score is 42-0, it's about that time to remind students that Hoosier Hysteria is a week from Friday.\n"I'm gonna fart on your face when you get home" -- my roommate Brad (45-0).\nWow. These are my roommates.\n"I'm not near a TV. What's the score?" -- my dad (52-0).\nOh, it's only 52-0, Dad. It's one of those "I wish I had stayed in bed" games.\n"Indiana, Oh Indiana ... Indiana, you're awful, too!" -- my friend Elliot, who goes to Illinois (52-0).\nA fun play on words using the Indiana fight song. Nice job, Elliot.\n"Someone should tell Wisconsin that they won the game two hours ago" -- my roommate Chris (52-0). \n"Hey! You guys scored a field goal!" -- my mom (52-3).\nA field goal! Too bad it was four quarters too late.\n"Be careful what you write, honey. You need your legs" -- my mom (52-17, final).\nI didn't have to say it, Mom. My family and friends said it for me.
(09/29/06 4:09am)
All aboard. The S.S. IU sets sail Saturday for Big Ten waters chockfull of sea creatures, submarines and the occasional iceberg.\nPassengers beware. This voyage won't be easy. Last season, the Hoosiers started at 3-0 before sinking seven of their next eight games, all against Big Ten opponents. So here the Hoosiers are docked in 2006, ready to set sail at 2-2 having dropped their previous two games -- games that they could and should have willed themselves into winning. \nTruth is things did not go as planned once IU coach Terry Hoeppner relinquished his post. The Hoosiers expected to take at least one of their final two nonconference games but lost both by seven points. Rest assured, football fans -- the Captain is back. Captain Hep and his plethora of passionate players are on the poop deck and prepared for battle. However, Hep needs help. He needs more crew. He needs a Crimson Crew. So, I guess the question is: where will YOU be? \nYOU, the fan, have one choice to make: get on the boat or get the hell off it. The town, the alumni and your local football columnist are all on board, but we'll make up less than half of the S.S. IU. We need YOU, the student body. More importantly, we need a win.\nThus, these are the three points of power for the Hoosiers this weekend. \nFirst, the IU defense needs to put pressure on Badger quarterback John Stocco: all day, every play. Who does this guy think he is -- John Stamos? Sorry, Uncle Jesse, but any pressure the Hoosiers can force will make you buckle like a belt. Sure, Stocco has averaged 168 yards per game and sports a 55.2 completion percentage, but his job is Taylor-made with a strong rushing attack. This brings me to my next point. \nSecond, the IU defense will need to repeat the job against Wisconsin freshman P.J. Hill that they performed against UConn's Terry Caulley. So far this season Hill is 10th in the nation, averaging 117.2 yards per game and five touchdowns. IU has to make Hill a nonfactor Saturday, or he'll be the only factor directly responsible for another loss.\nFinally, on the other side of the ball, quarterbacks Blaklen Lewers (combination of junior Blake Powers and freshman Kellen Lewis) will have to get wide receiver James Hardy the ball early and often. Hardy is back after two weeks of personal problems, and he has a lot to prove against Big Ten defenses that have him targeted for takedown. Wisconsin sophomore Allen Langford, who secured two interceptions last week against Michigan, has Hardy on aim this week. \nLet's be honest about most of the student body. They don't care who IU is playing, whether the Hoosiers have a good chance or not to win, or even if Coach Hep asks for their help to Defend the Rock.\nThe student bodies' thermometer Saturday morning measures the weather outside. If there's daylight -- they're drinking. If there are clouds -- they're clinging to their couches. Hep needs a Crimson Crew tough enough to remain aboard despite gray skies, squalls and good teams that score. \nLast season, Hep wanted YOU, and he still does: just look above. The Captain has returned, the ship is ready to sail and YOU have got a choice to make. \nAll aboard, Hoosier Nation. Get on the ship and embrace this football team.\nOr get the hell off it.
(09/25/06 4:12am)
The game began as the rain continued. Sloppy weather conditions were exceeded only by sloppier football play as the Hoosiers played their final nonconference game against the University of Connecticut Saturday. Soon it grew clear as the skies grew cloudy that this would not be a high-scoring game. Things seemed set for doom in the gloom. \nThen, with 6:05 left in the first quarter, freshman Kellen Lewis replaced junior quarterback Blake Powers. It seemed like a sign from the skies above -- the rain stopped for the first time since the night before, the sky opened up and the clouds parted. The weather, like the Hoosier faithful at Memorial Stadium, waited and watched. \nIt was the return of Lewis at the snap. The Hoosiers' future was here in the present, ready to put the Huskies past them. IU converted a first down for the first time in the game after an 18-yard gain by freshman running back Demetrius McCray. With a fresh set of downs in front of them, the Hoosiers -- \nbehind Lewis -- appeared ready to take care of business. \nFirst down and 10, Lewis took the snap. He stepped back looking for a receiver and found one deep down the left sideline. Lewis flung his arm forward as fans watched the ball soar into the air ... and straight into the hands of Connecticut linebacker Danny Lansanah, who returned the ball 39 yards -- the other way -- for the game's first score. \nHey, at least Lewis threw a touchdown pass, right?\nIf you're not laughing at that, you might want to check your funny bone. Though there was nothing funny about the outcome of Saturday's game, everything was comical.\nComically crappy, that is. \nI thought the defense would let us down, but, as with most things, I was wrong. The defense was impregnable, while the offense was immovable. The only factor more frustrating than the lack of offensive productivity was the back-and-forth baton passing of the quarterback role between Powers and Lewis. At times it seemed as if the coaches were standing in a circle on the sideline, flipping a coin to see who would be the quarterback for IU. \nHeads -- Powers; tails -- Lewis. Neither the head nor the tail of this Cream and Crimson creature could put an offensive number on the scoreboard.\nOn any given Saturday -- on this given Saturday -- on any given possession, a different quarterback could appear. Forget a quarterback controversy in Quarry Land; IU is in a quarterback crisis.\nSo behind the dual arms of quarterback Blaklen Lewers, the game took a turn for the taboo. The IU defense downgraded UConn's running back duo, as the IU offense failed to put up one point despite the efforts of two quarterbacks. Blaklen Lewers threw more interceptions than IU had rushing yards because the Hoosiers did not accumulate a single yard on the ground. IU waited until Connecticut scored its second touchdown to finally score its first. By the final whistle, the final outcome had not left a dry eye in the crowd because the torrential downpour hardly let up.\nMy father once told me a man's ability to weather the bad times is in his ability to laugh when those times are at their worst. Here the Hoosiers are at .500 after a 2-0 start to the season, and after awhile you can't help but laugh at how comical things have gotten. \nYep, things sure are comical in Quarry Land ... comically crappy.
(09/22/06 4:16am)
The wagon wheels are all broken. The white canvas covers have bullet holes punched through them. Slumped behind the defenses, men murmur the word "massacre." \nThe second half should have been IU's assault on the Salukis, but instead, the Hoosiers failed to fire in a skirmish of squandered opportunities. They could do nothing else but surrender.\nLast Saturday's warfare has left the Hoosiers bent and bleeding, and a bigger battle looms in the distance. There is one remedy to stop the bleeding: Apply pressure. \nThe University of Connecticut will surface this Saturday at the Rock. The Huskies will be, by far, IU's toughest nonconference opponent on the short four "we-can-actually-win-this" game schedule. The pressure is now being applied to this football team. The Hoosiers need to apply pressure to themselves and stop the bleeding before it's too late. \nBelieve me, with the history the Hoosiers have against Big Ten ballers like Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin, another nonconference loss can plunge IU into the deep sea of devastation for the rest of the season. \nIt is rare that a game, especially a nonconference game, should be so significant so early in the season, but Saturday is a statement game for the Hoosiers. Hopefully that statement isn't, "I can't wait for the basketball season." \nThe Huskies come to Bloomington fourth in the nation in rushing, averaging 280 yards per game between their two running backs Terry Caulley and Donald Brown. Meanwhile, the IU defense isn't even fourth in its conference in rush defense. In other words, you better believe UConn will be running the ball. Caulley and Brown should explode through the Husky offensive line all game long, wielding fire against an IU defense without water. IU will need to extinguish both backs before either one of them can reach the Hoosier secondary, or else the entire defense will be blown ablaze. \nIU interim coach Bill Lynch admitted after Saturday's loss that his team did not do enough offensively to keep Southern Illinois' offense off the field. \n"We didn't score enough points. That sounds very obvious, but there is a lot of truth to that," Lynch said at a Sept. 19 press conference. "We didn't make some third-down plays ourselves to keep them off the field and put us in position to score." \nWhat is obvious, Coach, is that's what your team will need to do Saturday if you plan on putting away Connecticut. "I hope there is a sense of urgency," Lynch continued. "We need to play better. We didn't play well enough to win that game. I don't think there is a make-or-break (game) with nine games left, but you want to win every game."\nI got news for you, Coach. This is a make-or-break game. Make something happen, or else good luck stacking up your win column against Big Ten teams that can punt you away with their pinkies. \nMake no mistake about it, folks: There is a sense of urgency in Quarry Land. There is a sense that a statement should be made. \nYou're bleeding, IU. Here we are -- the fans, the media and the student body -- applying pressure.
(09/18/06 3:32am)
It all began like your first taste of alcohol. \nA 3-yard touchdown run by sophomore Marcus Thigpen put an easy seven points on the board, an IU lead and the satisfying feeling that things would be looking up. \nKind of like your first taste of alcohol -- that first touchdown went down smooth, almost too easy, and with a smile on your face, you look forward to the immediate future.\nOf course, alcohol can catch up to you that way. \nThe thing to remember about Saturday's game is that with eight minutes remaining in the third quarter the Hoosiers were up 14 points on Southern Illinois.\nThe game was IU's -- and yet afterward, with each possession came another swig from the flask of failure. That is, when the Hoosiers played, the team's alcoholic state of mind became dizzy, blurry and everything turned quickly from good to grim. \nTelevision networks dubbed this college football week as "Separation Saturday." The only separation the Hoosiers secured on Saturday was a place further down the Big Ten totem pole. Go figure, the totem terrorizing IU would be a Saluki: a tall slender dog native to Egypt and Arabia.\nI thought Arabia was an imaginary place from the Disney movie Aladdin. At the same time, I thought I was imagining Southern Illinois take a 28-21 lead. In fact, it was our first taste of alcohol, and everything seemed imaginary. From the press box, I imagined an IU defense that was too drunk on the Salukis' momentum to effectively stop them. Oddly enough, the team inside the stadium appeared more disoriented than the students in fields full of alcohol outside the stadium. Sure enough, the lead slipped away to the Salukis as they trounced the IU defense for three unanswered touchdowns.\nThe nightmare I thought I had been hallucinating had become a reality. The flask was empty and the failure very vivid in our fuzzy minds. IU lost its first game of the season to Southern Illinois, and as a result, I felt "So Ill."\nI guess there's something to say when the easiest team on your schedule is the one team that beats you. In their four non-conference games before the Big Ten bombardment, the Hoosiers have only one Division I-AA team among three Division I-A teams -- that team was Southern Illinois. \nThese days, it ain't easy being creamed (and crimson). In less than a quarter and a half of football, Southern Illinois showed who wanted to win the game more. In that short span the Salukis socked the wind out of IU's lungs and served the stadium a deep dish of disappointment.\nStripped down from sober on Separation Saturday, the Hoosiers showed their true colors. They slipped into a drunken stupor and watched helplessly as a double-A dog outfoxed them. This game should have been over soon after it began. Instead, Southern Illinois came back and hijacked the Hoosiers' crimson hearts.\nForget crimson. IU got creamed.