Illinois just knocked off #5 Wisconsin and shortly before that Indiana dispatched Minnesota by twenty. That puts Illinois - yes, Illinois! - in sole possession of first place in the Big Ten at 3-0. And but for the turnover festival two weeks ago in Bloomington, that might be the Indiana Hoosiers at 3-0 atop the Big Ten. That would also have meant that the Hoosiers were 6-0 for the first time in how long? Ever?
Either way, IU is 5-1 and looking at the real possibility of a bowl game - if they can eek out one more win in the remaining six games. The only problem is that the schedule gets a whole lot tougher from here on out - Michigan State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Ball State, Northwestern, and Purdue. Those teams are a combined 22-10 on the year. A win on the road at Michigan State would not just earn the Hoosiers the coveted Brass Spittoon - it would probably also mean vaulting into the top 25.
Of course, the football Hoosiers do this to me nearly every year - come out of the gate flying and then crash back to earth in the second half. But they've also never led the nation in sacks, as far as I know - which I believe they were doing coming into today's game.
But as I mentioned once before - football is exciting again in Hoosier Nation. Now if it could just start to actually feel like fall outside. That would be something!
4 comments:
You forgot about Ohio St. who just pretty much demolished Purdue. OSU looks pretty damn tough this year, again. Even though I'm huge OSU fan I can't help but root for IU because of ol' Hep.
I posted earlier in the day, before Ohio State played. I just hadn't gone back to change it.
And the Bucks do look awfully sharp, as always. That 11/10 date with Illinois is looming large now. Who knew, going into the season, that that game would mean anything?
Ah yes John-O, it is a good day to be a Hoosier pigskin fan (especially with that terrible group from the north side of Chicago letting us down, AGAIN!). I think you can rest relatively easily. We should be, at worst, 7-5. I honestly think it will be more like 9-3 or even 10-2. I know this is a shocking call, but here is the thing....We are really good.
This isn't just a group of DiNardo's kids that beat up on the So. Illinois of the world. We beat the snot out of an Iowa team last week (In Iowa city) that took Wisconsin to the wire. We are solid on D (your sack stat was correct) and our O can score with anyone in the country. James Hardy might be the best complete receiver in the nation and we have speed and athleticism everywhere you look.
I think we beat an over-rated Penn State team rather easily in 2 weeks. I also think we roll through Ball State and Northwestern. We always play well against Sparty so I think that game could go our way too. Hell, we could honestly even beat Wisconsin and Purdue.
All in all, I wouldn't be totally shocked if we won out. We won't, I know that, but we are good enough to win any of those games. At worst we'll be no worse than a TD underdog in any of them. I honestly think it's a 9 or 10 win season and not just a bowl, but a solid bowl. Let's just sit back and enjoy.
It's too bad we scheduled Ball State and not Notre Dame--sure we should beat Ball State, but they figure to give us a game.
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