11W Sneak Peek: Indiana
Thigpen is still shaking off Hatline’s hit in ‘06.We’re counting down the weeks until kickoff by profiling a different Big Ten team each week. Today, the Indiana Hoosiers are up.
There are two main questions, surrounding this Hoosier squad. One, will they have Kellen Lewis back from his spring suspension and two, will they have a field to play on?
The loss of Lewis could seriously damper this team’s hopes of back-to-back bowl trips, as he lead them in passing and rushing yards last year, giving the Hoosiers their first bowl trip since 1993.
The field was damaged by the torrential rains earlier in June and replacement construction is under way, at the cool cost of $1,000,000, but school officials are confidant the new turf will be ready for opening kickoff.
COACHING: Bill Lynch enters his second year at the helm, after taking over last summer for the late Terry Hoeppner. Lynch lead the Hoosiers to their first winning season (7-6) in twelve years and IMO has a good chance to do it again. With all the focus in Bloomington on the hoops program, Lynch shouldn’t feel any type of heat if the Hoosiers go back to their losing ways in 2008.
OFFENSE: The Hoosiers will have to replace 3 OL starters, James Hardy and possibly Lewis, but they return their top four running backs, including speedster Marcus Thigpen, who rushed for 586 yards a year ago. Freshman Darius Willis may push for some playing time, along with juniors Bryan Payton and Demetrius McCray, who each averaged over 4 yards a carry in their sophomore campaigns.
Lynch’s squad will be hard pressed to replace Hardy’s production and beyond Andrew Means and Ray Fisher, who combined for 100 catches and 1,041 yards last year, there is no experienced depth. This offense can only be helped though by the return of all-conference kicker Ausitn Starr, who connected on 11 of 12 field goals from 40+ yards in 2007.
DEFENSE: The defense will be anchored by Greg Middleton, a 6′3″ 275lb. DE, who enjoyed a breakout season in ‘07 by leading the NCAA in sacks with 16. He will be joined by six other retuning starters, including the Hoosiers top two tacklers from last year, Austin Thomas and Will Peterson.
Thomas lead Indiana with 112 tackles from the strong safety spot and should get all-conference notice this year. Their corners are going to be green, but experienced safeties and quick line pressure may give them time to develop. Peterson is the leader of an experienced linebacker corps that held opponents to less than four yards a carry last season.
KEY GAME: The key game for Indiana is the Big Ten opener, at home against Sparty. The Hoosiers play three cupcakes at home to start the season and they are 1-15 in their last 16 conference openers. A 4-0 start to the season, could propel this team to a surprising conference finish.
BEST-CASE: Indiana plays eight home games this year, four of which are against W. Kentucky, Murray State, Ball State and Central Michigan. They also get Iowa and Northwestern at home, two winnable games. If the Hoosier can man up and win their OOC games, there is a good chance this team could finish at least 6-6 and go bowling once again.
WORST-CASE: If Kellen Lewis doesn’t play and they are hit with a few injuries, this team could take a few steps back and go 3-8, potentially winless in the Big Ten.
I just don’t see that happening though. The stars may be aligned for this squad, as both Ohio State and Michigan are not on the schedule and they have 6 winnable home games, with roadies at Minnesota and Purdue. I’m not saying it is going to be Iowa 2002, but these are mostly Hoeppner’s recruits and playing for the honor of a fallen coach can give the team a great sense of purpose and this team could have a surprise year.
6 Responses
What a surprise: no one cares enough to comment on Indiana.
I’ll entertain you with a story: I’m in the lunch room, putting some dressing on yet another miserable salad. Also in the lunch room are three women and m*ch*g*n boy (he works in accounting, was born and raised in Ohio, but cheers for you-know-who). The three women are talking loudly about their cycles (if you catch my drift), when m*ch*g*n boy says, “I wish I could have cycles. If I had cycles, I’d really give some people a piece of my mind.”
A couple of fellow OSU fans and I bought him a bottle of Midol, some sanitary napkins, a copy of “O” magazine, and set it on his desk this morning as a kind of care package, all in a scarlet-and-grey basket.
Moron.
Joe Fox - June 26th, 2008 at 3:36 pm - #
Thanks Joe, I knew no one would comment on Indiana. However, I will also share a story. My buddy (he can take credit if he wants) and I decided to attend Indiana out of high school. We both left after 1 semester, with a combined GPA of 2.5, mad skillz at SEGA Hockey ‘93 and a dorm party that is legendary. It was an “around the world” party, which ran out of booze about 60 minutes into it, a slip and slide in the hallway (made of trash bags and water from the fire extinguisher) and the cops being called to shut us down. We had to hide in the dorm room for over an hour until the popo left. The ironic part, is a RA used our phone to call police. Remember, Indiana is a dry campus and underage drinking is a minimum $250 fine.
Corey - June 26th, 2008 at 3:58 pm - #
You must be shitting me. Either a) every floor at IU is exactly the same or b) lived about four doors down from you on Briscoe 5.
John M - June 26th, 2008 at 8:34 pm - #
John, if it was the fall of ‘92 and you remember a washer from the basement, a painting from the lobby and the cops breaking shit up, then it is a small world and you lived 4 floors down.
Corey - June 26th, 2008 at 10:57 pm - #
You all weren’t there when the infamous porn shoot was made, were you?
My best memory of Indiana was being in the stadium, seated with two of my buddies who were in the OSU marching band (they didn’t perform; the band went as a block and bought tickets). Bellisari (the one who could play) strips the ball from the IU quarterback, OSU escapes with a Rose Bowl-clincher in Bill Mallory’s last game, and everyone storms the field. Wonderful.
There’s a photo of Anthony Gwinn waving an OSU flag while being hoisted up on the shoulders of some fans. That’s my flag. He asked me if he could have it, and I happily gave all $75 worth of it to him. Later, he found my office at OSU - how he did that, I don’t know - and was kind enough to give it back to me, signed by every member of that team. I still have it, framed on my wall.
Joe Fox - June 27th, 2008 at 9:09 am - #
We should comment on Indiana, though. I say they go 6-6. It must be nice not having to play either of the Big Boys.
It’s high time we dropped an OOC game and forced everyone to go round robin. I grow weary of the semi-yearly “we didn’t play Ohio State and/or m*ch*g*n this year, and we’re Big T(elev)en champs” thing.
Joe Fox - June 27th, 2008 at 9:12 am - #
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