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Indiana
Nov 13, 2008 22:22:49 GMT -5
Post by el_duderino on Nov 13, 2008 22:22:49 GMT -5
Indiana 2008, meet Illinois 2005. You share much in common. Both are lower teams who have struggled with everyone on your schedule. And you face Penn State. Following a road loss. That followed a win over Ohio State. Destruction will be swift and forceful. It helps that we have continually dominated Indiana. Even in the dark years, Indiana was the poor team that would give us our lone Big Televen conference win. Speaking of which: The year was 2004 - another Zach Mills year where our only 2 wins to that point were the OOC cupcakes. Just another bad year - our 4th in 5 seasons. We were 2-7 at that point, having lost 6 in a row (all Big 10 games), including the 6-4 loss to Iowa. Then came Indiana. And a lead. And a stand. . Little do people sometimes realize the power of that goalline stand. Since that point, Penn State has gone 40-10, with 3 bowl wins and a 4th straight bowl appearance guaranteed. So sure - a big win is expected. We thought the same thing last weekend right? Yeah, but Iowa actually played football. Decently well too. Indiana is, well, still a laughing stock. Iowa was unlucky; Indiana just sucks. Iowa, MSU, Illinois, even Wisconsin, have ALL destroyed Indiana. If DC ever needed a recovery game, this is it. This one's a no doubter. Crappy weather and all, I'll keep history in mind when I call for the 63-10 Penn State win.
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Indiana
Nov 18, 2008 0:04:45 GMT -5
Post by el_duderino on Nov 18, 2008 0:04:45 GMT -5
So this was a tale of two halves. And it brings up a point I started thinking about during this game. Why did the mindset of the team switch? And this is something that starts at the top with the coaches before it permeates down to the players. But here's my point.
We open the season with nothing to lose and everything to prove. Impressive wins, and points, abound in wins over Coastal Carolina, OrSt, 'Cuse, Temple, Illinois and Wisconsin (a slight trip in points against Purdue, but there was no doubt it was ours). We started out sloppy against Michigan, but we turned it on for the remaining 2.5 quarters to make it another no-doubter.
Then we entered the talks of the MNC. And with that came our trip to Columbus. And we played to not make mistakes. That was what the coaches said, I don't make this up. We went from all-out aggressive, to "let's not screw up". And ever since that point, we've played on our heels. Instead of trying to win our way to the National Championship, we began to try to not lose it. Ultimately, this passive system cost us the game against Iowa and our shot at the championship.
Indiana saw a first half that was a mix of that passive-play and still some hangover from the Iowa loss. Second half, thankfully, looked much better.
QB: B-; Clark is struggling mentally, and that's affecting his play. Another INT and 2 fumbles didn't help. But neither did throwing so often against a team that just allowed 441 yards rushing to Wisconsin. Still, there were times when Clark did look sharp, so hopefully the coaching staff's confidence is starting to rekindle that fire within him.
RB: B+; For the times that they were allowed to go, they looked strong. Green is struggling a bit with the OLine's struggles. But Royster just makes everyone look silly. And he's only a sophomore.
WR: B; Kudos to Butler and his record. And the fact that he looked strong again. Williams is really beginning to put up the numbers we expected since his freshman year. And would the coaching staff please allow Norwood to go back over the middle? Oh, and Graham Zug is a leaping god.
OL: B-; Not horrible, but not their best performance. They struggled sometimes in pass protection, and the RBs are being forced to make more moves behind the LoS than normal. Part of this is probably due to Wiz's knee injury, but hopefully the offense can be reopened to give the OLine an easier task.
DL: A; Pick your poison. Maybin = Mayhem, and he's coming for your QB. Or your RB. Hell, he doesn't care - he's gunna run down your dude with the ball. Or try Odrick up the middle. He's a compromising guy - he'll meet you halfway. To the line of scrimmage. Ollie Ogbu will be glad to assist as well. And MoEvans is slowly returning to form. At the very least, he'll be back for his senior season.
LB: A-; Bowman continues to create havoc. Hull is still the Jekyll/Hyde linebacker - horrible first half, much better second half. He even got his first sack of the season! Yes, finally - his FIRST. Oh well, it's improvement.
DB: A-; Not a huge day, but the Indiana passing numbers were so low you can't help but give a good grade. Hell, the Hoosiers top receiver was that guy in the third row. Something tells me Lydell Sargent has earned himself a starting role for these final games.
ST: A; If not for the punt block team, this might have been a very different game. As it was, Nathan Stupar continues to be this nutso force on punt blocks. And he and Mike Mauti are a scary duo on kick coverage. Stupar and Mauti = scary starting LB combo of the future.
Coaching: C-; Listen, this is a horrible Indiana team that is horrible against both the pass and the run. But we felt the urge to force Clark into a rhythm instead of trying to use all of our weapons to ease him back into one. We ultimately threw more times than we ran (37-36, I believe), and that's just stupid. Run the ball often and early. Force them to put more in the box. And then go over the top with the weaker coverage. Simple enough right? But no - we've got to try to throw early and often. And what's worse - we always run on second and short. Do the coaches realize that we can use that as a "free play" to go deep? I trust our backs enough to pick up 2 yards as necessary, so go ahead and try something fancy on second down. We somehow regressed to the 2004 playbook...
Oh, and Tom Bradley - I know he got his first sack this game, but seriously. STOP BLITZING JOSH HULL!!!!!
Here's to hoping that second half is the kickstart of us returning to our old form!
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