zip81 Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 Blog by the reporter who covers IU for the Indianapolis Star says if the Hoosiers are to make a bowl game this year, they have to beat the teams they're suppose to beat, including MAC teams Balls State, Western Mich. and Akron.1. Can IU win the games it is supposed to win?Look back on the 2006 season and the only thing that stood between IU and breaking its streak of years without a bowl game was a 35-28 loss to Division I-AA Southern Illinois on Sept. 16 at Memorial Stadium. You can make all the excuses you want. Terry Hoeppner had just had brain surgery and missed the game. Kellen Lewis was making his first start, and the quarterback position was in chaos with Blake Powers and Graeme McFarland also very much in contention for playing time. IU squandered an early 14-0 lead, and a 21-7 advantage with 8 minutes to play in the third quarter. Say what you want, but the bottom line is the Hoosiers lost to a Division I-AA team. Win that game, and you're bowl eligible. And at least two of the Big Ten's bowl representatives said it would have jumped at the chance to take IU to a bowl game had the Hoosiers been able to garner the sixth victory. IU knocked off Iowa -- but lost to Southern Illinois. The Hoosiers pounded Michigan State -- but lost to Southern Illinois. It all came back to that game. To make it to a bowl game, Indiana has to take care of business in games it is supposed to win. On the 2007 schedule, that list would include Indiana State, Western Michigan, Akron and Ball State in the non-conference portion of the schedule. Then, the Hoosiers need to win at least two more games from a group that includes Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan State and Northwestern. There are chances against Wisconsin, Penn State, Purdue and Iowa, too, but the other four Big Ten games seem to offer better chances. But it will all come down to whether IU can win its four non-conference games, and then just go 2-6 in the Big Ten. That's all it takes, as sad as it sounds. And it's also all the Hoosiers have been unable to do for the past 13 seasonsLink to entire article:http://blogs.indystar.com/hoosiersinsider/...uest_begin.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 I've got news for the Hoosier faithful. Indiana will likely be favored by a few points to beat us, but much of that advantage will simply be because they are the home team. And regardless of the location of the game, I don't see any way they'll be favored against Western Michigan. So, these are far from being game that they "should win". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zip81 Posted August 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 It would be nice to go into Bloomington and kick some Hoosier butt!!Wasn't this game suppose to be at the bowl? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziptrumpet87 Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 Wasn't this game suppose to be at the bowl?Yes. Schedule was redone to move them to a home game in '09 in the new stadium and reduce number of games at the RB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckzip Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 To beat Indiana would be great. Even though they are in the bootom of the B10, it would just be nice to beat a B10 school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zip81 Posted August 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 To beat Indiana would be great. Even though they are in the bootom of the B10, it would just be nice to beat a B10 school. These are the types of games MAC schools HAVE to win in order to gain any kind of respect.Army is another. Losing to them like we did last time would be a setback.I would love to see all three MAC schools clean their grain-silo cleaning butts. (Indiana)When I worked in Indianapolis radio, our sales manager (who was from Chicago) clued me in when I first got there.He said, "Indiana is a corn field. Indianapolis is a corn field with lights." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoZips88 Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 I have family who lives in Indianapolis. My brother-in-law calls the space between Cleveland and Indy "The Great Corn Desert."Totally agree - the MAC needs to start winning games against bigger-conference bottom feeders and mid-level teams. Akron, in particular, needs to start putting notches in the belt. NC State was a nice start. I just hope we can hang on to home games against Indiana, Kentucky, Syracuse (just bought out of a game against Wyoming for $200,000), etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zip81 Posted August 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 I have family who lives in Indianapolis. My brother-in-law calls the space between Cleveland and Indy "The Great Corn Desert."Totally agree - the MAC needs to start winning games against bigger-conference bottom feeders and mid-level teams. Akron, in particular, needs to start putting notches in the belt. NC State was a nice start. I just hope we can hang on to home games against Indiana, Kentucky, Syracuse (just bought out of a game against Wyoming for $200,000), etc. The most boring drive is I-70 from Columbus to Indy.Three hours of straight, flat, agriculture.Except for Huber Heights, the world's largest community of brick homes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 I've made that drive from Columbus to Indy several times. I know what you mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZipsWin!'s Roommate Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 Midway between Columbus and Indy is my wonderfully small and agricultural home town...all those residents of "the corn desert" make up the faithful that pay taxes and work hard in that agricultural arena. Occasionally these hard working citizens take a break on a Saturday and travel to a college town to root for their favorite team, be it a Mid American conference school or one of the many, many schools to find a home in this so called corn desert. So for those of you that might be bored travelling along I-70, remember those faithful that populate the stadiums of their favorite sports teams along side you "city folk." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 A salute goes out to the hard working farm people of America. I was one of them, before I became a city dweller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zip81 Posted August 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 A salute goes out to the hard working farm people of America. I was one of them, before I became a city dweller. I echo those sentiments. However, the fact that it is a boring driving was not a comment on the quality of people who live there....just the drive.My family comes from a little stinkhole of a former steel-making town in the Mon Valley south of Pittsburgh. The people are great, but it's still a stinkhole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 Midway between Columbus and Indy is my wonderfully small and agricultural home town...all those residents of "the corn desert" make up the faithful that pay taxes and work hard in that agricultural arena. Occasionally these hard working citizens take a break on a Saturday and travel to a college town to root for their favorite team, be it a Mid American conference school or one of the many, many schools to find a home in this so called corn desert. So for those of you that might be bored travelling along I-70, remember those faithful that populate the stadiums of their favorite sports teams along side you "city folk." I love it! Makes me want to play a John Mellencamp CD and relive my youth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipsrifle Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 I agree that Western should be favored in that game, though nobody from Indiana will want to admit it. I sure hope Akron is able to pull off a win in Indiana. I agree 100% that Akron needs to beat the Mid-Majors and the bottom feeding major teams before I consider us a solid Mid-Major. If we want to convince kids to play at Akron who are also recruited by schools like Indiana, then a win would help out a bunch. If we're 2-1 after Indiana, then I'll know we've got a shot at winning the MAC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z.I.P. Posted August 9, 2007 Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 Well, if you want to hear a divergent (don't call it deviant) opinion, I feel IU may be one of the most underrated teams in the nation. Definitely better than the NCSU team we surprised a year ago. I see them beating out Illinois, Minniesota, and possibly MSU to get to 6 or possibly 7 wins, and MAYBE, the Motor City Bowl -- where the MAC would have a real showcase to show if they can beat a "Big-10 bottom dweller".Go MAC! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipsrifle Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Wouldn't it be something if they did go to the MCB and lost to either Akron or Western twice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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