Indiana: Game and Season Recap
This was a bad game. Really bad. Really really bad. Did I say how bad? Quite bad. The defense, you realize, has basically gotten shredded every week since the opener. Can't stop the run, not good against the pass. If they invent some new third thing (e.g., skipping, rolling the ball forward to someone, etc.), this defense would be bad against that too, probably.
GERG, where are you? You and your white-haired glory somehow are not getting our boys into the mindset of a good big-ten defense. It has been SO LONG since we had a good defense! OK OK, 2006 was good, but then somehow that all went to shit in those last two games. I still wake up with nightmares of Crable flying headfirst into Troy Smith to gift them what would become the winning TD. After waking up, I vomit. My wife is getting tired of this, especially now that the kids are grown and don't throw up so much anymore.
The offense didn't look too great either. Tate F., who may become the goddamn clutchiest clutch QB we've ever had (he is that clutchy), didn't look super sharp. Lots of missed targets and lots of scrambling that wasn't super effective. By "wasn't super effective" I mean "sucked because he ran around instead of just throwing the damn ball." Is he hurt, you might ask? Probably. But get used to it. You think this kid is EVER going to get through a season of BIG TEN FOOTBALL without getting hurt, at least somewhat? I'm sorry, when you are 6'1" and weigh 170 lbs, you get hurt when you go to the bathroom, much less on the field of play.
Speaking of which, are those classic urinal troughs all gone now? Who doesn't enjoy taking a leak next to a bunch of old MICHIGAN MEN whose aim has deteriorated to the point where basically they are peeing on your feet? Admit it, you miss it. It was a piece of the charm that is now gone, forever lost to the annals of the time. I am keeping all the old shoes I have worn to games over the years, just so I can remember.
I didn't understand much of the player substitution pattern over this game either. Carlos Brown's hair was on fire and basically scored every time he touched the ball early in the game. The response: put other guys in. It was confusing. Here was CARLOS, ready to have the monster 400-yard GAME OF HIS LIFE and we kept going with other guys. I don't know about you guys, but I think: you go with what works. For me, what was working was that Hungry Howie's pizza they have at the game. So I kept going with it (4 or 5 pieces). For Michigan, it was CARLOS F'IN BROWN. But they didn't go with him, much. After-game stomach cramps tell me there may be another story here: don't go with Hungry Howie's, even if it is "working".
So where are we now, four games into this miracle of a rebirth? Hard to say after that one. Let's recap:
- Western: Clearly kind of sucks more than people thought. However, they did beat Hofstra.
- Notre Dame: Squeaks by both Purdue and MSU. Problem is: Purdue and MSU stink. Thus, ND, much like their coach, is not looking too pretty right now.
- Eastern: Clearly sucks.
- Indiana: Probably will not win a lot of games in the Big Ten.
But the overall feeling I got at the game yesterday is that we still have a long ways to go. Until some defensive talent finds its way onto this team, winning the BIG TEN and hopes of relevance on the national stage are pretty far away.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:03 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 7:04 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 9:08 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 9:51 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 10:18 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 9:09 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 9:29 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 9:59 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 9:33 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 9:36 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 9:45 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 9:46 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 10:28 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 10:41 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 3:30 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 9:50 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 11:50 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 9:56 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 10:15 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 10:31 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 10:33 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 3:57 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 11:52 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 11:28 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 10:29 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 2:02 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 11:08 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 2:00 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 11:12 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 11:31 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 12:33 PM ^
September 28th, 2009 at 12:00 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 11:46 AM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 5:58 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 12:08 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 12:31 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 1:19 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 10:25 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 12:52 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 3:48 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 4:47 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 5:05 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 6:06 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 6:31 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 6:33 PM ^
September 27th, 2009 at 10:22 PM ^
September 28th, 2009 at 12:17 PM ^
The resulting strategy is to drop a safety into the box...which leaves little man Cissoko alone, which means he can get picked on all day (assuming their WR is taller than he is, which is pretty much a given).
Thus, until we either see a) the veteran LB's step it up or b) get some good LB recruits (which obviously won't help us this year) we seem to be between the proverbial rock and a hard place. The upside is we seem to have a beast in Craig Roh and one fairly good LB, Stevie Brown (did I just say that?!?!).
Comments