Game week!

Five days from today, almost to the hour, the Hoosiers begin the 2008 season with a home game against new-to-I-A Western Kentucky. Plenty of questions remain about the season and the program. Will Kellen Lewis, Ben Chappell, or both be the quarterback? How will IU's offense respond to the departure of James Hardy? Will the addition of Jerimy Finch and the return of most of the front seven take some pressure off of IU's newbie cornerbacks? Is the real Bill Lynch the guy from the middle years of his career at BSU, or the guy from the rest of his career? What is certain is that the long bowl drought is over. We won't have to read about it in the newspaper or hear color commentators discuss it during every game.

In light of the rapidly approaching season, a few executive decisions:

• I'll continue the position-by-position previews as the week transpires, in addition to previewing the WKU game specifically.
• I'm not going to be able to continue the 2007 retrospectives in any detail. The rest of this post will contain links and brief discussion of the last seven games of the 2007 season.

The season that was, abbreviated version:

• Game 7: Michigan State 52, Indiana 27. Here's the box, here's my unhappy recap. The euphoria of the Bucket game and the thrill of the first bowl bid in 14 years allowed me forget just how frustrating was the last half of the 2007 season. In 2006, IU obliterated MSU in Bloomington, scoring 46 unanswered points on the way to a not-as-close-as-the-score 46-21 win. In 2007, MSU got its revenge, dominating all but the scoreboard in the first half and finally expanding its lead in the second half. This was a splash of cold water after a 5-1 start.
• Game 8: Penn State 36, Indiana 31. The box; the recap. IU played Penn State for the first time since the 2004 gut-puch, a game in which PSU stopped IU on four consecutive plays from the one yard line to preserve a victory. Fumbles and mental errors by two of IU's best players, Kellen Lewis (three fumbles) and Tracy Porter (a fumbled punt return, and allowing a punt to bounce to the 5 instead of catching it at the 30 on IU's last possession) sealed IU's fate.
• Game 9: Wisconsin 33, Indiana 3. The box; the recap. Late October was not good to the Hoosiers. The final score really says it all. This one could have been as ugly as the MSU game if PJ Hill hadn't been injured during the game.
• Game 10: Indiana 38, Ball State 20. The box; the recap. After a rough few weeks, IU clinched a non-losing season and provisional bowl eligibility by beating a solid Ball State team by 18 despite too many turnovers. IU plays Ball State in game 3 of 2008, so we'll revisit this one soon.
• Game 11: Northwestern 31, Indiana 28. The box; the recap. Had IU not held on against Purdue, this game, and the handling of Ben Chappell during his brief injury substitution for Lewis, might have cost Bill Lynch a chance at the job. IU lost its fourth consecutive game to Northwestern, and all four games have been decided in overtime or by less than a touchdown.
• Game 12: Indiana 27, Purdue 24. The box, the recap. IU kept the Bucket in Bloomington for the first time in six years despite allowing Purdue to come back from a 24-3 deficit. While a blowout would have been nice, after a gut-wrenching collapse, IU managed (barely) to move the ball into Austin Starr's range, and the 49-yard game-winning field goal become one of the most memorable moments of the 2007 season nationally and one of the most treasured moments in IU's football history.
• Insight Bowl: Oklahoma State 49, Indiana 33. The box; the recap. This game followed the same script as the MSU game: IU was manhandled from start to finish by a talented team with a mediocre record, despite the deceptively close score. This game is the reason that I ranked Oklahoma State in my preseason blogpoll ballot: IU was no worldbeater last year, but this OSU team has lots of talent, particularly at the offensive skill positions. While the loss was disappointing, IU played in its first bowl game since 1993 and its first warm weather bowl game since 1991. It was progress, and by all accounts a great experience for players and IU fans.

UPDATE: ESPN's Adam Rittenberg notes that IU's depth chart is out and has some interesting observations on tight end, corner, and WR. Here is IU's week 1 depth chart, within the weekly release (pdf warning).

The season that was, game 5: Indiana 38, Iowa 20.

IU managed to erase the disappointment of the Illinois loss by beating Iowa 38-20 on the road. Here's the short recap (I was out of town) and here's the box score. IU jumped out to a 21 point lead. IU's third touchdown of the game, memorably, was a 71 yard fumble return by Kellen Lewis that technically was credited as 71 yards of passing to himself (yeah, he got a penalty, and deservedly so, but it's a great picture--see above). Lewis finished 19-26 with 322 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Iowa scored a touchdown on the last play of the first half and then pulled to within 21-13 in the middle of the third quarter, but Josiah Sears scored with a minute left in the third quarter to make it 28-13, and Iowa never really threatened again. As I noted in my wrapup last year, IU gave up a ton of yards to a fairly weak Iowa offense, and couldn't do a thing on the ground, but still, this was only IU's second Big Ten road win since 2001. Even though Iowa was a mediocre team that squandered its bowl eligibility with a home game to Western Michigan in November, this win, in front of the usual 70,000 Hawkeye fans, was a big deal. IU hasn't had a three game winning streak against a Big Ten opponent since beating Iowa in 1998-2000, but IU will have that chance in October.

The season that was, game 4: Illinois 27, Indiana 14.

After winning three non-conference games with relative ease, IU opened the Big Ten season with a home loss on a sweltering day to eventual Big Ten runner-up and Rose Bowl participant Illinois. Most expected the Illini, based on some improbably impressive recruiting by Ron Zook, to improve in 2007, but by any standard the Illini were ahead of schedule. Here's the box score, and here is my wrapup. Also if you scroll down the Illinois category past the basketball stuff, you will see my quarter-by-quarter liveblogs, including prescient gems such as:

Too bad this isn't Oklahoma circa 1980. Williams cannot pass. They may beat us today, but Illinois isn't going to beat anyone at the top of the conference with this QB.

Ahem. As I noted in the recap, Juice Williams was mostly horrible when he tried to throw the ball, although he did have a couple of nice throws on the key drive of the game: after IU pulled to within 13-7 with a couple of minutes remaining in the first have, Illinois drove down the field and was up 20-7 at halftime. In general, the thankfully departed Rashard Mendenhall brutalized the IU defense. Mendenhall gained 214 yards on 27 carries and scored a touchdown. IU's box scores list gross postive yards and net yards, but those numbers were the same in Mendenhall's line: in other words, he carried the ball 27 times and wasn't stopped behind the line of scrimmage even once.

Overall, it was a deflating game. At the time, no one knew how good Illinois would be. The previous season, IU had ended a 17-year, 10-game losing streak in Champaign, and before the season, most IU fans figured a win in this game would be crucial to IU's bowl hopes (not too many foresaw the win at Iowa to come) and might lead to a modest three game winning streak in what the Big Ten office regards as a rivalry worthy of protection. It wasn't to be, and now IU heads to Champaign in 2008 for a BTN prime time game.

The season that was, game 3: Indiana 41, Akron 24.

As in the Western Michigan game that preceded the Akron game, IU squandered an early lead, but as in the WMU game, managed to hold on and defeat the Zips, 41-24. Box score here, discussion here. IU led 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, but Akron scored 17 unanswered to briefly take the lead until IU tied the game just before halftime. IU took the lead for good early in the third quarter on an Austin Starr field goal, but didn't take control of the game until stretching the lead to 10 with 6 minutes left in the game.

The previous week, Akron lost 20-2 loss in Columbus. After forcing an early safety, Akron led 2-0 until midway through the second quarter, but managed what must have been one of the worst offensive performances by any college team in the 2007 season. The Zips produced only 69 yards of offense, 34 of which came on the opening drive. In light of that pathetic performance, even against the eventual national runner-up, I was concerned about the poor performance of IU's pass defense, which allowed Akron to complete nearly 70 percent of its passes and manage 13 yards per completion. IU did, however, continue its excellent pass rush, with 4 sacks, and stopped the run effectively, allowing only 2.9 yards per carry on 41 attempts.

Individual performances:

• Kellen Lewis played very well, perhaps his best game, statistically, as a Hoosier: 19-24 passing, for only 137 yards, but three touchdowns; 199 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
• Ray Fisher had an odd line, more like a fullback's than a receiver's: 5 catches, 10 yards, and a touchdown. Oddly enough, Fisher managed a 17 yard loss on IU's first play from scrimmage, and had another five yard loss and a no gainer. So, his two positive catches yielded 32 yards and a touchdown.
• While Lewis stole the show, Marcus Thigpen ran well: 6.5 yards per on 12 carries.

Ultimately, this was an adequate but unsatisfying lead-in to the Big Ten season. Next on the schedule was eventual Rose Bowl participant Illinois.

The season that was, game 2: Indiana 37, Western Michigan 27.

As I noted last year, despite mostly less-than-stellar teams during the period, IU has dominated the MAC over the last three decades. Since 1978, IU, Ohio State, and Michigan are the only Big Ten teams not tripped up by a MAC school. I'll break this down further sometime during the season, but IU, which entered 2007 with a 17-0 record against the MAC since losing to Miami in 1978, improved to 20-0 during that timeframe with wins over Western Michigan, Akron, and Ball State in 2007.

In the second week of the season, IU traveled to Kalamazoo for the first time. As is always the case when IU plays a MAC school, many pundits predicted an upset. This further supports my pet theory that the reason IU plays well against the MAC is because every IU-MAC matchup is hyped as an upset special, so unlike other Big Ten schools, IU is unlikely to overlook a MAC opponent. In any event, here's the box score.

This game was a mixed bag. IU played extremely well for most of the game. IU led 31-7 at halftime, and with 4:57 remaining in the third quarter, an Austin Starr field goal extended the lead to 34-7. Unfortunately, Western Michigan outscored IU 20-3 for the remainder of the game, and WMU's Tim Hiller picked IU's defense apart in the second half. As I noted last year, IU defensive line dominated WMU's running attack, held to 30 yards on 30 attempts.

Positive performances from returning players:

• Mitchell Evans, then a true freshman subbing for injured Austin Thomas, intercepted two passes.
• Ray Fisher led the Hoosiers with 9 catches and 77 yards (Hardy caught only three balls, but two were touchdowns).
• Greg Middleton had "only" one QB sack, but scooped up a fumble and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown.

The Broncos finished with a disappointing 5-7 record, but salvaged something from the season, and saved IU from a December trip to Detroit, but upsetting Iowa 28-19 on the same day as the Bucket game.

The season that was: Indiana 55, Indiana State 7.

The 2007 season began as it should have, with a whipping of Indiana State, one of the worst teams in Division I-AA. Here's the box score, and here's the blog wrap-up. As I noted last year, a blowout win wasn't necessarily a good sign except as the absence of a bad sign. Also, the ISU game ended an unfortunate run of competitive games against I-AA opponents: Katrina-affected Nicholls State nearly won in Bloomington in 2005 and during Terry Hoeppner's sick leave in 2006, Southern Illinois overcame a significant deficit to win. In 2006, another historically bad ISU team was competitive with Purdue for three quarters or so. It wasn't to be for the Sycamores in 2007, and ultimately ISU fired coach Lou West just 3 weeks into the season.

This game doesn't have much relevance to the 2008 season, so I'm not going to belabor this review, but it's worth noting IU's five quarterback sacks in this game. In many of my early season posts, I questioned whether IU's new-found pass rush was genuine improvement or was merely a reflection of the level of competition. I was skeptical, but IU's transition from one of the worst pass rushing teams in the country to one of the best and Greg Middleton's sudden emergence as one of the best defensive ends in the nation were the Hoosiers' most compelling on-the-field story lines.

Of course, given the expected easy win, off-the-field story lines dominated the early part of that evening. The ISU game was IU's first game since the death of Terry Hoeppner in June 2007. IU honored Coach Hep and his family in an emotional pregame ceremony.

If this game is remembered for any on-the-field moment, it's for the most justifiable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in IU history: James Hardy, after scoring his first of two touchdowns, holding the ball to the sky in tribute to his former coach.