College Football

The season for Indiana colleges will be over soon, and most likely only one will be playing after Thanksgiving.

How about Notre Dame? The turnaround from the last couple of years is pretty amazing. For the best illustration, just look at the USC game. Last year, basically the same ND team couldn't even stay on the field with USC. This year USC is even better and ND not only stayed on the field with them, but had them beaten until that game-ending miracle TD that allowed USC to steal the game.

Even though Charlie Weis seems to have worked miracles this season with the same guys Ty couldn't turn into winners, I do think it seems a little early to give him that juicy 10-year contract. Rumors were that the NFL was calling, and ND didn't want to lose him. Nice deal for Charlie, I suppose.

It would be hard to bet against Notre Dame for the national championship next year. They're already back in the top 10, and probably are capable of beating any team in the country this year. What the need to put them over the top next year is the same thing the Colts needed to get them (hopefully) to the Super Bowl this year: Defense.

While the USC game was awesome, the outcome has to be hung on the defense. The failure of the defense to stop USC in their last possession was an embarrassing gaffe. If Weis can upgrade the defense by next year, they will be good enough to win it all.

Specifically, ND needs better linebackers and better corner coverage. A standout defensive end couldn't hurt.

For other Indiana teams, what in the world happened to Purdue? They turned around in the opposite direction as dramatically as Notre Dame did in the positive. All of a sudden they can't stop anybody on defense and their offense is inconsistent.

The only thing I sort of take issue with coach Tiller on is his shuffling at quarterback. I think he pulled Kirsch a little too quickly, and it seemed to hurt their ability to establish consistency. But it doesn't matter all that much in the big picture, because that picture is of a defense that doesn't measure up to Division I standards.

I'm guessing that coach Tiller's going to find a way to turn things around soon.

Poor Indiana. They almost seemed exciting when they began their season with 3 wins in a row. But looking at the teams they played, I knew better than to get too excited. Then the Big Ten part of the season started and the Hoosiers came back to reality.

The Hoosiers have two bright spots. Their quarterback and primary receiver, Blake Powers and James Hardy, are a couple of very promising guys. But they can't overcome a weak running game and receiving corps that drop more balls than they catch.

But even if the offense is clicking, Indiana shares the defensive woes of their rivals in Lafayette. Perhaps even worse than Purdue. When I watched Indiana last weekend in their loss at home to Minnesota, I saw them trying to play defense with a group of boys against Minnesota's men. The middle linebacker, Killian, is really a safety. They have a decent defensive end in Adayanju, but he's not enough to rescue what essentially is an undersized team that might be competitive in Division III.

I feel for new coach Hoeppner. He has a very steep hill to climb if he ever wants to bring IU back to respectability. I like his positive attitude and goal-oriented approach, though. He is still hanging onto his goal of making it to a bowl game this year, even though it's all but impossible. He's got to recruit better athletes, get a solid strength and conditioning program installed, and coach the team to reduce the errors they've been making on the field all season. Hopefully Indiana will give him a few years to build the program - maybe he'll have a chance for success.

Ball State is a below average team that hasn't had a good season in several years. Butler is embarrassing, but at least had the sense to fire their head coach.

At least here in Indiana we have the Irish to cheer for in January.