Another Meltdown

Indiana dominated the fourth-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday. Despite numerous officiating screw-ups and bamboozling review decisions, the Hoosiers looked like the much better team and Iowa was proven fraudulent. Then they played the fourth quarter. I'm not sure Indiana is aware that college football games last 60 minutes. IU has led at Michigan, at Iowa and at Northwestern heading into the fourth quarter. They have managed to blow all of those games. After the 42-24 loss, IU sits at 4-5 (1-4) and they must win two of their final three games to make it to a bowl game. I don't see it happening but this team has clearly improved. Depth is still an issue and the lack of it shows in the final stages of Big Ten games.

Why Do We Have Replay?
I don't want to sound like a homer but the officiating was absolutely awful. A conspiracy theorist could very easily connect the dots if they watched Saturday's game and knew what was on the line for the conference. Iowa is the only national title threat the Big Ten has left. A loss at home to lowly Indiana would be embarrassing. If there is even a chance we can help the Hawkeyes with this review, let's do it. I don't know if that's what happened but I am not going to say it didn't. IU lost three reviews that severely damaged their chances. The second touchdown that was overturned was the worst review call I have ever seen. Terrance Turner clearly had possession of the ball and one foot down. The ref was standing five feet away and had the best angle in the house. He was in better position than the camera! I have heard several "experts" call out the replay officials in the Big Ten. The conference will probably apologize for a mistake. Gee, thanks a lot.

Darius Willis Continues to Impress
IU has a feature running back. Redshirt freshman Darius Willis is not 100% but he is running very effectively. Willis has shown the ability to hit the big play but I have been really impressed with the three to four yard runs. Willis rarely gets stuffed behind the line and his legs are constantly driving him forward. He had 63 yards and a touchdown against a very good defense. He has a bright future ahead of him.

The Collapse
This is the second straight game that Indiana has looked like a great team in the first half and a horrible team in the second. I don't think this is a lack of adjustments, simply a lack of execution and depth. Indiana blew two coverages to allow a struggling Ricky Stanzi to get back into a rhythm. From there, you knew the landslide had begun. The bad calls, big plays (fluke interception for a TD was brutal), loud crowd and injuries (Fisher, Polk and Adkins out) all snowballed on the Hoosiers.

Improvement is there and I think Bill Lynch has this team going in the right direction. However, they are going to need to finish off these games if they want to change the losing culture that has settled into the IU football program.