Offense gets glamour, but defense needed to win

Antwaan Randle El terrorizes opponents with ankle-breaking moves. \nHe leaves crowds speechless and drooling for more. He makes scoring touchdowns look easy. He brings light to a program where the bulb burned out years ago.\nNo word or phrase can adequately describe the Hoosiers' answer to Superman. Simply put, he's Antwaan Randle El.\nAfter Saturday's game, Cameron flat out called junior Randle El the greatest quarterback he has ever coached, which includes NFL quarterbacks Jim Harbaugh, Gus Frerotte, Elvis Grbac and Trent Green. \nBut for all that 'Twaan does on the field for IU football, he does not win football games. In his three years starting for IU, the Hoosiers have an overall record of 11-20.\nIt's not just Randle El who does not win football games.\nCam Cameron does not win football games. Special teams do not win football games. Offense does not win football games.\n"We all know what ultimately wins football games," Cameron said Saturday. \nDefense wins football games.\nIt's a cliche that has been around since man invented sports. \nAvoiding tackles and scoring touchdowns, blasting 400-foot homeruns and slamming down windmill dunks make ESPN's highlight films. Offense receives all the glamour and glitter, but in the end defense wins ball games.\nOnce again this past weekend, the defense showed progress in areas, including stopping the run, but the big play continued to be the knife in the Hoosiers' back. \nIIllinois' second score of the game came on a 20-yard touchdown pass that was set up two plays earlier when IU was called for pass interference, which brought the Illini to IU's 23-yard line.\nOn Illinois' next drive, Kurt Kittner found Aaron Moorehead behind the secondary for a 51-yard pass play, which got Illinois to IU's one.\nIn the third quarter, Kittner completed a 10-yard pass to Carey Davis, who traveled out of bounds and was later hit by an IU defender. The 10-yard pass plus the 15-yard penalty put Illinois all the way to IU's 19-yard line. Kittner then found Moorehad open again for a 17-yard touchdown.\nDuring Illinois' next scoring drive, Kittner hit Greg Lewis on a 48-yard pass play, which set up a four-yard touchdown run. \nOn the Illini's final scoring drive, Hoosiers were again called for pass interference with less than a minute left in the game and Illinois was on IU's 28-yard line. Illinois was moved up to the 13-yard line and, shortly after, scored the game winning touchdown to give it the 42-35 victory.\nThe Hoosiers were without starting cornerback Sharrod Wallace because of injury and had a few players who were either too young or still learning to play defensive after being converted from another position. \nStill, the Hoosiers failed to be aware of the some of the most basic rules of elementary football. For example, IU's secondary let Illinois' receivers get behind them.\n"You cannot flat at any level -- junior high, high school, college -- let the ball go over your head. Period," Cameron said. "You don't give yourself a chance. We know that. We're getting it addressed."\nCameron has been addressing the same problems for the last four years. Saturday's loss guaranteed Cameron his fourth consecutive losing season as IU's head coach. \nCameron has baby-stepped IU's program along, but the fact remains the Hoosiers are still not winning football games. The team sits now with a 3-6 record, which has a great possibility of being 3-8 or 4-7 and not 5-6. \nIt's too bad that Randle El might walk out of IU next year with every Hoosier record ever created, a number of NCAA marks and the ability to play at the next level, but until the Hoosiers can produce a consistent defense he will never become a winner.