Football season full of highs and lows for Hoosiers

The IU football team found out yesterday that its season ended as turbulently as it began. \nCam Cameron's firing was the final blow for a team that experienced the ultimate highs and the disappointing lows that accompany team sports.\nBut what a crazy four months it was.\n"There were a lot of ups and downs this season, but it was fun," senior center Craig Osika said.\n"Fun" isn't exactly the term used looking back to the first game of the season. \nThe Hoosiers traveled down to Raleigh, N.C., to face N.C. State on ESPN's Thursday night game. Prior to the game, much of the attention was focused on the "experiment" of moving senior quarterback Antwaan Randle El to wide receiver. His replacement was junior Tommy Jones.\nBut the game, as well as the experiment, didn't turn out to be quite the success the previously-confident Hoosiers expected. \n"A lot of people pointed to the experiment, but we just didn\'t play well," junior tackle A.C. Myler said. "There were a lot of guys that didn't play well that game and a lot of people try to put the blame on Cam or on Tommy not playing well, but it wasn't them. A lot of guys didn't play well that game."\nThe Hoosiers managed two late scores in the 35-14 loss, but it was not enough to overcome the seven penalties, three fumbles and the season-low 276 total yards amassed by IU.\nThe N.C. State game was the last time Jones played quarterback, and as for N.C. State, the Wolfpack finished 7-4 and faces Pittsburgh in the Jan. 1 Visit Florida Tangerine Bowl. \n"It was an eye-opener," Osika said. "Maybe we were just a little too over-confident in what we could do, and we just went out there and it ended up being a total mess."\nThe Hoosiers got an unexpected week off after the Sept. 11 attacks. But the week off, or even moving Randle El back to quarterback, did not repair the mistakes.\n"Utah is a good football team," Myler said. "They are 7-4, and they are going to a bowl game. A lot of people do see Utah as the team we should have beat, but we made our share of mistakes in that game. We didn't play the way we wanted to, but I wouldn't say it was as big of a let down as people make it out to be."\nIU let Utah score 14 points in the fourth quarter that lead to the eventual 28-26 loss. \nRandle El, back in his old position, rushed for 69 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the seventh quarterback in NCAA Division I-A history to rush for more than 3,000 career yards. \nBut that didn't prevent IU from heading into the Big Ten season winless.\n"There were just too many mistakes," Osika said. "A lot of the games we did lose we started off by beating ourselves. You can't win games early in the season making that many mistakes."\nGoing into the Big Ten season winless was not exactly the "statement" that the Hoosiers were hoping to make. And it would get worse before it got better.\nIn IU's Big Ten home opener versus Ohio State, the Hoosiers trailed by six points in the fourth quarter, but even a late 44-yard pass from Randle El to senior running back Levron Williams wasn't enough to avoid a 27-14 defeat.\nHeading to Madison to face Wisconsin with an 0-3 record was not an ideal situation. But what a surprising outcome as the Hoosiers won their first Big Ten game in a 63-32 route of Wisconsin.\n"We executed," Myler said. "It's amazing when you do things right, everything falls into place. We were executing perfectly. We were getting one, two play drives on offense, defense was getting three-and-outs and the special teams were doing great. Maybe (Wisconsin was) a little over executing."\nIndiana had 449 rushing yards, led by Williams, who rushed for a career-high 280 yards and six touchdowns on a mere 20 carries. His touchdown total tied a Big Ten record, and the game was the first time since 1890 that IU had scored 63 points.\nBut the "turn-around" the Hoosiers were hoping for was halted by Illinois and Iowa. The Hoosiers fell to Illinois 35-14 with a lack of offense in a rain-soaked Homecoming game. In a 42-28 loss to Iowa, it was the invisible IU defense to blame. \n"We ended up playing Illinois tough," senior defensive tackle Kemp Rasmussen said. "We were 7-6 at the end of the third quarter, and it just fell apart. Then you look at the Iowa game and it was the exact opposite. The offense was scoring time after time and the defense couldn't get it stopped. The defense just came out and laid an egg that day. That was bad."\nNo one was more excited than the Hoosiers for the bye week. The week off marked the beginning of the turnaround for IU.\nThe Hoosiers jumped out to a 42-0 lead in the eventual 56-21 win over Northwestern. This game was the first of the critical next five if the Hoosiers had any hope for a post-season appearance.\nBefore the game, Cameron told the press that "just because it hadn't been done, doesn't mean it can't be done."\nYet at 2-5, and the next game in East Lansing against Michigan State, things didn't look good. The Spartans were coming off an emotional upset of Michigan, and both teams were ready for this game.\nIt was the Hoosiers who were left standing on the field waiting for the Brass Spittoon to be awarded to them after the 38-27 victory. \nIU rushed for 489 total yards, led by Williams' 251 yards and three touchdowns and Randle El's 149 yards and a score. Randle El moved into first place on the NCAA Division I-A career rushing list for quarterbacks, finishing the game with totals of 3,645 yards and 42 touchdowns.\n"It was a completely different type of game from Northwestern because Northwestern is a finesse-type team where MSU was a real physical team," Rasmussen said. "I liked that we were able to win against the two types of football games. That was a lot of fun."\nThat was the first of the three trophies IU won, but before the other two would come the biggest disappointment. After high hopes, and legit confidence, the Hoosiers lost to Penn State, 28-14.\n"Disappointment," Osika said. "It's even more bitter now that we won our last two games, and if we would've beat Penn State, we would have gone to a bowl game. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. We would have won five games in a row. It's hard to swallow."\nBut the loss was made up for somewhat by two victories against bitter rivals, first the 13-7 win against Purdue, then the season ending 26-15 Kentucky win.\nDespite falling short of the bowl-game goal, the team was rewarded by gaining national recognition.\nThe All-Big Ten teams included Randle El, who earned first-team honors from both the coaches and media and was recognized as the Big Ten Offensive Player-of-the-Year. He also was named first-team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America.\nWilliams earned first-team All-Big Ten honors from both the coaches and media, as well, and was named third-team All-America by the FWAA. Junior guard Enoch DeMar made second-team All-conference from the coaches and media and senior linebacker Justin Smith was a second-team selection by the Big Ten media.\nSeveral Hoosiers earned honorable mention recognition, including Rasmussen, Osika and Myler.\n"It was good on defense that we got four guys that got recognized," Rasmussen said. "It was pretty impressive."\nOsika agreed.\n"Whoever got whatever they got was well deserved," he said.