Hoosiers take week off to prepare for Badgers

Technically, the IU football team had last week off. However, that did not stop it from hitting the practice field, watching film and recruiting players.\nIU head coach Terry Hoeppner said the Hoosiers maintained their normal practice routine during the past week and are prepared to face the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday.\n"The script was almost written perfectly," Hoeppner said in a statement. "You go through this non-conference portion of the season and then take a week off to regroup, refocus and rededicate yourselves. When we got back together Sunday evening, we had to get back to it. The break is over. Everything comes at you now."\nSenior defensive back Will Lumpkin said the Hoosiers had no time to sit back and relax, despite their win against Kentucky, because there was still too much work to be done.\n"It definitely hasn't been a week off," Lumpkin said. "We've been really anxious to get back on the field, and we've spent a lot of time in the weight room, watching film and practicing. The thing about college football is that you can't afford to take a week off, especially when you have goals like we do."\nBesides fine-tuning the offensive and defensive schemes, Hoeppner said the IU coaches utilized the bye week as an opportunity to recruit.\n"(The coaches) had a good week of recruiting," Hoeppner said in a statement. "It is a good time to go, when you are 3-0. Hopefully, that will pay off."\nThe Hoosiers also spent the last week preparing to play on national television and in front of a rowdy Wisconsin crowd.\n"Guys come to IU because they know it's a stage where we will receive the type of recognition that we're looking for," Lumpkin said. "We're looking forward to going into Camp Randall Stadium and playing on ESPN2 because we \ndeserve it."\nThe Badgers, coming off last week's 23-20 win against the Michigan Wolverines, played in front of a capacity 83,022 fans Saturday. In their Sept. 17 game against Kentucky, the Hoosier crowd was half that.\n"We expect them to be loud, just as loud as any other crowd that seats 80,000," sophomore cornerback Tracy Porter said. "We're going to come in and be as composed as possible and really tune the crowd out as much as we can so that we can understand and signal all the plays that we need to."\nHoeppner said while the crowd poses a threat to the team, he took a tip from Michigan to help the Hoosiers' \npreparation.\n"We heard that Michigan pumped in loud sound to the stadium (during practice)," Hoeppner said in a statement. "We will probably do something similar."\nDespite the large crowd and media attention, the Hoosiers said they hope to use Saturday's game as a jump start into the rest of their schedule.\n"We're trying to get guys healed up and get ready to roll into the Big Ten season," Lumpkin said. "We're all excited for the opportunity to go out and make a name for \nourselves"