Hoosiers hope to 'Forget It and Drive On'

Fido isn't just a generic dog's name. It's an IU football mantra.\n"We have a saying that we use, 'FIDO'," sophomore quarterback Blake Powers said. "It stands for 'Forget It and Drive On.' That's what we're trying to do."\nThe Hoosiers have plenty of forgetting to do, and plenty of driving to attend to as they travel north to East Lansing, Mich., Saturday with hopes of avenging last weekend's blowout loss to Ohio State. \nIU is attempting to move past its OSU disappointment by taking a proactive approach to the team's matchup against Michigan State this weekend, Powers said. \n"You're not going to win them all," he said. "You're not going to get every break. Very few teams do that. You can either put your head down, or you can keep your head up and keep fighting, and that's what we're going to do."\nSaturday's date with the Spartans is a matchup of teams with nearly identical recent-week experiences. \nBoth teams bring a 4-3 overall record and a 1-3 conference mark into the game. Like IU, Michigan State is attempting to bounce back from a blowout, losing to Northwestern at home Saturday, 49-14, a loss that dropped the Spartans out of the top 25. \nJohn L. Smith's squad opened its season with four straight wins, including an overtime victory against No. 9 Notre Dame. Since then, MSU has dropped three in a row, losing to Michigan, Ohio State and Northwestern. \nIU senior linebacker John Pannozzo expects a tougher team than the Spartans' record might indicate, though.\n"They lost a couple games that they easily could have won," Pannozzo said. "They should be walking away with a better record. But we know that they're going to give us their best."\nPannozzo leads a defense that has struggled to consistently stop its past two opposing offenses, halting Iowa and Ohio State in patches but surrendering big sequences in late-game situations. \n"Ohio State is a team that you can't give up those kinds of mistakes to," Pannozzo said. "We've got to stop giving up the stupid plays."\nThe defense isn't alone in its attempts to bounce back from disappointment. IU's offense failed to score a touchdown for the first time this season and only covered 137 yards against the Buckeyes -- the effort Powers and company are looking to put out of their minds.\nIU head coach Terry Hoeppner is thankful for the chance weekly college football games allow his team to FIDO. \n"We thought we were ready to go," he said, "and (Ohio State) came out and punched us in the mouth. Our eyes watered up and we didn't respond very well. The beauty of this game is that we have another chance"