Coach Hoeppner still set on Hoosiers 'playing 12' this year

IU head coach Terry Hoeppner has been saying it all year. He wants his team to "play 12."\nHe's even sported jewelry with his slogan, a faux-Livestrong bracelet he's not willing to discard quite yet, despite IU's ever-closing postseason window of opportunity.\n"We have two more chances and I'm not taking it off," Hoeppner said in a statement. "Someone is going to have to rip it off."\n"It's going to be tougher now. Our backs are against the wall. Every guy on this team has to look at themselves in the mirror and be able to evaluate themselves." \nWith two games left in the Hoosiers' schedule, including this week's match up at No. 21 Michigan, IU is forced to win out if it plans on playing more than the 11 regular season games. \nAfter beginning the season 4-1, Hoeppner's team has dropped four straight to Big Ten opponents. The four early wins included lopsided tallies against Kentucky and Illinois spurred by offensive firepower and defensive stability. \nSince then, though, IU has struggled to establish success on either side of the ball with regularity. \n"We've got to keep working and keep improving," sophomore quarterback Blake Powers said. "All we can do is focus on these two games and get to our goal."\nAn already depleted IU wide receiving corps received more bad news this week. Freshman wideout James Bailey will sit out IU's last two games because of academic ineligibility. \nThe loss of Bailey will set the Hoosier offense back even further as they head into their final two games of the season. Fellow freshman receiver and IU's leading pass-catcher, James Hardy, left Saturday's game with an undisclosed injury. His status remains uncertain.\nBailey leaves a sizable hole in IU's offense. The Detroit native is second on the team in catches, yards and touchdowns. Bailey also made a pair of 20-yard receptions in the second quarter against Minnesota Saturday to put the Hoosiers in scoring position. \nThe ineligibility also comes in the midst of IU's efforts to regain its early-season passing form, when Blake Powers broke the school's all-time touchdown passing record. \n"It is an opportunity for someone else to step and play," Hoeppner said in a statement. "We have other guys."\nBailey's suspension will last until the end of the semester, at which time his academic issues will be re-evaluated.\nIU has struggled with nagging injuries all year. As the season winds down, those injuries might be costing key Hoosiers playing time. \nSenior defensive tackle and captain Russ Richardson is the latest Hoosier to suffer a potentially season-ending injury. Richardson left the game against Minnesota with an injury to his left knee and is doubtful for Saturday's game in Ann Arbor, Mich.\nRichardson isn't the first senior, or even captain, to lose games due to injury this season. \nSenior linebacker John Pannozzo is out for the rest of the year with a hand injury. Also, Hardy is battling the injury that took him out of the game in the third quarter against Minnesota.\n"We have an unusual amount of bumps and bruises," Hoeppner said in a statement. "As all physical games are, sometimes it is easier for it to become an accumulative thing. Going into week 10, everybody is a little bumped and bruised. Right now, I think we will have everybody but Russ"