IU football prepares for 1st game Saturday

The Hoosiers are hoping to learn from last season’s \nmistakes. \nAfter jumping out to a 2-0 start in 2006, the IU football team dropped its next two games – both at home – to Division I-AA Southern Illinois and Division I-A Connecticut. Had they been able to win just one of those two games, IU would have been bowl eligible for the first time in 13 years. \nThis year, the IU coaching staff has stressed playing one game at a time and, since they’ve arrived in Bloomington, the team has been preparing for their first game Saturday night against Indiana State.\n“We have been looking forward to the first football game since we left the field at Purdue a year ago.” IU coach Bill Lynch said in his weekly teleconference. “But our biggest concern is to take care of IU football and play as well as we can play in an opener.”\nAs IU prepares for their opening game, sophomore wide receiver Ray Fisher says this year is going to be different and that the Hoosiers will prepare for every team the same.\n“We’re going to treat every team like they’re the number one team in the country,” Fisher said. \nWhile Fisher and the rest of the Hoosiers may be treating their opponents with the utmost respect, there is no mistaking the Sycamores for a football powerhouse. \nThe Sycamores are coming off a 2006 season in which they went 1-10. Their lone victory of the year snapped a 24-game losing streak, the longest streak in Division I at the time. Despite ISU’s poor record, the Hoosiers remain adamant that they are focused solely on their home opener.\nJunior defensive tackle Greg Brown, who along with junior wide receivers James Bailey and James Hardy, returned from injuries to practice. Brown said that, because it’s the first game of the year, the defense plans on using their standard sets to start the game against the Sycamores. \nLike the defense, the offense is expected to run the same plays they have been preparing and executing every day in practice. \n“We’ve been working hard every day,” Fisher said. “We’ve been working really hard on all the little things because the little things are what lead to big things.”\nOne wrinkle to Saturday’s game is the 8 p.m. kickoff – something the IU players seem to be ready for and happy about. \n“It’s better in the lights,” Brown said. “The atmosphere, the hype, there’s just something about it.” \nThere will be many things swirling around Memorial Stadium Saturday night, including opening night and a ceremony for late IU coach Terry Hoeppner. There has been another thing the Hoosiers have been preparing for this summer.\n“We’re going to learn from last year,” Brown said.