IU uses past upset as incentive to keep focus

Last week, the IU football team made a mockery out of its season opener against Western Kentucky, a team just recently inducted into college football’s top tier. On Saturday, the Hoosiers host a team that didn’t quite make the cut.

But IU can’t let a team’s resume change its focus; just two years ago the Hoosiers surrendered 28 second-half points at Memorial Stadium in a loss to Southern Illinois, another team not in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level of Division 1 football.

The loss is still ingrained in the mind of IU coach Bill Lynch, who was coaching his first game as interim head coach in the absence of former IU coach Terry Heoppner, who missed for medical reasons.

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“We have addressed (avoiding the let-down),” Lynch said. ”One of the things we are doing around here is trying to build a consistent football program. A consistent football programs practices well everyday and understands that you only get 12 opportunities to play, and you don’t let any opportunities to get away.”

In the mind of cornerback and co-captain Christopher Phillips is how well the Racers’ back-up quarterback Nico Yantko played last week.

Yantko was forced into Murray State’s game against Lambuth University in the second quarter last week after Racers’ starting quarterback Jeff Ehrhardt got injured.

Yantko proceeded to torch the NAIA Lambuth Eagles for five scoring drives.

“He is really explosive and makes a lot of plays,” Phillips said. “To come in off the bench and make plays, he has to be a real focused guy. He seems more athletic than other guys as well, so he may be a bit of a challenge.”

Phillips knows he can’t lose focus just because the Racers are not among the toughest opponents the Hoosiers will face, and freshman tight end Max Dedmond knows it, too, even though he was still in high school when the Hoosiers lost to Southern Illinois.

“We have talked about our past with Division 1-AA schools where we have had troubles,” Dedmond said.

Lynch stressed that for any football program to be good, they must take every game seriously, regardless of the opposing team’s supposed talent level.

“College football has kind of grown into that it’s a little bit of a playoff every weekend,” he said. “I say that in a sense that teams who are competing for the National Championship are competing for that championship everyday.”

The Hoosiers look to continue their push to fulfill postseason aspirations at 7 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium.