Friday, November 6, 2009

What to make of Indiana?

Is it just me, or do the Badgers make you feel a little bit like the old Lou Holtz every week? We're winning, but every week I look at our opponent and see mainly their positives and the ways they could beat us, not the opposite. And we're not overwhelming enough to erase all doubt in the outcome of a game before the opening kickoff.

Take Indiana. By all accounts, they're terrible, just as they were last year, and almost every year in the past two decades. But they scare me.

They were in position to beat Michigan at the end of their Big Ten opener. They were up big on Northwestern but collapsed. They led the best team in the conference on the road in the fourth quarter but collapsed.

So they're close week after week, but can't finish. This week they could play us tough from the start but finally finish. Or this could be the week that the emotional toll of close loss after close loss catches up with them and they get blown out.

This shouldn't come as a surprise, but in my mind, the best way to blow them out would be to run the ball as often as possible. I loved the first drive against Purdue last week, all runs. Even though Indiana's run defense is better than its pass defense (especially minus Ray Fisher, their best corner), the run defense isn't very good either. Their pass defense is last in the league, but they're third with 14 interceptions and Scotty Tolzien has thrown the ball to the wrong guys at times this year.

Ignoring my inner Lou, I think the Badgers win this one by two touchdowns.

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