Dusting it off...

The Gate must resume swinging

I know there's one person still out there watching and waiting for an update to this thing, I hear it every time I call my mother. In the background I hear "If they're not going to update the fucking thing they outta just have Google take it down!!". And the old man is right, but what the hell are a couple of mid 20 amateur sportswriters to write about in late June and July? How the MLB All-Star Game is stupid as hell, Lance Armstrong is a giant douche, or Brett Farve. Personally the last month I haven't even watched much PTI or SportsCenter; there's no point its the same old shit that they wouldn't cover if they weren't paid to report it to us drones. So here goes shot number 3 at NRTTS, and the calendar is going to start playing nice for the Coach and the Gate...

Its been a cool July, no where near the scorching hotness that makes it feel like fall Saturdays are never coming back. The BigTen Network is pulling out the tapes from last years epically bad football season. But its the last week of July and hope springs eternal here in Big Ten Country. The Media Days are over and the clash of pads will be heard around campuses in the coming weeks, and inevitably a key player will go down for the season (God, if there is a God, please don't let it be Tate or Denard....Take Nick Sheridan....Please??). While there's only one team we really give a shit about at NRTTS we have to take a look around the BigTen and the country to get a feel for this great season that's fast approaching. I get bored of reading numbers and pointless dribble that Phil Steele and Lindy's puts out every year so I'm gonna make my arguments based upon my knowledge and ESPN.com team pages. We'll start out slow and see if its worth my time before I unload 11 teams worth of analysis to no readers. Maybe we could get a little "Punt CounterPunt" going on like the days of free programs at the Big House.


Indiana Hoosiers
2008 Final Record: (1-7. 3-9)

First Thoughts Based Upon Schedule and Past Performance

Ah, the Hoosiers, the only team with a worse conference record than our beloved last season. If I had to console a Hoosier today and tell them its going to get better it'd be the biggest lie since "John Navarre is the best option we have." The schedule starts easy enough with Western Kentucky and Western Michigan, but road trips to Michigan and Virginia plus a home matchup with the Buckeyes probably leaves the Hoosiers, at best, 3-3 at the half. With Illinois, Wisconsin and Purdue left on the home schedule Indiana will have to defend Memorial Stadium and win one on the road at Northwestern, Iowa, or Penn State to make a bowl game. Looks like another Holiday at home.

A Look at The Rosters

Usually I can pull something out but for the life of me I couldn't remember a damn name from the 2008 Indiana Hoosiers so I looked up their roster on the NCAA site and it yielded very little help jogging the memory but had one interesting stat. Last year the Hoosiers had 3 QBs play in 10+ games. That's bad. Kellen Lewis was the head of the class leading the team in passing yards with 1100 and rushed for 500 yards, good enough for second on the team. Not quite Steven Threet bad but still not good. According to ESPN and Scouts, Inc. the top signee for the Hoosiers this year is a Kicker...yeah, a Kicker. Edward Wright-Baker will make a little noise in the Indiana backfield as an underrated dual-threat QB who was also courted by the Spartans and Boilermakers.

Final Thoughts

They tell me you can't get much worse than the 3-9 that our Wolverines put up last year. But it can, it can be the 3-9 the Hoosiers put up last year. It can be an offseason where your future rests on the legs of a kicker and an "Underrated" freshman QB. At first glance of the year Indiana has ahead of them I said they're screwed, after thinking about it and looking at their commitments...I say "Basketball season comes next...shit...look out for that too."

Fearless Prediction

I don't think the Hoosiers get out of the bottom of the BigTen this year. They don't have enough in the tank to compete on a higher level that gives some respectability to the conference from top to bottom. After thinking long and hard to remember Kellen Lewis I think the Hoosiers come out hot 3-0 in the non-conference but fall of the face of the map until Nov. 7 when they beat a ranked Wisconsin squad. Finishing 4-8 is better than 3-9 but still, the Hoosiers finish 1-7 in the conference.


There it is...the first post in almost 2 months now if you read it, attack the comments section and we'll get back to writing quality posts about relevant teams in relevant sports with the occasional quirky story. Otherwise the last post you will keep reading on NRTTS is a preview of Indiana Football...Do you really wanna go out like that??