How did we ever get to this point in the 2014 college football season in what seems like a temporal drop in the bucket? If your conference plays a championship game, we only have two weeks left in the regular season and, with the exception of the Army-Navy game, just three weeks total. The early season heat has given way to the premature onset of winter in the more northerly parts of the country, and considering I’m writing this column from the Buffalo area, most of you don’t have anything on what we just went through this week.
But back to the topic at hand, namely this Saturday’s Ohio State-Indiana match up taking place at noon. These two programs seem to continuously occupy opposing ends of the Big Ten football standings year in and year out. Not much has changed in that regard if we look at where both teams stand after ten games apiece this season. However, ominous developments in Buckeye camp during preseason practice regarding their quarterback situation coupled with guarded optimism in Bloomington over IU’s offensive potential made it appear as if the two sides might be more similar in stature than normal.
A Tale of Two Shoulders
It must be said that a single component of the human anatomy on both incumbent starters behind center assured that the status quo will likely prevail in Columbus this weekend. Braxton Miller’s injury to his throwing shoulder that would require season-ending surgery sent many OSU fans into a state of panic. Yet it enabled an almost out-of-nowhere emergence of J.T. Barrett, whose exploits over the first ten games of his college career has a great deal of those same fans anointing him as the third coming of the redshirt freshman Heisman-winning quarterback.
For Indiana, their crisis of confidence precipitated by that same part of the body Miller injured would occur six games into an already disappointing Hoosier campaign. Yes, they pulled off a potentially program defining upset of current SEC East leader Missouri, but whatever momentum IU obtained by winning in Columbia was dissipated the following week by a flat and uninspiring 37-15 debacle at home to Maryland. Oh, and let’s not forget the 45-42 loss to Bowling Green that defined a “misery loves company” week two for the Big Ten. So yes, a disappointing campaign it was at 3-2 but let me get back to my anatomical discussion.
In the second quarter against Iowa, Indiana quarterback Nate Sudfeld would get sacked on third down as the Hoosiers were attempting to mount a comeback after failing to show up on defense and trailing 28-7. He would fall awkwardly on his left shoulder and wouldn’t return for the rest of the game. Linebacker turned quarterback Chris Covington was admirable in his place and IU would actually outscore the Hawkeyes 22-17 the rest of the game, but the long-term damage had been done. Sudfeld, like his fellow preseason starter in Miller, would have to undergo shoulder surgery that would end his season.
The postscript on Sudfeld’s shoulder injury would not turn out the way it has in Columbus. A few days later, it was revealed Covington himself tore his ACL against Iowa meaning the Hoosiers would be forced out of necessity to turn to true freshman Zander Diamont at quarterback whom they were hoping to redshirt. In the four games since he’s taken the reins, there’s been noticeable improvement from the dual-threat signal caller statistically speaking. After accounting for -1 total yards (yes the dash is supposed to be in front of the one, it’s a negative number) in his debut against Michigan State, that number has slowly increased in subsequent games. Against Rutgers, he had his best game throwing the football so far with 179 yards through the air.
That said, the Hoosiers went 0-4 in that span and with a current record of 3-7 are now bowl ineligible for the seventh consecutive season. Though Doak Walker Award candidate Tevin Coleman was superb last weekend, running for 307 yards and one touchdown against Rutgers, as a whole IU was outscored 35-10 in the second half after taking a 13-10 lead into the locker room at halftime, eventually falling 45-23. The much maligned defense has had its moments this season, but appears to show up one weekend then proceed to take the day off a week later. The latter clearly took place in Piscataway as blown coverages and a frustrating inability to stop the Scarlet Knights on third down doomed the Hoosiers down the stretch.
The Buckeyes have been clearly flying high in recent weeks with Barrett leading them to consecutive victories on the road against ranked teams. If his performance against Michigan State in cold, blustery conditions could be described as masterful, what he did in even worse conditions in the Minnesota game should almost certainly enable his presence to generate blips on the Heisman radar. It could be argued this team is playing its best football under Urban Meyer, a scary prospect for a reeling Indiana team that’s nearly a five touchdown road underdog.
Injuries of a long-term recovery nature are never something to gawk at and I always hope the athlete involved, whether he plays for a team I cheer for or one that I love to hate, makes a speedy recovery. However, such setbacks are opportunities in disguise for the next player up at the respective position. Barrett appears poised to take advantage like few others have, while Diamont continues to make progress albeit at a far lesser rate than his counterpart in Columbus. Though it was expected to be a Miller-Sudfeld quarterback duel when both teams arrived for fall camp, major injuries to that all-important joint which connects the upper arm to the torso ensured something different but perhaps something more inspiring.
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