[NU Sports] Morning report ...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Whew ... and wow. It may not have had the flash of past "Cardiac Cat" comebacks (it was more of a slow burn), but today's win over Indiana was both nice to see in terms of team composure and in importance for getting to six wins.

After it was 21-0, I was frustrated and when they ran back the kick to make it 28-3, I was throwing anything not nailed down :) ... but Coach Fitz kept the team focused and they never lost belief that they would come back and win.

And as much as I've been critical of McCall this year, the third down call late (the delayed counter out of the shotgun on 3rd and long for the first) was brilliant and -- as we saw with IU at the end -- needed to run down the clock.

We still have to find a way to navigate a rough final four games, three against teams who are 18-3 and one at an old rival who has the talent to explode at any time (fingers crossed, it's Cincinnati when Juice & Co. wake up - it wouldn't hurt any in the Big Ten and would be a blow to those who think the Big Least deserves to have teams who lost to NC State and Auburn ranked ahead of Michigan or Wisconsin).

Right now, Michigan and PSU seem to be setting up for a back-and-forth thriller, as they always seem to do in Ann Arbor ... and tonight's game is a definite trap for the bumblebees ... we'll see if they can escape.

Around the league early ...

* Yawn on OSU's win. The Buckeyes aren't relevant until November, when they can win the Big Ten, or at least decide what other team does, as they play PSU and Iowa in consecutive weeks.

* Purdue may not make it to a bowl with their early hole, but they will probably be one of the better teams in the league by the end of the season (glad we played 'em early!). The only real thing of interest in that game was hearing a commentator relate a story I hadn't heard on Juice & Benn snitching out some teammates to Coach Zook on a team rule which could explain the disunity in Champaign.

We'll see after tonight how the bowl picture looks for the league, but 5-3 with PSU and Iowa up next is a heck of a lot better than 4-4 and staring at two possible BCS teams.

Happy Homecoming and GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!