Return to the Glory Days: An Indiana Hoosiers Dynasty

[packersfan4eva]

The Anthony Thompson Show

John Stark: Hello again, folks. It's me, John Stark, and beside me is your host, Anthony Thompson. Tonight, we will be taking questions from a few lucky fans.

Anthony Thompson: If YOU want to appear in our next show, PM some great questions to our studio executive, Packersfan4eva, and you might appear on our show that airs right after the National Championship Game!

John Stark: Our first question is from Michael Brewer, and he asks, "The bowl games will be announced tomorrow. You were only ahead by 0.003 points in the BCS rankings to #3 California, and #4 LSU trailed by 0.012 points. LSU just crushed Georgia in the SEC Championship game. Do you think they will take over the #2 spot?"

Anthony Thompson: Thanks for the quesiton, Michael. But to be honest, I don't think they will overtake our spot. They aren't as good of a team as we are, and besides their win over Georgia they haven't beaten any really strong teams. They played only one top 25 team this year (Alabama) and they lost the game 28-10. We, on the other hand, beat Oregon State--

John Stark: ...who only has one win this entire season.

Anthony Thompson: Doesn't matter. They were a top 25 team when WE played them. We beat Ohio State, Penn State, and....no, that's it. But that's THREE quality wins over quality opponents. That should be enough to keep us in the National Championship Game.

John Stark: Our next question comes from Shakemyhead21, who asked the following question: "If LSU plays in the National Championship instead of you, and instead you go play in the Rose Bowl against Cal, what do you plan to do to stop their powerful passing attack?"

Anthony Thompson: I haven't even seen Cal play, to be honest. I am 100% confident that we will play in the National Championship. If you show any sign of thinking you won't make it to the Big Game, the voters will take that into account and dock you a few points. Therefore, I have been assuming that we will play in the BCS Title game and have been preparing for our rematch with Boise State.

John Stark: Our second-to-last question comes from Dface33, who writes, "You had a few players win national awards and a few who were at least in the hunt for a trophy. How do you feel about that?"

Anthony Thompson: That's a tough question, Dface. I can't speak for my own players, but I am assuming that they think team success is more important than individual victories. I mean, yeah, winning an award would be nice. Tim Alexander won both the linebacker awards and Mitch Ewald won the Lou Groza Trophy, but they are both key players in our team. They know that they are as much a key to our success as the coaching staff, and so it's their duty to keep us on the pass of success. So I think they have more important things on their mind. While I'm at it, congrats to all the Indiana players who were in the national spotlight. Deleon Eskridge was second in the Doak Walker award, Duwyce Wilson and Chris Hagerup were in the hunt for special team's awards. Damarlo Belcher was a surprise finalist for the Fred Biletnikoff trophy, but sadly, he finished fourth. We might have a couple other players be first or second-team All-Conference players, but we'll have to wait and see.

John Stark: Our final question is from DewsheBaeg. He asked, "It's you against Boise State in the National Championship (hopefully). What's the score and who wins the game?"

Anthony Thompson: 24-21, Hoosiers victory.

John Stark: Well, that's all of our time today. Thanks for tuning in, listeners. I'm John Stark alongside Anthony Thompson, and we're signing off.

[packersfan4eva]

congrats on being #1 chise! this really is a good read.

Thanks man. I'm glad you enjoy this.

i love your confidence

Thanks man. I think he's a little nuts, but whatever ;). Being that confident is like placing a target for opponents on your back


All-American Update tonight, list of bowl games on Friday. I'm leaving for Colorado on Saturday (won't be getting back until late Thursday), so I don't know if I'll get an update in on the Saturday that we leave.

[packersfan4eva]

Other Indiana Players of Note
Beau Walker: Freshman All-American, 1st Team All Big-10
Chris Adkins: 1st Team All Big-10
Steve Butler: 2nd Team All-Big 10
Larry Black Jr.: 2nd Team All Big-10
Donnell Jones: 2nd Team All Big-10
Jerimy Finch: 2nd Team All Big-10

[packersfan4eva]

Bowl Game Previews

[GMSFootballa54]

Let's go IU!

[packersfan4eva]

BCS National Championship Game

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*I give my thanks to Emac78 for letting me use a similar template to his*

This game will alter the course of college football forever. This BCS National Championship game, between the Boise State Broncos (12-0 and #1) and the Indiana Hoosiers (11-1 and a huge-underdog at #2) would present both teams with their first opportunity to win an outright National Championship. Who would win the game? Who would hang on to place themselves among the greatest teams in college football history? Only time would tell.

The crowd was booming for the coin toss, but Indiana managed to hear the call and win the toss. They elected to receive the ball to start the game. The Hoosiers drew the bad-luck straw in this game, and it showed on their very first play from scrimmage. Jammone Chester gave the ball to Deleon Eskridge, who would run to the outside of the play to try and find an opening. All he found were Boise State defenders. He got whacked behind the line of scrimmage, fumbled the ball, and Boise State recovered and ran it all the way back for a touchdown to put them on top 7-0.

Just 18 seconds into the game, Eskridge's fumble gave Boise State a comforting lead

When Indiana screws up, they get angry. And when they get angry, they do better. Just look at all of the great comebacks they've had this year. They have come back from first-half deficits to win four times this year, and they were hoping to continue that streak today. Only on this drive, they threw an interception on their first play from scrimmage. Chester--who had one of his worst games of the season--was off-target all afternoon, and he thought he had Damarlo Belcher wide open over the middle. When he threw the ball, however, it slipped out of his hands and landed into the palms of a Boise State defender. He was tackled after a 4-yard return.

This is just here until EASW loads my other picture.

Boise State's potent offense finally had a chance to show what they're made of, and they did not fail to disappoint. A flurry of short screen passes carried their team all the way to the Indiana 6-yard line, where the Hoosiers defense finally held. First down, they tried a pass over the middle. It was dropped. Second down, they tried to ram the ball up the middle. Tim Alexander was there to stop it. On third down, Boise State tried a little trickery with a HB Pass. It was almost intercepted. Finally, on 4th down, they caught the Hoosiers off-guard. A fake field goal-pass was extremely successful, as the Boise State receiver Chris Potter was left wide-open in the end zone. Touchdown, Boise State. They now held on to an even more comforting 14-0 lead, and it seemed as if the game was already over for the Hoosiers.

This was probably the biggest drive of the entire game. Either they created some momentum by putting some points on the board, or they give the high-octane Boise State offense the ball back. On the first play from scrimmage, Deleon Eskridge was tackled for a 4 yard loss. On second down Chester almost threw another interception. On third down, however, Indiana finally got the big play it needed. Eskridge took a toss and ran the ball 67 yards to the Boise State 18 yard line. On the next play, he scampered into the end zone to make the score 14-7. The Hoosiers finally had some momentum.

The next Boise State drive gave Indiana ALL of the momentum. Tim Alexander, who had already recorded 3 tackles in the game, sacked quarterback Kellen Moore on 1st and second down, and on third down Donnell Jones intercepted a Moore pass to give Indiana the ball back.

The rest of the first quarter was really shitty, if you ask me. No one gained a single yard. After three straight 3-and-outs, Boise State got tired of it and tried to go for it on 4th down. It didn't work, and it left Indiana with great field position. However, just like their other drives, they couldn't do anything and kicked a field goal. Except the sure-footed Mitch Ewald hooked it left, leaving the score at 14-7 as the quarter ended.

End of First Quarter: Boise State - 14, Indiana - 7.

The second quarter started the exact same way as the end of the first quarter: neither team could gain any yardage. Again, there were four straight 3-and-outs by both team, moving the total to eight straight (a new BCS Championship Record).

I should take the time to note that it wasn't all bad for the Hoosiers. Tim Alexander was having a field-day out there with the Broncos offense. He was sacking/tackling players left and right, and there was nothing anybody could do about it. On one of Boise State's drives, he recorded every tackle (it was only three plays, but still impressive if you ask me).

The Hoosiers finally ended the shitty streak by throwing an interception (Chester's second in the game). Then Boise State responded by gaining a first down off of a Doug Martin run play, which went for 21 yards. They used that momentum to...throw an interception? Yeah. On their first-and-ten after the huge run, Kellen Moore threw a terrible pass over the middle that was intercepted by Cortez Smith.

Cortez's interception came at the perfect time for the Hoosiers.

After such a high-scoring first quarter, who would have thought that the rest of the first half would be so defensive? Eight straight three-and-outs, two interceptions....someone had to score NOW, right? The football Gods decided that the answer to that question would be a big fat "no." Indiana was held to another 3-and out, and then Boise State did the same thing.

Fans were starting to file out of the stadium. Not very many people left, but enough for Indiana quarterback Jammone Chester to get angry. He called a time-out after another drop by receiver Damarlo Belcher and gave a little pep talk to his team. It is not known what was said, but whatever it was it was the spark that the Hoosiers needed. They drove down the field thanks to Chester's spectacular passing, and with 3 seconds left in the half Mitch Ewald nailed a 51-yard field goal to make the score 14-10 at the half.

End of Second Quarter: Boise State - 14, Indiana - 10.

What would happen in the second half? Does Indiana storm back to win the game, or does Boise State continue their control by winning the BCS National Championship Game?

Second half will come when I get back from vacation on Thursday or Friday.

[Tearz49ers]

I love the way you have kept everyone in suspense. That is a really unique idea.

[packersfan4eva]

Awww C'mon man!!!!!! You're killing me Smalls!! You can't dangle it all out there like that and then make us wait. I'm dying man....:club:

Great job on the interview piece, loved it!

:guns:

Hope that kills you faster :D

Damn! It's gonna be an exciting 2nd half!

It was freaking intense. You'll be on the edge of your seat

I love the way you have kept everyone in suspense. That is a really unique idea.

Thanks man. Glad to have you on board.




I'll either have the update Thursday or Friday, depends on when we get back. Probably Thursday night, but who knows.