One of my favorite lines in a movie comes from Hoosiers: “There are two kinds of dumb. A man who gets naked goes outside and barks and the moon, and a man who does the same thing in my living room.” Well that statement can be made to a few sportswriters this weeks as they blast Air Force for going for two against Tennessee but applaud JD Brookhart and Akron for going for two against NC State. Fellas, they both made the same decision but Akron was able to pull out the victory where as Air Force was stopped and lost. I applaud both coaches for taking the risk. When you are a non-BCS team playing at a BCS team’s home stadium, those are the risks you have to take to make a name for your team.

I sure hope the weather is good in Palo Alto because the team is not. The Stanford Cardinal are 0-2 and reeling after a loss to San Jose State. Do you think Walt Harris is wishing he stayed at Pitt? Stanford ranks last in the nation in rushing defense giving up a monumental 7.1 yards per carry. Not only does Harris have to worry about his defense but his receiver, Mark Bradford is out indefinitely with torn ligaments in his right foot. Walt better work on his tan because he might be looking for a TV job in the near future.

I got to catch the end of the Syracuse/Iowa overtime thriller and got to see the Iowa defense stuff the Orange 7 times from inside the two yard line. Not only does that mean that the Orange’s offensive linemen need some strength condition but the play calling by Greg Robinson was horrible. Not one time did he try a QB sneak, just dumb. I don’t understand coaches when they need a yard or less not trying the sneak. You have a 6 foot plus quarterback and he just needs to fall forward to get the first down. Any sort of push from your offensive line gets the job done, plus you know the snap count so you get the advantage there. I wonder how much goal line offense was practiced at Syracuse this week?

Speaking looking for a new job, my whiner of the week award goes to NC State’s coach Chuck Amato. He complained after the loss that it is unfair that MAC schools use non-qualifiers while ACC schools don’t. Hey Chuck, why not look at your athletic and recruiting budget compared to Akron’s? Quit making excuses for you inability to get your players prepared for games.

Finally, we at ITB wish Indiana head football coach Terry Hoeppner a speedy and healthy recovery. Hoeppner is scheduled to have surgery Wednesday to remove a possible tumor and might miss the next four weeks of the season.