By Ryan Burnett

Bill Lynch ran his record-breaking QB's ass out of town. Will the tables turn on the third-year coach this year?

‘o7 was a crazy year for the Hoosiers. You know the story: Head Coach Terry Hoeppner dies that summer, but the team somehow manages to rally together and go to its first bowl in nine years. But once that fairy tale ended, this team fell back to earth… hard. After winning seven games in ‘07 the team managed only 3 W’s last year (only one of them in-conference). The bad news for the Hoosier faithful is that ‘07 was the anomaly, not ‘08. The most realistic goal for this squad is not finishing last in the conference.

Random Bonus Prediction

If this team doesn’t beat Eastern Kentucky in their season opener on September 3, it will go winless until their season finale against rival Purdue, who they will beat at home. I feel strangely good about this prediction.

The Good

Junior quarterback Ben Chapell looked fairly sharp this spring. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was one of the top five QBs in the league this year. Oh, and their incoming group of recruits isn’t the worst class in the league…that’s it.

The Bad

Former QB-turned-WR Kellen Lewis was dismissed from the university (allegedly for failing a drug test, I hear it was pot). This means Chappell will be throwing to some fairly untested receivers. The Hoosiers defense gave up more than 40 points a game last season and I see no reason that they will be any better this time around. Yes, a lot of last year’s starters are returning, but when you consider how bad they were last season, I don’t think all of them coming back is necessarily a good thing.

The Unknown

Whether or not Bill Lynch is ready for the big time. I think not, but given that this is only his thrid year there and he has yet to stock the shelves with his on players I think he returns as long as the Hoosiers don’t get worse. His decision to dismiss Kellen Lewis is his own business. But his decision to move Lewis’ black-ass to wide receiver even though he took you to a bowl game and holds the school record for passing touchdowns (48) is a real head scratcher.  It kinda reminds me of that scene in Any Given Sunday, where Jamie Foxx is like “coach moved me to corner back, said I had quick feet. had me tackling 250 pound mother-fuckers. I don’t do that shit, I’m a quaterback!” Hahaha…. oh, Jamie.