Rose Bowl Bound

Last night, Doug and I watched the greatest IU football game ever.  In fact, it was so good that Meg actually stopped sewing in the fourth quarter to join us in front of the television. With a 13-10 IU victory over Ohio State, I doubt those that weren't watching could believe that from start to finish, the Big Ten Conference championship game was absolutely thrilling with two hard fought defenses going up against the top two quarterback picks for the Heisman. The game kept us on the edge of our seats and by the time that it was over, we were completely spent.

Although, I knew that we had a chance to win, I didn't fully realize how good the Hoosiers really were until this game. Last week, we watched Ohio State's top running back manhandle Michigan's defense.  That was not the case this weekend as the Hoosier's defense played outstanding stopping him on every run.  Our offense did struggle against the Buckeye's top ranked defense but made several unbelievable plays that put IU on top including Mendoza rebounding on the first drive of the game from one of the hardest hits all season and several phenomenal catches by both of our wide receivers.  Even losing a key player to injury at the beginning of the game didn't stop IU.  The Buckeyes did miss an easy field goal towards the end of the fourth quarter to tie the game, but the Hoosiers had missed one early as well making our victory even more impressive and finally stopping the "IU doesn't deserve to be there" talk.  

As much as we were enjoying the game watching it at home, Cameron was having even more fun in the front of the student section cheering the Hoosiers on in person.  He had to hand out rally towels for four hours outside the stadium to earn the seat, but it was well worth it. We saw glimpses of him on television among the sold-out stadium and heard from him several times including a phone call after the win in which he could barely speak. 

Today, the CFP committee made it official and ranked the Indiana Hoosiers as the number one seed in the tournament with IU's first game to be played at the Rose Bowl.  We had always talked about going to Pasadena but decided that we would wait for their second game at the Peach Bowl.  The logistics and cost were more than we could navigate on short notice over the holidays and with the Hoosiers legitimate chance of winning the title, we wanted to make sure that we had the time saved for trips to the semi-finals and finals. Even in writing this down, it still doesn't seem real.  Thankfully, this morning when we woke up, we found out that we weren't actually dreaming.  Last night, I wasn't sure that that was the case.