As the final seconds of Indiana's season ticked off the clock last year at Purdue, Hoosier head coach Cam Cameron headed to the locker room amidst a cloud of uncertainty.
That day the Hoosiers lost to the Boilermakers, 41-13, to complete a forgettable 3-8 record, Indiana's fourth straight losing season under Cameron, who was hired in 1997.
As lousy as that may have made Cameron feel, something else had to be eating him up inside.
This was a guy who was brought in to help Indiana fans talk about something other than basketball for at least three months of the year. So was this it for him? Was the university going to fire him after going 13-31 after just four seasons?
It's not a nice feeling knowing that your job may be in serious jeopardy. Actually, it's downright nauseating.
However, soon after the 2000 debacle ended, Indiana officials smothered all that talk and backed Cameron for at least one more year. But don't let that fool you. People who follow the Hoosiers didn't buy it and still may not.
They know that this year is do or die for Cameron. And to tell you the truth, and even though he won't admit it, so does Cameron.
So as Cameron took some time off after the completion of last season, he began brainstorming to come up with something, anything, to get the Hoosiers' ship righted.
He already had some great athletes and he also pulled in a few top-notch recruits, which his predecessors found to be a daunting task. After all, what kind of gridiron star would want to go to a school where football is second fiddle?
For the most part the talent was there to get this team back into the postseason for the first time since 1993. And there was also enough experience on the sideline and press box to coach the Hoosiers out of the Big Ten cellar.
But for some reason, things weren't meshing right in Bloomington under Cameron.
You know the old saying, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'? Well at Indiana, 'it' was broke and needed fixing.
The days and weeks went by and suddenly it came to Cameron. He has arguably college football's most exciting player in quarterback Antwaan Randle El. The problem is, it's sometimes tough to ask your quarterback to make several big plays throughout the course of a game.
It's much easier for a running back or wide receiver to make them though. Give him a gap here or get him in one-on-one coverage there and. . .poof, he's gone!
A quarterback can usually only set up that player for a play of that magnitude.
So Cameron put two and two together and devised what he thought was going to be the newest 'grand experiment' that rakes in positive returns. The plan was to put the best 11 offensive players on the field at one time. Last season, there may have only been nine or 10 of the Hoosier's top guns on the field at once.
But in order to get the best out there, some serious shuffling had to be done. That included moving Randle El from quarterback to wideout/running back/kick returner. And even with the move, Randle El would still see a snap or two from time-to-time to throw off the defense and add an extra dimension to the Hoosier offense.
The reaction to Cameron's decision was at best, mixed. Some Hoosier faithful (the majority of Indiana fans) thought Cameron had gone batty. How in the world could you move one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten -- who is also the NCAA's all-time quarterback rushing leader -- to a position where it isn't guaranteed he will touch the ball every game?
But others (and these were the minority) said, 'hey, why not?' It wasn't as if things can get any worse.
Well for better or worse, Cameron implemented the decision at the start of this season's spring practice. The majority of the time, Randle El lined up at wide receiver while Tommy Jones and Gibran Hamdan battled it out for the top quarterback position.
"If one of those other quarterbacks can do the job, it helps our team," Cameron said before spring practice. "Especially those two senior (junior-eligibility) quarterbacks, Jones and Hamdan. One of those two is going to be one of our best 11 offensive players, I would think. And so that gives us the ability to get our best 11 offensive players on the field. To me, that's what's important."
And after the team's annual Red-White spring scrimmage, Cameron looked like a genius. Randle El excelled everywhere Cameron put him. He caught five passes for 37 yards, ran four times for 36 yards, completed 10 of 19 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns and returned a punt for 22 yards.
Not bad for a day's work.
However, that's only half of the puzzle. So what if Randle El proved to be the multi-dimensional threat his coach knew he could be. All of his theatrics wouldn't mount to a hill of beans if the Hoosiers didn't get production out of their new quarterbacks.
But during the same game, Jones put those fears to rest -- at least temporarily. The junior signal caller went 15 of 25 for 162 yards, threw for two scores, didn't toss any picks and was evasive enough to avoid any sacks.
Everything seemed to be in place now for the Hoosiers, especially after the refurbished offense continued to click through summer practices. The only thing they needed now was to test drive this new machine against an opposing defense. Pass that and coach Cameron's status is no longer in question.
Actually playing against another team's defense was what this fledgling offense needed the most. All the great numbers it was putting up and the ease by which it was gaining yardage was all against the Hoosiers' own defense, which allowed 483 points and gave up 41 or more points 10 times in 2000.
And unfortunately for the Hoosiers, it didn't take long for them to find out that the new look offense didn't run nearly as effective outside of Bloomington.
In the Hoosiers season opening contest against North Carolina State this year, Jones didn't look anything like his preseason self and Randle El failed to provide the spark that he so desperately needs to give his team.
Jones was 18 of 31 for 163 yards and a meaningless late touchdown while Randle El caught only four passes for 30 yards, ran seven times for 37 yards and threw only two passes on the night. The result -- not surprisingly -- was a 35-14 Wolfpack drubbing.
The next game, Cameron scrapped the entire plan that he developed over the course of the past eight months and put Randle El back under center for good.
And although the Hoosiers are only 3-5 at this point in the season, the offensive output has been remarkable. In the seven games since Indiana's opener, the Hoosiers have averaged over 468 yards per game and has scored an average of 34 points in that span.
Randle El is the biggest reason why. Since moving back to quarterback, the senior has accounted for 1,819 of the Hoosiers' 3,276 yards and has had a hand in 13 touchdowns.
It's fair to say the offense just responds better when he's barking out the signals. And even though Randle El has left opposing Big Ten defenders looking silly all season, he said he hasn't had his biggest game yet.
That's scary.
"I don't feel like I've had my breakout game yet in terms of running and throwing the football," Randle El said. "Until I put it together, then I don't feel like it's been my best season."
Wow. Those are big words especially when you consider what he's done since he's stepped foot on the Indiana campus. As a freshman in 1998, Randle El put up 1,745 yards through the air and 873 more on the ground including 16 total touchdowns. Then two seasons ago, he amassed 3,065 total yards and 30 more scores. And last year, he nabbed some Heisman votes by throwing for 1,783 yards and running for 1,270 more while piling up 23 touchdowns.
But being away from the position for two-thirds of the year had to throttle his production, right? Well, not actually.
"It may have a little but I feel like I've overcome that," Randle El said. "It hasn't been a big deal and we've moved on from there."
Once again this season, the flashiest quarterback in America is on pace to break the 1,000 yard barrier in both passing and rushing. He already has 1,149 yards through the air and has scampered for 714 more yards on the ground.
But like most great leaders do, Randle El refuses to say that his numbers are due solely to his athletic prowess. In his mind, if it weren't for the guys around him, he wouldn't be receiving any Heisman hype this season.
"I think a lot of credit should go to our offensive line," Randle El said. "They've been blocking like never before. This year they have jelled and that has opened up our running game. With Levron (Williams) and Jeremi (Johnson) stepping up and playing the way they are, it is tough to handle three threats."
Still, opposing coaches know that in order to stop the Hoosiers, you'd better control No. 11.
"I know what we are playing against," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "We are playing against one of the best athletes we have ever played against at quarterback. He is in a class with the Doug Fluties and kids like that."
