It’s close.

So close we don’t have to go another weekend without college football until December.

As Peter Griffin would say, “I usually only get this excited when they say the title of the movie in the movie.”

In an offseason full of negativity, ranging from Terrelle Pryor needing eight cars to an imprisoned former booster blowing the whistle on Miami, Indiana’s offseason couldn’t have gone any better.

Everything from the commitment of No.1 QB Gunner Kiel to Head Coach Kevin Wilson telling Jack Trudeau to shove it on national radio, this offseason has been full of buzz for the Hoosiers.

And not even huge expectations for wins and losses, just buzz.

Students, fans, and alumni are talking about IU Football, the conversations are booming and the tension is tightening.

Now it’s business time.

Let’s examine Indiana’s X-Factor game. Every team has one on the schedule. It’s that game on the schedule that sticks out, the one that feels like a must win game. It can be a huge road game, a big home game under the lights, or even a trap game.

Win this game, and the season could make a right turn down the yellow brick road. Lose this game, it may take a left off a cliff.

When you look at the schedule it glares at you, like when a guy talks to a girl at Kilroy’s when her boyfriend is standing right there.

This season for IU, that boyfriend giving the death stare is Virginia.

Think about it.

Indiana plays it’s first game in unfamiliar territory at Lucas Oil Stadium against Ball State, then comes home to play the aforementioned University of Virginia Cavaliers.

This is a bit of a tall order.

Most new head coaches, especially in the Big Ten, get to start out playing their first four games as a head coach against the Central Northeastern Ohio State College Screamin’ Geese.

Not Coach Wilson. As he correctly pointed out at Media Days in Chicago, IU’s first two opponents are ones it lost two the last time it played them. (Ball State in 2008 and Virginia in 2009)

Assuming the Hoosiers can go to Indianapolis and take care of business against the Cardinals, it comes back to Bloomington to play the Cavaliers.

This is a huge turning point in the season.

It will be Kevin Wilson’s first home game as IU’s head coach. The previously mentioned buzz that’s been spreading all over campus will finally be witnessed by Hoosier eyes. All the talk of the jacked up offseason workout program, the brand new coaching staff from top college football programs all over the country, and the intenseness of practices will finally be unveiled.

It’s not a noon start time getting buried in the lineup of 400 of other college football games played that day; it’s a night game with a 7pm start time being showcased on Big Ten Network.

Virginia head coach Mike London is in his second year with the Cavaliers, after a 4-8 record in his first season, he managed a very strong recruiting class and seemingly has the team on the right track. His team could turn the corner later in the season; a win against Virginia could have great value towards the end of the season for IU.

If Indiana wins this game, it will get interesting.

Suddenly, IU has gone Carrie on prom night against it’s first two opponents, has a 2-0 start, and staring 4-0 in the face if it can take care of business against South Carolina State and North Texas. Coach Wilson will have knocked off a BCS team in his first home game as head coach, already totaling a third of the BCS wins Bill Lynch had in three years as a head coach. By the way, that BCS opponent beat IU 47-7 in 2009, essentially putting every offensive player for Virginia on the Heisman Watch List.

Imagine if Coach Wilson avenges that loss in his first home game.

Now Indiana sits at 4-0 with Big Ten season starting. It’s first two opponents: back to back home games Penn State and then Illinois, two teams with their own set of question marks.

WARNING: MAJOR HOMER CALL UPCOMING, PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

If IU reaches 4-0, it now sits with it’s first two Big Ten home games against beatable opponents. The Hoosiers have been competitive with the Nittany Lions each of the last two seasons, plus, Penn State is dealing with it’s own quarterback controversy as well as several other questions.

If Indiana finds a way to knock Penn State off, the Indiana University Athletic Ticket Office may explode.

Imagine last year what would have happened if IU had beat Michigan to jump to 4-0 with a sold out crowd. Every couch in Bloomington would have been lit on fire.

It would have that same chance again, this time sitting 5-0. One win away from bowl eligible, one win away from a perfect 6-0 start, and one win away from the university extending Coach Wilson’s contract thru the 2035 season.

Even better news, that game would be against Illinois. The team every dedicated Hoosier fan flat out hates.

Illinois is predicted to have a big year following a surprise season, but the Fighting Illini lost three major contributors to the NFL Draft in April, including running back Mike Leshoure.

Remember what happened when Illinois went to the Rose Bowl in 2007, then lost running back Rashard Mendenhall to the NFL Draft? THUNK. 5-7 record overall, and that was with quarterback Juice Williams starting his third year in a row.

Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase played well as a freshman, but the loss of Leshoure and a thin receiving core could spell sophomore slump for the young signal caller.

Needless to say, that would be the biggest game in Indiana University Football history.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: WE HAVE NOW CLEARED THE TURBULENCE OF HOMERISM; IT IS NOW SAFE TO REMOVE YOUR SEATBELTS.

Back on planet Earth, we regroup.

If IU loses to Virginia, 3-1 is still the most formidable record heading into those back to back Big Ten games.

Not a bad start, but that loss will stick out, like the shiner the boyfriend will leave on the dude’s face that talks to his girlfriend at Kilroy’s. Fans will look at that record and see the wins, but will know it’s that one loss that needed to be a win.

Indiana will be moving in the right direction even with a 3-1 record, but the Virginia game is a chance to start the train of momentum. A BCS win under the lights at Memorial Stadium for Coach Wilson and his staff’s first home game will validate the entire buzz it heard in the offseason.

For the next three weeks, Hoosier Nation will be buzzing leading up to that first home game against Penn State. The fan interest will be off the charts.

A 4-0 start. Tough to reach? Yes.

Impossible?

Not even close.

Let’s light this candle.