And welcome back to Bison Chat. It's been too long, Joe Cronin.
We've only been off for a week. We had people asking for the
show last week. There's a hunger for IU football
content and we are your caterers for what's gonna be a great
meal, a homecoming meal as we get ready for IU taking on
Nebraska this upcoming weekend. A huge week in sports at the the
the lovely grounds of Indiana University and Bloomington here,
Joe, as we've not just got football, we've got Hoosier
hysteria. We're not gonna talk about that
on the show today, but so much to talk about with this football
program. How are you doing?
How was the off week for you? I'm good.
I enjoyed the bye week went up to Green Bay, caught the Packers
Cardinals game, got to see the Packers, you know, little belt
to butt against against the birds.
So that that was fun. Fun to see Jordan Love back in
his form. It it was good to have a week to
kind of, you know, hang out a little bit, enjoy the weekend, a
lot of travel, but can't complain.
It's one of those things where I've loved this football season.
It's been such a joy to participate in as a fan, as a as
a media commentator, but it was like week after week after week.
And it's like much like the team and the coaching staff needed a
little bit of a respite just to reset, get ourselves set and
ready to go for the second-half of the season.
I feel like we needed that as as media folks and his fans.
So we got the week off, we got a breather.
We are back. We're loaded for bear.
We got Emily Fox producing once again here behind the scenes.
You can't see her, but we can. And she's got some great stuff
cooked up for us here today. We're going to be diving in and
talking all about IU, Nebraska, Oska today as ultimately this is
the biggest game of the season so far for Indiana.
It won't be the last biggest game that Indiana has, but it's
by far the biggest one that they've had up to this point.
Best opponent and probably the most on the line because this is
really Joe, If we try to boil it down, this is where Indiana, I
think really determines whether they're going to get the
national recognition and the respect that they've more or
less, I think, earned up to this point with the way that they've
played. But a lot of people have been
able to brush that off, say, oh, you played a weak schedule.
We're not applying that logic to anybody else in the country, but
we're going to apply it to Indiana.
Here, though, it's going to be hard to argue if Indiana can go
in and play a good game and beat Nebraska at home.
It's going to be hard to argue that this IU team doesn't belong
in the conversation among the nation's best teams.
Yeah, if they continue what they've been doing this season
and win by multiple, multiple scores, then I think without a
doubt this is a team that is now in the top 15 in the nation for
the AP poll. I mean, the College Football
Playoff rankings are are looming around the corner here in a few
weeks. So that will be on the radar.
The national media will have attention.
I'm pretty sure Coach Cignetti's hopping on the Pat McAfee show
this week. So that that will certainly be
exciting as this starts to buzz a little bit more.
But I mean, yeah, big new off is a good way to start.
I mean, Dus Johnson, what a guy to be calling, calling some
Indiana football. Really excited to see what kind
of nickname he comes up for, for maybe Coach Shig or how many
times he references Waffle House with Elijah Sarat, stuff like
that. But like you mentioned, this is
a really tone setting game right here.
Week off, both teams coming off their bye week, but Indiana's
six and O. And like you said, it was, I
guess the easy part of the schedule.
But with so much unknown going under the year, it's kind of
surprising that there's Six and O rolling so far.
So if they're able to continue what they're doing and they will
earn, I mean, they've earned the respect up to this point.
They're ranked team, they've been winning.
But this is the one because like you said, this is the start of
the toughest schedule. This is when the real Big 10
slate starts, I guess. Yeah.
And and look, I mean, what Indiana did a couple weeks ago
up at Northwestern I think has been brushed aside a little bit
too easily. They yeah, that was a tight game
going into the fourth quarter. Indiana took care of business,
end up winning by 17 points. And again, like every time we've
seen this team have to answer the bell, so to speak.
It hasn't been very often because they've generally
knocked their opponents out before that, but they've been
able to answer the bell. And certainly as we look at this
team, the the strength of this offense continues to demonstrate
with Curtis Rourke under center, with this array of receivers and
running backs that they've got and with this offensive line
which has been grading out amongst the best in the country
on a week by week basis. Watching that unit in particular
really gain some steam and come into its own in these games.
It's going to be really fascinating because as we go
into Nebraska, this is going to be strength on strength.
Indiana with one of the top offenses in the country taking
on what according to S&P Plus is the top defense in the country
with Nebraska that you know, that is an exciting match up and
it makes what is already a good match up of teams in terms of
like where they are. IU obviously in the in the top
20 in the poll, regardless of which poll you're looking at.
Nebraska just outside, both of them are hovering, you know,
right there trying to get back in.
You know, both of these teams are among the top 30 teams in
the country. I think that's that's abundantly
clear. And to be able to have such a
cool match up early on of offense versus defense, I'm
really excited to see where that takes us in this game.
Yeah. Something I want to add off of
that is kind of the magnitude of this game so early, I guess not
really midway point of the season for both programs as a
whole. Because Nebraska, this is a this
is a school that's been really desperate to try and be back on
that college football empire totem pole that they used to be
back in the 90s. And they found themselves ranked
earlier in the season. And then again, you know,
against Illinois, they were at home and they lost that ranking
real quick. So now they're looking here's
that away ranked game and you know, Indiana still a team
that's trying to prove themselves, prove that they
belong at this point. So both teams, they're there,
They have a lot to prove in this game because it's going to set
up. That was last five games for
both teams. I think very well like win for
either. And we got some some comments
coming up later from that rule that you might chortle at a
little bit given the context of what you just said there.
But let's get to some of the comments from IU head coach Kurt
Zignetti first and foremost, as he had his press conference
after a week off here. And really start, you know,
let's start it off talking about the program and where the
program's at. This is one of the questions
that was asked to him early on and had some interesting things
just in overall discussion on, you know, how he's gotten this
IU program to where it's at going into this game ranked Big
noon kick off, noon kick on Fox. I mean, this is big stuff
already. Here's what Kurt Signeti had to
say about how the program gets built and where it's at at this
point. Well, the first thing you got to
do as a leader, you got to change the way people think
inside and outside the program. And then you got to have a
blueprint and a plan. You got to have high standards
for everything you do, high standards, expectations and
accountability and consistency day in, day out.
How you do something's, how you do everything.
And you have to be fully committed to being the best you
can be. Be a great team guy.
Those are non negotiable, you know.
Be early, do your best, improve as much as you can every single
day. We talk a lot about culture with
team sports in general, Joe, and I think one of the things that's
impressive about Signetti is not just the success.
I mean, IU by any metric is one of the two or three most
improved teams in the country. They're one of the few
undefeated teams left. They were the first bowl
eligible team in FBS. But the fact that this culture
has been established so quickly and so effectively by Kurt
Signetti and his staff. Using a an interesting
combination of leftover players from last year of transfers,
some of which came from JMU where they already had a little
bit of an idea of what culture Kurt Signetti wanted.
But also transfers from elsewhere, whether it's Curtis
Rourke, whether it's the entire starting backfield or most of
the starting backfield in terms of the running backs, you know,
the bits and pieces on the defensive line, they all seem to
have bought in to a pretty remarkable degree.
And there's a complimentary nature to a lot of what IU does
that is clearly connected to this culture that Kurt Signetti
is talking about. Yeah, and something that he
talked about in his introductory press conference back in
December of 2023, He said arguably the most important year
of his career was 2008 when he was with Nick Saban.
And and that right there I think speaks or I don't know if it was
2008 to be exact, but the year with Nick Saban when he was part
of the Sabin tree, he was a recruiting coordinator.
That was his most says his most influential and important year.
And I think his mentality, the way he he talks to the media,
the way he addresses his team is a resemblance of that Sabin
tree. I mean, he is all business.
And it comes in with this almost never satisfied approach where
it's like, yeah, they're six and O, but it's like, what else?
Like is the sky really the limit for this team?
And he believes so. And when you when he's at JMU
and he's able to create a winning culture at James
Madison, making a leap to FBS, take 20 transfers from there,
bring him to IU. He already has an established
culture with those guys, those guys that believe in their head
coach, that believe in the winning ways.
And I think that's a more smooth transition when you add the IU
guys that were already here that they hadn't really seen, that
they hadn't seen this kind of like hard nose, like, hey, we're
going to win, we're going to do it my way and you're going to
figure it out as you go. And they have responded to when
when their name has been called and passing really flying
colors. Yeah, and it's, you know, it's
one of those where a lot of times fans, media you, you get
caught in the comparative battle between like, well, you know,
the culture is here now. It wasn't here before.
And I do think it's interesting to note, like, culture's been
something that you have to have at any football program where
you're not just bringing in top talent on top of top talent.
Culture's still important there too.
But I think especially at places like Indiana, one of the things
we've talked about on Crimson Cast for so long is what really
separates in Indiana from like an Iowa or from a Wisconsin.
Historically, maybe not so much now.
They were getting essentially the same types of recruits that
Indiana gets, but it's been kind of two things.
They developed those recruits better.
And there's a culture that people buy into where they feel
like they're a part of something bigger.
And for whatever reason, as much as culture was a big part of Tom
Allen's approach in terms of how we talked to the media and how
we talked to fans, it it didn't really seem to consistently work
in terms of the way the players approached the game.
And certainly that's not all. And it's, you know, and, and
some people are just, I think more effective in certain
circumstances than others. And I think what's been
impressive about Signeti is there's such a track record of
this working in his last couple of stops early, his last three
stops, if you include the Indiana PA, that that coaching
stop, establishing that culture becomes paramount.
And then that gives you a spectrum within which you can
provide the kind of training and the kind of improvement from a a
technique perspective or a tactical perspective that really
makes the difference in games. And that's been the big thing
here. Like this team looks like they
buy in. They believe in what their coach
is telling them. They believe in what the
assistant coaches are telling them.
They believe in each other. But on top of that, they're also
executing at a very high level the kinds of things you need to
do, especially in higher leverage moments.
We saw it in the third and fourth quarters against
Maryland. We saw it in the fourth quarter
against Northwestern. When they need to make plays on
both sides of the ball, they've been able to do so.
And on the offensive's case, they've done it at a a leading
level within college athletics. And you don't do that unless
you've got that foundation. Yeah, and something that Coach
has talked about, especially in these past few weeks, is how to
go in and take over a program like this.
It's all about the mentality and what he said, changing the way
people think. If you go in thinking, oh, how
am I going to turn around? Arguably the losingest program
in power. Power Conference.
Football. Not.
Not arguably. Joe not arguable.
The the the power conference football team with the most
losses. He didn't go in there thinking,
how am I going to turn this around?
He went in there thinking let's win.
And and that's that's it's been the result of that.
It hasn't been what's dwell in the past.
It's what can the present be and build from that.
And I mean in the present moment.
It is an undefeated Indiana Hoosier squad.
They had a bye week, as we've talked about, and Kurt Signeti
talked a little bit about how do you approach a bye week,
especially as a team that started 6 and O and has been on
such a roll? Here's what he had to say about
that. It's balls the wall all the time
because you're getting better and getting worse.
Never stay the same. So I mean, we practiced three
times and we did some prep on the this upcoming opponent.
And then you're looking at other people across the country,
seeing who's doing what well and trying maybe to get a few ideas
that may help you down the road. So using that time wisely.
Balls to the wall all the time, Joe Crone.
And this is this is how I approach tailgating and podcast.
So it's good. It's good to have a coach that
echoes that sort of approach. But I got to say I one of the
things that I love about Signeti's press conferences is
how real they sound and how straightforward they sound.
And I'm excited constantly when I hear him talk about what his
team does in such a matter of fact style.
It's like, well, yeah, of course, like we're doing this,
we're doing that. We're grabbing things from
elsewhere, we're working on stuff because it feels like you
see a tangible output of that when you go out and watch them
play the next time. And that's been the case since
the first press conference, as he had at the beginning of the
year. Yeah, something I I really enjoy
about is the authenticity. It's just he, he seems so
unscripted when he's up there. He's like, yeah, we're doing
that. But we're we're not good here.
And we'll just say exactly what's going on and dive into
the XS and OS of things sometimes.
And there are a few questions asked about, you know, fans and
how people are starting to rally around Sig as an icon.
He's just like, it's more the result of the team that's been
been the performance. And I don't know if you saw
there was a towel that is supposedly going to be out at
the game on Saturday saying study later with Kurt Signetti,
Kurt Signetti's signature. So there, there.
There is a cultural back to the culture standpoint.
It took him half, half a year to establish what is considered a
real football culture at a place that I mean, have you seen real
football culture here at Indiana?
It's, it's been a long time. I mean, you have, you really do
have to go back to the 80s, early 90s to really feel like
that was happening. There's been like some some
close moments where it felt like things were going in the right
direction. And then they've always tended
to devolve. And so that's what, and look,
it's early. You're half a season.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, there's still like.
But but I think what's got so many IU fans and so many long
time observers of the program so excited, myself included, is,
and it's hard to put into words, but it's like you can tell, you
can, you can sense it when the culture has changed.
And that has been, I think, evident from certainly from Game
2, certainly from the UCLA game, Like you just felt like there
was something fundamentally, tangibly different about this
group and what they do. Obviously, IU taking on
Nebraska, as we've talked about, we're going to dive into that
now. Kurt Zignetti with some thoughts
on that Nebraska team and what sorts of challenges they might
present to his Indiana squad. Well, they got good players,
they're very well coached, they play really hard.
They're very multiple in their scheme.
They've got guys that can affect the passer, that a couple big
guys inside, you know, 315 plus type guys.
They play a lot of people and they do everything they can to
keep you off balance. They also deflect a lot of
passes. They've sent 7 interceptions,
giving up about 85 yards rushing a game, I think, Yeah.
Nebraska's gonna be a really interesting challenge and it's
it's an interesting team in that if you look at their advanced
statistics and and you know, if you follow Crimson cast, we are
a big believer in the advanced stats here.
They are a team that is very good on defense.
As we mentioned earlier, they're 22nd in S&P Plus, which is a a
resume based calculation of how you've done, how your
performances have been. Nebraska first in the country in
defense, 83rd on offense, 126th in special teams.
Their defense has really done a lot of good things over the
course of this season, but their offense has struggled and and
they're A-Team. That's certainly got some
interesting pieces. A lot of the press coming into
the year surrounded Dylan Ryola, the five star freshman
quarterback who's been starting from day one.
And you, you think about Nebraska, you know, they,
there's clearly a desire to put this team back up in the
national echelon by media. It's why they got ranked so
early. They they've been fairly
impressive this year. They did stumble at home versus
Illinois. They had a little bit of a
struggle 2 weeks ago against Purdue.
They had a struggle last week or against or I guess it was three
weeks ago and then two weeks ago against Rutgers.
But they have taken care of business.
They're five and one. They're off to their best start
in quite a while. And certainly I think Kurt
Zignetta hits on a lot of interesting points there.
Like you can see teams that are playing hard on tape.
You can see that, you know, they're they they use a lot of
different formations. They're coached by Matt Rule,
who of course has been one of the top college coaches in the
game for quite a while. Turned the Baylor team around in
a very short period of time, went to the NFL.
That didn't work out, but it was the Carolina Panthers who does
work out with the Carolina Panthers.
It's hard to hold that against him, you know, But Nebraska's
going to present some interesting and unique
challenges to Indiana based upon what they've already faced so
far this season. Yeah, and I want to go back to
really the defensive line of this Cornhuskers team.
They lead the Big 10 sacks with 21.
They lead the big 10 in tackles for loss with over 40.
They got they got two guys that really just get in the back for
the lot. Ty Robinson, James Williams,
they each have 4 sacks, which you know, it's tied for like
tied for second and a long list of guys that also have 4, but
they're like the only two pair of the same team to have 4.
So they got big guys. So this is going to be a real
test for the IU offensive line who has really looked sharpened
every game so far. Really outside, I'd say the
first half of the Maryland game, they gave up a few sacks.
Seemed like Rourke didn't have the cleanest pocket.
But outside of that, I mean, Justice Ellison, Tyson Lauden
have been able to get to that second level pretty much with
ease. And then Curtis Rourke has had a
pretty clean pocket up to this point.
So this is going to be arguably the biggest test for for the
fronts. And I mean, Kurt Signate is a
guy who's a firm believer that it all starts up front.
I mean, that's football all starts up front.
And you know, that's going to be really the iron sharpens iron
test I'm going to be looking out for through throughout this game
because with a guy like Riola, true fair, true freshman, but
wicked arm talent, this is a guy 2 years from now that's probably
going to be top ten in the draft.
Yeah, probably. I mean, with his physical gifts,
I'd, I wouldn't be surprised at all that Rule did have some
comments about Indiana. Let's hear what he had to say
about the Hoosiers. I mean, well, they're they're
leading the big 10 in passing and I believe, but they're
close, if not the top in rushing.
You know, they're top ten in the country in in offense, they're
top ten in the country in defense.
They're the only team that hasn't trailed all year and
they've scored 80 points in the fourth quarter.
So this is this is this is probably a top 10 football team
we're facing right. Just it's one of them.
They started the season on ranks.
They're not they're not maybe getting to do that.
They supposed to get right. I mean other people can lose to
a bad team and they'll keep them in the top ten because whatever
they started in the top ten were, you know, but coach
Schenetti's done an amazing job, quarterbacks absolutely
fantastic. They got playmakers, they're
good on special teams. It's a it's a it's it's a great
team. You know, this this is this is a
game, though, where we're facing.
You know, this is probably I don't I don't try to I try not
to look at the lines and all that, but I'm pretty sure we're
probably the underdog, right. So this is the our guys first
time for doing that right. So I much prefer that.
You know, I love I love turn on game dancing and them all pick
the other team. That's good for us, you know,
So, you know, it's just kind of who I am and who a lot of our
guys are. You know we're, you know we're
not, you know, we are who we are so.
I got to say there's a there's just this delightful irony in
Nebraska's head coach of all programs playing the underdog
card and talking about, you know, we we prefer to be the
underdog. Like this is this is one of the
blue blood types of programs in college football.
And it's just so hard to get your brain wrapped around the
fact they are underdogs. It's somewhere between 4:00 and
5:00 point underdogs from what I've seen on the betting lines.
But for Matt Rule to be playing that up of all things going into
a game against Indiana, I just think is delicious.
I'm not sure how you feel about it, Joe.
I mean, I imagine Matt Rule has seen some of Signetti's or heard
some of Signetti's comments. And I think it comes to some of
the confidence that Indiana, and it's obviously it starts with
the guy at the top, Signetti. The confidence that they have as
a team has has propelled them into this top 20 spot.
And so they're a confident team that thinks, you know, another
game, another business, another take care of business kind of
game where Nebraska is like they're still proving themselves
as a team. They're still trying to find
that find that extra, extra fight.
And you know, this is a this is a stat that I found.
I really love it. Nebraska in their last 25 ranked
games is O and 25. And that rule in his is 2 and 20
going back to his days of Baylor, 2 and 20 in his last 22
games against top 25 opponents. So I mean, got to play that
underdog card a little bit. Look at look at that right
there. Because the history hasn't been
so kind for either rule or Nebraska as a whole.
So you know. You know, and you expect coaches
to talk like that. And is it is as sorry as Daniel
pointed out, you know, at least Matt Rule didn't stick his foot
in his mouth like Scott Frost, which like that was all Scott
Frost did while he was there. But look, Matt Rule, he really
was. But no, Matt Rule is a good
coach. He knows the buttons to press to
try to get his team fired up for this.
And it's interesting. We're going to share a a graphic
from our our good friend Taylor Lehman over at Bite Sized Bison.
I'm going to blow this up a little bit so we can get a
closer look at it. But what you'll see here is
maybe a little hard for some of you to see, but hopefully you
can you can zoom in. The green numbers are good and
the darker green the better. But you can see like going into
this game, looking at S&P Plus, looking at the advanced
statistics, Indiana is a 63% favorite.
They're projected to be about a 5 point victory in this game.
And that's where a lot of the betting line stuff started is is
right around that four and a half five point margin.
But you can see if you look at the comparisons here, you know,
what Indiana does really well is what Nebraska does really well.
But I would argue that if you look at the numbers, Indiana
does the offensive stuff better. You know, they're so good at
past success, they're so good at EPA per play, They're so good at
early down, EPA, third down success.
Like those things have been consistent.
Nebraska is good in most of those, but they're not
overwhelmingly good. And I, and I do think that
that's going to be an interesting thing to to track
throughout the course of this contest.
And when you look at the defense of Indiana versus the offense of
Nebraska, to me, this is where the game ends up being, you
know, maybe won or lost because Indiana's defense has come under
some criticism. And certainly I think they got
maybe a little unfairly criticized in that game versus
Nebraska or excuse me, against Northwestern, 'cause as as we
saw, I'm gonna turn off the screen sharing there.
It turns out in the Northwestern's offense might not
be bad after all, as they went into Maryland and just waxed the
Terrapins on fire week. So, you know, maybe I you woke
them up. I'm not sure what happened.
But I do think it's interesting thinking about like Indiana's
defense. They're gonna have to deal with
Dylan Ryola. Nebraska's got some playmakers.
They've got some people that can do things.
But it does feel like Indiana's got the capability potentially
of getting Nebraska's offense off the field.
And if they can give their if they can keep giving their
offense additional chances, which is essentially what the
defense did versus Maryland. People forget about that.
Like, the defense for Indiana kept them in the game when their
offense wasn't quite doing what it needed to do.
And then in the third quarter, Indiana's offense got rolling.
And from there on, it's like, well, we're running the
daylight. That might be a little bit of
what we see in this game as these two teams battle strength
on strength on the other side of the ball.
Yeah, I mean, you saw the kind of the opposite against
Northwestern where it was the offense, both offenses going toe
to toe really for a while. And then all of a sudden, you
know, when it mattered the most, you know, IU takes that, you
know, gets that score lead and then the defense gets to stop.
And now IU is able to open up and get that 2 score lead and
really put that game on ice. So it's been kind of give and
take with both sides. They've played for each other
and they've played as a team. Not really going to show the LED
light strand. It goes around my window and
then around the corner. I need to invest in maybe
another one that wraps around. Well, maybe, I think perhaps,
perhaps on the next Bison chat, a GoFundMe to buy an extra
string of weights for Joe Cronin.
You know, it might be I might be able.
To chip that up. I might be able to chip it out
of the Crimson cast budget. We'll see what we can do, but.
Yeah, wow. Yeah, same for lights.
Crazy. That's there.
There you go. Yeah, That's that's.
Yeah. Chad's got it down, but no,
you're if you. Want to get it set up?
I'll be happy to happy to promote it and.
The Joe Cronin lights fund. I like this all.
Funds All funds will go into a new set of lights.
We want to. We got several great comments
and questions from the the crew here in the YouTube chat.
I want to get to some of those and talking about it.
Some of them are are game focused.
Some of them are experienced focused, but pit Hoosier asked.
I, I saw this the first time IU's had two sellouts in a
season since 2021. And actually, so they did it
that year and they did it in 2017.
And as far as when the last time Indiana had three sellouts, I
think we're going back to like 1988.
And I'll tell you like I, I've got ticket numbers which I, I
won't put up on screen, but the last I checked today, there are
not that many tickets left for the other games.
There's 4000 tickets left for Purdue, and that's with some
tickets that got added today. And there's about 5100 tickets
left for Washington. It is possible Indiana will sell
out four games the rest of the way.
Like the last four home games are absolutely possibilities for
sellouts, which would be amazing.
And I think if you watch that Kurt Signetti interview, that
Hoosiers Connect, did you know one of the things he talks about
is like, is the institution going to continue to invest in
the football program more or less was kind of the message
when people have asked, like, is Kurt Signeti potentially leaving
that investment? Like IU fans showing up and
going to games, Like the fact that there's a sell out, the
fact that, you know, all the students came out for the
Maryland game despite there being bad weather.
There's a lot of really cool stuff that I think we're seeing
in the IU fan base. It's going to be awesome.
You know, if if, if Indiana makes the sell out thing a
regular priority down the line. The fans do.
I mean, given the success that this team is having so far.
Yeah, you OK, Joe? I'm all good.
I'm just I wonder what I did. To Ross I.
Think Ross. Ross is just he's.
Concerned aesthetically about what you're putting behind you
here, so you know, it's fine. Well, I, I will send an interior
designer over. We have a great fashion program
here at IU, so we'll get someone from Eskenazi to come over and
and talk through things. It'll be OK, OK.
I promise. Yeah, but.
But I will, I will say, I mean, this is actually a comment that
I liked. This is in regards to Kurt
Signetti's wife. She has been very adamant how
she really likes it here. And there's a question in that
who's just connect podcast. It was really long winded, like
if you could time travel, I don't know if you saw that.
And it's like, could you go in the future of the past?
And what Kurt said is I want to be in the present.
I've loved it here, loved what's happening.
And I think just goes to show that there there's been a lot, a
lot happened. I mean, once the season gets
going, it flies. And it seems like as a head
coach, it's hard to kind of soak it in.
And I think having that bye week was a nice time to, you know,
sit back and realize like this seems 6 enough like, and, and
kind of realize some of some of the positive feedback from a fan
base that has been so dormant for so long and all of that.
So I mean, I, I think that's just fueled in a positive
response from from, from what Kirsten that he's had in his
time here so far. Let's tackle a couple others
while we got time here. So David asks.
I hate to ask or have to ask. I'm coming to the game with a
full house. Should I bring my own food and
beverage? Will the food and beverage
service be overwhelmed at the stadium now?
Our, our buddy Hooperazzi noted accurately that at the last game
there were 48,000 fans and the Food Lions were short.
I, I, you know, obviously you're adding another 5000 or so fans.
But I'm telling you folks, we talked about this a few weeks
ago. The, the in person experience is
significantly upgraded from what it was in 2021 when a lot of you
came last time. There's a lot more concessions.
They're much better worked. There's there's, there's
personnel free, like place where you can grab food and beverage.
You know, obviously there will be some lines.
I think 'cause you know, there's going to be a lot of people
there, but I don't think you're going to be stranded for hours
trying to get water or anything like that.
I mean, it's a much better set up.
There's a lot more food stands. So I wouldn't worry about that.
And if you know, certainly, I think, you know, the, the
athletic department has really kind of doubled down on trying
to make sure that that's a good experience and I think they've
done a good job making that happen.
So. Yeah, I do want to comment on
the on the concessions went to it was right before the year
started. They they unveiled some of the
new things they were adding. And one was like with the
Hoosier dog, the how they're adding Buffalo Louise ever bowl
and got to test out the food. And I will say very good.
So if if you're going and want to get some food at Memorial
Stadium, I would recommend one of the one of the newer options
because I think they did a really good job.
And they they did some of those little convenient like grab and
go marts all around the stadium as well.
Very easy to get in and out. So they did a good job investing
into something that is more accessible and not just these
long winded lines that, you know, take half a quarter to get
your cheeseburger. Ross asked a question we fielded
on on the main arms in Castro. If the fever dream continues, is
it better to go to the College Football Playoff and get crushed
like or lose a couple games and win a bowl against an on level
opponent? Yes, Joe, go.
Ahead, I find this, I find the exact comment pretty funny
because in my household, you know, the five guys here we've
talked about like the potential like this was after week 3.
It's like I really have a chance to kind of naked into the CFP,
stuff like that. And we were always joking, like
how cool would that be to go to Athens, get smacked by 70, but
be able to report on a game in Athens, a college football game.
So as a reporter standpoint, I would love to be able to go to a
College Football Playoff atmosphere no matter the score
line. I think that would be surreal
and kind of an unforgettable moment.
And as a program standpoint, I mean, you got to start
somewhere. And I think getting to that even
more national level like that is pretty much the highest you can
go outside of winning the national championship is making
it onto this new 12 team format playoff.
That's that stepping stones right there.
I mean, that's how a team is able to generate some traction.
I know there's been some history with teams that come in and get
blown out and then they're not able to completely rebuild the
way they did. But I mean, you got to start
somewhere. I mean, I, I think the
commenters that responded in Chad hit the nail on the head.
You, you take them if you're I don't, I first of all, don't
think you would necessarily get drubbed in the College Football
Playoff. I think this team is too good
offensively. You know, that that at the very
least they would keep at a a sprightly game.
Or maybe the score was like, you know, the over under needed to
be like 85 or something like that, that.
Is true, I think. I think depending on who they
played, like if they got, if they got a draw like against
Oregon or something like that, that over under might be upwards
of like 70 just because the two offenses.
But even more on that, and I think you hit a really important
part of this, the the juice that you get now in a 12 team
playoff. Like now, like in the old days,
it's like what you could say, well, IU hasn't won a bowl since
1991 and they barely been to bowls since then.
And going to a bowl was kind of like the if you get your New
Year 6 bowl, that'd be great. But any bowl was fine in the 12
team playoff format. Recruits, transfers, coaches,
you know, financial resources, they're going to look like who
are the 12 teams that made the playoff.
And if you're one of those 12, especially in the first year,
like there's juice there that you can squeeze for quite a
while in terms of being able to bring people into your program.
Now, people take Indiana seriously because Indiana made
the playoff. What's frightening in a good
way, if we're talking fever dreams, Ross and Joe and Emily,
is a lot of the projections I'm seeing right now, and they're
just projections I know. Just projections.
It's not just Indiana in the playoff, It's Indiana hosting a
first round playoff game because the top four teams, the top four
teams get buys. Teams 567 and eight host the
first round the weekend of graduation at IU, Friday the the
20th, Saturday the 21st and Sunday the 22nd.
So imagine if you will, IU hosting Alabama, which is
actually a draw that I saw in a College Football Playoff game in
Memorial Stadium. That would be a level of wild,
and it would cause so many travel issues for so many
students who should be home at that point spending time with
their families, but are instead sticking around Bloomington for
an extra few days. It would be amazing.
I. I will say just out of the topic
of the whole 12 team, I really I really like the fact that the
first round is at the the better seeded.
He gives one more home game. I think it's going to be a
really cool atmosphere for the for whichever schools are
hosting. But I mean, if we're getting
real hypothetical, I mean we can come back five weeks from now
and be like, wow, how about how about those talks?
But. Hey, you know what they're
hosting? Alabama for the College Football
Playoff. Wow, it's all Caitlin de Boer
Homecoming, too. Look at that.
All, all I'll say is this and then we got to wrap up on this,
'cause we're over time now. But what I will say is right
now, if you go to ESPNS NCAA Football page and you go to the
the FPI, which is the football power Index and you look at the
particulars as far as percentage chance to make the playoffs.
I will note that right now of all of the teams in college
football, here are the here's the order of the teams in order
of like the percentage that they're likely to make the
playoff. It goes Texas, Oregon, Ohio
State, Penn State, Miami. That's your top five.
Alabama, excuse me, Georgia, Alabama, Notre Dame, Iowa State
and Indiana. Indiana has the 10th highest
odds to make the College Football Playoff.
This is not fever dreaming. Now, there's a lot of football
left to be played, but my God, everybody embrace the fever
dream. Embrace talking about this
stuff. You may not get a chance to talk
about it in these optimistic terms moving forward.
You might as well enjoy it while it's here.
And look, if Indiana goes out and loses to Nebraska, well,
that sucks. But your reset priorities and
reset expectations until they lose the game, in my mind,
they're going to win every game. And I think that that's a that's
something we can all hopefully agree on and just embrace the
optimism. Yeah, I, I mean, I will say it's
been something that I've monitored and and very curious
about how Kurt Signetti is to the media after a loss.
I have been not waiting for it, but it's just like when the time
comes, if if the time comes at this point, what that's going to
be like. But from a from a fan
standpoint, like you said, 10th best percentage to be in the
College Football Playoff 6 and O one of two teams in the entire
nation that has not trailed for a single second.
Indiana, an army of all teams. Let's go go service academies,
but embrace that, like you said, I mean, go to Memorial B Rowdy.
I mean, Memorial Stadium has been a dormant to land for a
while. I mean, it has a chance to be a
real raucous atmosphere. I mean, it's not capacity wise.
It doesn't stack up with, you know, Beaner Stadium, Neyland,
any of the, you know, top venues like that.
But it's more of a compact type environment and it can generate
some noise. And it all starts with the fans.
And like the players and like coaches said, the energy the
fans give relates to the energy they have on the field.
And we've never really, yeah, we've never really had a game in
the current configuration of Memorial Stadium, where
everything went right and we heard the full voice of Memorial
Stadium. I'll be fascinated to see what
we get this weekend as Indiana host Nebraska.
Noon kick, 7:00 AM gates, for those of you that are going to
be tailgating, I will be out there at 7:00 AM.
I mean, early morning, but I'm looking forward to it and I'm
excited already. I can't wait until we get
further on into the week. So much fun stuff.
It's going to be going on, of course, starting with Hoosier
hysteria coming up on Friday and then feeding right in the
Indiana versus Nebraska on Saturday at noon.
So we'll go ahead and wrap up. Joe, any final thoughts from you
before we do so? I like this comment right here
of Winner owns the Go Big Red slogan.
But no, not really. I mean, this should be a fun
one. I think the atmosphere in
Bloomington, the buzz in Bloomington is real from all
sports. I mean, soccer plays on Friday
night, Hoosier stereo Friday night.
It's homecoming week as well. I mean, in a foot six and O
football team is just the icing on the cake for you know, this
is a school, a city that hasn't had this type of football, like
you've said in quite a while. Been seeing comments.
It's been since the 80s. They've seen a dis complete of a
football team. So embrace the times that are
here and cursing that is for real.
And he could get me running through a wall.
I can't lie. We will be back next week.
We'll recap what happened in the Nebraska game.
We'll be previewing Washington with that next one.
Be sure to check out all of the content on IU sports media as
Hoosier Network, IUSTV, Indiana Daily, Student, WIUX, all with
some great stuff coming out throughout the course of this
week. And of course, be sure to check
out all the shows on the back home network as we'll be
continuing to break down all the different aspects of what's
going on with IU sports. With all of these things going
on simultaneously, this is the best time.
To be an IU fan. So for Joe Cronin and for the
delightful Emily Fox producing behind the scenes, I'm Galen
Clavio. Thanks for joining us on Bison
Chat. We'll catch you folks on the
flip side. So everybody.