1 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:11,640 Welcome back to Crimson Cast, Galen Clavio, Scott Caulfield 2 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:16,920 joining you. It is officially winter and 3 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:20,000 unfortunately Indiana's football season has come to a close. 4 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,680 The podcast that we wanted to put off as long as possible even 5 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:30,360 before this week finally arrives as we have to bid a due to IU 6 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,000 football as they lose in the College Football Playoff first 7 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,280 round at Notre Dame. We're gonna talk about that 8 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:37,760 we're gonna talk about the season. 9 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:40,040 We're gonna talk about some of the discourse in college 10 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:43,240 football right now, as bad as it is and said. 11 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,040 That we ended our season at Notre Dame in the College 12 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:47,000 Football Playoff. Those are real. 13 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,320 Like, we're not a fake podcast. That's real. 14 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:51,960 Yeah, well, and and we're gonna talk about some of that stuff 15 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:54,520 too. I mean, it's, it's been an 16 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:57,680 amazing ride all across the board. 17 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:02,240 And you know, I think the prevailing attitude or the 18 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,319 prevailing thought that I heard from a lot of IU fans while we 19 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,520 were out and about over the course of the weekend was we 20 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:10,280 really don't want this to to end. 21 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,320 We really don't want this ride to conclude and you know, all 22 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:15,440 good things have to come to an end, as they say. 23 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:19,640 In this case here, we find ourselves having to put into 24 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:22,960 context what we saw on Friday night, while also put it into 25 00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:26,880 the much larger context of what we saw out of IU this season and 26 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:29,040 what we see in college football today. 27 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,160 So a lot to talk about and we're going to jump in and certainly 28 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,080 recap the game and certainly recap some of the other items 29 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:37,960 that were important in and around the game. 30 00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:40,440 But first, let's get some business out of the way. 31 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:44,960 We'd like to say thank you to Home Field Apparel for just a 32 00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:47,880 tremendous season. Once again, the presenting 33 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:52,680 sponsor of the Back Home Network and friends of ours and partners 34 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:56,000 throughout a bunch of different things that have happened this 35 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,440 season. Home Field Apparel, you know it, 36 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:02,040 it's funny, I was talking to somebody while I was up in Notre 37 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,560 Dame and then I was talking to another person after the game as 38 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:09,479 we had walked out and we'd gone to the cars and the person looks 39 00:02:09,479 --> 00:02:11,039 at me. Separate people, two different 40 00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:12,360 people. But the one after the game said 41 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:14,560 almost the exact same thing as the person I was talking to 42 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:17,640 before the game, which was like, man, home field apparel has 43 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:21,760 taken over college football. I, I, you, you walk around and 44 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:24,040 you've got Notre Dame people wearing home field apparel. 45 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,880 You had Indiana people wearing like 9 different years worth of 46 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:29,880 home field apparel stuff. I saw, you know, the kick was 47 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:34,920 good shirt right next to Indiana's those College Football 48 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:39,480 Playoff 2024 hoodie. It's it's just amazing the eras 49 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,280 that they have spanned here in the the relatively by corporate 50 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:45,880 terms, short time that they've been around and how much they've 51 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:48,880 ingrained themselves into the college football landscape. 52 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:52,520 You can't listen to another college football podcast without 53 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,760 having a home field ad. And it's just because of of how 54 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,880 perfect that marriage is. Folks that care about the sport, 55 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:03,320 folks that care about you as fans wearing and wrapping things 56 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,440 for your team. And they've been as good to 57 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,120 Indiana fans, if not better than to any fan base. 58 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,000 And I just want to tip my cap to them for all the support that 59 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,720 they had throughout the course of the season 4 IU football, 60 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,200 some of the great partnerships that they did that we were able 61 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:24,680 to take part in and just really, really couldn't be happier about 62 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:27,960 all the cool stuff that they've given us to wear and, and all 63 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,200 the different ways that we've been able to express our fandom 64 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,120 through home field apparel. You can go to Home Field 65 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:36,240 Apparel, use the code HOME 23, and take 15% off your first 66 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:38,880 order if you haven't already. But man, by the looks of all the 67 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:41,840 people that were at the College Football Playoff game, there's 68 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:43,960 not a whole lot of people left who can use that code. 69 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:45,600 But for those of you that are out there, use it. 70 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:50,080 Go to Home Field Apparel, grab some amazing IU merch and 71 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:52,320 commemorate Indiana's appearance in the College Football Playoff 72 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:54,960 for the first time. Everything you said is right and 73 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,960 you look at me, they have every school, but what is nice and 74 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,520 always fun is go look at all the other schools. 75 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:02,480 It's like one page of stuff, 2 pages of stuff. 76 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:04,520 You go to the. Indiana page, it's like 9 or 10 77 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:05,560 pages. Yeah, it is. 78 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:07,680 You know where their heart really is. 79 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,480 It's an Indiana 'cause they have like quadruple the amount of 80 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:12,360 things for Indiana compared to any other school. 81 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,160 Also, just a reminder folks that we are on Substack 82 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,959 crimsoncast.substack.com. You can check out our podcasts 83 00:04:19,959 --> 00:04:24,080 there you can find out the the new things going on with IU 84 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,040 sports. We try to give you as many 85 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:29,040 updates as possible. We're obviously transitioning a 86 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,720 bit out of football and we'll be mostly focusing on basketball as 87 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:34,400 we move forward here over the next few months. 88 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:36,600 But we'll continue to be covering football as closely as 89 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,200 possible as there's news coming in about the transfer portal, 90 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:42,360 about recruiting, about spring ball. 91 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:45,120 We're we're going to try to keep our football coverage as high as 92 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:46,880 possible throughout the course of the offseason. 93 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,280 That's not something we normally do, but this program deserves a 94 00:04:50,280 --> 00:04:53,360 higher level of attention and reporting and so we're going to 95 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:55,480 be trying to do that as much as possible throughout the course 96 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:57,040 of the season. Hopefully you'll stick with us 97 00:04:57,560 --> 00:04:59,280 and one of. The things Sig said you didn't 98 00:04:59,280 --> 00:05:01,040 hear, he's like, you know, Purdue sucks, Michigan sucks, 99 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,320 Ohio State sucks too. And by the way, I want more 100 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,440 coverage on Crimson cast. Crowd was so fired up, but he he 101 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:08,320 said it, so he got it. Got a little muted there at the 102 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:09,160 end. Absolutely. 103 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:11,240 We got Sig what he wanted. That's right, we're, we're, 104 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:14,000 we're here for him as as he is here been here for us. 105 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,000 But again, crimsoncast.substack.com over 106 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,280 1100 people have subscribed to the free version. 107 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:23,920 You can also subscribe monetarily $5.00 a month, $50 a 108 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:28,200 year just to help keep the lights on with the podcast, help 109 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:31,560 us being able to to continue to pay producers and try to make 110 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,440 the product a little bit better on a a week by week basis. 111 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:37,320 So we appreciate all you folks being in the mix. 112 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,680 All right, Scott, well, let's let's dive into things here as 113 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,240 we go. We're live here right now on the 114 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:47,680 back home network channel. And those of you who are 115 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:52,880 listening in afterwards, we'll, we'll try to keep this as kind 116 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:55,520 of broad as possible, but also getting into some specifics. 117 00:05:55,520 --> 00:06:01,400 So Indiana goes into Notre Dame Stadium and loses 27 to 17. 118 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:04,720 We're going to be honest on this podcast and say it wasn't really 119 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:06,960 that close. Indiana scraping together a 120 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:09,040 couple of scores at the very end of the game. 121 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,200 But this was really a dominant performance by Notre Dame 122 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,080 throughout. It was one of those games where, 123 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,400 you know, you're in the stands. You know, the first thing that 124 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:20,840 really resonated with me was, wow, there were a lot of IU 125 00:06:20,840 --> 00:06:24,080 people in the stands. A lot of IU fans had bought 126 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:26,160 tickets. Notre Dame was, I mean, those, 127 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:28,480 their fans were very loud. They deserve a lot of credit. 128 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:31,840 You always wonder, like if Indiana, other than that 129 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:37,080 interception, had had any kind of other play to get the crowd 130 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:38,800 fired up, like, would that have made a difference? 131 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:42,080 Those IU fans were ready to roll, and they just never really 132 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:44,160 had anything throughout the course of the game. 133 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:47,880 It's it's, it's frustrating in a lot of ways because, you know, 134 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:52,080 the the pregame talk was about, you know, who could win the 135 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,840 battle in the trenches. Indiana surely had learned their 136 00:06:54,840 --> 00:06:57,880 lessons from that Ohio State game in terms of, you know, how 137 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:01,840 to conduct the passing game. And then you got into it and it 138 00:07:01,840 --> 00:07:05,960 became clear early on that Indiana offensively was going to 139 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:08,360 struggle. You know, you felt maybe a 140 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:12,280 little bit on the drive after the interception that they might 141 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:14,960 have been able to do something. They had that nice pass to 142 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,800 Elijah Sarat for 28 yards. But you know, people, it's easy 143 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:22,880 to forget as early in the game as it was, that throw came on 144 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,960 1/3 and 14 after Indiana had, you know, had an A holding 145 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:30,320 penalty and had essentially not been able to do a whole lot in 146 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:31,880 the two times that they'd run the ball. 147 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:36,720 It just never got going for Indiana offensively, and once 148 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:40,440 Notre Dame scores that 98 yard touchdown, now you're behind. 149 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,840 This is where the quicksand starts and Indiana just never 150 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:47,000 was able to dig themselves out of it despite what I would argue 151 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:50,480 was a pretty good performance overall by the defense. 152 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:52,520 It was very bend, but don't break. 153 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:56,920 It was like 1 bad play. You take that bad play away and 154 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,520 you know, Indiana essentially let up 20 points in the game, 155 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:01,280 but they just couldn't score Scott. 156 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:03,920 And it was clear that Notre Dame was just a superior opponent 157 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,120 from both a talent perspective and from a tactical perspective 158 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:09,480 on the evening. Yeah, I mean, you know, we're 159 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:11,360 we're going to do this, but I was thinking this in the drive 160 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:15,080 home, you know, as we as we talk about it, you you have to 161 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:17,760 disentangle your feelings for the season and then this game 162 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,400 specific because they're, they're two totally different 163 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:22,800 feelings. And so everything I'm going to 164 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:25,560 say is has nothing to do with my feeling of the overall season. 165 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:29,560 But I, I speak for myself and I also speak for everybody in my 166 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:32,280 section because we were sitting right behind the band, a ton of 167 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:34,240 IU fans, 1 Notre Dame fan. We're like, how'd you get 168 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:35,320 ticket? Like, how'd you get in here? 169 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:37,600 Because it was, it was a it was alumni section. 170 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:42,960 But you know, knowing we could lose was always there, there 171 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:44,840 there's no question we could lose in the College Football 172 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:46,040 Playoff. There's no question you could 173 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:49,520 lose at Notre Dame. I I think what was disappointing 174 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:53,000 for me and what really kind of stung the most walking out is it 175 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:56,040 feels like that wasn't the IU team I had watched all season. 176 00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:01,520 And it's had we played the way we normally play and lose, I 177 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:03,560 would have been like, OK, that's, that's fine. 178 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:07,080 But you know, the play calling felt very conservative. 179 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:10,000 It felt like, I mean, at the time, I remember thinking we've 180 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:11,040 got a passport, we've got a pass. 181 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:14,040 When I went and looked, we ran about as much as we ran against, 182 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:16,520 you know, Michigan State or Ohio State or Michigan. 183 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:20,240 So, so the stats don't totally back it up and, and I'm fully 184 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:23,560 aware Notre Dame is also playing football and they are, they were 185 00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:27,440 doing a lot to make Rourke pick the run in the RPO, but the runs 186 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:29,480 were all kind of up the middle. It seemed like we had a lot of 187 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:33,240 long third downs, you know, and then just some of the way that, 188 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:36,040 you know, like we're fair catching everything. 189 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:39,880 You know, obviously we'll talk about the punt in the fourth 190 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:42,440 quarter. You know, a lot of for for a 191 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,200 team that have been kind of brash and and honestly fun to 192 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:48,960 watch, this was not a super fun game to watch. 193 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:52,400 And I think that's what was most disappointing is like, this is a 194 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:55,160 moment all the eyes are on you and a lot of people who have 195 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:57,480 been talking smack and, you know, people hadn't seen IUS. 196 00:09:57,480 --> 00:09:59,280 I'm going to watch IU. And it's like, this is not us. 197 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:01,080 Like this isn't what you, this isn't what we did against 198 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:02,280 Nebraska. You should have seen that. 199 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:04,400 And I think that's what really bugged me as I would have loved 200 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:08,240 to have seen us losing at least the way we have played all 201 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:10,760 season, because it really felt like I was listening to one of 202 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:12,600 your previews on the drive up about Invasion of the Body 203 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:15,480 Snatchers in a good way. This almost felt the same way as 204 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:17,520 that, that the play calling just felt everything felt really 205 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:20,320 conservative. It felt, I mean, it just it did 206 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:23,400 feel like we were playing not to lose, which then we lost. 207 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:27,560 And, and what's so odd is really outside of a stretch for Ohio 208 00:10:27,560 --> 00:10:30,360 State for maybe 5 or 10 minutes, I haven't seen that all year. 209 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:34,160 And for a team that always had their foot to the pedal, that 210 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:37,320 always seemed to have good plays called up and always pressing 211 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:40,400 the issue, it, it just felt so passive. 212 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:42,440 And that was my overarching thing. 213 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:45,360 Walking away is like, damn it, I can't believe we lost that way. 214 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:49,120 You know, I, I think that those are all really valid 215 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:51,320 observations. I guess I looked at it from a 216 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:55,440 slightly different perspective after I had some time to think 217 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:57,840 about it as I was driving home yesterday. 218 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:03,440 It felt to me to a large degree like, you know, you know, so 219 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,000 much of what Indiana did offensively this year was about 220 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,720 RPO, about making the right decisions. 221 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:14,160 Notre Dame did so much in their pre snap stuff to make Curtis 222 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:16,880 Rourke hand the ball off early on in the game. 223 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:21,200 Like they really made it so that they they almost took the 224 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:25,680 decision making process of throwing the pass off the table 225 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:27,400 because of the looks that they had. 226 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:30,280 It was a very, very smart game plan, I think by Al Golden 227 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:35,720 because I think he realized that he had the athletes to be able 228 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:38,760 to match up single on single in the running game and make 229 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:39,960 tackles. And that's exactly what 230 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,320 happened. And you could see that Indiana 231 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,560 just, you know, it wasn't every single time, but they often 232 00:11:46,560 --> 00:11:50,080 struggled to win those one-on-one matchups, whether it 233 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:52,960 was blocking or whether it was simply a situation of somebody 234 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:55,960 making a good tackle on an Indiana player, sometimes in the 235 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:57,920 backfield, sometimes after a yard or two. 236 00:11:58,560 --> 00:12:03,560 And it really did also feel like once Rourke threw that 237 00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:06,960 interception early on in the game, it like fundamentally 238 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:10,000 changed the way that Indiana went about things. 239 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:14,200 And I just got the feeling that Indiana, their coaching staff, 240 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:17,560 at least on the offensive side of the ball, didn't think that 241 00:12:17,560 --> 00:12:20,080 they could go straight up against Notre Dame and win. 242 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:23,480 And so they didn't. And unfortunately, it led to 243 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:25,840 what you were talking about. It led to a very passive looking 244 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:29,040 game in terms of game plan. It led to a very passive looking 245 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:32,440 game in terms of execution. But a lot of it was born just 246 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:33,960 out of a simple physical mismatch. 247 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:37,640 And this is where, if you think about the games that Indiana had 248 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:42,400 the most trouble, yes, obviously Ohio State, Michigan, as that 249 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:45,720 game went along even a little bit, the Washington game, you 250 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:48,400 know, which was a kind of a special case because of the fact 251 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:54,080 that that Curtis work was out. It goes back to the fundamental 252 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:57,080 issue with this Indiana team, which was that so much of what 253 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,440 they did this year, so much of their, you know, the the wins 254 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:03,400 that they collected, the style in which they collected those 255 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,800 wins was based upon execution and efficiency. 256 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:10,440 And the thing that disrupts execution and efficiency is 257 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:13,080 going up against players that are stronger than you are faster 258 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:16,720 than you, that can make plays athletically, that you can make 259 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,760 through being really smart in the way that you do things. 260 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:22,280 And, you know, in this game, it kind of snowballed. 261 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:26,000 You do wonder, you know, and, and again, it, it kind of goes 262 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,480 back to the same set of question marks that you had coming out of 263 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:31,440 the Ohio State game. Because when we talked about 264 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:34,200 that Ohio State game, it was, well, gosh, you know, what if 265 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:36,600 James Evans doesn't drop that punt? 266 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:39,400 You know, and what if it's a tie game going into halftime? 267 00:13:39,560 --> 00:13:42,600 Or what if you don't have the special teams play that lets 268 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,200 Ohio State score again early on in the third quarter And now 269 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:48,040 suddenly the game's out of hand. And in this one, you could say, 270 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,040 well, you know, what if Indiana doesn't throw that interception? 271 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:53,440 What if they even, even if they just kick a field goal there? 272 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:55,560 Well, then you don't have the 98 yard touch. 273 00:13:55,560 --> 00:13:57,760 And what if you stop that? What if they you, you bottle 274 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:00,720 Notre Dame up? So there's all these 275 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:05,320 hypotheticals, but ultimately the reality is the level of 276 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:08,720 talent that both Notre Dame and and Ohio State had compared to 277 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:12,640 what Indiana had was probably always going to carry the day. 278 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:16,640 It was going to take a sequence of, of really luck and 279 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:20,640 exceptional play on Indiana's part to be able to overcome 280 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:22,800 those things. You know, Bill Connolly brought 281 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:25,880 up an interesting point. Like look at the number of times 282 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:28,240 Indiana actually made it into Notre Dame territory. 283 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,880 And yet for the longest period of the game, all they came away 284 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,680 with that was a field goal. And that I think is as much of 285 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:39,200 an indicator of anything. Notre Dame was really good at 286 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:41,840 stopping Indiana when they needed to stop Indiana and 287 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:45,200 forcing Indiana into spots where they had to make high risk plays 288 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:49,120 in order to continue things. And I don't think Kurt Signetti 289 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:52,160 and his staff were wrong in taking the conservative options 290 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:55,120 there because I think that they were waiting for a spark. 291 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,160 They were waiting for a play that could potentially turn some 292 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:00,280 things around. It's just that it never 293 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:02,880 materialized. And so Indiana ends up coming 294 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:06,560 out of that game looking, to go back to your point, completely 295 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:08,880 different from how they had looked in most of the other 296 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:10,400 games that they had played this year. 297 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:13,480 And it's unfortunate. I'm just not sure, having 298 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:17,160 reflected on for 36 hours or whatever it's been now, that 299 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:20,520 there was a a realistic pathway to it being different. 300 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:23,560 Even if Indiana had tried to be more aggressive, we might be 301 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:27,880 talking about a 47 to 17 game at this point as opposed to a 27 to 302 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:30,440 17 game. No, you're right And and I know 303 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:32,800 I'm, I'm not going, I'm not arguing with you because I know 304 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,440 what you were saying when when you meant this, but I, I, I 305 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:38,000 always hate going down the path of, well, you know, if that 306 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,040 interception doesn't happen, you walk through three points 307 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:42,920 because any and you can do it. The Ohio State game too, But you 308 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:46,040 know, on the counter to that is always, you know, I, I think 309 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:48,040 part of the reason we started scoring against Notre Dame is 310 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:50,360 they just mentally took their foot off the gas a bit. 311 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,880 And so I mean you, it's that, and I'm not saying you were 312 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:56,400 doing this, but like, that's just, that's not a good place to 313 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:57,600 be. And it's like, well, this 314 00:15:57,600 --> 00:15:59,000 happens, this happens kind of a win. 315 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:00,800 Like it's so, you know, you lost. 316 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:03,400 And I think you make a very valid point as well that if we 317 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:06,640 go in there and we're super aggressive, maybe work throws 3 318 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:08,880 picks and then we end up getting conservative and then we're, we 319 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:14,640 lose by 35 or 40. I hear all that, you know, I'll, 320 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:17,280 I'll and, and the, the thing that I'll say too is, you know, 321 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:20,040 Notre Dame just showed up on defense in a way that was kind 322 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:22,760 of start again. I was surprised at how much more 323 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:24,440 we threw. When I look back at the stats 324 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:26,880 and even the I was like, well, the first couple drives you ran 325 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:29,200 a bunch like, no, we actually threw a bunch the first couple 326 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:31,200 drives as well. But when you look at, you know, 327 00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:35,280 the plays from scrimmage, you know, there there's stuffed 328 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:38,400 runs, 0 yards, yards, gains, which is like 2 yards and then 329 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:40,600 an opportunity run, which is 4 or more yards. 330 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:44,520 Against Michigan, we had 65 rushes, 38% of those were 331 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,880 opportunities, four or more Ohio State, which I, I'm just, I'm 332 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:50,080 tired of like I'm picking other games because I'm tired of going 333 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:52,080 using Ohio State as a measuring stick for everything. 334 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:56,440 But Ohio State we had 59 rushes, 47% were for four or more yards. 335 00:16:56,880 --> 00:17:01,040 The Michigan State game, 61 yard, 61 rushes, 44% were of 336 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:04,200 that opportunity zone. Against Notre Dame, we only 337 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:09,520 rushed the ball 24 times. Kind of shocking 88 of those 33% 338 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:13,720 where opportunity runs, the other 83% either gained a zero 339 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,319 or two yards. I think part of that is the play 340 00:17:16,319 --> 00:17:18,760 calling, but I think also part of that is what you said it is, 341 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:22,079 it is talent. And you know, I, I think what 342 00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:26,800 you saw taking a high step back this season is when talent was 343 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:29,800 on par. We when we were better, we 344 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:31,400 kicked the living snot out of people. 345 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:35,400 When talent was on par, we won. You know, maybe, maybe we're on 346 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:37,520 par with UCLAI. I'm just picking, you know, kind 347 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:40,680 of like in that realm, we, we, or maybe we're a little better, 348 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:44,640 you know, we won handily or by a touchdown or two when, when 349 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:47,040 talent was slightly better, like maybe Nebraska. 350 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,600 But we still, I mean, we, we, we look like we're able to still 351 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:54,080 run our stuff. But when talent started getting 352 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:57,040 superior, that's why you looked at Michigan. 353 00:17:57,040 --> 00:18:00,040 It's like you Michigan, you had to play pretty clean and you did 354 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:02,880 in the first half when you started playing not super clean. 355 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:05,520 I mean, not just a couple mistakes here and there. 356 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:07,920 It gets tough. And then when talent is really 357 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:11,320 at a major talent disadvantage, you know, that's where you get 358 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:12,720 the Ohio State and the Notre Dame. 359 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:15,480 And that is that is just something with football where 360 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:18,600 you have, you know, 11 people on each side and there's big talent 361 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:20,840 gaps. And you know, you you saw it in 362 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:22,800 both the Ohio State and the Notre Dame game. 363 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:25,280 Once you get in the second-half, it's like, man, we're the 364 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:28,880 trouble is we don't have the horses as always to to kind of 365 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,560 continue to to bring those guys in as people get tired. 366 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:35,280 What makes me comfortable for moving forward is I feel like we 367 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:38,560 are going to start getting more and more talent and it's going 368 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:42,200 to get us to a point where maybe the Indiana Ohio State game is 369 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:44,640 going to look like more of the Indiana Michigan game in a year 370 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:46,640 or two. But let's be honest, you know, 371 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:50,720 we're we're never going to be at a talent superiority to Ohio 372 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:52,960 State or Notre Dame. I mean, they've been recruiting 373 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:54,920 at a five star level for year on, year on year. 374 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:57,560 But I think what we can do. Is start recruiting guys that 375 00:18:57,560 --> 00:18:59,800 fit our system. But anyway, sorry, long, I'm, 376 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:02,040 I'm off the rails. No, I mean, look, I, I, I hear 377 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:04,320 what you're saying and I, I think it's important to 378 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:06,800 understand like there's a difference between talent and 379 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:10,720 athleticism and the what, you know, the, the dividing line you 380 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:15,120 get a lot in college football is it's speed or it's, you know, 381 00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:17,640 just raw athleticism. And that is ultimately what 382 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:20,720 Indiana just doesn't have. And, and that isn't a surprise. 383 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,120 I mean, it's if you think about it, about what Indiana did this 384 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:27,560 year, it was such a huge accomplishment that they took a 385 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:31,120 collection of lightly regarded players that they had recruited 386 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:33,680 lightly regarded players like so lightly regarded. 387 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:35,320 They ended up a group of five schools. 388 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:39,440 Cause in the, in the echelons of talent, if there's people that 389 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,640 perceive you as not having the athleticism or not having the 390 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:45,920 speed or the strength, like you go down the pecking order in 391 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:47,600 terms of the programs that you start with. 392 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,280 But you had a bunch of overachieving players whose 393 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:56,160 output exceeded what their raw numbers might have indicated in 394 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:58,520 terms of their physicality. And that's what made this 395 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:01,840 Indiana season so special. Indiana wasn't quite there in 396 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,000 terms of being able to take that underdog approach and actually 397 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,960 be able to, you know, go in and and win games against Ohio State 398 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:11,000 or Notre Dame. But I also don't think that 399 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,080 Indiana embarrassed themselves in either games. 400 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:16,160 And to some degree they they mitigated the types of damages. 401 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,960 That, for instance, SMU was unable to mitigate as they got 402 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,480 boat raced by Penn State. You know, so I do think that 403 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:28,000 there's some distinguishing characteristics here and as far 404 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:32,200 behind as Indiana has been and was coming into this season in 405 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:36,240 terms of athleticism and speed. The the types of things that 406 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:38,960 separate four and five star players from two and three star 407 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:41,400 players. The fact that they were able to 408 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:44,480 achieve what they achieved and win at the level they were able 409 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:47,240 to win and be as dominant as they were in so many games this 410 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,280 year against lesser or equal competition. 411 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:52,160 Going back to what you were saying is a great harbinger for 412 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:54,360 the future. And I think it's important to 413 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:58,840 not let what happened in the Notre Dame game be something 414 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:02,640 that makes you think, well, gosh, that's going to be a real 415 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:05,320 problem for IU. Like there was a comment and 416 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,160 Robert said, I'm afraid with this performance, IU's past 417 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,440 history is going to bite them in attracting better players. 418 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:12,920 It would really suck if this season turns out to be fool's 419 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:13,600 goal. Here's the thing. 420 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:17,840 Last year at this time, Indiana was coming off a three and nine 421 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:22,720 season where they lost at Purdue, had essentially nobody 422 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:24,240 believing they were going to do anything. 423 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:27,080 And yet. And then brought in players who 424 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,720 were able to mold themselves into a unit under the tutelage 425 00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:33,720 of this coaching staff that allowed them to go 11 and two, 426 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,840 allowed them to be competitive in in so many games, allowed 427 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:38,400 them to get into the College Football Playoff. 428 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:41,640 I, I don't think that you can look at the performance in this 429 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:44,760 game and say, Oh no, this is going to cause people to not 430 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:47,640 consider IU. When a player is going to look 431 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:50,040 at what Indiana did this year or, or, you know, their high 432 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:51,920 school coach or their parents going to look at this and say, 433 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:55,160 wow, there's opportunities for my kid to go play with a team 434 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:58,200 that's clearly looking for top level players where they could 435 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:02,040 start and and accrue stats and put themselves in a position to 436 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:04,880 be considered for the NFL. That has happened with so many 437 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:08,160 of the players that trans that transferred into Indiana in the 438 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:10,440 last offseason. It's not just the Mikhail 439 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:14,120 Camaras and the D Angelo Ponzas, it's the CJ Wests too. 440 00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:17,040 I mean, it's, it's players like that who used this canvas to 441 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,000 demonstrate that they could play at the highest levels. 442 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:23,200 I, I think it's nothing but a positive for Indiana moving 443 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:25,600 forward. I, I don't see a situation where 444 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:27,840 a player's going to look at that and say, well, I wouldn't want 445 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,440 to be part of that situation. I would take quite the opposite 446 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:33,320 approach right, quite frankly. No, I agree and I I do think 447 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,880 with talent getting better, I do think that's where you can look 448 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:39,440 at those single plays in the Ohio State Notre Dame game and 449 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:43,600 and and say maybe if we had a couple more athletic, you know, 450 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:46,280 five star athletic, 4 star athletic players, maybe that 99 451 00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:48,760 run doesn't happen because couple guys are probably you 452 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:50,440 were there. It's just you know, that kid 453 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,480 just or Notre Dame out random. The the thing that I want to 454 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:55,320 come back to is something you said is, you know, the coaching 455 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,280 staff was kind of and and we've been very positive as signetti 456 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:01,360 the entire season. Again, disentangling looking at 457 00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:03,280 this one game. Just I want to hit one thing 458 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,560 that really came that came up and in the stands was was was 459 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:10,200 tough to live with. You know, you said that they 460 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:13,160 were probably might have been waiting for a spark before they 461 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:14,960 got tried to show a little bit of aggression. 462 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:18,000 You did get that spark in the the beginning of the fourth 463 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,000 quarter. Notre Dame, who by the way, the 464 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:23,560 field goal kicker like felt very unfortunately felt very normal. 465 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:25,600 IU, a court kicker has been like 40% for the year. 466 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:27,560 So I'm like 47 yard or end of the half. 467 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:29,560 I'll just get that right through the middle of the uprights. 468 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,520 But we we block a field goal, we get the ball back. 469 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:34,880 We have a drive. It's not a great drive, 5 plays, 470 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:36,400 12 yards. You get into Notre Dame 471 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:40,440 territory, it's twenty to three start of the fourth quarter and 472 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:42,680 you punt and you've had a game where James Evans has been 473 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:46,120 punting not well, I mean pretty bad, like he's been had some 474 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:50,120 crappy punts most of the day. That is the one that I have a 475 00:23:50,120 --> 00:23:53,320 real hard time coming up with an answer for. 476 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:55,360 And and you know, Signetti in the post game said, you know, 477 00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:57,000 our offense wasn't really doing anything. 478 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,120 So I thought you maybe our defense will do something. 479 00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:02,240 It's like I I I kind of get it, but it's kind of like you're 480 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:05,240 you're in their territory. Notre Dame is just in bleed the 481 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:07,320 clock mode. It it did. 482 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:11,360 And this is like a guy who is talking, who's talked mountains 483 00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:15,440 of smack all over the place. It's not an awesome look. 484 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:17,840 And it kind of at that point, all of us in the IU section are 485 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:19,960 like, all right, well, I guess we're done. 486 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:22,400 I guess we're. Not I guess we're done and like 487 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:26,560 it was for a coach who had gone for it in so many times on 4th 488 00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:28,760 down. That was a a real question call. 489 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,520 The only thing I will say, I'll let you retort here in a SEC is 490 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:35,440 that, you know, just like, you know, Signeti was an assistant 491 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:37,840 at Alabama, but he he's played at lower levels. 492 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:40,280 This is obviously, you know, no, none of our players have been in 493 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:42,640 a situation like this. Neither has signet where he's 494 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:44,640 the play caller. He's the one in the final 495 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,080 headset where he can, you know, make obviously when he was in 496 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,840 Alabama, he wasn't like Saban wasn't like, hey, Sig, take it 497 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:51,920 for a couple minutes. I'm going to go off and do 498 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:54,360 something else. You know, my my hope is that, 499 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:57,160 you know, Sig reflects back is like, that's not me. 500 00:24:57,480 --> 00:24:59,600 Like, you know, it just it got the better of me. 501 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,560 I made a a bad decision. Like that's not the way I want 502 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:04,840 us to play. And next time we're in this 503 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:07,160 spot, I'm going to learn and get better. 504 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:09,440 And and that's my hope with it. But that was the moment where I 505 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:11,960 was like, that's really the play that crystallized. 506 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:13,320 I don't have a lot of answer for us. 507 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:15,880 And a lot of my friends who are not IU fans were kind of like, 508 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:18,680 man, how could you do that? He did something kind of similar 509 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:21,800 in the Ohio State game, another kind of funky punt at that time. 510 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,040 And it's it it's tough to answer to. 511 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,680 My only hope is you, you learn from it and you you don't get 512 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,080 conservative because again, that's what I love about this IU 513 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,960 team this year is they were always going for it and felt 514 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:37,960 like they were the aggressors. I mean, look, yes, and I was as 515 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,040 distraught about the punt call at the time. 516 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,200 It didn't make a lot of sense. I understand what Signeti was 517 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:48,240 trying to say in the post game I get and he wasn't wrong, like 518 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:50,600 his offense hadn't really done anything up to that point. 519 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:54,400 But the logical rejoinder to his statement that well, maybe, you 520 00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:55,760 know, the defense was still fighting. 521 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:58,520 It's like, well coach, the defense would come on the field 522 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:01,360 if you attempted the 4th down and missed like they would have 523 00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:03,560 a chance to turn them over there. 524 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:08,640 And that I do think that that was, it was unfortunate that 525 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:10,200 that was the decision that was made. 526 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:14,880 And I do think it opened up Signetti for a lot of criticism. 527 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:19,560 I, I, I'll, I'll say this, that a lot of people got really 528 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:22,600 indignant about comments that Signetti made before the game. 529 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:25,040 I obviously didn't hear them at the time because I was walking 530 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:27,960 around the tailgating lots around Notre Dame Stadium. 531 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:32,560 My thing is this, I, you can't have it both ways in college 532 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:34,720 football. College football is at least in 533 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:39,840 part, about making your opponents pay attention to you 534 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:42,720 and making the college football world pay attention to you. 535 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:46,600 It is such a sport that is driven by antics and attention. 536 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:51,200 Deion Sanders does a different version of the same thing at 537 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:53,320 Colorado, and Deion Sanders has been criticized. 538 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:55,720 It's not like Deion Sanders does it and doesn't get criticized 539 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:59,760 and Signeti does it and does. When you get to this level, you 540 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:03,080 make statements. You're trying to build not just 541 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:05,760 a program, but you're trying to build a reputation around a 542 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:09,920 program, and making noise makes sense because that's what gets 543 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:12,080 rewarded. As much as it gets complained 544 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:17,600 about by the pundit class or by fans, we reward programs and 545 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:21,160 coaches that demand attention and we ignore programs and 546 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,040 coaches that don't go out of their way to demand attention. 547 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,480 And I will point to you the entire history of Indiana 548 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:30,120 football prior to 2024 as a good. 549 00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:32,960 Example of that. So I look real, real quick on 550 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:34,880 this like the the thing that drives me nuts about it. 551 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:37,440 You're right, like Dion for the most part is like, oh, I love 552 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:38,440 it. He's brash, he's fun, he's 553 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:40,400 cocky. And then it is such a double 554 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,520 standard 'cause there is this like, you know, then it's like 555 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:43,960 man Signetti. Some people are like, I hate 556 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:45,560 this, like I can't stand this cockiness. 557 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:47,600 And it it's weird that double standard. 558 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,080 I will also I always think of this. 559 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,760 I agree with you. I will always think of this in 560 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:53,960 the back of my head. And he talked. 561 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:56,920 He was not a huge IU fan during this process, but like Ryan 562 00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:59,040 Rosillo always says, and it's true. 563 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,040 It's like, take a step back. What are they supposed to say? 564 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,560 Like you asked Signetti before the game, hey, how are you guys 565 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:06,320 going to do? Is he be like, man, Notre Dame's 566 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:07,440 good? Like they got a lot of athletes. 567 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:09,120 We're probably going to get our ass kicked and I'm probably 568 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:10,800 going to punt. Like, what's he supposed to say? 569 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:12,960 Like you're supposed to go in there and like, yeah, when you 570 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:14,600 ask him like he's supposed to fight for you to be in the 571 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:16,720 playoff, he's supposed to say we're going to kick everyone's 572 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:18,600 ass. Like that's what you're supposed 573 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:20,040 to say. So. 574 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,000 So keep that in mind as well. And I I hear you. 575 00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:27,440 It's just it's The thing is he had matched it all season, even 576 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:29,840 not with just just with the play calls. 577 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:32,960 And so that's the only thing where it's like, but again. 578 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:34,440 Learning experience. I'm with you. 579 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,320 I look, they shouldn't have punted and it was a real 580 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:39,680 disappointment that that was what they did. 581 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:44,240 And I think, you know, you, you, you can't really look at the 582 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:46,480 last two drives and say, well, gosh, if they had just done that 583 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:48,720 earlier because clearly in order to aim at taking the foot off 584 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:50,760 the gas at that point, similar to what happened. 585 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:53,560 IU games have been like that where we play great teams and 586 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:55,160 like we backdoor our way into AI. 587 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:57,080 Mean that that's what I was thinking. 588 00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:00,400 I'm like God this reminds me of so many Ohio State Michigan 589 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:02,560 games are like we're basically losing and all of a sudden it's 590 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:04,800 like dude if we get a 2 point conversion and an on. 591 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:06,760 Side like we have this like weird path where it's like we 592 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:09,400 could actually tie this game well and look, it does as much 593 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:12,280 as it as much as it's not an excuse in the moment, it does 594 00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:15,880 matter for narrative purposes. Indiana ended up being the the 595 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:19,680 team that lost by the least amount of points in the first 596 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:21,120 round of the College Football Playoff. 597 00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:24,640 And we'll talk more about that narrative here. 598 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:27,560 But there is some argument, going back to the question that 599 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:31,200 Robert had about does this hurt IU? 600 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:35,200 There is something to be said from damage mitigation and for 601 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,240 how you end up coming out looking compared to other teams. 602 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:41,680 It shouldn't be the primary goal. 603 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:43,120 The goal should be winning the game. 604 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:46,720 But it is in some small sense, much as it was in the Ohio State 605 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:50,240 game when Indiana put that drive together at the end and ended up 606 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:52,920 scoring and, you know, put themselves in a position where 607 00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:54,800 at least they didn't look completely outclassed. 608 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:57,000 They scored in double digits in that as a result of it. 609 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:00,000 It, it does matter. And so you do have to think 610 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:01,640 about that in the back of your head a little bit. 611 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:06,560 And up to that point, there just wasn't anything offensively that 612 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:10,400 you would look at with Indiana and say, here's a good argument 613 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:12,280 for why they're going to suddenly play completely 614 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:13,440 differently in the fourth quarter. 615 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,440 Again, not defending the punt, but I understand what the 616 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,280 thought process was behind it. But it kind of goes back to the 617 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,360 larger narrative of the game, Scott and and I I was thinking 618 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:25,160 about this. It's like the most frustrating 619 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:31,000 aspect being in the stands. Every drive that Indiana had, 620 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:35,040 they they come out and you're just like, OK, this is the drive 621 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:38,040 or this is the play where something's going to happen. 622 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:41,840 And it didn't. And I think that, you know, you 623 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:45,520 just kind of felt, again, going back to the quicksand thing, you 624 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:48,200 could just feel yourself slipping further and further 625 00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:50,600 down into the muck if you were an IU fan. 626 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:53,080 You know, halftime was insanely long. 627 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,560 And a lot of it was spent just being like, all right, is there 628 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,880 are there any positives that we can take out of what occurred in 629 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:03,280 that game or in that first half? And, and even, you know, you 630 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:05,240 think about the way that the game went after that, like it 631 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:09,320 was 17 to three at halftime. Indiana forces a three and out 632 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:11,920 from Notre Dame at the start of the third quarter and you're 633 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:15,120 like, oh, maybe this is it. Then they come out and they lose 634 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:19,080 9 yards over 3 plays and in order, Dave goes down and kicks 635 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:22,040 another field goal and it's you're like, well, that's good. 636 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:25,880 It's 20 to 3 still in it. It's 3 possessions, but maybe. 637 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:29,040 And then you go out and you gain 2 yards on three plays. 638 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,880 And it it was such a tease because, you know, Indiana's 639 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:37,240 defense and special teams not involving the punting did just 640 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:41,360 enough to keep you feeling like you were afloat, You know, 641 00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:44,120 because again, it's like after that next three and out that 642 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:49,160 Indiana has the Irish drive down the field, 11 plays, 50 yards 643 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:52,760 and Indiana blocks the field goal And you're like, ah, there 644 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:53,640 it is. All right. 645 00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:57,040 And then Indiana 5 plays, 12 yards, punts again. 646 00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:59,600 And you know, that was the the one that you were referring to. 647 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,840 It just you, you held on as long as you could as an Indiana fan 648 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:06,600 in the game, but you just never there was never a spark. 649 00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:10,760 It just never happened. And sometimes it be that way. 650 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,440 And in this case, unfortunately for Indiana, they just didn't 651 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:19,520 have the play in front of them on offense to make a dent in 652 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:21,680 Notre Dames defense. And I think their players 653 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,000 deserve a ton of credit. I think Al Golden deserves a ton 654 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:25,520 of credit. They absolutely smothered 655 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:29,080 Indiana in the crib until the very end, at the at which point 656 00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:32,400 it didn't really matter. And it's a it's a shame, you 657 00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:35,120 know, it's a really it's a tough way to watch them go out. 658 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:38,400 I was really happy that Omar Cooper got got a touchdown pass 659 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:40,320 there at the end. It was it was nice to see Miles 660 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:43,600 Price, after getting knocked out of a couple of weeks ago, quite 661 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:46,360 literally come in and and grab a touchdown pass. 662 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:49,280 Curtis work somehow ended up with more passing yards than 663 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:52,640 Riley Leonard did. But you know, I'll, I'll switch 664 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,600 sides here real quick as we continue to kind of wrap the 665 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:57,800 game real quick. I just want to say that that 666 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:00,640 point, because we, it was so funny the entire section in the 667 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:03,480 first quarter, it's like we get, you know, fired up and then, you 668 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:06,080 know, the 98 yard run, it's like, all right, we got to get 669 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:07,800 points on this. Like you need to now get points 670 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:10,200 on this drive and then we don't. And then Notre Dame scores 671 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:12,760 another touchdown and it's like, that's a 9 minute drive. 672 00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:15,080 And we're just like, man, if they're going to start running 673 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:17,280 the ball like that's not well, we got to get points like now we 674 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:19,760 got to get points like now is that you keep pushing the own 675 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:21,200 goal posts. Like we got to get it now. 676 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:24,240 And then we, you know, I kept saying, but damn it, like Notre 677 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:25,600 Dame starts the ball the second-half. 678 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:28,160 So we got it like it just all of these things were like, this is 679 00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,240 all, none of this is good. All the red indicator lights. 680 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:32,920 But like it was three straight drives where I just kept saying 681 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:35,520 to people around me, like, OK, now, like now is the time you 682 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:37,480 have to get points or else you really are in trouble. 683 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:38,640 And it was like, we didn't get it. 684 00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:40,800 It's like, OK, but now like now is really. 685 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:42,040 And it's just you kept pushing it back. 686 00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:44,440 And you're right, you were kind of waiting for that moment and 687 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:48,040 it just, it never came. And you know, defensively, I, I 688 00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:52,080 think Indiana deserves a ton of credit for how well they played. 689 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:55,000 You know, you take away the, the 98 yard touchdown run from 690 00:33:55,000 --> 00:34:00,520 Jeremiah Love and the Irish didn't have 100 yards rushing. 691 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:04,640 Now you can't just do that, but I think it's an illustration of 692 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:11,760 even with a a 98 yard run, the Irish only averaged 5.5 yards a 693 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:13,920 carry. Factoring that in, you know, if 694 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:16,360 you take that away, they they had a much worse average. 695 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:20,560 They did a really good job of using Riley Leonard effectively. 696 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:23,880 They passed the ball just enough that it kept Indiana off 697 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:26,639 balance. Indiana struggled with tackling 698 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,159 at a level I haven't seen them struggle this year. 699 00:34:29,159 --> 00:34:32,159 I thought even against Ohio State, they tackled better and 700 00:34:32,159 --> 00:34:36,920 and it turned a lot of 2-3 yard gains into 789 yard gains. 701 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:42,280 And again, it's like it comes back to that, the ideas of of 702 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:46,679 athleticism and speed and skill rather than just execution. 703 00:34:46,679 --> 00:34:48,600 Indiana was in the positions they needed to be in. 704 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,239 They just couldn't quite make the plays to flip the field 705 00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:54,760 enough to give Indiana's offense enough throws at the dartboard. 706 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:56,679 Well, no. And I I think the tackling thing 707 00:34:56,679 --> 00:34:59,520 was it, it was odd to see. And again, not like it's like 708 00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:02,760 this is not the team we saw all season, but I, I, I tipped a lot 709 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:04,720 of that to athleticism. I just, it looked like guys were 710 00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:07,440 taking the right angles. It's just Notre Dame guys had 711 00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:10,400 bursts of speed that they had not seen and good angles turned 712 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:12,560 into bad angles very quickly. Yeah, I know there's and and 713 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:16,000 Notre Dames players were slippery and you know, again, 714 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,840 they played really well. So as much as we didn't know, 715 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:20,480 and we talked about this in pretty much every preview 716 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:26,560 podcast we did, we didn't know how relative Indiana and the 717 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:30,320 Irish were because again, neither of them played tough 718 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:32,440 schedules. They were both really dominant. 719 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:36,400 They both were similar in FPI and FPI that all of the things 720 00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,280 that you would indicate. Yeah, OK, this team didn't play 721 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:41,560 a tough schedule, but they dominated their opponents. 722 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:46,040 They look very similar. In this case, it was clear that 723 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:50,240 Notre Dame was the superior team, and that bore itself out 724 00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:53,640 throughout the course of the game, at least when it came to 725 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:56,920 the way that Notre Dame's defense played Indiana's 726 00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:58,960 offense. But if you look at it the other 727 00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:01,240 way around, if you look at the way that Indiana's defense 728 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:04,560 played the Fighting Irish's offense, that Indiana acquitted 729 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:06,200 themselves very well in this game. 730 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,640 And again, if you can hold your opponent to 27 points on the in 731 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:15,080 their home stadium, you can't say to yourself, well, we didn't 732 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:17,880 give ourselves a chance. Indiana, we talked about was 733 00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:20,760 going to have to score in that area to have a chance in this 734 00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:23,280 game and they just weren't capable of doing so. 735 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:26,920 And that's unfortunate, but that's an illustration, I think 736 00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:30,120 of the difference between the two teams in terms of the base 737 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:32,120 level athleticism. And that is fortunately 738 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:35,840 something that Indiana can improve upon as we move forward. 739 00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:38,680 So that would be, that's kind of the biggest thing I took away 740 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:40,440 from it. I had a bunch of people text me 741 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:44,240 before, excuse me during and after the game asking me like, 742 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:45,720 how are you doing? Are you all right? 743 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:48,840 Honestly, I walked out of the stadium very frustrated. 744 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:52,440 But I drove home yesterday feeling pretty at peace with 745 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:55,560 everything because it was clear from watching Indiana in the 746 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:59,640 game that they were just not at the level that Notre Dame was. 747 00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:04,280 And that's OK because no one expected Indiana to even be in 748 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:07,880 the conversation at this point. The fact that they were in the 749 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,520 conversation is a great first step. 750 00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:13,280 This I look at is simply a step, though. 751 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:15,960 It's not necessarily the the end point of anything. 752 00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:19,160 This is where you now look at what Indiana Indiana's now seen. 753 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:20,840 OK, That's what we're going to have to do. 754 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:25,000 We're either going to have to host one of these games or we're 755 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:28,480 going to have to significantly upgrade the athleticism and the 756 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,280 speed on the roster. The thing is we knew both of 757 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:34,400 those things before the game started, which is why I don't 758 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:38,680 feel as bad, I think as if I had gone in assuming that Indiana 759 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,400 was automatically on the same level as Notre Dame. 760 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,800 I, and we talked about it again in the podcast, it was if it 761 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:47,800 came down to a, a physicality versus physicality thing, 762 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:50,240 Indiana was going to lose. Indiana was going to have to out 763 00:37:50,240 --> 00:37:52,440 execute Notre Dame if they were going to win this game. 764 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:55,200 They did not out execute Notre Dame and they lost the game. 765 00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:57,120 Yeah. I mean, and to your point of the 766 00:37:57,120 --> 00:37:59,440 defense, at the end of the third quarter, it's 20 to 3:00. 767 00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:02,360 And if you said, hey, we're going to we're going to give up 768 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:04,440 20 points and three quarters in Notre Dame, they're like, I'll 769 00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:06,440 take that. Like that's, that's pretty good. 770 00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:08,720 The defense did their job. Just the three is not what 771 00:38:08,720 --> 00:38:11,600 counts. I'm in a similar spot to kind of 772 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:13,520 taking a step back and reflecting. 773 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:17,840 I was talking to a a friend yesterday about this and he 774 00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:20,360 parroted back to me something that I have been saying all 775 00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:22,520 season, which I also agree with that. 776 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:25,640 I think Indiana showed that I'm just going to play with numbers 777 00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:27,800 here. But you know, we're we're a top 778 00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:30,160 10 to 15 team in the country right now. 779 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:33,040 And we were this year. We played like it, but there's a 780 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:36,240 gap between 10:00 and 5:00 and 5:00 and 1:00. 781 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:39,040 I I think we can play in that 10 and five space. 782 00:38:39,720 --> 00:38:44,280 We're definitely not in right now in that space of the 54321 783 00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:45,880 of the country. You can definitely see a gap 784 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:47,520 there. You saw it against Ohio State 785 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:50,520 and this probably, you know, Ohio Notre Dame is in that 786 00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:53,680 category as well and they play like it at times they're there. 787 00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:56,360 And I'm like, that's, that's what I've been kind of feeling 788 00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:58,120 all year that I think we're a really good team. 789 00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:02,120 I think we're, you know, 10:10, 11/12/13 in the country. 790 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:04,600 We're right there. We can play a little bit above 791 00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:07,080 our head, but we're not in the point where we can play with the 792 00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:10,320 Oregons, the Georgias, the Ohio States, and maybe now the Notre 793 00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:11,840 Dames. And that's fine. 794 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:14,280 I mean, we were what, like 3:00 and 9:00 last year? 795 00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:17,040 We fired our coach. We, we've had what, 4 winning 796 00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:19,560 seasons in 30 years? Like the idea that we're not 797 00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:21,520 able to play in the top six in the country. 798 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:27,920 But yes, I, I'm well aware we we are in the top 15 easily. 799 00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:31,320 We are there now comes the hard work of grinding up. 800 00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:33,240 Can you get to 8? Can you get to 7? 801 00:39:33,240 --> 00:39:35,320 Can you be in a spot where you can play with those teams up 802 00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:37,080 there? And I think we have the coaching 803 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:39,880 staff that can do it. So this I'm with you. 804 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:42,200 I was very frustrated walking out for the reasons I talked 805 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:43,320 about. I was a little bit bummed 806 00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:46,640 yesterday, but I'm, I'm at that point now where like, I believe 807 00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:49,080 what I believed early on, which is I never thought we were the 808 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:51,000 best team in the country. And I knew there were teams that 809 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:55,120 were just dramatically more athletic than us and that's what 810 00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:58,440 we saw. And we can now work to get up 811 00:39:58,440 --> 00:39:59,960 there. But we definitely pulled 812 00:39:59,960 --> 00:40:03,040 ourselves up to a spot that I never thought was possible to 813 00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:05,520 say. I I think definitively no 814 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:08,920 question that we are one of the top 15 teams in the country. 815 00:40:10,240 --> 00:40:14,200 Beat everybody below us Lost to two top five teams on the season 816 00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:18,400 in Ohio State, Notre Dame at at Notre Dame and at Ohio State. 817 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,040 We're asking to see what it's like playing at at Columbus. 818 00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:24,200 Yeah, well, let's talk about that a little bit. 819 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:26,920 We're going to talk about the playoff discourse and what's 820 00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:29,920 going on in college football. And then kind of the broader 1 821 00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:33,440 back to before we do that, I do want to say just a quick shout 822 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:36,400 out to all the IU fans that were up in South Bend. 823 00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:40,800 I got up there on Thursday evening and it was, it was a joy 824 00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:44,760 just meeting so many people in person, getting a chance to, you 825 00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:47,000 know, share the excitement about Indiana being in the College 826 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:50,160 Football Playoff, getting a chance to just enjoy. 827 00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:52,920 People from all across the country that descended on South 828 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:54,720 Bend saw some people I hadn't seen in a long time. 829 00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:59,360 Both Thursday and Friday, it was, it was cold on Friday. 830 00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:01,920 It was cold in the stadium. It was cold before the game. 831 00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:06,880 It was, it was really one of those experiences, though, where 832 00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:10,840 I think Indiana, you know, we, we talk a lot about people 833 00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:13,480 traveling to games and it being disappointing outcomes. 834 00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:17,840 It was still cool to see so many people in the stands. 835 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:20,600 It was so amazing to see so many people out and about before the 836 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:22,040 game. That event that we had a social 837 00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:25,840 cantina, which is packed with IU fans that were the IU Alumni 838 00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:28,560 Association pregame tailgate, I heard was a lot of fun. 839 00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:31,200 We had a great time in our tailgate area that a bunch of 840 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:35,320 people from various spots. So, you know, so many people 841 00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:39,280 came up and like said thanks for the podcast and, and said, you 842 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:41,440 know, thanks for all the coverage on IU over time. 843 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:44,360 And I would just say the same back to all of those people. 844 00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:47,720 It was such a joy having all you folks along for the ride 845 00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:49,560 throughout the course of the year. 846 00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:54,280 And it was, it was just such a fun experience and I'm glad so 847 00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:57,680 many people got a chance to be there for the culmination of it. 848 00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:00,840 It's a shame that that was where the ride ended, but I couldn't 849 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:05,440 be prouder of a fan base like Indiana's for coalescing around 850 00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:09,000 this team so quickly and and becoming a force to be reckoned 851 00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:13,320 with just in terms of of, you know, showing up at games and 852 00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:16,520 buying tickets and buying into what's going going on with the 853 00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:18,120 program. That was really, really cool to 854 00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:19,200 see. We saw it obviously, throughout 855 00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:21,960 the course of the year. We saw it at UCLA, we saw it up 856 00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:24,480 at Michigan State, We saw it at Ohio State. 857 00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:27,800 We saw it here even more so in South Bend. 858 00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:30,160 And, and I just want to tip my captain, who's your nation for, 859 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,480 for being dispassionate about a football program that not a lot 860 00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:36,160 of people had a huge amount of displayed passion for prior to 861 00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:38,560 the year. We came up there on Friday, 862 00:42:39,240 --> 00:42:41,920 there was a lot of people on driving on, sorry, driving up 31 863 00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:44,600 that were honking and waving flags because we had our, our, 864 00:42:44,720 --> 00:42:47,520 our flags on the car walking around the stadium. 865 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:51,080 A lot of IU fans like I, I was thinking like, man, this is like 866 00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:53,280 5050 now in the stadium. It wasn't the same. 867 00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:55,120 So a lot of IU fans might have just been there milling around, 868 00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:58,680 which was awesome. It, it was to talk about the 869 00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:01,760 atmosphere for a minute at Notre Dame Stadium, you know, same, 870 00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:04,200 same for me. It was I bumped into a bunch of 871 00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:07,360 people. In fact, my section it was Reed, 872 00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:09,840 a guy I've talked about before who's sits like across the aisle 873 00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:11,440 for me. He was literally 2 seats next to 874 00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:13,280 me. So we were talking then all 875 00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:15,840 around me everyone's like, oh, is that Scott from Crimson 876 00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:16,960 Cancer? I know that voice anywhere. 877 00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:19,400 Like it was super nice to to say hi to everybody. 878 00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:20,680 It's so great. The only thing that was tough is 879 00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:23,320 that you know, you and I are kind of different during the 880 00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:24,600 games. I'm a little more quiet and 881 00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:26,320 reserved and so people are like what, what do you think? 882 00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:27,920 I'm like it's not good. We got to score. 883 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,680 It's got something very quiet and you want to talk about 884 00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:32,880 disappointment? The guy in front of me, I think 885 00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:35,360 it's Brandon, I'm sorry I forgot your name, but he's super nice. 886 00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:37,320 His son, son was like 10 years old. 887 00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:39,920 And the guy's like, hey, this is the this is the guy you were 888 00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:41,760 listening to on the car ride up. This is him. 889 00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:44,520 And you talk about like getting an ego, kicking the ball. 890 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:49,360 There was like kids like, OK, like, hey, you sucked on the 891 00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:50,560 ride. You suck now. 892 00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:53,080 Something similar happened to me earlier in the day. 893 00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:54,920 It's fine. You know, the, the I don't the 894 00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:58,600 youth most of the time the youth are like, I now I, I don't know 895 00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:00,560 who this person is. I can't connect the voice of the 896 00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:01,960 person. That's that's hilarious. 897 00:44:02,600 --> 00:44:05,400 I will say most Notre Dame fans were were very friendly. 898 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:08,160 One had a great line. We're walking in and he's just 899 00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:10,400 like, man, we're going to F and kick your ass. 900 00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:12,800 It's like, but I still love you. We have the same driver's 901 00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:16,720 license. That cracks me up. 902 00:44:16,720 --> 00:44:20,320 A lot of like, and then we got a lot of like losers, right? 903 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:22,320 It's funny. Then just a lot of like, your 904 00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:24,040 team sucks. I'm like, all right, work on 905 00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:27,240 that, bro. And you know, your season ends 906 00:44:27,240 --> 00:44:30,040 tonight. I will say this about Notre Dame 907 00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:31,400 Stadium, if you don't mind, Just take a second. 908 00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:34,680 I've never been there before. It was wild. 909 00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:36,960 I was telling my wife, it's like there's parts of it where it's 910 00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:39,760 like going walking through me. Like when her and I went to 911 00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:41,960 Paris, Like, oh, there's the Louvre, like there's the ML 912 00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:43,160 tower. It's like, oh, there's touchdown 913 00:44:43,240 --> 00:44:44,720 Jesus. Like, oh, there's the golden 914 00:44:44,720 --> 00:44:46,280 Dome. And like, oh, this is maybe 915 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:48,640 where they shot that Rudy shot of like the sight this to him 916 00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:50,760 trying to jump in. Like it's almost like being in a 917 00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:52,400 foreign country. There's so many sites that 918 00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:56,120 you've heard about and seen and then you get there and it's 919 00:44:56,120 --> 00:44:59,120 really cool to to be there and to see it. 920 00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:02,400 The stadium itself, we were sitting right behind the IU 921 00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:04,840 band. We are, we are higher than than 922 00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:06,880 than Galen's wine and cheese crowd this time. 923 00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:10,600 But but there was not a bad, I mean, it's a fantastic view. 924 00:45:10,600 --> 00:45:12,360 There is not a bad seat in the stadium. 925 00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:16,360 It would be really nice for them to move some speakers around 926 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:19,600 because that goddamn scoreboard was so loud. 927 00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:23,080 And that, that's the two things that I will say that surprised 928 00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:25,040 me. They've obviously done some 929 00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:29,720 renovations, put in a couple more bathrooms because upper 930 00:45:29,720 --> 00:45:32,160 level, I can't speak for the lower level, upper level, there 931 00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:34,200 were four bathrooms because I walked around that entire thing 932 00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:36,680 to find them. Each one had a line that was out 933 00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:38,160 the door. All the food. 934 00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:39,480 This is like middle of the second quarter. 935 00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:41,840 Like there's lines for food. Like everything is just a line. 936 00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:44,360 Like everyone's waiting in line all the time for everything. 937 00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:47,000 A guy behind me waited like 45 minutes, just take a just to go 938 00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:48,880 to the bathroom. It was wild. 939 00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:50,680 It was very unimpressed with that. 940 00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:54,680 The second thing I will say, I thought was interesting, and 941 00:45:54,680 --> 00:45:57,240 this is I, I think this relates to IU 2 is trying to build a 942 00:45:57,240 --> 00:46:00,320 program. You know, I, I, I harken it to 943 00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:03,200 Assembly Hall. You go to an IU basketball game 944 00:46:03,240 --> 00:46:07,960 and you're kind of seeing a nice mix of, you know, the band plays 945 00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:09,840 and they play some music and then like you have the seven 946 00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:11,200 minute timeout. Like there's things that like, 947 00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:12,760 oh, this has been organically grown. 948 00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:13,960 We're playing the fight song here. 949 00:46:14,120 --> 00:46:17,000 Fans know what to do. I was really surprised I was 950 00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:19,080 going into Notre Dame. Like they have an iconic fight 951 00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:20,600 song. They have, you know, the, the, 952 00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:22,200 the mascot, they have all the stuff. 953 00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:25,560 There wasn't as much of that as I was expecting. 954 00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:27,960 Like it was a weird like between the 3rd and the fourth quarter, 955 00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:29,760 which is kind of like your iconic time as a football 956 00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:34,440 program to have your thing. They did the DEO song from 957 00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:38,160 Freddie Mercury with like a Groundhog on the Jumbotron with 958 00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:40,520 a, with an Irish hat. And it's like, OK, well, that 959 00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:41,960 wasn't around when New Rockne was here. 960 00:46:42,120 --> 00:46:43,760 Like, do you guys not have any traditions? 961 00:46:43,760 --> 00:46:46,800 Like I didn't hear the Notre Dame fight song very much. 962 00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:50,040 The band maybe from where we're at, we couldn't hear it as much. 963 00:46:50,040 --> 00:46:53,920 It just it, it felt like they've gone overboard with like crazy 964 00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:55,880 hip hop songs, stuff like that, which I get. 965 00:46:56,040 --> 00:46:59,800 I was just for a place that is feels like a cathedral 966 00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:02,400 basketball, There's sorry, football, there's nothing on the 967 00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:04,880 field. It it felt very kind of nouveau 968 00:47:04,880 --> 00:47:05,920 nouveau rich to me. I don't know. 969 00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:08,480 It was it was an odd thing. I was expecting more tradition 970 00:47:08,760 --> 00:47:11,400 out of the Notre Dame football game day experience. 971 00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:15,280 Although I will say their their entrance to the field was was 972 00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:16,640 dynamite. They turn the lights out. 973 00:47:16,640 --> 00:47:18,200 They have like green neon lights. 974 00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:20,520 They have file. It was it was a cool entrance. 975 00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:23,680 And I had heard that Indiana we we saved like 50 grand by not 976 00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:25,840 getting the LED lights you can turn on and off from the 977 00:47:25,840 --> 00:47:27,280 stadium. I think we're redoing that 978 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:30,800 because when they start turning the lights off on a night game 979 00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:35,360 it is, it is pretty damn cool. I'll just say, I mean, look, I 980 00:47:35,360 --> 00:47:37,720 wasn't, I've been to Notre Dame Stadium before. 981 00:47:37,720 --> 00:47:40,120 It was a long time ago. It was like 12 years ago and 982 00:47:40,320 --> 00:47:43,280 wasn't really that attuned to the atmosphere. 983 00:47:43,600 --> 00:47:49,320 I I just think that across the board side, like societally, you 984 00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:51,880 have to essentially treat most crowds the same. 985 00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:56,560 There are very few places that don't have anything modern in 986 00:47:56,560 --> 00:47:58,320 their presentation, and that's fine. 987 00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:03,280 Ohio Stadium was a mix of things and it feels maybe a little more 988 00:48:03,280 --> 00:48:06,040 authentic or whatever because of the band, but that was about it. 989 00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:10,680 This was also a the College Football Playoff rules about 990 00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:12,400 what you could do were a little bit different. 991 00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:15,280 I don't, I, I can't, I can't compare what they do to a normal 992 00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:18,960 home game. So all I'll say is I think 993 00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:23,280 ultimately what you're seeing is more the reality of how you deal 994 00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:25,560 with crowds today. Because at the end of it, all 995 00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:29,080 generations are generations and they're going to react for, you 996 00:48:29,080 --> 00:48:31,240 know, the, the bright lights and the shiny things and the stuff 997 00:48:31,240 --> 00:48:32,960 that you see happening across the country. 998 00:48:32,960 --> 00:48:35,480 Everybody has to copy each other now because that's what works 999 00:48:35,720 --> 00:48:37,920 so. The one thing we can't copy that 1000 00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:41,480 my wife absolutely hated was they had a animatronic race 1001 00:48:41,480 --> 00:48:44,240 through the campus of all of their national championship 1002 00:48:44,240 --> 00:48:46,640 coaches. It's like Newt Rockney Racing, 1003 00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:48,880 Lou Holtz and a bunch of Dan Devine and my wife. 1004 00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:50,560 Just like I hate this place, you know I don't. 1005 00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:52,520 Know why that that put her over the edge? 1006 00:48:52,520 --> 00:48:54,320 They've got their they've got their own things. 1007 00:48:54,320 --> 00:48:56,600 What can you do? But no, overall I will say it 1008 00:48:56,600 --> 00:48:59,920 was, it was, it was a great atmosphere just in general. 1009 00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:05,400 And it was agreed, it was one of those where you did feel a lot 1010 00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:06,960 of the history, just the way the stadium looks. 1011 00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:10,000 It was interesting hearing people talking afterwards about 1012 00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:14,920 how vivid the sounds were. And there's this theory that NBC 1013 00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:18,320 kind of mutes the sound from Notre Dame games that they 1014 00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:21,600 normally broadcast, whereas ABC was broadcasting the game. 1015 00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:24,320 So they have their sound engineers and everybody's like, 1016 00:49:24,320 --> 00:49:26,680 wow, we've never heard the stadium sound this electric 1017 00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:29,280 before. It, it was one of those games 1018 00:49:29,280 --> 00:49:31,640 where I, I, again, I don't have a lot to compare to in terms of 1019 00:49:31,640 --> 00:49:34,600 regular games at home there, but it was a very cool atmosphere 1020 00:49:34,600 --> 00:49:37,120 once you got in there. It felt like a playoff game is 1021 00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:41,120 supposed to feel like. So anyway, let's, let's broaden 1022 00:49:41,120 --> 00:49:44,960 the, the lens a little bit and talk a little bit about goodbye 1023 00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:48,080 South Bend, Goodbye South Bend. Well, not quite, not entirely 1024 00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:50,640 because immediately after the game and actually apparently 1025 00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:53,520 during the game, during the broadcast, immediately the 1026 00:49:53,520 --> 00:49:56,680 narrative start, Indiana didn't deserve to be here in the 1st 1027 00:49:56,680 --> 00:49:59,360 place. Indiana was, you know, hadn't 1028 00:49:59,360 --> 00:50:02,240 earned their way in that kind of garbage, which we should have 1029 00:50:02,240 --> 00:50:05,640 settled 2 weeks ago. But of course, shockingly on 1030 00:50:05,640 --> 00:50:11,760 ESPN/ABC, the company that is entirely in bed with the SEC, 1031 00:50:11,880 --> 00:50:16,040 the narratives start immediately for what ended up being a 10 1032 00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:19,560 point loss on the road. Which is something I want to 1033 00:50:19,560 --> 00:50:20,920 yell at. These are your partners. 1034 00:50:20,960 --> 00:50:23,120 Like like this is like you're you're trying to promote this 1035 00:50:23,120 --> 00:50:25,560 product, not talk about how crappy everything like talk 1036 00:50:25,560 --> 00:50:27,720 about the Cinderella story. Talk about the fact like, hey, 1037 00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:29,880 this team kicked everyone's ass all year. 1038 00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:32,120 They got to 11 and one like this was an amazing story. 1039 00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:34,560 It's too bad it ends here. But Notre Dame is a great 1040 00:50:34,560 --> 00:50:36,560 program. Like that's the you can push 1041 00:50:36,560 --> 00:50:37,520 that narrative. You have. 1042 00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:39,760 To push. We, we F this up. 1043 00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:41,640 Man, I really wish South Carolina was here. 1044 00:50:42,040 --> 00:50:45,000 And, and then of course, that continued on into the next day 1045 00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:47,440 and we're still seeing it. ESPN just tweeted something else 1046 00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:51,000 out about Kirk Herb St. on Sports Center last night, taking 1047 00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:53,800 the time to talk about how Indiana didn't belong in the 1048 00:50:53,800 --> 00:50:56,040 College Football Playoff. And then we heard, well, SMU 1049 00:50:56,040 --> 00:50:59,440 didn't belong because they lost. And then, and then Clemson lost. 1050 00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:02,680 And then of course, Tennessee gets boat raced by by Ohio 1051 00:51:02,680 --> 00:51:04,040 State. I, I haven't heard a lot of, 1052 00:51:04,040 --> 00:51:07,840 well, Tennessee didn't belong. I think what we've seen out of 1053 00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:12,440 all of this is some realities, which the, the realities are 1054 00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:13,840 really interesting to think about. 1055 00:51:14,400 --> 00:51:19,240 A lot of it you just can't trust what a lot of the college 1056 00:51:19,240 --> 00:51:23,080 football media landscape decides to talk about because it is so 1057 00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:26,440 driven by a very confused agenda. 1058 00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:29,800 And, you know, I thought a lot about this over the course of 1059 00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:32,520 not just the last couple of days, but really the last couple 1060 00:51:32,520 --> 00:51:36,080 of months as we've watched the way that people have talked 1061 00:51:36,080 --> 00:51:41,720 about IU and the playoff devolve into this weird sort of dialogue 1062 00:51:41,720 --> 00:51:46,800 regarding deserve and, you know, who who really should be there 1063 00:51:46,800 --> 00:51:49,880 and what do we want to see. And it really highlighted how 1064 00:51:49,880 --> 00:51:52,840 broken college football discourse is. 1065 00:51:53,280 --> 00:51:57,640 And it's a product of years and years of the distinguishing 1066 00:51:57,640 --> 00:52:02,040 aspects of college football being polls and people voting on 1067 00:52:02,040 --> 00:52:05,360 things and people claiming that this team is better than that 1068 00:52:05,360 --> 00:52:07,640 team rather than actually playing out on the field. 1069 00:52:08,320 --> 00:52:11,160 You know, it's it's a it's an interesting thing to me because 1070 00:52:11,800 --> 00:52:15,640 most other sports don't have this broken level of discourse 1071 00:52:15,920 --> 00:52:19,000 in the United States because they're set up in a way that's 1072 00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:22,120 either more democratic and how it's decided at the end or more 1073 00:52:22,120 --> 00:52:24,160 democratic and how it's set up at the beginning. 1074 00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:28,120 You look at college football and you should be saying to 1075 00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:31,280 yourself, wow, Indiana making the College Football Playoff 1076 00:52:31,280 --> 00:52:33,800 coming from three and nine being the losing his program in 1077 00:52:33,800 --> 00:52:36,200 college sports or in college football history. 1078 00:52:36,560 --> 00:52:39,280 Like that's a great story. The fact that Indiana was able 1079 00:52:39,280 --> 00:52:42,040 to win that many games and put themselves in a position to get 1080 00:52:42,040 --> 00:52:44,360 in like that should be the story. 1081 00:52:44,840 --> 00:52:47,880 SMU coming back from a death penalty and coming back from 1082 00:52:47,880 --> 00:52:50,440 just a couple of years ago, being in an irrelevant 1083 00:52:50,440 --> 00:52:54,160 conference and essentially being a nobody in college football, 1084 00:52:54,360 --> 00:52:57,120 being able to turn that around and be in a College Football 1085 00:52:57,120 --> 00:53:00,240 Playoff. That's that's an amazing story. 1086 00:53:00,920 --> 00:53:05,160 The idea that, you know, somehow going on the road in college 1087 00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:09,080 football and losing indicates that you don't belong when it 1088 00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:12,080 might just indicate that you're on the road, which is a very 1089 00:53:12,080 --> 00:53:14,080 difficult thing to do. I mean, I saw some kind of a, 1090 00:53:14,080 --> 00:53:17,200 there was a stat earlier where it's like, you know, most of the 1091 00:53:17,200 --> 00:53:21,560 time when top 25 teams play each other, the team that's playing 1092 00:53:21,560 --> 00:53:24,480 at home wins the game. It's it, it's not necessarily 1093 00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:27,240 who the higher ranked team is, but playing at home is a huge 1094 00:53:27,240 --> 00:53:29,760 difference, especially in college football that doesn't 1095 00:53:29,760 --> 00:53:31,880 get paid attention to in any of the discourse. 1096 00:53:32,680 --> 00:53:35,920 You know, so we as Indiana fans are an interesting spot because 1097 00:53:36,240 --> 00:53:42,280 we have to some degree become the target of all of the things 1098 00:53:42,280 --> 00:53:44,840 that these people who talk about college football claim are 1099 00:53:44,840 --> 00:53:46,240 important. But when you really step back 1100 00:53:46,240 --> 00:53:48,480 and look at what they're arguing is important, it's like that. 1101 00:53:48,480 --> 00:53:51,640 That's a that's a crappy way to think about your own sport when 1102 00:53:51,640 --> 00:53:54,760 all you're carrying about is the perpetuation of the same brands. 1103 00:53:55,080 --> 00:53:59,000 And when the primary conveyor of the College Football Playoff, 1104 00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:04,960 ESPN, has such a naked and uncompromisingly direct 1105 00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:08,720 relationship with one of the parties within this larger mix. 1106 00:54:08,840 --> 00:54:12,520 And they don't even bother to express that when it's left to 1107 00:54:12,520 --> 00:54:16,280 other people to highlight, hey, your opinions here are clearly 1108 00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:18,080 compromised. You're clearly filtering this 1109 00:54:18,080 --> 00:54:21,320 through one particular frame. Like that's a real problem. 1110 00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:22,400 I don't know how that gets fixed. 1111 00:54:22,400 --> 00:54:24,880 And I've seen some people who have been covering college 1112 00:54:24,880 --> 00:54:27,160 football talking about this openly, like where it's like 1113 00:54:27,760 --> 00:54:29,280 people don't really like college football. 1114 00:54:29,280 --> 00:54:33,120 They like branding and they like all these people arguing, well, 1115 00:54:33,120 --> 00:54:35,360 we shouldn't have had a 12 team playoff because you had these 1116 00:54:35,360 --> 00:54:37,160 four teams lose in the first round. 1117 00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:39,640 Well, I mean, I'd point to the NFL. 1118 00:54:39,720 --> 00:54:42,880 We've had expanded playoffs in the NFL all the time. 1119 00:54:42,880 --> 00:54:45,240 Guess what? First round matchups often times 1120 00:54:45,240 --> 00:54:47,320 result in the team hosting winning the game. 1121 00:54:47,520 --> 00:54:50,600 This is nothing new. This is how this stuff works. 1122 00:54:50,760 --> 00:54:53,000 It doesn't mean that you don't let those teams in. 1123 00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:58,040 This is Year 1 of a much larger stretch of time with a new 1124 00:54:58,040 --> 00:55:00,560 format. And oh, I'm shocked that that 1125 00:55:00,560 --> 00:55:03,520 there's three to five teams that might be better than the other 1126 00:55:03,600 --> 00:55:05,440 seven or eight that make the playoff. 1127 00:55:05,440 --> 00:55:09,960 But that's, that doesn't mean you don't expand the playoff. 1128 00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:12,160 It, this has been the fascinating thing to me. 1129 00:55:12,160 --> 00:55:13,880 It's like, well, we shouldn't have let those teams in in the 1130 00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:15,920 1st place. It's like, why not? 1131 00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:18,840 Like what, what did we lose in that exchange at this point? 1132 00:55:19,040 --> 00:55:21,520 There's going to be more of this as we move forward. 1133 00:55:21,840 --> 00:55:23,600 They're not going back. You're not going to cut the 1134 00:55:23,600 --> 00:55:26,000 number of teams. And I do think that the rules 1135 00:55:26,000 --> 00:55:28,080 changes that we're seeing in college football starting to 1136 00:55:28,080 --> 00:55:31,680 take hold, the transfer portal and NIL, the movement of 1137 00:55:31,680 --> 00:55:36,000 players, the the gap that people perceive right now between the 1138 00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:38,280 the top five teams, for instance, and the rest of 1139 00:55:38,280 --> 00:55:41,640 college football, that's going to start to reduce as you start 1140 00:55:41,640 --> 00:55:44,120 to see talent spreading itself out a little bit. 1141 00:55:44,600 --> 00:55:47,560 And I honestly think that's the core of a lot of these comments 1142 00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:50,440 and concerns about teams like Indiana being in the mix. 1143 00:55:51,000 --> 00:55:53,720 They don't want Indiana looking like a viable option for talent 1144 00:55:53,720 --> 00:55:56,040 to land and having a shot at playing in the College Football 1145 00:55:56,040 --> 00:55:59,280 Playoff any more than they want SMU, any more than they want 1146 00:55:59,840 --> 00:56:03,800 Arizona State being in the mix. But this seems like the common 1147 00:56:03,800 --> 00:56:08,920 thread through a lot of this. And that to me is exciting 1148 00:56:09,240 --> 00:56:11,200 because guess what? You're not going to change the 1149 00:56:11,200 --> 00:56:12,800 process. You're not going to change the 1150 00:56:12,800 --> 00:56:14,520 approach. You could add some playoff 1151 00:56:14,520 --> 00:56:17,680 games, certainly, But this is actually what makes the sport 1152 00:56:17,680 --> 00:56:21,440 better and this is what makes the sport more important to even 1153 00:56:21,440 --> 00:56:23,720 more people. And at the end of it, that might 1154 00:56:23,720 --> 00:56:26,800 be the thing that's bothering SEC fans in ESPN so much is 1155 00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:29,000 like, they've had this nice little self-contained thing 1156 00:56:29,240 --> 00:56:31,840 we've forgotten. And we're finally being reminded 1157 00:56:31,840 --> 00:56:34,600 that, hey, the Big 10 is the most dominant college Football 1158 00:56:34,600 --> 00:56:36,320 Conference in the history of college football. 1159 00:56:36,320 --> 00:56:39,880 It's not the SEC. It's really where the sport like 1160 00:56:39,880 --> 00:56:43,920 thrived for so many years. The SEC, yes, has had higher 1161 00:56:43,920 --> 00:56:47,280 levels of talent, but this system that we have right now, 1162 00:56:47,880 --> 00:56:50,720 you have to give everybody at least some kind of a shot to get 1163 00:56:50,720 --> 00:56:52,480 in. And yeah, Indiana lost their 1164 00:56:52,480 --> 00:56:54,240 game. SMU lost their game. 1165 00:56:54,400 --> 00:56:56,640 That may not happen next time because I think there's going to 1166 00:56:56,640 --> 00:56:59,280 be a lot of recruits looking at Indiana and looking at SMU and 1167 00:56:59,280 --> 00:57:02,720 say, man, I go there, I got a chance of playing for a national 1168 00:57:02,720 --> 00:57:05,360 title. I go to some second tier S or 1169 00:57:05,360 --> 00:57:07,640 SEC school. I might be 8 and four and 1170 00:57:07,640 --> 00:57:09,560 sitting at home or going to the Cheez It Bowl. 1171 00:57:11,280 --> 00:57:13,760 I'm just letting you cook like that's, I think everyone who's 1172 00:57:13,760 --> 00:57:16,560 listening, you owe IU at least $35.00 because that's part of 1173 00:57:16,560 --> 00:57:18,960 Galen's age, 30, you know, 141 class. 1174 00:57:18,960 --> 00:57:20,160 So you just got a 10 minute lecture. 1175 00:57:20,160 --> 00:57:23,320 That's great. I agreed all of that. 1176 00:57:23,640 --> 00:57:27,760 I also think what's at play is unlike college basketball, like 1177 00:57:27,800 --> 00:57:31,160 like you said, has a system, a defined bracket at the end where 1178 00:57:31,160 --> 00:57:34,400 everybody kind of gets in. You know, college football is 1179 00:57:34,400 --> 00:57:36,600 also at a crossroads where you have two conferences that are 1180 00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:38,800 fighting for power, the Big 10 and the SEC. 1181 00:57:38,800 --> 00:57:42,280 There's been talks that's not off the radar of will the Big 1182 00:57:42,280 --> 00:57:44,880 10, the SEC just break away from college football. 1183 00:57:45,600 --> 00:57:48,760 They have that much power. And what you're seeing, I think 1184 00:57:48,760 --> 00:57:51,560 is Indiana being caught in the crosshairs here where the SEC is 1185 00:57:51,560 --> 00:57:53,480 pissed. They got three teams in the Big 1186 00:57:53,480 --> 00:57:56,280 10 got 4. These are two T these are two 1187 00:57:56,280 --> 00:58:00,080 conferences that under and that have TV networks backing them 1188 00:58:00,080 --> 00:58:02,520 up, kind of proxy fighting with the conferences. 1189 00:58:03,040 --> 00:58:05,200 And everyone understands here that there is a real power 1190 00:58:05,200 --> 00:58:08,760 vacuum. And if if the big 10 of the SEC 1191 00:58:09,360 --> 00:58:13,160 take over college football, there is no such thing as a 5050 1192 00:58:13,160 --> 00:58:14,760 partnership. My parents owned a company. 1193 00:58:14,760 --> 00:58:16,560 They're a 5050 part didn't work. They got divorced. 1194 00:58:16,640 --> 00:58:21,120 Like you need to have 5149. Somebody's got to be 50 when 1195 00:58:21,120 --> 00:58:22,920 when there's like, hey, we need to make a decision and we 1196 00:58:22,920 --> 00:58:25,440 disagree. Who's got the outstanding vote. 1197 00:58:25,800 --> 00:58:28,600 And I think that's what you're seeing now is the SEC is getting 1198 00:58:28,600 --> 00:58:32,000 pissed because they don't want the Big 10 to be the 51 percent 1199 00:58:32,000 --> 00:58:34,640 partner. And unfortunately, you can't go 1200 00:58:34,640 --> 00:58:38,000 talk about Ohio State sucking or Penn State sucking or Oregon 1201 00:58:38,000 --> 00:58:40,200 sucking. You can talk, I mean, like Ohio 1202 00:58:40,240 --> 00:58:42,160 State will come back at you. You can talk about Indiana 1203 00:58:42,160 --> 00:58:43,440 because we just don't have the history. 1204 00:58:44,720 --> 00:58:46,120 You know, we have some holes in the resume. 1205 00:58:46,160 --> 00:58:48,840 So I, I think that Indiana's caught in this proxy fight 1206 00:58:48,840 --> 00:58:53,040 between the Big 10, the SEC and largely between Fox and ESPN. 1207 00:58:53,280 --> 00:58:56,680 And I think it's because everyone sees that one of us 1208 00:58:56,680 --> 00:58:59,000 could rule college football, like we could just take college 1209 00:58:59,000 --> 00:59:01,720 football and own it. And the SEC wants to do that 1210 00:59:01,720 --> 00:59:03,360 then. And but I, I agree with all of 1211 00:59:03,360 --> 00:59:04,400 that. It's insane to be like, we 1212 00:59:04,400 --> 00:59:07,040 should go back to four teams, go back to they're going to expand 1213 00:59:07,040 --> 00:59:08,840 this quickly. They're going to change all 1214 00:59:08,840 --> 00:59:10,520 this. But the thing that I think is 1215 00:59:10,520 --> 00:59:13,160 interesting is a point that you hit on that I was thinking about 1216 00:59:13,160 --> 00:59:16,440 driving back. You know, the NCAA tournament is 1217 00:59:16,440 --> 00:59:19,160 all neutral sites and you know you're trying to find it. 1218 00:59:19,360 --> 00:59:21,120 You've heard this all the time. We're trying to find the 1219 00:59:21,120 --> 00:59:23,280 champion from the SC. We got to see who the best teams 1220 00:59:23,280 --> 00:59:24,800 are. Well, it's also like we want to 1221 00:59:24,800 --> 00:59:28,360 have a fun weekend. You know, there's such an 1222 00:59:28,360 --> 00:59:32,760 advantage for playing at home. If I'm if I'm Oregon, I'm like, 1223 00:59:32,760 --> 00:59:34,760 man, F this. I won a home game. 1224 00:59:34,760 --> 00:59:36,480 Like we're the number. Why are we going to play in 1225 00:59:36,480 --> 00:59:38,560 whatever ball like I want to play at home. 1226 00:59:38,920 --> 00:59:41,120 You almost should flip it. We're like the first round games 1227 00:59:41,120 --> 00:59:42,720 are at the Bulls, second round is at home. 1228 00:59:42,960 --> 00:59:44,960 Or just play the whole thing in neutral sites. 1229 00:59:45,800 --> 00:59:46,840 We're playing the whole thing at home. 1230 00:59:46,840 --> 00:59:48,160 Like it. It does feel like you've given 1231 00:59:48,160 --> 00:59:53,240 such an advantage to the the first round, the 567 seeds with 1232 00:59:53,240 --> 00:59:55,960 these home games. And I do wonder if next year if 1233 00:59:55,960 --> 00:59:59,520 you have another round of first round, mostly uncompetitive 1234 00:59:59,520 --> 01:00:01,560 games, someone will look and say, hey, at some point we are 1235 01:00:01,560 --> 01:00:04,120 trying to make a fun product here, like let's have some 1236 01:00:04,120 --> 01:00:07,840 competitiveness because again, the years. 1237 01:00:08,640 --> 01:00:12,440 The the NCAA tournament, what people love is they love the 1238 01:00:12,440 --> 01:00:14,520 upsets they did that first weekend. 1239 01:00:14,680 --> 01:00:18,720 It's not like, Oh my God, did you see Kansas win by 42 against 1240 01:00:18,720 --> 01:00:19,800 Winthrop? That was awesome. 1241 01:00:19,800 --> 01:00:22,640 Like, no, you're, you're looking for those games, those moments. 1242 01:00:22,640 --> 01:00:24,840 That's what makes the NCAA tournament special. 1243 01:00:25,600 --> 01:00:29,640 Football is not quite that way. But I do wonder if the the home 1244 01:00:29,640 --> 01:00:31,800 game is almost too much of an advantage. 1245 01:00:31,840 --> 01:00:34,960 And it is weird that the top four teams don't get that 1246 01:00:34,960 --> 01:00:37,400 advantage. Well, so I think there's a lot 1247 01:00:37,400 --> 01:00:38,840 of interesting points to take out out of this. 1248 01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:41,960 I'll say first of all, the system we've got right now is an 1249 01:00:41,960 --> 01:00:47,720 unfortunate shotgun marriage of a bunch of old things and a new 1250 01:00:47,720 --> 01:00:49,160 system. So you think about it. 1251 01:00:49,160 --> 01:00:54,720 It's not just the the dichotomy between the, the, the home games 1252 01:00:54,720 --> 01:00:56,640 in the first round and the neutral sight games in the 1253 01:00:56,640 --> 01:00:59,760 second round, because the, well, that's the part because it's 1254 01:00:59,760 --> 01:01:02,040 like you, you know, in order to do this, you had to get the 1255 01:01:02,040 --> 01:01:04,160 bowls involved. And so you had to have neutral 1256 01:01:04,160 --> 01:01:09,240 sight games. And look, the way that we run 1257 01:01:09,240 --> 01:01:12,040 college football overall is very different from every other 1258 01:01:12,040 --> 01:01:16,160 sport. It if you try to find an analog 1259 01:01:16,480 --> 01:01:20,120 to the way that college football specifically gets managed in the 1260 01:01:20,120 --> 01:01:24,360 United States, you you can't point to the NFLNFLS run much 1261 01:01:24,360 --> 01:01:25,680 differently. You can't point to college 1262 01:01:25,680 --> 01:01:27,600 basketball. College basketball has a very 1263 01:01:27,600 --> 01:01:29,400 big tournament, which lets a lot of people in. 1264 01:01:29,400 --> 01:01:31,880 It's also just fundamentally basketball is a different sport. 1265 01:01:32,160 --> 01:01:34,560 It's a lot more random than football is. 1266 01:01:34,720 --> 01:01:36,800 It's not like Major League Baseball, but it's a little bit 1267 01:01:36,800 --> 01:01:38,880 closer. The sport that is the biggest 1268 01:01:38,880 --> 01:01:42,560 analog to college football is European soccer. 1269 01:01:43,200 --> 01:01:45,120 And you have to think about like there's a, there's a lot of 1270 01:01:45,120 --> 01:01:47,000 parallels there. I know not everybody in our in 1271 01:01:47,000 --> 01:01:49,320 our audience is familiar with European soccer, but I think 1272 01:01:49,320 --> 01:01:51,720 it's important to understand, like if you think about college 1273 01:01:51,720 --> 01:01:55,040 football in the United States, of all of the sports, college 1274 01:01:55,080 --> 01:01:59,600 and professional, it is the most fundamentally unfair and uneven 1275 01:01:59,840 --> 01:02:02,200 in terms of talent distribution structure. 1276 01:02:02,640 --> 01:02:05,120 So think about the NFL. Everybody has to go through the 1277 01:02:05,120 --> 01:02:08,080 draft process in the NFL, and the draft process is geared 1278 01:02:08,080 --> 01:02:11,600 specifically towards giving weaker teams an opportunity at 1279 01:02:11,600 --> 01:02:14,040 better talent so that they can even themselves out. 1280 01:02:14,280 --> 01:02:17,440 It's also about having a salary cap that keeps everybody more or 1281 01:02:17,440 --> 01:02:20,000 less on the same plane. That becomes how well can you 1282 01:02:20,000 --> 01:02:23,400 use resources in that midst. Baseball, which has a lot of 1283 01:02:23,400 --> 01:02:25,720 fundamental unfairness in it because there's not really a 1284 01:02:25,720 --> 01:02:28,920 salary cap, still has an entry draft. 1285 01:02:29,040 --> 01:02:31,720 It still has a whole bunch of systems in place where you can 1286 01:02:31,720 --> 01:02:35,160 control your players contractually through the most, 1287 01:02:36,320 --> 01:02:39,880 you know, profitable and most, you know, high level years that 1288 01:02:39,880 --> 01:02:41,520 they will have in terms of production. 1289 01:02:42,280 --> 01:02:46,400 You know, the NBA is very much about having a bunch of teams in 1290 01:02:46,400 --> 01:02:49,120 a very small band from a a salary perspective and it's 1291 01:02:49,120 --> 01:02:52,240 about making the right choices around the margins while also 1292 01:02:52,240 --> 01:02:53,720 not giving people stupid salaries. 1293 01:02:53,720 --> 01:02:54,840 College football has none of that. 1294 01:02:55,040 --> 01:02:59,560 College football has allowed for years it's best programs to 1295 01:02:59,800 --> 01:03:02,120 hoard talent and not let them move. 1296 01:03:02,440 --> 01:03:05,520 It's allowed their best programs to pay players under the table 1297 01:03:05,720 --> 01:03:08,800 and not punish them. It's allowed conferences to 1298 01:03:08,800 --> 01:03:12,760 control matchups, to control narrative in terms of who gets 1299 01:03:12,760 --> 01:03:16,440 to play who in bowl games. You know, all of this program, 1300 01:03:16,440 --> 01:03:19,040 because the punishing SMU is like, we got punished, right? 1301 01:03:19,040 --> 01:03:20,600 No, but, and that's, and that's also the point. 1302 01:03:20,600 --> 01:03:24,960 And you can even, you can even go back to 2020 when the Big 10 1303 01:03:25,240 --> 01:03:28,120 created a rule and then arbitrarily changed the rule 1304 01:03:28,200 --> 01:03:30,320 because they didn't like the outcome of the rule, which was 1305 01:03:30,320 --> 01:03:32,840 going to be Indiana playing in the Big 10 title game. 1306 01:03:33,160 --> 01:03:38,080 And then further screwed Indiana by having the committee chair 1307 01:03:38,240 --> 01:03:41,080 for the College Football Playoff figure out a way to keep Indiana 1308 01:03:41,080 --> 01:03:43,360 out of the New Year's 6 Bowl. We've seen this happen over and 1309 01:03:43,360 --> 01:03:45,840 over again. So you also have 1310 01:03:45,880 --> 01:03:50,000 organizationally in college football conferences running 1311 01:03:50,000 --> 01:03:51,440 things. And these conferences, as we 1312 01:03:51,440 --> 01:03:53,280 heard complaints about throughout the course of this 1313 01:03:53,280 --> 01:03:56,400 last couple of weeks, they set up schedules where Indiana 1314 01:03:56,400 --> 01:03:59,320 doesn't get to play Oregon, Indiana doesn't get to play Penn 1315 01:03:59,320 --> 01:04:03,680 State, SMU doesn't play Clemson, SMU doesn't play Miami, Miami 1316 01:04:03,680 --> 01:04:08,160 doesn't play Clemson or SMU, but you know, Alabama doesn't play 1317 01:04:08,160 --> 01:04:10,880 Texas there. There's all of these games that 1318 01:04:10,880 --> 01:04:13,680 should have happened that didn't, but you can't because 1319 01:04:13,680 --> 01:04:16,240 the conferences are not arranged for competitive purposes. 1320 01:04:16,640 --> 01:04:19,640 They're arranged to make the most money as possible. 1321 01:04:19,640 --> 01:04:23,080 Now time out, let's look at European soccer, the Champions 1322 01:04:23,080 --> 01:04:26,680 League in particular. the Champions League represents the 1323 01:04:26,680 --> 01:04:28,840 best team in Europe, the best club team. 1324 01:04:29,360 --> 01:04:31,400 Well, how do you determine that? When you've got the Premier 1325 01:04:31,400 --> 01:04:34,000 League in England, you've got Serie A in Italy, you've got La 1326 01:04:34,000 --> 01:04:38,200 Liga, you've got the Bundesliga, you you've got a bunch of teams 1327 01:04:38,200 --> 01:04:40,560 that don't play each other. How do you put something 1328 01:04:40,560 --> 01:04:43,160 together where you can actually figure out who the best team is? 1329 01:04:43,160 --> 01:04:45,640 So they do this year long tournament that ends up 1330 01:04:45,640 --> 01:04:47,600 culminating in a neutral site game. 1331 01:04:47,600 --> 01:04:50,440 But leading up to that, it's it's home and away games and 1332 01:04:50,440 --> 01:04:52,680 it's two legged games that you couldn't do in college football 1333 01:04:52,680 --> 01:04:54,800 because again, soccer is different than football in terms 1334 01:04:54,800 --> 01:04:59,480 of physicality. But ultimately you you have to 1335 01:04:59,480 --> 01:05:02,320 go about it in a way where you give teams a chance to play each 1336 01:05:02,320 --> 01:05:04,120 other. What I've found fascinating 1337 01:05:04,120 --> 01:05:06,520 about this whole College Football Playoff experience and 1338 01:05:06,520 --> 01:05:08,920 where I look at the Champions League is a great example. 1339 01:05:09,600 --> 01:05:12,040 Most of the time in the Champions League, it's the very 1340 01:05:12,040 --> 01:05:14,880 best teams that are able to win and rise to the top. 1341 01:05:14,880 --> 01:05:17,880 It's why Real Madrid has won so many games because they have the 1342 01:05:17,880 --> 01:05:20,600 most talent. It's, you know, it's or how many 1343 01:05:20,600 --> 01:05:22,720 Champions Leagues. It's it's why, you know, 1344 01:05:22,720 --> 01:05:25,520 Liverpool was able to win one. It's why Manchester City's been 1345 01:05:25,520 --> 01:05:27,600 able to win. It's why you don't see a whole 1346 01:05:27,600 --> 01:05:30,960 lot of upsets consistently. But they can still happen. 1347 01:05:31,120 --> 01:05:34,600 And we've had underdog stories make it all the way to the the 1348 01:05:34,600 --> 01:05:38,960 Champions League title game. So the system this year didn't 1349 01:05:38,960 --> 01:05:42,920 produce a lot of initial upsets. And that's not that surprising 1350 01:05:42,920 --> 01:05:46,880 because we're transitioning out of an era that allowed teams to 1351 01:05:46,880 --> 01:05:50,760 do very different things, right? There's just no good way. 1352 01:05:50,800 --> 01:05:55,960 There's no scientifically, like 100% way in a sport that has 1353 01:05:56,080 --> 01:06:00,440 this uneven talent distribution, this uneven scheduling, to say 1354 01:06:00,440 --> 01:06:03,840 for sure who deserves or doesn't deserve to be in, Which is why 1355 01:06:03,840 --> 01:06:06,240 you have to have a committee of people looking at it or a group 1356 01:06:06,240 --> 01:06:08,600 of computers looking at it to figure that out. 1357 01:06:09,320 --> 01:06:11,680 So look, we're going to continue to have these arguments and 1358 01:06:11,680 --> 01:06:14,840 debates, but this is what college football is. 1359 01:06:14,840 --> 01:06:18,080 And until it coalesces around a set of rules that everybody can 1360 01:06:18,080 --> 01:06:21,560 agree on, which frankly seems unlikely given the the forces 1361 01:06:21,560 --> 01:06:24,320 involved, not just the schools, but the media that are in there 1362 01:06:24,320 --> 01:06:27,160 as well, you're going to continue to have people claiming 1363 01:06:27,680 --> 01:06:29,320 that whatever's happening is bad. 1364 01:06:29,640 --> 01:06:31,760 You don't have to listen to them, though, because all 1365 01:06:31,760 --> 01:06:34,400 they're doing is arguing things that they think are in their 1366 01:06:34,400 --> 01:06:37,360 best interests. And that ultimately allows you 1367 01:06:37,360 --> 01:06:39,320 to disregard what they're saying in your brain. 1368 01:06:39,320 --> 01:06:41,320 And you should. Yeah, I I agree. 1369 01:06:41,320 --> 01:06:43,520 And what even yesterday when I was talking about, you know, 1370 01:06:43,520 --> 01:06:45,960 like if you moved everything to neutral sites and did it like 1371 01:06:45,960 --> 01:06:49,920 the NCAA tournament where, you know, like if if Oregon gets the 1372 01:06:49,960 --> 01:06:52,360 the best neutral site game next to them, it's like, all right, 1373 01:06:52,360 --> 01:06:54,640 well, that would theoretically maybe be the the Rose Bowl. 1374 01:06:54,800 --> 01:06:56,520 But like you have to think the Rose Bowl is like men. 1375 01:06:56,520 --> 01:06:57,960 No, F that. Like we're not doing a first 1376 01:06:57,960 --> 01:06:59,120 round silent. We're the Rose Bowl. 1377 01:06:59,120 --> 01:07:01,240 We're a semi. Like you have so many different 1378 01:07:01,240 --> 01:07:03,720 competing interests. And that's, that's I think the 1379 01:07:03,720 --> 01:07:05,920 problem here is all the other sports you talked about outside 1380 01:07:05,920 --> 01:07:08,360 of college basketball, like they have a commissioner or a leader 1381 01:07:08,640 --> 01:07:11,080 of this that can do it. College football doesn't have 1382 01:07:11,080 --> 01:07:12,360 that. And I think what you're seeing 1383 01:07:12,360 --> 01:07:14,600 is continuing like there's a lot, there's a, there's a power 1384 01:07:14,600 --> 01:07:17,240 vacuum and everyone's fighting for that leadership and no one's 1385 01:07:17,240 --> 01:07:20,920 thinking of this as a whole. And, and the, the unbalanced 1386 01:07:20,920 --> 01:07:23,920 conference schedules, it's going to continue to happen. 1387 01:07:23,920 --> 01:07:25,760 Like, you don't know because, you know, this year we're 1388 01:07:25,760 --> 01:07:28,160 supposed to play, you know, the national champion, the national 1389 01:07:28,160 --> 01:07:30,480 runner up. It didn't turn out to be what we 1390 01:07:30,480 --> 01:07:32,480 expected. But next year there will be some 1391 01:07:32,480 --> 01:07:35,320 SEC team or Big 10 team that plays a schedule similar to 1392 01:07:35,320 --> 01:07:37,080 Indiana that just kind of skates. 1393 01:07:37,160 --> 01:07:39,600 I won't say skates, dude, but just doesn't play a lot of the 1394 01:07:39,600 --> 01:07:42,960 top teams and has a record that it's hard to do apples to 1395 01:07:42,960 --> 01:07:45,760 apples. It's going to keep happening and 1396 01:07:45,760 --> 01:07:48,720 they've got to figure it out. But again, nobody wants to do 1397 01:07:48,720 --> 01:07:50,280 it. You know, curb Free did make one 1398 01:07:50,280 --> 01:07:53,480 point I thought was interesting of, you know, if if everybody 1399 01:07:53,480 --> 01:07:56,320 got together and looked at scheduling from a holistic 1400 01:07:56,320 --> 01:07:58,800 approach at a top level, you could solve some of this 1401 01:07:58,800 --> 01:08:01,720 scheduling stuff. If the Big 10 and Indiana and 1402 01:08:01,720 --> 01:08:05,080 the SEC and Alabama like opened up their books and talked about 1403 01:08:05,080 --> 01:08:07,240 scheduling all together. But they don't and it's not 1404 01:08:07,240 --> 01:08:09,320 going to happen. And so you're going to continue 1405 01:08:09,320 --> 01:08:11,400 to have this. And the, the, The thing is, 1406 01:08:11,400 --> 01:08:13,160 there will be another Indiana next year. 1407 01:08:13,680 --> 01:08:16,760 It's just that Indiana was unfortunately in this position 1408 01:08:16,760 --> 01:08:19,560 where they were, like I said, the proxy fight between some big 1409 01:08:19,560 --> 01:08:21,439 players. And unfortunately, Indiana 1410 01:08:21,439 --> 01:08:22,840 doesn't have the name recognition. 1411 01:08:22,840 --> 01:08:26,120 So if it was, you know, next year, if it's old Miss or LSU, 1412 01:08:26,479 --> 01:08:28,800 they're going to be handled differently than Indiana because 1413 01:08:28,800 --> 01:08:31,920 Indiana's kind of like, well, who cares about like us? 1414 01:08:31,920 --> 01:08:34,840 But like the higher level powers and all the proxies and all the 1415 01:08:34,840 --> 01:08:37,279 reporters, they don't care about Indiana. 1416 01:08:38,080 --> 01:08:39,840 Like they just because like that's not a brand, that's not a 1417 01:08:39,840 --> 01:08:41,920 college. Like, we can just slam that with 1418 01:08:41,960 --> 01:08:44,960 all of our thoughts because it's not like it's LSU or Ohio State 1419 01:08:44,960 --> 01:08:45,760 or something. Yeah. 1420 01:08:45,760 --> 01:08:48,920 I mean, and you're always going to struggle with that until you 1421 01:08:48,920 --> 01:08:50,520 don't. You're you're always going to 1422 01:08:50,520 --> 01:08:54,520 struggle with the recognition until you just do things. 1423 01:08:54,520 --> 01:08:56,880 I mean, think about, I always point to Clemson. 1424 01:08:57,080 --> 01:09:00,479 You know, yes, Clemson won a a title in the early 80s, but 1425 01:09:00,479 --> 01:09:04,399 then, you know, Clemsoning became a verb to illustrate like 1426 01:09:04,520 --> 01:09:06,200 blowing games that you shouldn't. 1427 01:09:06,200 --> 01:09:08,359 And the only thing that changed that narrative was that they 1428 01:09:08,359 --> 01:09:11,240 just continued to accrue talent and continued to win. 1429 01:09:11,240 --> 01:09:15,600 Georgia was the same way, you know, so you, you the only thing 1430 01:09:15,600 --> 01:09:18,800 that changes the narratives in college sports are two things. 1431 01:09:18,800 --> 01:09:24,640 One is success, but the whole, the other thing is you have to 1432 01:09:24,640 --> 01:09:27,640 be able to have your message out there. 1433 01:09:27,640 --> 01:09:30,040 And for those who were like, well, don't engage with the 1434 01:09:30,040 --> 01:09:33,520 trolls or don't engage with the discourse because it's so awful. 1435 01:09:33,520 --> 01:09:35,720 It's like, no, the the opposite is actually the case. 1436 01:09:35,720 --> 01:09:37,800 This is not a case where, hey, we're just going to let our 1437 01:09:37,800 --> 01:09:41,800 results talk for us because that's rarely enough when it 1438 01:09:41,800 --> 01:09:44,200 comes to the actual talk. And going back to something that 1439 01:09:44,200 --> 01:09:47,200 Andy said about a media war, I think one of the things I was 1440 01:09:47,200 --> 01:09:51,120 actually kind of disappointed in was how mute the pro Big 10 1441 01:09:51,120 --> 01:09:52,920 forces were at the national level. 1442 01:09:53,080 --> 01:09:55,840 You just didn't see a lot of commentary and, and all of this 1443 01:09:55,840 --> 01:09:59,520 SEC propaganda really let people think like some people really 1444 01:09:59,520 --> 01:10:02,240 thought that there should have been 5 or 6 SEC teams in the 1445 01:10:02,240 --> 01:10:03,880 playoffs and just didn't question it. 1446 01:10:03,880 --> 01:10:05,680 Like, well, of course they've got the best talent and that's 1447 01:10:05,680 --> 01:10:08,080 not how it's worked. And we talked about this with 1448 01:10:08,080 --> 01:10:10,480 Nicole Auerbach. The entire history of college 1449 01:10:10,480 --> 01:10:13,440 football, when we've talked about the polls and whatever, 1450 01:10:13,960 --> 01:10:16,080 the only thing that's mattered has been wins and losses. 1451 01:10:16,080 --> 01:10:18,920 Did you lose games or not? And suddenly this year that 1452 01:10:18,920 --> 01:10:21,200 didn't matter. What mattered is, well, who did 1453 01:10:21,200 --> 01:10:24,160 you play? Well, no, that's not actually 1454 01:10:24,200 --> 01:10:26,400 how we do things in this sport. Who? 1455 01:10:26,400 --> 01:10:28,760 Didn't even who'd you play? It's which SCC teams did you 1456 01:10:28,760 --> 01:10:30,720 play? So did you play that? 1457 01:10:31,080 --> 01:10:32,840 So look, look, this is different. 1458 01:10:32,880 --> 01:10:35,800 This is different air for Indiana to be in and and this is 1459 01:10:35,800 --> 01:10:38,200 a new sport for a lot of people in this fan base. 1460 01:10:38,200 --> 01:10:41,120 And you're not going to get welcomed with open arms at this 1461 01:10:41,120 --> 01:10:43,240 level. You you're going to get you're 1462 01:10:43,240 --> 01:10:45,280 going to get beaten down. You're going to get made fun of. 1463 01:10:45,280 --> 01:10:47,960 I mean, look, take a program as successful as Wisconsin. 1464 01:10:47,960 --> 01:10:50,600 Wisconsin's the butt of jokes all over the place for a variety 1465 01:10:50,600 --> 01:10:51,320 of reasons. Why? 1466 01:10:51,320 --> 01:10:55,360 Well, because that's how that stuff works in this business. 1467 01:10:55,360 --> 01:10:59,800 And so a lot of this really does come back to Indiana deserves a 1468 01:10:59,800 --> 01:11:02,040 seat at the table. And and look, if you're in the 1469 01:11:02,040 --> 01:11:04,360 Big 10, you deserve a seat at the table if you're taking 1470 01:11:04,360 --> 01:11:06,920 football seriously. And Indiana's finally taking 1471 01:11:06,920 --> 01:11:09,480 football seriously. And a lot of it at this point is 1472 01:11:09,480 --> 01:11:12,520 going to be all you can do is go out and play the schedule that 1473 01:11:12,520 --> 01:11:14,320 you've got in front of you. I think it's going to be 1474 01:11:14,320 --> 01:11:17,800 hilarious next year when Indiana gets off to a good start and 1475 01:11:17,800 --> 01:11:20,440 people are, well, they haven't played anybody when all of this 1476 01:11:20,440 --> 01:11:24,800 year, all we heard in this last week or so was SECADS and 1477 01:11:24,800 --> 01:11:27,720 coaches whining about we're not going to pay anybody. 1478 01:11:27,720 --> 01:11:28,880 Well, it's like, all right, great. 1479 01:11:28,960 --> 01:11:31,160 Let's just all agree to that. That would be fine. 1480 01:11:31,600 --> 01:11:33,480 The other narrative that I heard that. 1481 01:11:33,480 --> 01:11:36,840 Cracked me up is I I heard this a couple different places and 1482 01:11:36,840 --> 01:11:39,920 somebody tell me he's like man, you know with, you know, let me 1483 01:11:39,920 --> 01:11:41,440 get it all out. But like, you know man, with the 1484 01:11:41,440 --> 01:11:44,200 showing you guys had against Notre Dame like it's next year 1485 01:11:44,200 --> 01:11:46,000 it's going to be tough for you guys to get back in the College 1486 01:11:46,000 --> 01:11:49,280 Football Playoff. I'm like sure, like if we're in 1487 01:11:49,280 --> 01:11:52,360 the competition again for the College Football Playoff, like I 1488 01:11:52,360 --> 01:11:54,560 will take it. Like if, if that's our biggest 1489 01:11:54,560 --> 01:11:57,080 problem is that we're going to have a hard time with our case 1490 01:11:57,240 --> 01:11:58,480 for the College Football Playoff. 1491 01:11:58,640 --> 01:12:00,760 Like do you realize where we came from? 1492 01:12:00,760 --> 01:12:03,520 Like 12 months ago, you and I were just like, can we get to 1493 01:12:03,520 --> 01:12:05,760 Detroit Bowl? Like we get to six wins? 1494 01:12:05,760 --> 01:12:09,600 Like yes, if, if our biggest problem is back-to-back years, 1495 01:12:09,600 --> 01:12:13,400 we're having a hard time making a case for the CFP in year 2 1496 01:12:13,560 --> 01:12:17,400 because we made it in year 1. Like I want to take that right. 1497 01:12:17,400 --> 01:12:19,600 Like it's just like you, you realize you're talking to 1498 01:12:19,600 --> 01:12:21,560 Indiana fans like we don't have winning season. 1499 01:12:21,560 --> 01:12:25,000 Like it's that that narrative I think is insane 'cause it's 1500 01:12:25,000 --> 01:12:28,440 like, yeah, if we're ten and two and we don't get in the CFP 1501 01:12:28,440 --> 01:12:30,920 because we have a good enough showing, it's like that's the 1502 01:12:30,920 --> 01:12:32,360 best two year run of my lifetime. 1503 01:12:32,360 --> 01:12:37,040 Like I will buy that right now. Well, that's a good spot for us 1504 01:12:37,040 --> 01:12:39,040 to kind of pivot and talk a little bit about the season as a 1505 01:12:39,040 --> 01:12:41,280 whole. And, and this has been a hard 1 1506 01:12:41,280 --> 01:12:45,960 to get your head wrapped around in terms of, yeah, just the 1507 01:12:45,960 --> 01:12:50,480 enormity and the, the impact that the season has had on, on 1508 01:12:50,600 --> 01:12:54,560 so on this podcast on the way that so many fans think about 1509 01:12:54,560 --> 01:12:57,920 IU, it's really, it's really amazing. 1510 01:12:57,920 --> 01:13:02,080 And you know, the I, I still think about what we were doing 1511 01:13:02,080 --> 01:13:05,600 roughly this time last year and how none of this was 1512 01:13:05,600 --> 01:13:08,400 foreseeable. You could be excited about the 1513 01:13:08,400 --> 01:13:10,960 Signetti hire and, and I think Signetti did a great job of 1514 01:13:10,960 --> 01:13:13,800 getting people excited early who were paying attention, But it 1515 01:13:13,800 --> 01:13:17,560 was so easy to ignore IU football prior to this season. 1516 01:13:18,000 --> 01:13:22,000 And it wasn't just easy, it was often times safe. 1517 01:13:22,440 --> 01:13:26,640 It was the safe choice because you, you really did feel, you 1518 01:13:26,640 --> 01:13:30,080 know, at the end of it all, like you were, you were helping 1519 01:13:30,080 --> 01:13:33,680 yourself to a large degree by not putting yourself in a 1520 01:13:33,680 --> 01:13:36,720 position where you could get hurt emotionally if you tried to 1521 01:13:36,720 --> 01:13:40,440 care. And that's for this particular 1522 01:13:40,440 --> 01:13:45,040 season to have gone the way that it did and for the season to 1523 01:13:45,040 --> 01:13:46,680 have unfolded the way that it did. 1524 01:13:46,960 --> 01:13:51,280 I, I really do think it's, it's, it's why it's so hard to put 1525 01:13:51,280 --> 01:13:52,880 into words. I was trying to explain this to 1526 01:13:52,880 --> 01:13:56,160 somebody the other day, you know, when we got through the 1527 01:13:56,160 --> 01:13:59,480 UCLA game and you know, there was that great experience. 1528 01:13:59,480 --> 01:14:01,840 You win that game, you got all these IU fans out there in the 1529 01:14:01,840 --> 01:14:04,200 Rose Bowl. A lot of psychological baggage 1530 01:14:04,200 --> 01:14:06,280 gets shed there. You're like, hey, this team 1531 01:14:06,280 --> 01:14:08,440 could be pretty good. We didn't know how bad UCLA was 1532 01:14:08,440 --> 01:14:10,880 going to be, but you, you were like, wow, this was really, this 1533 01:14:10,880 --> 01:14:14,080 was cool. They beaten Northwestern after 1534 01:14:14,080 --> 01:14:17,040 beating Maryland and suddenly it's like, wow, this season has 1535 01:14:17,040 --> 01:14:18,800 the potential to be something special. 1536 01:14:18,800 --> 01:14:23,520 Like we could win 8 games and go to a bowl and then October goes 1537 01:14:23,520 --> 01:14:27,160 the way that it does and Indiana racks up not just wins with huge 1538 01:14:27,160 --> 01:14:31,120 wins in those games. They win a road game against 1539 01:14:31,120 --> 01:14:34,080 Michigan State, they win the the game day game, they win the Big 1540 01:14:34,080 --> 01:14:38,280 Noon kickoff game, they beat Michigan going into November. 1541 01:14:39,440 --> 01:14:41,480 It's just like a wave that didn't Crest. 1542 01:14:41,640 --> 01:14:43,840 And yeah, it crested a bit in the Ohio State game and 1543 01:14:43,840 --> 01:14:47,760 obviously essentially washes itself up on the shoreline here 1544 01:14:47,920 --> 01:14:50,720 in the College Football Playoff. But you know, Scott, you and I 1545 01:14:50,720 --> 01:14:52,760 have been doing this for a long time, podcasting. 1546 01:14:52,760 --> 01:14:55,280 We've been going to games and being fans a lot longer. 1547 01:14:55,920 --> 01:14:58,360 I mean, have you been able to figure out a way to put into 1548 01:14:58,360 --> 01:15:03,600 words how this has felt and what your overall like experience was 1549 01:15:03,600 --> 01:15:05,680 like throughout the course of this season? 1550 01:15:06,880 --> 01:15:09,120 Not really. But I will just say this, thank 1551 01:15:09,120 --> 01:15:10,840 you. I mean, like thank you to the 1552 01:15:10,840 --> 01:15:12,360 coaches, thank you to the players. 1553 01:15:12,360 --> 01:15:14,640 I mean, thank you to everybody who made this happen. 1554 01:15:15,600 --> 01:15:20,440 It's been, it's been awesome. It's been wild to really think 1555 01:15:20,440 --> 01:15:23,920 that we were part of a historical season. 1556 01:15:23,920 --> 01:15:25,840 You know, I might. My hope is, and I really do 1557 01:15:25,840 --> 01:15:29,840 believe this, this is the first step in turning IU into 1558 01:15:29,840 --> 01:15:32,160 something different. What that is, I don't know. 1559 01:15:32,360 --> 01:15:34,760 But it does really feel like we are turning into something 1560 01:15:34,760 --> 01:15:37,600 different. If we're right, that's awesome. 1561 01:15:37,920 --> 01:15:41,560 But even if we're wrong and it just becomes the Rose Bowl 1562 01:15:41,560 --> 01:15:45,280 season of 68, we lived it. I mean, we were there. 1563 01:15:45,280 --> 01:15:48,200 We we like we we got to be on this ride for the season. 1564 01:15:48,200 --> 01:15:49,520 I went to a majority of the games. 1565 01:15:49,520 --> 01:15:52,480 You went to all of the games. We talked about it the whole way 1566 01:15:52,880 --> 01:15:56,000 it, it was so awesome. And like we've been saying, you 1567 01:15:56,000 --> 01:15:58,560 only get to go up the mountain once, You know, now expectations 1568 01:15:58,560 --> 01:16:01,640 are slightly different. Not like I'm expecting the CFP 1569 01:16:01,640 --> 01:16:04,280 year after year, But you know, I don't think any coaches or 1570 01:16:04,280 --> 01:16:06,480 players are listening. But if they are just like, thank 1571 01:16:06,480 --> 01:16:08,840 you. Like it's, it's been so nice to 1572 01:16:08,840 --> 01:16:14,080 have to have this and to kind of, you know, I have something 1573 01:16:14,080 --> 01:16:15,480 special. Like it's those moments at 1574 01:16:15,480 --> 01:16:18,160 Memorial Stadium that I'm going that I'm going to remember, you 1575 01:16:18,160 --> 01:16:21,680 know, bringing my my wife wasn't able to go to the Washington 1576 01:16:21,680 --> 01:16:24,960 game, but being there with my son and just seeing all of the 1577 01:16:24,960 --> 01:16:27,720 flags and like just everybody there in the stadium full and 1578 01:16:27,720 --> 01:16:29,640 then getting ready for the Michigan game and telling my 1579 01:16:29,640 --> 01:16:30,760 wife, you're going to not believe this. 1580 01:16:30,760 --> 01:16:32,480 We've been going to games for like 15 years together. 1581 01:16:32,480 --> 01:16:33,840 Like this place is going to be full. 1582 01:16:33,840 --> 01:16:36,800 It's going to be fired up. And then it was, and then people 1583 01:16:36,800 --> 01:16:40,960 stayed and you know, I, I think back to some of those early 1584 01:16:40,960 --> 01:16:43,720 games, like the Maryland game where we were all in the rain 1585 01:16:43,720 --> 01:16:46,320 and you kind of looked around. It's like, dude, there's, 1586 01:16:46,680 --> 01:16:49,680 there's a real core sticking around for the fourth quarter. 1587 01:16:49,680 --> 01:16:52,880 It wasn't full, but it was like 38,000 people there. 1588 01:16:53,000 --> 01:16:55,760 And it's like, I don't remember seeing a, a stadium this full in 1589 01:16:55,760 --> 01:16:58,120 the rain in a game that's kind of wrapped up in the fourth 1590 01:16:58,120 --> 01:17:00,520 quarter. That something is, if you were 1591 01:17:00,520 --> 01:17:03,360 watching, you could feel it happening throughout the year. 1592 01:17:03,360 --> 01:17:05,600 And that's what was so cool. And then it kind of blew up and 1593 01:17:05,600 --> 01:17:10,280 hit and and then, you know, then it went to like the entire next 1594 01:17:10,280 --> 01:17:11,960 level. I remember walking around in 1595 01:17:11,960 --> 01:17:13,560 Iowa. I'm sorry, not sorry. 1596 01:17:13,680 --> 01:17:16,120 I mess on my joke Walker in Notre Dame and just like I saw 1597 01:17:16,120 --> 01:17:18,600 coach Tonsandi and I'm like, my joke was always like, is this 1598 01:17:18,600 --> 01:17:20,440 heaven from like, like feel the dreams? 1599 01:17:20,440 --> 01:17:22,680 Like are we in heaven? Like, Oh my God, like, what are 1600 01:17:22,680 --> 01:17:25,280 we doing here? But really that's that's my 1601 01:17:25,280 --> 01:17:28,240 thing is just thank you. And you know, you're probably 1602 01:17:28,240 --> 01:17:31,120 the one to have the better analog to this. 1603 01:17:31,560 --> 01:17:35,400 But the positive view that I have is, you know, you look at 1604 01:17:35,400 --> 01:17:37,840 North, you look at Wisconsin, a team that you mentioned now, 1605 01:17:37,840 --> 01:17:41,120 Barry Alvarez was there for a long time, but for years, up 1606 01:17:41,120 --> 01:17:44,680 until the 93 season, Wisconsin was just kind of like whatever 1607 01:17:44,960 --> 01:17:47,160 the five win team, six win team, whatever. 1608 01:17:47,720 --> 01:17:51,120 And then like boom and hit 1993, they're 10 and one. 1609 01:17:51,120 --> 01:17:52,760 They go to the Rose Bowl and they they won. 1610 01:17:52,760 --> 01:17:54,200 But they go to the Rose Bowl and they win. 1611 01:17:54,360 --> 01:17:55,920 Now it wasn't just a straight line up. 1612 01:17:55,920 --> 01:17:57,800 The next year, they're seven and four, they go to the Hall of 1613 01:17:57,800 --> 01:17:59,640 Fame Bowl. The year after they're four and 1614 01:17:59,640 --> 01:18:02,280 five, they don't make a bowl. But then it's like Boom, Copper 1615 01:18:02,280 --> 01:18:05,960 Bowl, Outback Bowl, Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl, Sun Bowl, no bowl. 1616 01:18:05,960 --> 01:18:08,000 But then, you know, you're just you're off to the races and 1617 01:18:08,000 --> 01:18:13,320 suddenly they're Wisconsin. And for so many years you look 1618 01:18:13,320 --> 01:18:15,640 and like Kansas State had a run like that, You know, George, 1619 01:18:15,760 --> 01:18:18,720 Virginia Tech had a run like that where it's like one season 1620 01:18:18,960 --> 01:18:21,640 just changes things and then it's like we are off for the 1621 01:18:21,640 --> 01:18:24,080 races and we are a different program. 1622 01:18:24,080 --> 01:18:25,520 Wisconsin's case. They're just like, we're just 1623 01:18:25,520 --> 01:18:27,880 going to go ahead and stay here. Like we're just going to stay in 1624 01:18:27,880 --> 01:18:32,480 this level. It it's really unbelievable that 1625 01:18:32,480 --> 01:18:36,040 we caught lightning in a bottle and we had that season and that 1626 01:18:36,040 --> 01:18:39,480 we now are on the trajectory where we could take that step 1627 01:18:39,480 --> 01:18:42,120 and become a different program. Iowa's the same way. 1628 01:18:42,320 --> 01:18:44,880 They were just kind of a normal program and they boom took a 1629 01:18:44,880 --> 01:18:47,960 step and they got there. Even Northwestern to a degree 1630 01:18:47,960 --> 01:18:52,280 got that Rose Bowl in 95 with Fitzgerald and they took a step 1631 01:18:52,280 --> 01:18:53,720 up and became a different program. 1632 01:18:53,760 --> 01:18:57,080 It's so unbelievable to leave. We just lived through that year. 1633 01:18:57,080 --> 01:19:00,120 We had that lightning in a bottle season and now we could 1634 01:19:00,120 --> 01:19:04,400 take that step up where I don't think we're going to be suddenly 1635 01:19:05,080 --> 01:19:06,960 like, you know, 123 in the big 10. 1636 01:19:06,960 --> 01:19:10,120 But look what Wisconsin did. They just hey, we're ahead of 1637 01:19:10,120 --> 01:19:11,720 Michigan State, we're ahead of Illinois. 1638 01:19:11,800 --> 01:19:13,520 We're just we're ahead of all these other schools and we're 1639 01:19:13,520 --> 01:19:15,840 just going to try and get to that next epsilon it to me, 1640 01:19:15,840 --> 01:19:17,840 that's the part that I have a hard time wrapping my mind 1641 01:19:17,840 --> 01:19:20,760 around is we just lived through that season and we could look 1642 01:19:20,760 --> 01:19:22,560 back in 20 years and be like that. 1643 01:19:23,280 --> 01:19:27,600 That was the changing point. And I will wrap by just saying 1644 01:19:27,600 --> 01:19:31,920 this like it is so cool to think back on the journey because it 1645 01:19:31,920 --> 01:19:34,720 was really like little steps if you were paying attention. 1646 01:19:34,720 --> 01:19:36,360 Like like you said, at this point in this year, it's like, 1647 01:19:36,520 --> 01:19:39,000 all right, Signetti seems like a cool hire. 1648 01:19:39,280 --> 01:19:41,560 Like we probably like, but it like you said, it's kind of 1649 01:19:41,560 --> 01:19:43,120 like, wow, Michigan State probably got the best guy. 1650 01:19:43,360 --> 01:19:45,760 Like that was kind of the it's kind of interesting hire. 1651 01:19:45,760 --> 01:19:47,400 Michigan State probably won this cycle. 1652 01:19:47,720 --> 01:19:49,600 And then it's like, I mean, honestly, it's that moment, 1653 01:19:49,600 --> 01:19:51,480 Assembly Hall, the Purdue sucks moment. 1654 01:19:51,480 --> 01:19:54,080 And it's like, ha, this guy's different. 1655 01:19:54,440 --> 01:19:56,440 And then you start hearing spring practice like, ha, 1656 01:19:57,040 --> 01:19:59,600 stuff's happening and then it just kind of it. 1657 01:19:59,600 --> 01:20:02,760 It's so cool how it layered and stacked on each other as it went 1658 01:20:02,760 --> 01:20:06,720 along. So there's they don't have any 1659 01:20:06,720 --> 01:20:07,680 answer no. And that's the thing. 1660 01:20:07,680 --> 01:20:10,480 And maybe this is something that we have to really marinate on 1661 01:20:10,480 --> 01:20:12,160 more. I'll say this like there's 1662 01:20:12,160 --> 01:20:15,440 there's like a a bunch of different levels of why this 1663 01:20:15,440 --> 01:20:17,840 season's been so impactful. And it's not just the wins and 1664 01:20:17,840 --> 01:20:21,600 the losses and it's not just the experiences, just in general, 1665 01:20:21,920 --> 01:20:25,400 it's, it's everything. And, and I guess here's here's 1666 01:20:25,400 --> 01:20:29,760 how I would look at it in terms of like from the standpoint of 1667 01:20:30,600 --> 01:20:33,640 the way the team played, they were such a joy to watch. 1668 01:20:33,640 --> 01:20:36,600 There was such a connection that formed relatively quickly 1669 01:20:36,600 --> 01:20:40,400 between the, the, the players, the coaching staff and the fans. 1670 01:20:40,400 --> 01:20:43,200 And that was one of the big things that was missing for a 1671 01:20:43,200 --> 01:20:46,120 long time. I mean, it just the, the results 1672 01:20:46,120 --> 01:20:47,800 weren't there, the play level wasn't there. 1673 01:20:47,800 --> 01:20:50,080 And it's obviously people are going to get more behind A-Team 1674 01:20:50,080 --> 01:20:54,440 that's playing really well. But it was palpable when you 1675 01:20:54,440 --> 01:20:57,080 were in the stadium, that connection that was there, 1676 01:20:57,080 --> 01:21:00,080 especially at the end of games. And that was really cool to see. 1677 01:21:00,440 --> 01:21:04,080 The number of people who suddenly felt like this was 1678 01:21:04,080 --> 01:21:08,600 worth devoting time and effort and energy and emotion to was 1679 01:21:08,600 --> 01:21:11,040 really interesting to to pay, you know, to see as we went 1680 01:21:11,040 --> 01:21:12,880 through the season. And again, the success played a 1681 01:21:12,880 --> 01:21:15,600 big role in that. And the the the success will 1682 01:21:15,600 --> 01:21:16,960 have to continue. I think one of the big 1683 01:21:16,960 --> 01:21:20,240 misconceptions in general that we've talked about for years on 1684 01:21:20,240 --> 01:21:23,600 this show is this idea that the fans need to be there first and 1685 01:21:23,600 --> 01:21:27,000 then the team will perform well. It's always been the opposite. 1686 01:21:27,280 --> 01:21:31,400 It's always been you have to have a foundation of winning and 1687 01:21:31,400 --> 01:21:33,560 that will get people into the stands. 1688 01:21:33,560 --> 01:21:35,400 And look, it, it doesn't mean you have to go to the College 1689 01:21:35,400 --> 01:21:37,640 Football Playoff every year, although that would be nice. 1690 01:21:37,840 --> 01:21:41,480 But it's unrealistic just because of all the things we've 1691 01:21:41,480 --> 01:21:46,040 talked about with scheduling. Doesn't you know, it has to, it 1692 01:21:46,080 --> 01:21:49,880 has so much to do with who you play and, and being in the SEC 1693 01:21:49,920 --> 01:21:52,880 and well or well or the Big 10. I mean, you have to be in a 1694 01:21:52,880 --> 01:21:54,880 position where you can put yourself in a position to be 1695 01:21:54,880 --> 01:21:57,040 successful. And there's going to be years 1696 01:21:57,320 --> 01:22:00,080 where Indiana's schedule is more favorable than other years. 1697 01:22:00,560 --> 01:22:02,520 And there's going to be years where another team has a more 1698 01:22:02,520 --> 01:22:04,960 favorable schedule. Like, you know, is Illinois in 1699 01:22:04,960 --> 01:22:08,200 the College Football Playoff if IU plays their schedule and vice 1700 01:22:08,200 --> 01:22:11,080 versa? Yeah, maybe it's it's entirely 1701 01:22:11,080 --> 01:22:13,000 possible. But you could also take the a 1702 01:22:13,000 --> 01:22:15,680 different approach on that. And the Illinois lost a couple 1703 01:22:15,680 --> 01:22:18,200 games they shouldn't have and Indiana was more dominant 1704 01:22:18,200 --> 01:22:19,760 throughout. So there's all these little 1705 01:22:19,760 --> 01:22:21,320 eddies and currents. And I don't know if that ever 1706 01:22:21,320 --> 01:22:24,600 gets fixed because of how spread out college football really is. 1707 01:22:24,880 --> 01:22:30,360 But to watch IU fans, many of them for the first time, I think 1708 01:22:30,360 --> 01:22:33,400 fully invest emotionally in IU football. 1709 01:22:33,840 --> 01:22:37,080 And you have talked to so many people up in South Bend and out 1710 01:22:37,080 --> 01:22:39,240 in Columbus and all the other places that I went to this 1711 01:22:39,240 --> 01:22:41,960 season, including the Memorial Stadium parking lot. 1712 01:22:42,480 --> 01:22:47,560 To hear the the the joy and the excitement of so many people who 1713 01:22:47,560 --> 01:22:49,280 had either. You know, they won a love 1714 01:22:49,280 --> 01:22:51,600 Indiana football, but it wasn't something that they felt like 1715 01:22:51,600 --> 01:22:54,400 they could do consistently because of how bad the teams 1716 01:22:54,400 --> 01:22:55,800 have been. And we heard Mitchell Page, who 1717 01:22:55,800 --> 01:22:58,640 played on the team, talk about how he and his his teammates 1718 01:22:58,640 --> 01:23:01,640 kind of, you know, it's it's been a real struggle because it 1719 01:23:01,640 --> 01:23:05,880 always seemed to default back to a level where Indiana wasn't 1720 01:23:05,880 --> 01:23:09,560 very good and Indiana wasn't taking the sport seriously. 1721 01:23:09,760 --> 01:23:11,720 And I think that's the other element of this season that's 1722 01:23:11,720 --> 01:23:16,160 been so special to me is to watch the institution finally 1723 01:23:16,160 --> 01:23:19,600 really embrace football and say we have to be good at this and 1724 01:23:19,600 --> 01:23:21,280 we have to put resources behind it. 1725 01:23:21,680 --> 01:23:24,120 Not doing that up to this point has been a choice. 1726 01:23:24,680 --> 01:23:28,240 And you know, if you look at Wisconsin, Wisconsin made a 1727 01:23:28,240 --> 01:23:31,000 choice in the early 1990s that they were going to commit to 1728 01:23:31,000 --> 01:23:32,760 football, that that was going to be their thing. 1729 01:23:32,760 --> 01:23:34,080 And they had been real bad before. 1730 01:23:34,080 --> 01:23:36,960 Now you think Wisconsin, you think football, you know, 1731 01:23:36,960 --> 01:23:40,600 Indiana's always had this available to them, but there's 1732 01:23:40,600 --> 01:23:43,840 never been the political will or the cultural will to actually 1733 01:23:43,840 --> 01:23:47,160 make it part of what Indiana's identity is. 1734 01:23:47,600 --> 01:23:50,760 And my hope and, and I think that this is true, you know, so 1735 01:23:50,760 --> 01:23:52,640 it's more than a hope as far as I'm concerned. 1736 01:23:53,160 --> 01:23:55,760 But it feels like Indiana University finally embraced 1737 01:23:55,760 --> 01:24:00,000 football as part of its identity and that we don't have to be a 1738 01:24:00,000 --> 01:24:03,040 basketball school and have that be the identity. 1739 01:24:03,120 --> 01:24:06,040 First of all, that hasn't worked out very well the last 25 years. 1740 01:24:06,320 --> 01:24:09,440 But second of all, there's so many people who want to be 1741 01:24:09,440 --> 01:24:11,960 football fans at Indiana. There's so many people who want 1742 01:24:11,960 --> 01:24:14,520 to have that be an important part of of what they think of 1743 01:24:14,520 --> 01:24:16,520 when they think about the institution of the whole as a 1744 01:24:16,520 --> 01:24:19,840 whole. And so to watch Indiana make a 1745 01:24:19,840 --> 01:24:24,480 great hire to watch Indiana then support that hire, give him a 1746 01:24:24,480 --> 01:24:26,760 contract that's commensurate with the accomplishments this 1747 01:24:26,760 --> 01:24:28,440 year. Keep the assistance that are 1748 01:24:28,440 --> 01:24:30,960 that we're here who did such a great job for most of the season 1749 01:24:31,360 --> 01:24:35,360 and say to the college football world and to their own fans, 1750 01:24:35,360 --> 01:24:37,120 we're not going anywhere. This wasn't a fluke. 1751 01:24:37,320 --> 01:24:40,120 This wasn't just something some magical season that then 1752 01:24:40,120 --> 01:24:42,640 disappears into the ether. This is going to be part of what 1753 01:24:42,640 --> 01:24:45,800 we're doing moving forward. That's such an important step. 1754 01:24:45,960 --> 01:24:48,000 Does it mean that next year's going to be as good? 1755 01:24:48,080 --> 01:24:50,880 No, it doesn't. Could it be sure like for the 1756 01:24:50,880 --> 01:24:55,000 first time in ever, I think Indiana plays neither Michigan 1757 01:24:55,200 --> 01:24:58,880 nor Ohio State next year. Now they got to go to Oregon. 1758 01:24:58,960 --> 01:25:00,800 That's that's tough. They got to go to Penn State. 1759 01:25:00,800 --> 01:25:02,320 That's tough. They got to go to Iowa. 1760 01:25:02,480 --> 01:25:05,120 But you know they they don't have to fuck after we play. 1761 01:25:05,120 --> 01:25:07,360 Don't forget the Indiana rule. They somehow it will be like 1762 01:25:07,360 --> 01:25:09,960 those games don't count now they don't have to play the toughest 1763 01:25:09,960 --> 01:25:12,640 teams historically that they've had to go up against in the big 1764 01:25:12,640 --> 01:25:14,560 10. This is the new reality. 1765 01:25:14,560 --> 01:25:17,320 It's a different world than it used to be and there's no reason 1766 01:25:17,320 --> 01:25:19,240 why Indiana can't be a big part of that world. 1767 01:25:19,480 --> 01:25:21,680 It's not all going to be a straight line upward. 1768 01:25:21,680 --> 01:25:24,120 It never is. But the fact that Indiana has 1769 01:25:24,120 --> 01:25:28,360 said we're going upward and we care about going upward and our 1770 01:25:28,360 --> 01:25:31,400 actions now demonstrate that. To me, that's one of the biggest 1771 01:25:31,400 --> 01:25:34,120 things I'll take away. Like as someone who's been an IU 1772 01:25:34,120 --> 01:25:37,840 football fan since the mid 80s, as someone who's been podcasting 1773 01:25:37,840 --> 01:25:41,320 about IU football since the late 2000s, as someone who sat 1774 01:25:41,320 --> 01:25:44,280 through a lot of bad seasons, done a lot of podcasts where I'm 1775 01:25:44,280 --> 01:25:46,000 like, why are we even bothering with this? 1776 01:25:46,000 --> 01:25:48,480 Shouldn't I go play with the kids or like assemble a model 1777 01:25:48,480 --> 01:25:52,240 airplane or something else? So like, you know, to, to, to 1778 01:25:52,240 --> 01:25:56,720 have this level of satisfaction delivered all at once. 1779 01:25:57,240 --> 01:25:59,160 I think it's been the hardest thing for me to get my head 1780 01:25:59,160 --> 01:26:01,120 wrapped around. And for a lot of the die hard IU 1781 01:26:01,120 --> 01:26:04,440 football fans I know, it's almost like we got everything we 1782 01:26:04,440 --> 01:26:08,160 asked for and we got it in a about a 2 1/2 month span. 1783 01:26:08,400 --> 01:26:10,520 And like, what do you do when that happens? 1784 01:26:10,520 --> 01:26:13,800 Like most lottery winners fundamentally don't understand 1785 01:26:13,800 --> 01:26:16,760 how all of the sudden they became financially secure, like 1786 01:26:16,760 --> 01:26:19,160 generationally speaking, overnight. 1787 01:26:19,320 --> 01:26:21,080 That's kind of how it felt with IU. 1788 01:26:21,240 --> 01:26:24,920 Unlike being a lottery winner, we can't just put, you know, 75% 1789 01:26:24,920 --> 01:26:28,720 of it in a, a, a, an S&P fund and, you know, not work the rest 1790 01:26:28,720 --> 01:26:30,960 of our lives. This is going to be incremental. 1791 01:26:31,120 --> 01:26:36,200 But what I hope we see out of this is the passion that we've 1792 01:26:36,200 --> 01:26:38,880 shown for IU football that many of the fans who are sitting here 1793 01:26:38,880 --> 01:26:41,680 watching and listening have shown Ferrari football over the 1794 01:26:41,680 --> 01:26:44,040 years. A there was a reward finally for 1795 01:26:44,040 --> 01:26:45,840 it. There was finally a reward on 1796 01:26:45,840 --> 01:26:49,520 the biggest stage, and it sets the table to maintain and 1797 01:26:49,520 --> 01:26:52,680 increase that passion and bring more people into the tent as 1798 01:26:52,680 --> 01:26:57,040 hopefully Indiana continues to establish its place among the 1799 01:26:57,040 --> 01:26:58,760 teams that matter in college football. 1800 01:26:58,760 --> 01:27:00,480 I think that's the thing that I'm going to take out of this 1801 01:27:00,480 --> 01:27:02,360 season the most is like the baseline's there. 1802 01:27:02,360 --> 01:27:04,800 Finally. We don't have to wish for a time 1803 01:27:05,040 --> 01:27:07,280 when that platform exists. The platform's there now. 1804 01:27:07,280 --> 01:27:08,320 Let's see what we can do with it. 1805 01:27:08,640 --> 01:27:10,440 I love the idea of IU winning the lottery. 1806 01:27:10,440 --> 01:27:11,840 Like what? What's like the, what's the 1807 01:27:11,840 --> 01:27:13,840 version of buying like the yellow Bugatti? 1808 01:27:13,840 --> 01:27:17,080 Like if we just like wrap the stadium in like a red and white, 1809 01:27:17,320 --> 01:27:21,480 like just some crazy like $10 million purchase of like, hey, 1810 01:27:21,480 --> 01:27:24,720 we bought the biggest, I don't know, like pregame tailgate 10 1811 01:27:24,880 --> 01:27:27,840 in the country. We'll get Jeremy Gray on that. 1812 01:27:27,840 --> 01:27:29,520 I'm sure he's got some ideas. You know the. 1813 01:27:29,800 --> 01:27:31,720 Biggest pal ever. No, but I think the other thing 1814 01:27:31,720 --> 01:27:34,800 that you said that is key is for for so many years and something 1815 01:27:34,800 --> 01:27:37,600 we talked about this podcast we hated talking about. 1816 01:27:38,000 --> 01:27:40,880 There was almost an adversarial approach between the team and 1817 01:27:40,880 --> 01:27:42,800 the fans. It was like the fans were pissed 1818 01:27:42,800 --> 01:27:45,200 the team for not winning. Then then you you would always 1819 01:27:45,200 --> 01:27:48,120 hear little bit barbs during some seasons of the team was 1820 01:27:48,120 --> 01:27:49,560 pissed the fans weren't showing up. 1821 01:27:49,760 --> 01:27:51,760 And it's like this, you know, do the fans have to do more? 1822 01:27:51,760 --> 01:27:53,240 Like why do IU football fans suck? 1823 01:27:53,240 --> 01:27:57,560 And the team like it, it always devolved into something very a 1824 01:27:57,560 --> 01:28:00,440 lot of animosity and it was never fun and I hated it. 1825 01:28:01,040 --> 01:28:03,440 And that was also something and and you know, winning is really 1826 01:28:03,440 --> 01:28:07,720 the core of all these things, but there was such a connection 1827 01:28:07,720 --> 01:28:11,840 with the fans and this team this year and it it's due to winning. 1828 01:28:11,840 --> 01:28:15,080 But it was also that the team of running over the student 1829 01:28:15,080 --> 01:28:17,640 section, the student section having like fun chance, the 1830 01:28:17,640 --> 01:28:19,880 student section moving this year, you know, the towels that 1831 01:28:19,880 --> 01:28:22,560 was born this year. There's so many the connection 1832 01:28:22,560 --> 01:28:25,160 points between fans and this team that I hope continue. 1833 01:28:25,480 --> 01:28:28,000 But but I think that's also what I loved so much. 1834 01:28:28,000 --> 01:28:31,640 Is it kind of washed away all of those anger, resentment, 1835 01:28:31,640 --> 01:28:34,440 feelings that it felt like for so many years you had between 1836 01:28:34,800 --> 01:28:37,880 fans and team that now it's like, all right, let's let's 1837 01:28:38,080 --> 01:28:40,640 we're all in this together and let's build this together. 1838 01:28:40,640 --> 01:28:44,200 And the other thing too, I, I do think it's, I'm going to kind of 1839 01:28:44,200 --> 01:28:46,160 go against what I'm going to say, but also like, I think it's 1840 01:28:46,160 --> 01:28:50,240 good that Indiana widened its view as opposed to just like, 1841 01:28:50,240 --> 01:28:51,120 hey, we got to win the bucket game. 1842 01:28:51,120 --> 01:28:52,200 Like what have you done to win the bucket? 1843 01:28:52,200 --> 01:28:53,440 Like let's, let's widen our view. 1844 01:28:53,960 --> 01:28:58,560 That said, in 1947, Indiana won the bucket game. 1845 01:28:59,160 --> 01:29:01,480 They didn't win it again until 1962. 1846 01:29:01,840 --> 01:29:05,240 Purdue went on just a run of kicking the snot out of Indiana. 1847 01:29:05,240 --> 01:29:09,240 There's one tie in there. We just beats Purdue 66 to 1848 01:29:09,240 --> 01:29:11,240 nothing. They fired their coach. 1849 01:29:11,840 --> 01:29:15,520 It does feel like let's go on one of those runs like the 1850 01:29:15,640 --> 01:29:18,120 Indiana's not all about just winning the bucket, but it sure 1851 01:29:18,120 --> 01:29:19,920 is nice to keep that bucket in Bloomington. 1852 01:29:20,280 --> 01:29:23,760 That's another kind of nice thing here is for so many years, 1853 01:29:23,760 --> 01:29:26,320 Indiana, it's just always been they're good we're bad vice 1854 01:29:26,320 --> 01:29:28,080 versa. They are one of our rivals. 1855 01:29:28,080 --> 01:29:29,480 We're going to play them every year. 1856 01:29:29,880 --> 01:29:31,960 Let's go on a nine year run. We're just kicking the shit out 1857 01:29:31,960 --> 01:29:34,680 of Purdue and just keep the bucket here for 9 or 10 years in 1858 01:29:34,680 --> 01:29:36,080 a row. Again, it's not it's not the 1859 01:29:36,080 --> 01:29:38,080 only thing we have to do. I I like that we've widened our 1860 01:29:38,080 --> 01:29:42,040 scope and we should, but I also would love to see us just let's 1861 01:29:42,080 --> 01:29:43,840 pound on them while they're having a hard time too. 1862 01:29:44,680 --> 01:29:46,840 I'm sure. I mean, of course I, I mean, I 1863 01:29:46,840 --> 01:29:50,200 just, I think that's such a, it's, it's like a tertiary thing 1864 01:29:50,200 --> 01:29:52,920 in the bigger narrative. It's, it's it's it's a nice 1865 01:29:52,960 --> 01:29:56,160 thing. I mean, look, ultimately it's 1866 01:29:56,160 --> 01:29:58,760 part of college football. You know, you want to be 1867 01:29:58,760 --> 01:30:00,600 superior to your rival. You're not going to beat your 1868 01:30:00,600 --> 01:30:03,880 rival every year. And look, 1948 was very 1869 01:30:03,880 --> 01:30:06,760 different from this era for a variety of reasons, not the 1870 01:30:06,760 --> 01:30:08,520 least of which was, you know, Indiana. 1871 01:30:09,160 --> 01:30:12,840 Indiana has had a a tradition to some degree of having its 1872 01:30:12,840 --> 01:30:17,920 greatest seasons in abnormal years or periods. 1873 01:30:18,240 --> 01:30:21,360 You look at how good Indiana was in the 40s, it was largely 1874 01:30:21,360 --> 01:30:23,400 because of the disruption of World War 2. 1875 01:30:23,800 --> 01:30:28,840 You look at Indiana winning the the winning the title in 1967 1876 01:30:28,840 --> 01:30:31,120 and going to the Rose Bowl, the Big 10 title, that was a very 1877 01:30:31,120 --> 01:30:33,800 weird year in the Big 10. Like you had a down Ohio State 1878 01:30:33,800 --> 01:30:37,000 that year, you had a down Michigan that year down Michigan 1879 01:30:37,000 --> 01:30:39,240 State who had won the title I think the previous year or the 1880 01:30:39,240 --> 01:30:40,720 year before, like the national title. 1881 01:30:41,440 --> 01:30:45,360 You know, Indiana, they had the 2020 season, which it was one of 1882 01:30:45,360 --> 01:30:46,760 the top three or four best seasons. 1883 01:30:46,760 --> 01:30:48,680 That was obviously disrupted by COVID. 1884 01:30:49,000 --> 01:30:51,160 This was also a disrupted year to some degree. 1885 01:30:51,160 --> 01:30:54,640 New conferences, mega conferences, 12 team playoff. 1886 01:30:55,280 --> 01:30:57,840 But I think the difference between all of those years and 1887 01:30:57,840 --> 01:31:02,120 this year and as we think about moving forward is the 1888 01:31:02,120 --> 01:31:04,520 investments that Indiana's making behind the scenes. 1889 01:31:04,520 --> 01:31:07,040 And, you know, we've got somebody who's, you know, 1890 01:31:07,040 --> 01:31:09,480 decided that they have to be the turd in the punch bowl in the 1891 01:31:09,480 --> 01:31:11,880 comments section being like, Oh yeah, you know, India just did 1892 01:31:11,880 --> 01:31:14,880 this because of a bad schedule. And you get a bunch of guys from 1893 01:31:14,880 --> 01:31:17,280 one school transit, you know, transfer in. 1894 01:31:18,200 --> 01:31:21,000 Look, you could certainly have that be the framing. 1895 01:31:21,880 --> 01:31:25,040 Keep in mind, Indiana did all of this with nowhere near the 1896 01:31:25,040 --> 01:31:27,720 levels of investment that they are now demonstrating. 1897 01:31:28,240 --> 01:31:33,480 And the idea that you haven't built a culture based upon the 1898 01:31:33,480 --> 01:31:35,960 culture that was somewhat imported, like the, the idea 1899 01:31:35,960 --> 01:31:39,040 that somehow is disappearing as opposed to, well, now that's 1900 01:31:39,040 --> 01:31:42,240 just been absorbed by IU. And now you can add to it with 1901 01:31:42,240 --> 01:31:47,360 more athletic pieces or faster pieces is very it's, it's the 1902 01:31:47,360 --> 01:31:53,000 kind of thinking that is I think illustrative of, oh, if Indiana, 1903 01:31:53,000 --> 01:31:56,320 like they used to in the old times was like, oh, hey, we had 1904 01:31:56,320 --> 01:31:58,440 a great season, but we're gonna keep doing things exactly the 1905 01:31:58,440 --> 01:32:00,040 same way that we've done them in the past. 1906 01:32:00,040 --> 01:32:02,800 Sure, I might give some credence to that argument, but there's 1907 01:32:02,800 --> 01:32:06,160 so, so many other things now structurally that Indiana's 1908 01:32:06,160 --> 01:32:08,640 building up in terms of staff support, in terms of coach 1909 01:32:08,640 --> 01:32:12,560 support, in terms of NIL money. Indiana's got we we saw that 1910 01:32:12,800 --> 01:32:16,480 that listing the other day, like Indiana for NIL and football is 1911 01:32:16,480 --> 01:32:19,040 like top 15, top 20 in the country. 1912 01:32:19,360 --> 01:32:23,200 I mean, that's that's. Our NIL numbers are so high and, 1913 01:32:23,200 --> 01:32:25,080 but when you talk about, you know, sleeping giants, no one 1914 01:32:25,080 --> 01:32:26,560 ever talks about Indiana. But it's like, sure. 1915 01:32:26,560 --> 01:32:28,760 Well, well, we're. Paying our coaches in the top 1916 01:32:28,760 --> 01:32:32,720 15, we have top ten NIL money. It's a fertile recruiting 1917 01:32:32,720 --> 01:32:34,720 ground. And you've got look and look, 1918 01:32:34,720 --> 01:32:37,320 you've got to you've got to raise the baseline level of the 1919 01:32:37,320 --> 01:32:38,880 roster and that's going to take some time. 1920 01:32:38,880 --> 01:32:41,400 And that's been kind of the interesting thing about this 1921 01:32:41,400 --> 01:32:46,160 season is watching what Indiana did, all these people that I've 1922 01:32:46,160 --> 01:32:48,760 seen, and this is this has been a common narrative throughout a 1923 01:32:48,760 --> 01:32:52,320 bunch of what I've been looking at in comments on Twitter and 1924 01:32:52,320 --> 01:32:53,880 even in some of our show comments. 1925 01:32:54,720 --> 01:32:56,640 Everyone's like, Indiana's not going to be as good next year 1926 01:32:56,640 --> 01:32:57,880 because they're going to lose XY and Z. 1927 01:32:57,880 --> 01:33:00,560 And it's like, I mean, who thought Indiana was going to be 1928 01:33:00,560 --> 01:33:03,320 this good this year? Like, you know, they, they took 1929 01:33:03,320 --> 01:33:05,400 all of these pieces, cobbled them together. 1930 01:33:05,400 --> 01:33:07,960 And it wasn't just the JMU guys. It was also these random 1931 01:33:07,960 --> 01:33:10,320 transfers from elsewhere. It was also guys on the roster 1932 01:33:10,960 --> 01:33:13,080 that that had come out of the Allen era. 1933 01:33:13,320 --> 01:33:16,640 Not a whole lot of people honestly thought that that group 1934 01:33:16,640 --> 01:33:20,560 as a core was going to be a part of anything other than maybe a 1935 01:33:20,560 --> 01:33:24,560 six or seven win season. To watch all of that assemble 1936 01:33:25,040 --> 01:33:27,400 and to watch them execute as well as they did. 1937 01:33:27,720 --> 01:33:30,800 And you know, whatever you want to say about the the supposed 1938 01:33:30,800 --> 01:33:34,120 quality of the schedule, all of the computer numbers that 1939 01:33:34,120 --> 01:33:36,800 demonstrate who the top teams are in the country in terms of 1940 01:33:36,800 --> 01:33:39,640 how well they play against teams and how well they beat teams and 1941 01:33:39,640 --> 01:33:42,480 how dominant they are. Had Indiana as a top ten team in 1942 01:33:42,480 --> 01:33:43,880 the country, every single one of them. 1943 01:33:44,120 --> 01:33:47,120 So even the. Weinbaum, who has the SEC filter 1944 01:33:47,120 --> 01:33:50,520 just turned on like only SEC. So, so look, that's what gives 1945 01:33:50,520 --> 01:33:53,360 me optimism about the future is you have a smart coaching staff 1946 01:33:53,360 --> 01:33:55,240 who clearly knows how to build and sustain pain. 1947 01:33:55,240 --> 01:33:57,640 And again, it's like you can go back and look at look at what 1948 01:33:57,640 --> 01:33:59,960 Signetti did at Elon and look at what he did at JMU. 1949 01:33:59,960 --> 01:34:02,600 It wasn't like they had success immediately and then faded. 1950 01:34:02,880 --> 01:34:06,040 They had success and then moved into an echelon where they 1951 01:34:06,040 --> 01:34:09,920 became for, for their station in football, relatively dominant. 1952 01:34:09,920 --> 01:34:12,960 And so that is where I'm really looking forward to seeing what 1953 01:34:12,960 --> 01:34:14,240 they do. They've made some good moves in 1954 01:34:14,240 --> 01:34:16,000 the portal already. Clearly have to get a 1955 01:34:16,000 --> 01:34:18,240 quarterback. You know, we saw the news that 1956 01:34:18,240 --> 01:34:21,440 Tavin Jackson's in the portal, which I think indicates they've 1957 01:34:21,440 --> 01:34:24,040 probably zeroed in on somebody. We'll have to see who it is, but 1958 01:34:24,320 --> 01:34:27,640 they've made some good moves already to not just stabilize 1959 01:34:27,640 --> 01:34:30,320 the roster but to upgrade in certain areas and I'm really 1960 01:34:30,320 --> 01:34:31,920 looking forward to seeing what they do now. 1961 01:34:31,920 --> 01:34:34,680 We had a question from earlier on from Andy. 1962 01:34:35,440 --> 01:34:37,760 How far has the bar been realistically raised? 1963 01:34:37,760 --> 01:34:40,280 Six and six in a bowl here and there was the previous bar. 1964 01:34:40,440 --> 01:34:43,240 I would argue that wasn't the previous bar, like the previous 1965 01:34:43,240 --> 01:34:46,440 bar was like 5:00 and 7:00 and it was like, well, we were, hey, 1966 01:34:46,440 --> 01:34:48,600 if we win the bucket game, we're gonna we could potentially go to 1967 01:34:48,640 --> 01:34:50,880 a bowl. There was a, an, an implicit 1968 01:34:52,320 --> 01:34:55,080 agreement there. I think that, well, six and six 1969 01:34:55,080 --> 01:34:57,040 was actually a successful season. 1970 01:34:57,160 --> 01:35:00,440 It wasn't even the bar. It was that was that was over 1971 01:35:00,480 --> 01:35:02,800 like getting over the bar. It was getting to six and six. 1972 01:35:03,320 --> 01:35:07,320 So look, I think right now, if you look at the way that the Big 1973 01:35:07,320 --> 01:35:10,120 10 schedules layout and you look at the way that Indiana's 1974 01:35:10,120 --> 01:35:13,760 scheduling as they continue to build their roster up, you know, 1975 01:35:13,760 --> 01:35:16,960 I think the, you know, bowl eligibility now becomes the bar. 1976 01:35:16,960 --> 01:35:20,320 Anything below that is is going to be looked upon poorly. 1977 01:35:20,320 --> 01:35:23,280 But I think look, you look at the schedule next year and you 1978 01:35:23,280 --> 01:35:25,240 look at what Indiana's going to have coming back, a lot of it's 1979 01:35:25,240 --> 01:35:27,320 going to be dependent on who's the new quarterback. 1980 01:35:28,240 --> 01:35:31,560 But I think 789 wins somewhere in that range. 1981 01:35:31,560 --> 01:35:33,200 Yes. And we predicted that this year 1982 01:35:33,200 --> 01:35:34,440 as well. That's where we thought Indiana 1983 01:35:34,440 --> 01:35:38,400 was going to go. But I think for for Indiana, at 1984 01:35:38,400 --> 01:35:41,720 this point, it really becomes, I think that, you know, the bar is 1985 01:35:41,720 --> 01:35:44,440 not so much the record, but like, who did you beat in the 1986 01:35:44,440 --> 01:35:46,320 games that you were playing in the given year? 1987 01:35:46,720 --> 01:35:49,320 And I think the idea that you you got to turn Memorial Stadium 1988 01:35:49,320 --> 01:35:52,960 into a fortress, you've got to when you're playing teams that 1989 01:35:52,960 --> 01:35:56,160 are equivalent to you, you need to be able to beat those teams. 1990 01:35:56,480 --> 01:35:59,320 And when you're playing whoever the big dogs are within the 1991 01:35:59,320 --> 01:36:03,120 conference at a given point in the year, you know, that's 1992 01:36:03,360 --> 01:36:05,200 that's going to be an interesting circumstance to 1993 01:36:05,200 --> 01:36:08,480 watch for Indiana as they they start to shed. 1994 01:36:08,480 --> 01:36:10,920 And I think this kind of goes back to the Signetti comments. 1995 01:36:11,160 --> 01:36:12,760 You have to start thinking of yourself. 1996 01:36:12,760 --> 01:36:16,160 If you're Indiana as a team that belongs there. 1997 01:36:16,160 --> 01:36:18,440 And that's a that's a player thing, that's a coach thing. 1998 01:36:18,880 --> 01:36:21,080 You know, for as much as you want to criticize Signetti about 1999 01:36:21,080 --> 01:36:24,200 about comments and not you all, but some people do, you have to 2000 01:36:24,200 --> 01:36:25,760 have that expectation in your brain. 2001 01:36:25,760 --> 01:36:28,600 That's how this stuff works. And so I think the overall 2002 01:36:28,600 --> 01:36:31,320 baseline expectation now is like, we're not in for 2003 01:36:31,320 --> 01:36:33,560 participation trophies. We're not in to just beat 2004 01:36:33,560 --> 01:36:34,920 Purdue. Going back to what you were 2005 01:36:34,920 --> 01:36:38,640 saying earlier, it's about that's that's stuff that 2006 01:36:38,640 --> 01:36:41,640 programs that aren't focused on being amongst the best teams in 2007 01:36:41,640 --> 01:36:43,440 the conference or the best teams in the country, which are 2008 01:36:43,440 --> 01:36:44,840 basically synonymous at this point. 2009 01:36:45,000 --> 01:36:47,240 That's the stuff that they focus on now. 2010 01:36:47,240 --> 01:36:48,720 The focus has got to be at a higher level. 2011 01:36:48,720 --> 01:36:50,800 That's where I think the focus probably is, and that's where 2012 01:36:50,800 --> 01:36:53,640 the bar is at now. So to answer the question for 2013 01:36:53,720 --> 01:36:55,960 for me, and I was telling some of this the other day, you know, 2014 01:36:55,960 --> 01:36:58,760 for me, the bar I think still is six wins in a bowl. 2015 01:36:59,560 --> 01:37:02,160 And and I think it's going to be that for A and I've got to hold 2016 01:37:02,160 --> 01:37:05,200 myself for this too. Let's stack a couple of those 2017 01:37:05,200 --> 01:37:07,360 years on top of each other. You know, like you said, it's 2018 01:37:07,360 --> 01:37:09,000 not a straight line. I came back, all right, we won, 2019 01:37:09,560 --> 01:37:11,480 we won 11 games a year. We got to go for 12 next year. 2020 01:37:11,680 --> 01:37:14,160 You know, eight wins next year would still be amazing. 2021 01:37:14,200 --> 01:37:17,640 Like this is still a program. It's it's a one year sample 2022 01:37:17,640 --> 01:37:19,240 size. And so it let we've got to start 2023 01:37:19,240 --> 01:37:23,120 stacking competitive good years on top of each other. 2024 01:37:23,120 --> 01:37:26,200 So to me, it's like, I think this year, next year, maybe even 2025 01:37:26,200 --> 01:37:28,640 the year after six wins in the bowl, like let's just get and 2026 01:37:28,640 --> 01:37:30,240 stay competitive. I think what you said is 2027 01:37:30,240 --> 01:37:33,960 perfectly 100% right. Let's let's make Memorial 2028 01:37:33,960 --> 01:37:36,200 Stadium a place you can win. You look at the, the schedule 2029 01:37:36,200 --> 01:37:38,640 for next year, you know, Old Dominion, Kennesaw State, 2030 01:37:38,640 --> 01:37:43,360 Indiana State, yes, Illinois, Michigan State, UCLA and 2031 01:37:43,360 --> 01:37:46,120 Wisconsin, you could win that slate, win all your home games. 2032 01:37:46,120 --> 01:37:50,120 And and then I do think it's not like it has to happen next year, 2033 01:37:50,120 --> 01:37:52,640 But I think you're also right. And I know I made the the bucket 2034 01:37:52,640 --> 01:37:53,880 comment. I agree with like, we've got to 2035 01:37:53,880 --> 01:37:57,160 take a step up in our our view. You know, you're playing at 2036 01:37:57,160 --> 01:37:59,440 Iowa, you're playing at Oregon, you're playing at Penn State. 2037 01:37:59,760 --> 01:38:01,680 Let's get one of those. Like let's see if we can get one 2038 01:38:01,680 --> 01:38:04,240 of those because that if you lose all of those and then then 2039 01:38:04,400 --> 01:38:07,320 it becomes all right, can can we get to the top level and start 2040 01:38:07,320 --> 01:38:10,560 competing with those other teams, you know, at home away 2041 01:38:10,560 --> 01:38:14,120 like, but we're not there yet. And to me it's still like what, 2042 01:38:14,120 --> 01:38:16,440 you know, those are things I think are aspirational and goals 2043 01:38:16,440 --> 01:38:18,720 we need to look at. But to me, I think for 2044 01:38:18,720 --> 01:38:22,120 everybody, it can't be that we're, you know, getting pissed 2045 01:38:22,120 --> 01:38:24,240 in an 8 win season. We're not there yet. 2046 01:38:24,960 --> 01:38:26,920 We we've just had our first winning season. 2047 01:38:27,160 --> 01:38:29,800 When was the last time we had back-to-back winning seasons or 2048 01:38:29,800 --> 01:38:31,320 three straight seasons? We went to a bowl. 2049 01:38:31,320 --> 01:38:32,400 It's been a while. Well, let's. 2050 01:38:32,680 --> 01:38:35,160 Do that. Let's stack and stack and stack. 2051 01:38:35,160 --> 01:38:38,440 But I will say, you know, another point that you made that 2052 01:38:38,440 --> 01:38:42,360 I think is very valid and true is that the the administration 2053 01:38:42,600 --> 01:38:47,120 has shown a an ability to support this team that they 2054 01:38:47,120 --> 01:38:50,400 haven't in the past in that you have, you know, you have 2055 01:38:50,480 --> 01:38:53,200 Signetti making what, $8 million? 2056 01:38:53,200 --> 01:38:56,360 Like he's in the top 12 of 12 or 15 of coaches in the country. 2057 01:38:56,360 --> 01:38:58,400 Now, obviously other people are going to get raises, but what 2058 01:38:58,400 --> 01:39:00,760 that tells me is that that's where you're at now. 2059 01:39:01,280 --> 01:39:02,760 Like now, now you're in that echelon. 2060 01:39:02,760 --> 01:39:04,720 You're just we're going to play in that space and we're going to 2061 01:39:04,720 --> 01:39:06,640 stay there. And like if something happens, 2062 01:39:06,640 --> 01:39:08,280 the next coach is going to make more. 2063 01:39:08,320 --> 01:39:09,680 Very rarely do they go back down. 2064 01:39:09,840 --> 01:39:12,280 You've raised the assistant pool, which I think Signetti has 2065 01:39:12,280 --> 01:39:14,840 a big piece in doing. That was always the biggest 2066 01:39:14,840 --> 01:39:16,800 thing we had. It's like your assistants are 2067 01:39:16,800 --> 01:39:20,600 making less than sometimes head coaches in in programs like they 2068 01:39:20,600 --> 01:39:22,720 have to make more. They're now making that. 2069 01:39:22,720 --> 01:39:24,960 That'll continue. So you're you're playing in the 2070 01:39:24,960 --> 01:39:28,080 spaces you need to play in, which which hasn't been the case 2071 01:39:28,080 --> 01:39:31,040 in the past, which means you're going to get the talent at both 2072 01:39:31,040 --> 01:39:33,280 the coaching and the player level that you haven't gotten in 2073 01:39:33,280 --> 01:39:36,200 the past either. But for me, let's stack a couple 2074 01:39:36,200 --> 01:39:39,800 of six win bowl seasons back-to-back to back, and then 2075 01:39:39,800 --> 01:39:41,520 we can look at raising that bar again. 2076 01:39:41,560 --> 01:39:43,440 Well, the one I don't, I don't know if I totally agree with 2077 01:39:43,440 --> 01:39:44,720 that. I mean, the one thing is 2078 01:39:44,720 --> 01:39:48,560 historically, and it's what's made this season so weird in in 2079 01:39:48,560 --> 01:39:51,880 a good way, six and six. I mean, it will and I and I I 2080 01:39:51,880 --> 01:39:56,200 think that's that's aiming too low because of the reality of 2081 01:39:56,200 --> 01:39:59,600 how rosters get assembled now. And you know, you when you point 2082 01:39:59,600 --> 01:40:03,160 back to Alvarez at Wisconsin or when you point to, you know, 2083 01:40:03,360 --> 01:40:06,240 Ference coming in at Iowa, that wasn't as big of a disaster. 2084 01:40:06,240 --> 01:40:09,040 But it it you know, or Tiller, you know, Tiller coming into 2085 01:40:09,040 --> 01:40:10,720 Purdue was kind of a unique circumstance. 2086 01:40:10,720 --> 01:40:14,400 But you know, the idea of like, how do you raise the bar of your 2087 01:40:14,400 --> 01:40:16,640 roster? You can do it a lot faster now, 2088 01:40:16,640 --> 01:40:17,960 but you have to do it every year. 2089 01:40:18,240 --> 01:40:20,840 And and this is where the recruiting is going to be 2090 01:40:20,840 --> 01:40:22,680 important. What happens in terms of 2091 01:40:22,680 --> 01:40:25,600 recruiting? In in terms of like, you know, 2092 01:40:25,960 --> 01:40:28,960 this cycle, yes, Indiana's rating, I think in recruiting 2093 01:40:28,960 --> 01:40:32,600 they ended like 38th or 39th. Well, that's because most 2094 01:40:32,600 --> 01:40:34,840 recruiting lags a year behind results. 2095 01:40:35,520 --> 01:40:38,880 But it's also OK, who can you get in the portal and how do you 2096 01:40:38,880 --> 01:40:41,520 use your resources? And there's going to be some 2097 01:40:41,520 --> 01:40:44,480 interesting theories floated in college football and Indiana's 2098 01:40:44,480 --> 01:40:45,840 going to be right there along with them. 2099 01:40:46,040 --> 01:40:49,520 Where do you allocate your resources for NIL? 2100 01:40:49,680 --> 01:40:52,480 How do you spread those out amongst the different aspects of 2101 01:40:52,480 --> 01:40:55,600 your roster? Indiana's in an interesting spot 2102 01:40:55,600 --> 01:40:58,760 where they can't afford to spend an insane amount of money on one 2103 01:40:58,760 --> 01:41:01,440 player or two players because they need to be able to spend a 2104 01:41:01,440 --> 01:41:04,000 lot of money on a lot of players to try to raise their floor. 2105 01:41:04,680 --> 01:41:08,320 And I think Indiana really took advantage of a lot of 2106 01:41:08,400 --> 01:41:12,120 efficiencies amongst available players in the transfer portal 2107 01:41:12,120 --> 01:41:14,240 this last year. They took advantage of being 2108 01:41:14,240 --> 01:41:16,080 able to spread their NIL mountie out quite a bit. 2109 01:41:16,080 --> 01:41:17,880 They've clearly got quite a bit of NIL money. 2110 01:41:18,440 --> 01:41:22,120 What they do and and how they approach these next few years in 2111 01:41:22,120 --> 01:41:24,920 terms of how they assemble the roster, who they put in what 2112 01:41:24,920 --> 01:41:27,520 spots, that's going to be the fascinating thing for me. 2113 01:41:27,520 --> 01:41:30,200 And it's what makes what you just said, while it makes sense, 2114 01:41:30,200 --> 01:41:33,520 I think traditionally and historically it's a different 2115 01:41:33,520 --> 01:41:37,080 calculus now in terms of what your program looks like then 2116 01:41:37,080 --> 01:41:39,680 what it then what you would think about even five years ago 2117 01:41:39,680 --> 01:41:41,000 because of all these different rules. 2118 01:41:41,000 --> 01:41:44,160 So I'm really fascinated to see how it all turns out. 2119 01:41:44,320 --> 01:41:46,800 It's going to be really curious to see how Indiana approaches 2120 01:41:46,800 --> 01:41:48,360 this. I think they've got a coaching 2121 01:41:48,360 --> 01:41:50,320 staff that really knows how to put a roster together and 2122 01:41:50,560 --> 01:41:53,440 assemble talent. You know, trying to keep all 2123 01:41:53,440 --> 01:41:56,360 that talent happy as a as a problem, trying to make sure 2124 01:41:56,360 --> 01:41:58,720 that you're raising the bar so that you're not so outclassed 2125 01:41:58,720 --> 01:42:01,720 athletically against bigger competition is important. 2126 01:42:02,000 --> 01:42:04,360 But that's going to be part of what's going to make IU 2127 01:42:04,360 --> 01:42:05,840 football. I think so fun to watch over the 2128 01:42:05,840 --> 01:42:09,000 next five years is we're going to watch them try to navigate 2129 01:42:09,000 --> 01:42:12,600 this in a way that gives them advantages that they don't have 2130 01:42:12,600 --> 01:42:14,960 inherently, given the lack of historical success in the 2131 01:42:14,960 --> 01:42:15,880 program. Yeah. 2132 01:42:15,880 --> 01:42:18,080 I mean, the the thing for next year specifically, that's going 2133 01:42:18,080 --> 01:42:19,960 to be interesting. And I think back to all the 2134 01:42:19,960 --> 01:42:23,240 podcasts we've done over the years, you talk about all like 2135 01:42:23,400 --> 01:42:26,600 we're bringing a lot of the pieces back from this team, but 2136 01:42:26,600 --> 01:42:28,280 we're not bringing our quarterback back. 2137 01:42:28,440 --> 01:42:30,880 And for so many years, we would you and I would talk about all 2138 01:42:30,880 --> 01:42:32,160 these pieces on the left and the right. 2139 01:42:32,160 --> 01:42:34,400 And it's like, I remember, I always get to November and it's 2140 01:42:34,400 --> 01:42:36,680 like, it's the quarterback, like our quarterback, you know, stuff 2141 01:42:36,680 --> 01:42:39,800 that went down, we're done. Like that's just that is it so 2142 01:42:39,800 --> 01:42:43,040 much this is, is going to be who is our quarterback next year? 2143 01:42:43,040 --> 01:42:45,240 And can they run the system that Signetti wants to run? 2144 01:42:45,560 --> 01:42:48,040 And we don't know that answer. And that answer could be great. 2145 01:42:48,040 --> 01:42:49,720 It could not, but we just don't know that answer yet. 2146 01:42:49,720 --> 01:42:53,680 And I think that's that's the real only not negative, but 2147 01:42:53,680 --> 01:42:55,680 just, you know, it's like that would have been awesome if if 2148 01:42:55,680 --> 01:42:57,160 Rourke had one more year of eligible. 2149 01:42:57,160 --> 01:42:59,200 Can we, if we see if he can got a COVID year, like everyone's 2150 01:42:59,200 --> 01:43:01,920 got nine year, like can can Hunter Dickinson give up one of 2151 01:43:01,920 --> 01:43:03,960 his years? He seems just having reserve and 2152 01:43:03,960 --> 01:43:07,040 just give it to Rourke. That'd be nice that that's the 2153 01:43:07,040 --> 01:43:08,280 only thing. It's like, man, that would have 2154 01:43:08,280 --> 01:43:09,800 been a nice piece to keep one more year. 2155 01:43:09,800 --> 01:43:11,560 And then we really have some continuity there. 2156 01:43:11,680 --> 01:43:16,000 But we don't I I, I have faith that Signetti and his staff will 2157 01:43:16,000 --> 01:43:18,560 get the right person there. But I think that's, that's the 2158 01:43:18,560 --> 01:43:20,240 biggest question mark for next year. 2159 01:43:20,240 --> 01:43:23,120 And it will be nice to have, you know, if you can get a two year, 2160 01:43:23,120 --> 01:43:25,320 2, two or three-year run with a quarterback, that would be 2161 01:43:25,320 --> 01:43:26,880 awesome. Because in the end, that really 2162 01:43:26,880 --> 01:43:31,040 is that's really the answer for, for, for for us if if we could 2163 01:43:31,040 --> 01:43:33,160 do that. But that's that's all for next 2164 01:43:33,160 --> 01:43:35,040 year. We'll see what happens. 2165 01:43:35,080 --> 01:43:37,720 I mean, obviously, I think the being in the College Football 2166 01:43:37,720 --> 01:43:39,960 Playoff has pushed the portal stuff back a little bit. 2167 01:43:39,960 --> 01:43:42,240 Curtis Rook had already committed to IU by this time 2168 01:43:42,240 --> 01:43:43,880 last year. He committed on the 14th. 2169 01:43:43,880 --> 01:43:46,640 And so I'm expecting Indiana will will figure out what 2170 01:43:46,640 --> 01:43:48,600 they're going to do with the quarterback position here pretty 2171 01:43:48,600 --> 01:43:49,360 soon. And it's going to look 2172 01:43:49,360 --> 01:43:50,800 different. I think it's going to the 2173 01:43:50,800 --> 01:43:53,000 offense is going to look different the way Indiana plays 2174 01:43:53,000 --> 01:43:55,800 going to look different, just like it looked different this 2175 01:43:55,800 --> 01:43:58,800 year based upon what they've done the previous year given the 2176 01:43:58,800 --> 01:44:01,520 circumstances. So a lot to look forward to. 2177 01:44:01,520 --> 01:44:04,400 And I think it's, you know, what we'll do is we've, we've gone on 2178 01:44:04,400 --> 01:44:07,640 almost an hour and 45 here. We're going to go ahead and kind 2179 01:44:07,960 --> 01:44:12,760 of turn things down and, and let this podcast episode expire. 2180 01:44:13,200 --> 01:44:16,000 We got a lot more to talk about though, as we move forward over 2181 01:44:16,000 --> 01:44:18,120 the course of of the next weeks and months. 2182 01:44:18,120 --> 01:44:20,280 And we'll be keeping track of what's going on with IU football 2183 01:44:20,280 --> 01:44:24,520 and, and bringing you folks into the mix as well as this is a 2184 01:44:24,520 --> 01:44:26,160 football program you're going to pay attention to. 2185 01:44:26,160 --> 01:44:29,640 It's going to be a lot of fun as we move ahead watching this 2186 01:44:29,640 --> 01:44:33,120 Indiana team figure out how to compete with the elites and how 2187 01:44:33,120 --> 01:44:35,880 to continue to to keep the fans excited. 2188 01:44:36,080 --> 01:44:38,760 I think they made a lot of strides this year and I can't 2189 01:44:38,760 --> 01:44:41,160 wait to see how this plays out as we move forward. 2190 01:44:41,360 --> 01:44:45,160 I have a final question for you. Yeah, if you walk around the IU 2191 01:44:45,160 --> 01:44:49,480 stadium, they have a section on the South end zone, like on the 2192 01:44:49,560 --> 01:44:51,280 on the outer ring. It shows like all of the bowl 2193 01:44:51,280 --> 01:44:54,040 games we've made. And that's on the outside of the 2194 01:44:54,040 --> 01:44:56,440 stadium. You could definitely put, you 2195 01:44:56,440 --> 01:44:57,520 know, College Football Playoff there. 2196 01:44:57,840 --> 01:45:01,400 I, I'm curious, where do you, you know, where, where do you 2197 01:45:01,400 --> 01:45:04,040 put the recognition of this team making the College Football 2198 01:45:04,040 --> 01:45:07,760 Playoff in Memorial Stadium? Do you have a, a flag, a, a 2199 01:45:07,760 --> 01:45:09,720 thing? I'm just, I'm just just for fun, 2200 01:45:09,720 --> 01:45:12,240 kind of a marketing exercise like you, you, this is something 2201 01:45:12,240 --> 01:45:15,160 you recognize that you made the College Football Playoff. 2202 01:45:15,160 --> 01:45:17,040 Where, where do you put that in the stadium? 2203 01:45:17,360 --> 01:45:19,120 Do you have it inside where fans can see it? 2204 01:45:19,120 --> 01:45:21,200 Do you have it outside in that spot where all the bowl games 2205 01:45:21,200 --> 01:45:24,200 are listed? I, I think when you renovate the 2206 01:45:24,200 --> 01:45:27,120 inside of the stadium and hopefully add some luxury boxes 2207 01:45:27,120 --> 01:45:30,320 and maybe maybe refresh the press box that you put it inside 2208 01:45:30,320 --> 01:45:33,360 the stadium. You have, you know, 2024 College 2209 01:45:33,360 --> 01:45:35,840 Football Playoff appearance right next to the, the three 2210 01:45:35,840 --> 01:45:40,120 bowl games Indiana's won. And look, you've, you've got a 2211 01:45:40,120 --> 01:45:43,720 Indiana. They did so much work in 2212 01:45:43,960 --> 01:45:47,960 upgrading the support, in upgrading the coaching staff. 2213 01:45:48,600 --> 01:45:52,720 They've got to start working now on having some laurels that you 2214 01:45:52,720 --> 01:45:56,640 can view within the stadium and making it, you know, something 2215 01:45:56,640 --> 01:46:01,600 when an opponent walks in. No, I'm saying, I'm saying find 2216 01:46:01,600 --> 01:46:04,280 a way to put it in the stadium now and then make it something 2217 01:46:04,280 --> 01:46:05,600 more permanent as you move forward. 2218 01:46:05,600 --> 01:46:08,000 I want every opponent who walks into the stadium having to look 2219 01:46:08,000 --> 01:46:11,800 up and, you know, for the next 50 years, 75 years and say 2220 01:46:11,800 --> 01:46:14,360 Indiana was in the College Football Playoff that season. 2221 01:46:14,680 --> 01:46:17,240 I mean that that's part of the process. 2222 01:46:17,400 --> 01:46:20,200 And again, it goes back to what I said earlier, You don't be 2223 01:46:20,200 --> 01:46:22,720 Midwest nice and polite about this stuff. 2224 01:46:22,760 --> 01:46:26,160 You got to shove it in people's faces every single time because 2225 01:46:26,160 --> 01:46:28,200 that's what makes people want to come here and play. 2226 01:46:28,280 --> 01:46:30,040 It's what makes people want to come here and coach. 2227 01:46:30,120 --> 01:46:32,040 It's what makes people want to donate money. 2228 01:46:33,480 --> 01:46:37,400 Wear it loud and proud and and put it as prominently as you can 2229 01:46:37,680 --> 01:46:39,720 in the new stadium. I'm going to really be 2230 01:46:39,720 --> 01:46:41,840 fascinated to see how Indiana goes about doing this. 2231 01:46:41,840 --> 01:46:43,440 But I think they've got the right people in charge of the 2232 01:46:43,440 --> 01:46:46,320 marketing now to actually go that direction with stuff. 2233 01:46:46,600 --> 01:46:48,160 Jeremy Gray, first game of the season. 2234 01:46:48,160 --> 01:46:50,920 Our flags are just College Football Playoff participant. 2235 01:46:50,920 --> 01:46:52,400 Just everyone's got a flag that says it. 2236 01:46:52,400 --> 01:46:54,400 That's how you, that's how you get the fans involved and you 2237 01:46:54,400 --> 01:46:57,680 let them let them know. Anyway, my thanks to all you 2238 01:46:57,680 --> 01:46:59,480 folks for sticking with us throughout the course of the 2239 01:46:59,480 --> 01:47:01,600 show and for the entire season that you've all been a 2240 01:47:01,600 --> 01:47:05,040 delightful audience. We really appreciate not just 2241 01:47:05,360 --> 01:47:09,160 you listening or watching, but how kind you all have been. 2242 01:47:09,520 --> 01:47:13,800 Not just in the chats and in the comments on Twitter, but the the 2243 01:47:13,800 --> 01:47:16,960 number of people who have expressed thanks just for us 2244 01:47:16,960 --> 01:47:19,560 doing the show all these years has really meant a lot. 2245 01:47:19,560 --> 01:47:22,000 And it's meant a lot to us to be a part of the process. 2246 01:47:22,520 --> 01:47:25,160 And we look forward to having you in the audience as we move 2247 01:47:25,160 --> 01:47:26,960 forward. We've been doing this thing 2248 01:47:26,960 --> 01:47:28,920 pretty much the same way for the last 15 years. 2249 01:47:28,920 --> 01:47:32,280 Not planning on changing anytime soon other than just doing more 2250 01:47:32,280 --> 01:47:33,680 things. And we're looking forward to 2251 01:47:33,680 --> 01:47:35,400 doing those things with you as an audience. 2252 01:47:37,160 --> 01:47:40,200 Look, can't, can't wait. I'm so sad that the season's 2253 01:47:40,200 --> 01:47:41,120 over. I just. 2254 01:47:41,240 --> 01:47:44,760 Googled it. We are 251 days away from our 2255 01:47:44,840 --> 01:47:49,480 next game, August 30th, 2025. We've never done that in our 2256 01:47:49,480 --> 01:47:53,400 final final football podcast. Never have I tried to figure out 2257 01:47:53,400 --> 01:47:55,400 how many days until we play our next game. 2258 01:47:55,400 --> 01:47:59,600 But I'm 251 days and if you're listening to this, you are two 2259 01:47:59,600 --> 01:48:02,040 hours closer to. The game that's right than you 2260 01:48:02,040 --> 01:48:03,320 were when you started. That's right. 2261 01:48:03,320 --> 01:48:05,880 And I mean, from a couple of years ago when we had a 2262 01:48:05,880 --> 01:48:08,560 legitimate conversation about whether we should continue to do 2263 01:48:08,560 --> 01:48:12,880 the football part of the podcast to now, yeah, what a what a turn 2264 01:48:12,880 --> 01:48:15,160 around and couldn't be happier to be here. 2265 01:48:15,160 --> 01:48:17,160 So thanks to all of you folks for being along for the ride. 2266 01:48:17,160 --> 01:48:20,480 And my thanks to everybody that was on the show throughout the 2267 01:48:20,480 --> 01:48:23,360 course of the year. You know, our thanks to Taylor 2268 01:48:23,360 --> 01:48:27,360 Layman from Bite Sized Bison, who if you're not subscribing to 2269 01:48:27,600 --> 01:48:30,320 Bite Sized Bison on Substack, you're you're, you have not 2270 01:48:30,320 --> 01:48:33,000 achieved full Indiana fandom in football. 2271 01:48:33,600 --> 01:48:37,680 Taylor's been just a great addition to things and has done 2272 01:48:37,680 --> 01:48:40,560 such a great job of treating IU football seriously, giving us 2273 01:48:40,560 --> 01:48:45,040 the statistical analysis we need, you know, so we'll 2274 01:48:45,040 --> 01:48:47,840 continue to have him on as long as he chooses to associate with 2275 01:48:47,840 --> 01:48:50,040 people like us. And I hope that you're reading 2276 01:48:50,040 --> 01:48:54,040 his stuff consistently. You know, our thanks to Rhett 2277 01:48:54,040 --> 01:48:56,400 Lewis, who was on the show a bunch the course of the season. 2278 01:48:57,280 --> 01:48:59,360 Thanks to all the guests we had throughout the course of the 2279 01:48:59,360 --> 01:49:02,880 year that Mitchell Page came on a couple of times. 2280 01:49:02,880 --> 01:49:05,320 Always enjoyed having him on. Onion came on. 2281 01:49:05,720 --> 01:49:07,840 Come on. He called me at the airport. 2282 01:49:07,880 --> 01:49:09,760 I'll do some live. Like he he tried to come on. 2283 01:49:09,800 --> 01:49:11,640 Yeah. You know, and, and just all the 2284 01:49:11,640 --> 01:49:14,480 folks that that took the time to, to be a part of what we did. 2285 01:49:15,280 --> 01:49:18,640 You know, my thanks to, to Joe Cronin and Emily Fox, my, my Co 2286 01:49:18,640 --> 01:49:22,440 host and producer on Bison chat. We launched that program at the 2287 01:49:22,440 --> 01:49:24,680 beginning of the year thinking, you know, IU football might 2288 01:49:24,680 --> 01:49:27,840 actually be good and, and fun and, and worth following along 2289 01:49:27,840 --> 01:49:30,360 with and thought Joe and Emily did an amazing job. 2290 01:49:30,920 --> 01:49:32,760 And my thanks to all the other guests that we had throughout 2291 01:49:32,760 --> 01:49:36,600 the course of the season and all the folks like you that 2292 01:49:36,600 --> 01:49:40,440 listened, that commented, that wrote us notes that subscribed 2293 01:49:40,440 --> 01:49:42,720 on Substack. It's just been a thrill. 2294 01:49:42,800 --> 01:49:46,320 And, and again, I guess finally, my thanks to the whole IU 2295 01:49:46,320 --> 01:49:50,160 football community, the players, the coaches, the parents, the 2296 01:49:50,160 --> 01:49:53,800 staff members, the creative team who did such an amazing job with 2297 01:49:53,800 --> 01:49:55,840 all the content that they pumped out this year. 2298 01:49:56,600 --> 01:49:58,960 Thanks to Hoosiers Connect and the whole NIL collective. 2299 01:49:59,040 --> 01:50:02,760 Alex Paul, the folks over there, it's been great working with you 2300 01:50:02,760 --> 01:50:06,960 all and I am just, I'm really excited about the future, really 2301 01:50:06,960 --> 01:50:09,240 excited to see where Indiana football goes and, and really 2302 01:50:09,240 --> 01:50:11,600 excited that there's this level of commitment now to football in 2303 01:50:11,600 --> 01:50:14,320 this level of excitement is what we always wanted, Scott. 2304 01:50:14,320 --> 01:50:18,320 We always wanted to be here and and be in a thriving community 2305 01:50:18,320 --> 01:50:21,520 that cared about this sport here at Indiana University and in the 2306 01:50:21,520 --> 01:50:25,240 Indian University alumni group. And it's here, so let's see what 2307 01:50:25,240 --> 01:50:27,400 we're able to do with it. I, I can't wait to see what the 2308 01:50:27,400 --> 01:50:30,480 next chapter looks like. Yeah, I, I agree, I echo all 2309 01:50:30,480 --> 01:50:31,400 that. And thanks to you, man. 2310 01:50:31,400 --> 01:50:33,240 It's been fun doing this for the years we've done it. 2311 01:50:33,240 --> 01:50:35,400 And I'm excited to continue to do it. 2312 01:50:35,400 --> 01:50:37,760 I, I saw in the chat like, thank God we, it's a good thing we 2313 01:50:37,760 --> 01:50:40,000 didn't stop doing it, but we were, we were close, I think 2314 01:50:40,000 --> 01:50:41,680 closer than people would realize. 2315 01:50:42,200 --> 01:50:46,280 But it's, it's, it's awesome and it's invigorated a lot of 2316 01:50:46,280 --> 01:50:48,480 things. And I'm, I'm very excited and 2317 01:50:48,480 --> 01:50:51,120 excited. Literally 251 days. 2318 01:50:52,560 --> 01:50:56,160 For our presenting sponsor home Field Apparel and for Upland 2319 01:50:56,280 --> 01:50:59,680 Brewing who sponsored us for a large portion of of this season. 2320 01:50:59,680 --> 01:51:03,440 And for Scott, I'm Galen saying thanks for joining us here on 2321 01:51:03,440 --> 01:51:08,360 Crimson Cast for one final official time during the 2322 01:51:08,360 --> 01:51:10,800 football season as we'll be back with more. 2323 01:51:10,800 --> 01:51:13,400 As we continue to cover the portal, continue to cover the 2324 01:51:13,400 --> 01:51:16,120 NIL space and see what Indiana is able to do in this offseason, 2325 01:51:16,520 --> 01:51:19,520 we will catch you folks. On the flip side, Bring Back the 2326 01:51:19,520 --> 01:51:21,800 Bison, Stay, Never daunted, so on everybody.