You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home
Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson Cast,
Galen Clavio, Scott Caulfield joining you.
It is the 26th of November and Scott, I got, I got some news
for you is it over? It's over.
We we've we've seen the end of
IU football on the field for the 2023 season and we win a.
Win a chicken dinner for us because we both.
We didn't get there. You don't have to draw it, as
they say in golf, but we both got there.
We both picked a three and nine season.
Hey, we each got 2. Of the three wins incorrect, we
both missed on the third one. But I mean, if nothing else, we
are providing stellar previews because we both nailed the the
the record correct. I love how we we're now we're
now correctly predicting IU football and it sucks.
Unfortunately, there's only somebody, like, you have to pick
between 2-3 and four. Like, our number kind of
combination has gone way down. Yeah, it's, I know it was.
I feel like, I I felt like I was going to be underselling at 3:00
and 9:00. I think we got a little
criticism for the three and nines.
Everybody's like, Oh no, this team, this program's like, you
know, they're gonna move incrementally forward.
And it's like, no, it didn't happen.
And man, we're not gonna talk about that yet.
So for those of you who are new to the podcast, we generally do
2 pods at the end of the year. We do one pod that recaps the
final game and we let it breathe for a little bit.
And then we have a pod where we talk about the the whole season.
And so we'll certainly talk a bit about what's happened this
season in this pod as we talk about this Purdue game.
Because I don't know how you can't like.
So much just a microcosm of microcosms.
But our big blowout post season pod will come sometime soon.
Could be in the next 12 hours. Could be in the next 24 to 48
hours. And so I will.
Fill it to the audience that just there's going to be a
couple of negative thoughts that we have on the season.
So I'm just letting you know now that's just some foreshadowing
there from Scott, much appreciated break.
Before we get started, just a reminder that we are part of the
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a lot of great content from the back home network.
Earlier on in the week we had Assembly call recapping the
games I guess we'll call them that were played in New York.
We had the the Doing the Work podcast they've been doing the
post games, IU women very successful trip down to Fort
Myers. They knock off Tennessee and
Princeton and of course you've heard us.
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crimsoncast.substack.com. Anyway, Scott, that was
definitely an old Oaken bucket game that we saw yesterday.
You and I have been around long enough that we've seen a lot of
these old Oaken bucket games, and very little about this one
was surprising. It starts off with an
interception that leads into a missed field goal, and then it
leads into Indiana looking like they would potentially dominate.
Purdue, look like they couldn't get out of their own way.
Then there was a huge sea change of momentum and then a huge
swing back and it really didn't settle down into a predictable
pattern. I felt until the fourth quarter
when you could see the train coming down the tracks, quite
literally in this case for Indiana, and they couldn't do
what they needed to do to get out of the way.
Indiana loses this 13531. What were your initial thoughts
from this game? So I'm one of my high level
thoughts is exactly what you were talking about in that sea
change? Indiana got up 28 to 18 with a
minute 40 to go in the third quarter and they had actually
there have been other points in the game like when they were up
like 14 to 6. It just felt like in the early
in the second quarter it felt like this is our chance to put
them away. Then it I got thinking about it.
I'm going to ask you this question because we got up 28 to
18 up until this game. How how many times and for how
long has Indiana been up? 10 points or more on an opponent
this season. Did you calculate this already
or am I supposed I was like hopefully you did the math here
because I certainly didn't well. PPT trying to get it that way.
No, no, I know does not compute at all.
No, it hasn't been off. And obviously there was a large
section of the game versus Indiana State where they were up
by more than 10. I I don't count Indiana State
then I'll I'll go to the answer. So it's been for a total of
about 6 minutes and 44 seconds this year like IU was up 10
nothing on Wisconsin for like 4 minutes and then they were up
2112 and then 2712 for two minutes and 44 seconds against
Illinois and then it got the 2719 then it was done but but it
got like I I started thinking about like this is one of the
problems this team hadn't. Again, trying to keep it focused
on this game, but it it's been throughout the season that.
You know, they're they're basically like a car running in
the red and the RPMS, it's like everything is high pressure
because you've never given yourself any kind of room.
And again, I know this is the struggle of all bad teams, but
it's like you had this moment where it's like 14 to 6 and and
Purdue's kind of struggling. It's like if you could just get
like 2 stops and get 10 more points, you might be able to put
this game away in this in the second quarter.
Or at least be to a point where now you can like, breathe and
the car's not running in the red, but it just.
And then again, it happened. We're up 2818.
It's like we have all the momentum.
It doesn't happen. And it just got me thinking like
that was, it's something we've seen this whole season, but it's
like every offensive play becomes the most important
offensive play and every defensive play becomes the most
important because all these games are super tight.
We never take a chance to kind of put a team away and give
ourselves some breathing room like you.
You watch like that Maryland game where Maryland goes up
like, you know, 28 to 7 and it's like you could just see them
kind of exhale. And then it's like, you know,
the older brother holding little brother back with his hand.
We we're just never able to do that.
And unfortunately this is a team where you know you you put them
in stressful situations and they end up you know more often than
not making the wrong mistake. And it's just like my thought is
like, but yet it feels like the entire game is always a
stressful situation because the only time it's not is when we're
down you know 33 to seven against Maryland.
So that that's a high level take away ahead from the game.
No, I I think that's a really, it's an accurate point and it's
why this game was largely the season in miniature, because
Indiana had a chance to make it somewhat easy for themselves and
instead they chose to make it hard.
And a lot of that is just intrinsic to the way that IU
under Tom Allen has chosen to play football over the course of
the last three seasons. There's, you know you either
don't have the right play calls in place or you don't execute
the play calls that are there. And whether it's offense or
defense and increasingly it's been defense, the team has had
opportunities to get off the field, has had opportunities to
make plays that would make it harder on the opponent.
And what they've instead done is not do those things which is
made, which makes it hard for them.
I mean the Illinois game is probably, if you were going to
take the, the arch example of this situation, that's it.
An Illinois team that that didn't have their starting
quarterback, an Illinois team that was down by 15 points and
look like their season was was going to disintegrate an
Illinois team, I'll note that just lost to Northwestern 45 to
43 in this week. You let them back up off the mat
and yes, Indiana deserved a lot of credit in that game for
coming back, but they didn't have to like the idea that they
had to do that entirely hinged upon the idea that they couldn't
maintain what they had built in the 1st place.
Or you know, I think you see the same thing in this game.
It's it's just a common set of frustrations and it feels again
over and over like the same thing.
And you know, you look at a guy like Brendan Soresby and on the
one hand it's like well 3 touchdowns in this game.
That's great. Had a pretty good completion
percentage, relatively speaking. Was certainly above, you know,
the 50% mark, which is nice. You know, was was citing Donovan
McCullough got some good stuff out of EJ Williams.
But he throws 3 interceptions in the game.
And, you know, did half all. Yeah, all the first half.
And, you know, they were just, they were momentum shifts and
things where, you know, it's not even like did that immediately
lead to something because some of them didn't.
But it kept giving Purdue the idea that, hey, we're still in
this football game. And I think what you saw in this
Purdue game was Indiana always looks unsure of itself.
They always look like they're worried that something's going
to go wrong and then it compounds on itself.
And so A-Team like Purdue, who frankly sucked like Purdue, that
was one of the most embarrassing performances for a team that had
something to play for. I mean, I talked about in the
pregame show. It's like IU, if you really
break it down, you have a bunch of transfers.
You've got a team that the where the coaches situation is kind of
up in the air. You know it was a team that you
know thought they were going to go to a bowl a couple of weeks
ago and then had that collapse. Like they really didn't have a
lot to play for. Purdue at least had next year to
play for Purdue look like they couldn't wait to go on vacation
for the first half of this game. And for Indiana to allow them to
stick around like they did Illinois, like they did Michigan
State, you know, really just highlights the lack of
confidence and the lack of assuredness and the the lack of
winning mentality that has pervaded this program.
And it stinks because you know, for a variety of reasons.
But when I when I look at the individual performances, there's
a lot of things to like Josh Henderson almost 5 yards of
carry. Trent Howland, 4 1/2 yards of
carry. Aaron Casey had another amazing
game. You know, you had good
individual performances, but they never seem to add up
because you don't get all 11 players contributing
simultaneously, and the other team tends to get that just
enough that it puts Indiana in a position where they're going to
lose as they did again. The the other thing that was
just highlighted this game again, and this is this is
definitely one of those things where like you have to watch the
game because it does not show up in the stat, it shows from the
stats as bad defense. But just the the utter inability
to tackle it is is just bananas in this game.
And you know what what I mean by it doesn't show up.
It's like, you know, nine times out of 10.
We're in the right place. Like we're putting pressure on
the quarterback and then it's like we have pressure all over
the quarterback. And there was one where Card was
like sandwiched like 3 guys all around, like you did everything
correct and then he you don't tackle him, you don't bring him
down. And it all, it reminded me again
of, you know, we turned you know, Hudson Card into this
amazing dual threat quarterback that he isn't.
I think he had coming into this game, 118 yards rushing coming
into this game. He had 97 yards in this game.
It was very reminiscent of Arkan or Sorry Akron, where he had DJ
Iron suddenly turned into Michael Vick, where he has 144
yards in the game. And and again, it was mostly off
of times that he should have been sacked but wasn't and then
scampers away and that you see it in the secondary.
I mean you see it just all over the place where it's just it is
so much bad tackling. It's just terrific.
It's and what it is. I mean, try because you're
right, I'm and we've seen that a few times.
We, like you said, Akron is probably the clearest example of
that. But there's a brittleness to
this IU defense where they do seem to be able to stop the
initial thing. And when the other team can make
extra time and do a second thing, IU has no clue what to
do. I mean, that would have.
That's what happened at the end of the Illinois game.
You know, they they defended that pass.
They got the rush on the quarterback, but then he rolls
out and boom, OK, well there's your touchdown and that, that
ends the game. You saw it in this where it's
like, OK, you stop Hudson Cards passing attack, which looks so
great against Minnesota. Hudson Card starts scrambling.
That's not his game. Indiana isn't able to do
anything about it, and they give up these huge chunks of yardage
over and over again and it feels like over.
For next year, we're doing two things this year.
Yeah, I know, right? And you saw it in the Michigan
State game down the stretch as well, where it's like just
Indiana couldn't handle whatever the second thing was.
And Indiana themselves does not seem to have a second thing that
they do. And other teams, if they can
stop Indiana's first thing offensively, are generally
successful. And that's where to some degree
we've talked. We harp a lot with this program
about halftime adjustments being a problem.
The problem is that, and this game kind of felt like that the
first half, Purdue was having trouble stopping Indiana.
Indiana was moving the ball pretty well.
They made some adjustments at halftime and they really shut
Indiana down in the second-half. I mean, you know, we got to
forget, yes, Indiana, we got to remember, sorry, yes, Indiana
won or only lost this game 3531, but part of that was 100 yard
kickoff return for a touchdown by Jalen Lucas.
If you take that out, Indiana scored ten points in the
second-half. And you know, that's if not for
the brilliance of one individual.
This actually reminds me a lot of the Michigan State game last
year. If not for the brilliance of one
individual, you're probably not looking at a game that's even
that close, because Purdue scores 23 points in the
second-half and Indiana only scores 10.
Yeah, that's that's the problem. And look yes, you need all of
those things to work but in the but it's like the idea that you
have to rely on getting 100 yard kickoff return in a season where
Jaylen Lucas hasn't been kicked to, that's an indicator that
you're just not where you need to be.
And and I think you go through just the way that this game
unfolded. I mean, I I think we all
expected Indiana to lose because even if Purdue was the bad
Purdue that we've talked about, Purdue was probably going to
string together enough place to win.
And I just didn't have faith that Indiana was going to figure
out how it was going to, you know, work down the stretch.
And you kind of saw that on that last drive or the last two
drives. I mean Indiana, they end up
settling for a 39 yard field goal in a tie game knowing that
that's probably not going to be enough given that Purdue is
moving the ball pretty freely at that point.
And sure enough, Purdue marches down the field.
Now Indiana's got to drive down the field and score the
touchdown that they didn't decide to try to score on the
previous drive. And shockingly, they get to a
spot where they have to gain 1 yard and they can't gain 1 yard.
And you know, was the guy off side on that last play?
Probably. Would it have mattered if he had
been, you know, not off side? No, because they had so clearly
snuffed out the play that Indiana called there.
He could have started a second after the snap and probably
gotten to Soresby before he turned around and threw the
ball. I mean it's just.
And and that moment, just the other thing to highlight in this
moment and I, I know I pick on this all the time, but like this
is important stuff is in the third quarter your defense
starts playing well. There's kind of an important
third down, but your defense has got momentum and then we call a
timeout. And in that case, it did work,
like the the the defense stopped.
But it's like I. I remember thinking like and I
think I saw on Twitter a couple times like this is going to
haunt us. Like this will come back, like
it will just wait. And again it's like one of these
where we're kind of doing all right and it's like why do we
need to call time out for a third?
Like third downs are important, yes.
But like not everything. Do we need a 25 minute Crucible?
Bring up all the Shields? Like do we have plays ready?
And then that 4th down you're talking about, it's 4th and 1:00
we call time out again. And I mean at that point you
would already you're kind of like pot committed to screwing
up your time out. So you might as well just burn
it there, but. I'm I'm thinking like, and this
is I I always say this, it drives me nuts.
Like coaches and especially in football, all they talk about is
you know how important a possession is and how important
is, you know, to get the ball back in this and that.
It's like if you had all three of your time outs there on that
fourth and one play, even if you don't get it, you theoretically
can now do a three and out stop for Purdue and get the ball back
like you are extending the game. But because you wasted a time
out in the third quarter, it's over now.
Like the game is now over now. You know Indiana may not have
stopped Purdue in my fantasy world on on three more plays but
at least you give yourself a chance.
But like over and over again with the time outs, we put
ourselves in a spot where we don't have a chance and it's to
what you said. It's like at times we feel like
we're unprepared like oh man, fourth and one like this is a
big I don't know what to do, like we're calling a time out.
It's like have a play like have plays for all situation be ready
and sometimes having a, you know, B minus play is better
than wasting a time out. I think one of the things when
you look at other football programs that have greater
levels of success, they all of them, they they they coach and
they strategize and they they leverage things to give the team
options as many options as possible for as long as
possible. And it feels like Indiana just
does not do that under Tom Allen.
Tom Allen is like, we're going to win it this way or we're not
going to win it, but there's other ways that you could
potentially win it. And you know, that's that's the
and I think what's the the instances historically that have
burned Tom Allen the most, like the Gator Bowl, have been
instances of the other team figuring out ways to extend
games when Indiana is not themselves able to extend games.
And there's no rhyme or reason to it from one game to the next.
You know in the Wisconsin game they they, you know, they take
this weird drive down the field and then they decide to kick a
50 yard field goal. In the Michigan State game,
needing a field goal, they won't kick a 39 yard field goal.
It's with with similar conditions and everything.
It's just there's it's almost like the reset button gets hit
every. It's like it's like starting a
franchise on game one in in video game football every week.
There's not a lot of learn of machine learning that's going on
from week to week in terms of maybe we should consider doing
it this way instead of that way And so you burn those time outs,
everything's in the moment. Very little of it seems like
well what if we need to bank these for later and and yes look
at that point you've already burned the time out.
Sure burn another time out. Get your best play in, which I
guess is a sack that leads to an intentional grounding, but
that's it. As you said and.
You combine that with the fact Indiana commits 3 turnovers,
Purdue commits 0 in this game, and I don't know, I it's just
really frustrating because this Purdue team I think was
demonstrably worse than Indiana when the game started.
This Purdue team was certainly no better than Indiana overall
over the course of the season. And the fact that Purdue was
able to come away with the victory here is a frustration, A
not a surprise, but a frustration.
Because even in bad years, especially a year when both
teams are bad, you you can't just give away bucket games.
You can't just give away rivalry games because you didn't
strategize properly or you couldn't take care of the
football or you couldn't capitalize on the other team's
mistakes and he let them hang around long enough.
And that, you know, as we look at Alan throughout the course of
his time, that's happened against Purdue a bunch.
It happened in 2017. You and I were at that game.
It happened in 2018. It almost happened in 2019.
You know it's it is. It's another chapter in an
inadequate book about how to win these types of games.
And it's it. This is really frustrating, I
think for for I certainly frustrating for me.
I think it's frustrating for a lot of IU fans because it
doesn't have to be that way. Well, and I think now this puts
him at Allen one and five against Purdue and it's like,
you know, this is. You know we we talk about two
things all the time that like you know we don't need to be
better than Michigan or Ohio State or Penn State but there's
no reason why we can't be at the same level as Purdue.
And then it's it's I was, I kind of did things out of order
yesterday. I listened to your preview after
the game, which is always kind of fun.
But I mean, one of the things you talk about which is true is
like it is. It's just sad how much ground
we've lost in this rivalry where it just feels kind of it's it's
probably never going to get flipped obviously in our
lifetime, but it's like you got to start chipping away at it at
some point. And it felt like for a while
we're doing that. But now it's like, like you
said, you're just losing these rivalry games and it's
frustrating like because it just feels like we shouldn't, it
shouldn't be this much of A disparity between us, but it is
and it continues to grow wider and.
I'm just echoing things you already said, like it just we
we. I mean this over and over again
in these games where it's like this is an important game and it
doesn't always feel like we play as if when Tom Allen took over,
Indiana was 41 and 72 against Purdue all time, which is real
bad, obviously. But now Indiana's 42 and 77
against Purdue all time. You know, that's that's it.
I mean, is there a big difference between a 31 game
deficit and a 35 game deficit? Well, yeah, kind of.
Because more games. Yeah, that's so.
Yeah. But that's, that's the
frustration in terms of the the macro level of the series is
that it did feel like for a little bit there, Wilson had
figured out, hey, here's how to beat Purdue.
They beat Purdue several years in a row.
Some of that was due to Purdue being bad, but Purdue was bad
yesterday, Purdue was not good yesterday, and that's.
Purdue's had lots of stretches over this Ravel where they've
been bad and yet they we they own us as if like it's a it's.
Yeah. So anyway, there's not a lot
else to say about the game. I mean, we talked about it.
It was nice to see Donovan Mccully, you know, with another
touchdown grab. He had a really good close to
the season. It was nice to see EJ Williams
after a really slow start, really, you know, contribute
fairly well. You look at the receiving
numbers or let's look at the numbers overall, I guess, you
know, you know as you come out of this game, Soresby ended up
with 12 touchdowns and two interceptions and a 57%
completion percentage, which that's that's better than the
Connor Basilak's numbers last year, he had a 55% completion
percentage, 2300 yards. He threw the ball more. 13
touchdowns, 10 interceptions, you know, But the problem is
like you got to throw the the interceptions that he had in
this game into that mix and that's so now it's actually 15
touchdowns and five interceptions.
So I was actually, they haven't updated CFB stats.
I was like why haven't they updated?
Why did that seems weird. Why did he have two
interceptions? So editors, go ahead and cut
that whole section out, please. Thank you.
No, I'm kidding. See occasionally our information
sources are wrong. But still, I think Soresby
overall, I generally like what I saw out of him on the season.
It, you know there's something to build off of their 57%
completion percentage, 158715 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, you
got some good play out of the receivers.
It was nice to see them play well.
It's just like it felt like with what you saw there, Indiana
should have done more than what they did in this game and you go
through the play by play and just a lot of punts.
I mean it was not a good start to the game overall and you go
down the stretch I mean of of Indiana's.
Indiana didn't have the ball that much in the second-half.
They they had 1/4 play 7 yard drive that led to a punt.
They had the eight play touchdown Dr. They had the three
play 2 yard punt drive around the beginning of the fourth
quarter they had a 7 play drive for a field goal and then they
turned the ball over on downs Indiana had the ball five times.
Now they, you know they got the kick return, so that has to
weigh in a little bit. But still they only had five
drives in that second-half and Purdue did a lot more with what
they had at their disposal and I guess that's ultimately what it
all comes down to. So any any other thoughts I
guess just in general about this game and and anything that was
noteworthy that you think is deserving a match.
We can talk a little bit about the post game comments.
Tom Allen had some odd post game comments, but I don't know
anything else you'd like to talk about.
Yeah, I mean, we can probably save the post game.
That's probably factors more into the full season.
No, it's just it's. I I echo something that that you
said in the preview and they they talked about on the
broadcast too that it it's kind of this idea of like man this is
a this is one of my favorite you know underrated trophies and
like it shouldn't it shouldn't be that this is a great rivalry.
Like Purdue really hates IU. Like they just they really do.
They really do. Fuck.
At everything, at every event. Like, they really don't like it.
And you know, as an IU fan, there's an annoyance with
Purdue, but it's like, you know, there there's.
We're living in a world now too. It's like when they went to the
Rose Bowl, it's like, man, that's that sucks.
And like I think we're all, you know, the different, you know,
cross mixing sports here. But it's like if Purdue makes a
final four wins a title, it's like that that I think scares a
lot of IE fans because we get, you know, knocked off our regal
perch, so to speak. But it's it's a great rivalry
and it's just it it sucks that it's gotten diminished because
it, frankly, Indiana has not been able to compete in the
rivalry at a level to make it a fun, successful rivalry.
And even just thinking that you know that the one Tom Allen win
was a win that you desperately needed to get to the Gator Bowl
and you went to double overtime was like 44 to 42 like that was
you really sweat sweated that one out to get it done against a
bad Purdue team that year. I mean that that that's my kind
of main take away is it's a very cool rivalry.
It's a very cool trophy. It should be more front and
center but. But unfortunately it's not
because it's kind of been bad games and one sided and there's
not playing for a lot. And while Purdue is somewhat,
you know, at fault to some of that, it's like mostly Indiana
because we come in on, you know, not going for bulls and and like
it's, you know Ohio State and Michigan hate each other too.
But part of the reason that rivalry is so great is like
they're playing. They're playing for actual
meaningful stakes. It's true.
I mean, and look, I mean, as much as we like to rag on
Purdue, if you go back to 2011, let's say, you know Purdue's
been to six bowls in that time. Indiana has been to not as many
bowls in that time, obviously. But Purdue's had down years and
they've had stretches of down years.
They had that stretch from 2013 to 2016 where they won 132 and
three games, but then they picked themselves back up and
they were pretty successful over the course of the the next six
seasons. You know, give or take a couple
with COVID. And yeah, Indiana just generally
doesn't bring it in. The in the mid 2000s, the late
90s, early 2000s when Purdue was regularly good, from 1998, when
or when or 97, sorry. When Purdue went to their first
bowl game under Tiller, Through the last bowl game that Purdue
went to under Tiller in 2007, Indiana fielded exactly one team
with a winning record in that entire time.
And that was, and that was the last season.
That was, of course, the Austin star kick that send Indiana to
the insight.com Bowl. You know that that's wild, that
that's been what the series has been like over the course of of
largely the last 20 years. And I think what's frustrating
is Purdue had Danny Hope, Purdue had Daryl Hazel, this was the
time for IU to make some hay in the series, and they couldn't
get out of their own way. And this is another season where
you've got a four and eight Ryan Walters.
I don't think Ryan Walters gonna be around that long, quite
frankly. You couldn't beat Purdue in this
game and you finished three and nine on the season and that's
really disappointing. And also just how much of, you
know, just kind of hits with a thud.
I mean like it's you're you're in Bloomington, you know more
about it. But even up here I got, you
know, friends that are Purdue. It's like just there's not a lot
of talk. It's just kind of like, well, it
was, it was probably the least anticipated bucket game I can
remember. I mean, there's normally at
least one or the other team that's good and people are
talking about the outcome. I really, I think you have to go
back to like, I don't know, the mid 90s or maybe the early 20
tens like that, the middle of the Danny Hope era when Bill
Lynch was still at IU. You have to go back to then to
find bucket games that felt less relevant.
And that's a real shame because like you said like this, this
should be a good rivalry. This should.
I mean two Big 10 teams. It's a you know it's but much
like in basketball it feels like neither program can
simultaneously get their crap together.
And you know you got that a little bit now and now the
rivalry feels a lot more full. But for a long time it wasn't
and just in football it's just it's a shame anyway.
So that's pretty much all that there is to say about the game.
It's another disappointment and and this was the capper to a
very long series of disappointments this season and
that's I, you know, I can't say that we didn't think that this
was what was going to happen. Scott right down to lose I think
did we both have are you losing to Purdue at the end?
I can't remember. Purdue is my win.
I I had losses all the way. I think Purdue is my win.
Memory serves, I think Rutgers was your win.
Yeah, well, I I. Had us.
I had us finishing the season with a flurry with a win against
Purdue. There you go, a flurry.
I mean, but I guess we we, we Wisconsin, we we at least got
that series ironed up. No, it's.
It's. Yeah, I don't want to step on
the next pod, but it's like, it's just it it ends with a thud
and it's just, it's a real just, you know, again, unfortunately,
Indiana football kind of goes off quietly into the wilderness
and you know this. This is why I'll say one thing
and I'll be off it like year after year after year.
Like I get so tired of, you know, when when fans get, you
know, oh man, they just, they give up when when basketball
starts and they just, they stop watch football.
It's like, well, because of this, like This is why.
Because. There was like, I mean there was
even a small glimmer of hope. It's like we're in playoff mode
win four in a row and then it's just like you, you have all of
the same self-inflicted wounds. I mean and that's The thing is
like I I don't think this team gave up.
They were playing hard, but they were just they weren't able to
do anything like tackling wise, like they were in the right
places. They were just not able to do
it. And I don't.
I don't know what's more frustrating, a team that just
kind of checks out, it's like, all right man, we're done.
Or a team like this, where it seems like they were still
really trying but just unable to do the things you needed to do
to win and then making a lot of kind of boneheaded mistakes
along the way, both players and coaching staff.
It's like I it's almost more frustrating this way because at
least if they just all checked out like two years ago, it's
like, all right, well, that team had some talent.
It's just more of a motivation issue, which is what we were
told. Now I'm I'm concerned, it's like
is this a talent in preparation issue because.
It it doesn't again, like this. Seemed like people were into it
and trying. They just weren't able to do it.
Now I think all that's accurate and that I think the hope was
down the stretch is Indiana played two teams that didn't
have much to play for in Michigan State and Purdue.
That Indiana, if they did have something to play for, if they
wanted to play for their coach, if they wanted to play for
pride, if they wanted to play for whatever, that they would
figure out a way to do what they needed to do and they didn't.
And instead what you ended up with was this, which you know I
think what gets lost sometimes it's funny like you hear a lot
of talk about should Tom Allen stay or go or the the players
you know what are the players feelings And those things are
important to talk about. But man again I keep coming back
to this idea that fans of IU football really do like if
you're still a fan of IU football and and we count
ourselves in this like what are we doing This is because this is
it. Every single time it feels like
there are there are occasionally moments where this is not a woe
is me thing. It's more because look we've
we've gone ahead and you know we we committed to it you know a
long time ago. We podcast on it on a regular
basis. This is the lot that we've
chosen in life. But the I don't know why people
get upset at IU football fans. I don't understand why people
think that IU football fans are like, obligated to support the
program when the program goes out and in winnable games like
this does this. What is what is it that you're
supposed to walk out of this this season with some level of
pride as as a fan? I mean, last year was bad, but
at least like, hey, we won a trophy game and we're, we're
feeling very, you know, maybe halfway decent about things
getting a little bit better. All of that hope is gone.
You lost both your trophy games and to lose to a Purdue team
that was that bad, that looked like they were just like
desperate to give the game away in the first half is a really
hard pill to swallow. The other thing that I have a
hard time with, again widening the scope a little bit, but not
too wide, something you mentioned in the pregame.
Which is just, it's just stats. But like, I think we now finish
as the worst team in the Big 10, worst team in the Big 10 E and
and that's really bothersome because you had two teams that
just had complete dumpster fires of seasons like Michigan State.
Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.
And then Northwestern, same thing.
Like two teams with massive coaching problems and you know
you have. And the Purdue's having a really
bad season like Wisconsin, have a good season.
Like all with all of that going on?
You cash in one win and you have the worst record of the Big 10.
Like, that's what will get lost. This will be another season.
We suck. But it's like there were teams
having like catastrophically bad seasons.
And for a program like Indiana, that's when you have to.
You can't just make hay by being good.
You also have to take advantage of other people being bad and
just bank a couple of wins in that in that season.
It's like, I just don't think we were.
This bad but it's a that that bugs me that you have a couple
of teams that had just massively dumpster fire type seasons and
we're still the worst team in the Big 10 and they that is
indeed how it finished off. We talked about this in the
pregame pod there the the the the standings will forever show
that Indiana in this season of of all the bad teams that were
having bad seasons, of the two teams that fired coaches,
Indiana was the only team that didn't win at least two games in
the conference and one of only two teams that didn't win at
least three games in the conference.
That's real bad. There's no there's no other way
to put it and it's and the fact that you had a chance with
Purdue to at least knock them down into that level.
Create a three-way tie for like all the two, two win teams in
the conference and you couldn't do it.
I think it's probably speaks volumes.
Anyway, like you said, we don't want to step on the next pod, so
we'll go ahead and wrap this one up.
Again. Purdue beats Indiana 3531 and
Indiana finishes the season 3:00 and 9:00 and 1:00 and 8:00 in
conference. We'll be back later on, maybe
today, maybe tomorrow with our post game or post season wrap up
pod, so be sure to stick with us on that.
Be sure to check out the assembly call later today as
they'll have the post game recap show for Indiana at Harvard in
men's basketball that coming up at 4:00 this afternoon for
Scott. I'm Galen, this is Crimson Cast.
We'd like to thank you all for tuning in tonight and throughout
the season. Bring back the Bison.
We'll catch you folks on the flip side.
So on everybody.