The. You're listening to the Back
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Welcome back folks to Crimson Cast.
I know a lot of people have been waiting for this episode and we
decided we needed to do it live. I am still processing everything
that we saw yesterday. One of the most fun, maybe the
most fun IU athletics day I've ever personally taken part in
from beginning to end. Indiana demolishes Nebraska 56
to 7 on national television. They move the record to seven
and O and we have so much to talk about.
I know you folks have so much to talk about.
We've already got like 25 comments queued up and ready to
go. We wanted to share this moment
with you folks. We appreciate you tuning in on a
Sunday morning as we relish this amazing Indiana team and what
they have accomplished so far and what they look like they're
primed to accomplish moving forward.
Scott, you're on vacation. We were able to get you away
from touring distilleries that you're going to purchase to come
in and talk to my you football. It's great to see you my friend.
How you doing? I'm good, man.
No, I'm a Dominican. We're doing Cuban cigar
factories today, so, you know, it's just expanding.
Crimson Cast Industries, Crimson Pack, Inc.
Don't they make Cuban cigars in Cuba though?
Well, I mean, we're, we're not a big time podcast yet.
We're working our way there. So Dominican Cubans, it's dude,
we're going to sell them as Cubans can't restart the pod.
We can't give away our no man, It's great.
I I, I will say this a couple of times, like it absolutely kills
me that I wasn't there. I've been to so many games.
It's just our fall break and you know, we we leave normally on
Saturday for a fall break trip. Normally IU football for the
last couple of years hasn't really factored into the
equation. The Westfield's fall break was a
year past a week past the normal, which sucks or else we
would have been on off. But anyway, it I I watched the
game on the plane, it was fantastic.
I had to do this. This was a great.
But what's cool about it is it doesn't feel like this is a
moment we need to relish, because I feel like there's
going to be. More ahead.
So it's like this is the first of what feels like many future
moments. Yeah, I there's a lot that we're
going to talk about with that. I agree with you.
It's just weird how both out of the blue, how fever dreamish
this was, but also how it just feels like another day at the
office for this Indiana football team.
And we're going to talk through all of that on the pod.
We're going to talk about the scene here on the ground.
You're going to talk about the broadcast, which I still have
not gotten a chance to go back and watch.
But first of all, couple of items that we wanted to talk
about at the beginning. First of all, we are part of the
back home network here at Crimson Cast.
We're partnered with our friends at Assembly Call who are it's
their season as well as our season as we're talking
basketball Hoosier hysteria happening on Friday of this past
week. And be sure to tune in to
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as they'll have amazing content. The doing the work podcast,
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We'd love to have you join it. We hit the 1000 subscriber mark
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yeah our 1000 subscriber was Kurt Signetti like I was it was
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Sign up. You get the emails right to your
inbox when we do stuff. So we would love to have you
join us on that voyage. Anyway, Scott, let's get to the
game. You know, coming into this
contest, we, we did a nice podcast on Thursday of last week
with Taylor and broke down the game a bit.
And you know, Taylor and I before that podcast, we and if
you're not, if you have not yet, go visit Bite Sized Bison.
It is absolutely essential reading for any IU football fan.
Go subscribe, support Taylor's work.
We rely so much on what Taylor does here at Crimson Cast and he
has just some amazing statistical insights.
But you know, Taylor and I were talking before that pod and he
looks at me. He's like, I'm, I'm really
confident this week that Indiana's going to win this
game. Like I really, I think they're
going to win by a really large margin.
And I, I felt the same way. And we talked about that a
little bit on the podcast. You're still a little bit
uncertain because a team like Nebraska, they came in, they had
the number one defense in the country by most of the advanced
metrics. They had a really, really tough
defensive line. They had only allowed on the
season, Scott coming into the game, 68 total points on the
year. So I thought Indiana was going
to win. I think we, you know, we were
tossing her up. You know, maybe Indiana can
score 3538. Like, I don't think Nebraska's
gonna be able to keep up with them offensively.
I did not expect Indiana to nearly match Nebraska's entire
points given up total in one game.
And Indiana did that despite losing their starting
quarterback halfway through the game.
Just an absolute demolition. I mean, Indiana came out and we
talked about this in that pregame podcast.
We were like, it would be. They really need to try to seize
the game from the beginning. And it was seized.
Like, consider the game seized right off the beginning.
There was a great quote from Justice Ellison in Zach
Osterman's piece. I think it was Zach Osterman's
piece where, you know, that first run for like 40 yards that
Ellison had Ellison's. He gets done with that.
He's like, this might be a real hard game on Nebraska today.
And it just certainly was. I mean, I don't know what it
looked like on television, Scott, but in the stadium,
Indiana just felt like they were in control from the moment the
ball was kicked until the final whistle, buzzer, whatever.
I mean, what was it like on TV watching it?
What was How did it feel for you watching Indiana be that
dominant? I mean, so I was watching on
air, you know, on Southwest Air flight.
So it was a little bit laggy. But yeah, I mean, it turned into
basically the second-half was like a Signeti fest, just them
glowing about Signeti. It it was, it was wild to watch.
I really was bummed that I wasn't there.
Like, I'm just seeing that like having complete FOMO, you know,
my take on the game just as a whole, like, and and I
apologize, we used to curse a lot more in the past.
We'll we'll bring it back today. I'm just like the thing that
stuck in my head is like, we just kick the living shit out of
them. Like that is all we did.
We just beat them. And and to your point, you know,
we have this next man up mentality where where the
running backs, you know, Justice Ellison is awesome, but you
know, we come in like the second guy comes in and it's like we
run the same type of place. The wide receivers is going all
across the board. We're getting wide receivers all
over the place. And this is no knock on Rourke,
but it's like Rourke goes down and we still run a similar type
offense. We have 28 points in the first
half, 28 points in the second-half.
And for all you know, Rourke had some great back shoulder passes,
Jackson had a great back shoulder pass, I think to Sarat
in the in the end zone and it I don't want to at all.
I'm not saying these are scheme guys because the players who are
doing it are great. But you can definitely tell like
there's a scheme and a way to play here where you can just put
put guys in and do it. And the last thing I'll say in
my opening selfo here is again, I love this feel that we come
out the first drive and you know, you, you said it.
I'm sure Signetti knows it, that, you know, if we can get a
lead, it's really tough for teams to kind of keep up that
pace of scoring. The first drive is so huge.
I'm sure the stadium has electric and it's like we have a
4th down play. What do we do?
It's like not even a question. No time out to think about it.
It's like, oh, no, we're going for it.
And like even the commentators like Gus Johnson's like, oh, you
know, they're going to go for it.
Like they obviously knew they had been talked about and
there's no question they went for it.
They got it. They scored a touchdown and it's
like this feeling of like we got our foot on the gas and like you
better keep up whoever's playing us because we're coming at you
the next drive went forward again and didn't get it.
But like I absolutely love that. And you feel the pressure that
this put on the other team when we just come out there and it's
like we're just going to keep hitting, keep hitting, keep
hitting. And honestly, what I loved is
second-half, you're up 28, seven, you have a backup yo,
your backup quarterback in a total moment for a let down.
It's like, Oh no, we still run the same stuff we're doing like
flea flickers. We're still coming at you.
You have more interceptions, like just the pressure never
ends. And it's, it's a quiet
confidence that I, I, I just, I've never seen a team like this
before. And I want to get to some
comparisons to the 2000 team, but it's like this is just, this
is a, a, a different level. But it was unbelievable.
No, I've, I've never seen an Indiana team with this.
Now that's that's what. Yes, that's what I meant.
Yeah. Yeah, I've seen other football
teams. Yeah.
Something that you said earlier. I was texting with Taylor this
morning and I asked him if I could read what he sent me
because we were talking about the Rourke Tavan Jackson thing
and whether, you know what that was going to look like.
And I thought he he made a really insightful point.
Like Rourke is definitely a great player, but this success
that IU is having right now feels like a great offensive
line play. Absolutely.
And BA great system and an active coaching staff.
It's the system winning more than any single player, which IU
football fans are not used to seeing that.
But that's just not something we're used to.
I mean, normally this is me editorializing here, but you
know, normally Indiana has thrived off of one really great
player or two really great players.
And the only other time I can remember Indiana looking like
this, and it was a weak version, comparatively speaking, was 2019
where, you know, Indiana used multiple quarterbacks.
But really it was the scheme that made them look as good as
they did throughout the course of that season and and help them
to keep getting better. And I think Taylor brings up a
good point as well. If Rourke does indeed not play,
which we'll talk about a little bit later on.
There was an announcement that came out through Pete Hamill
today that he was unlikely to play, which I think is weird
wording. I'll I'll just say that we'll
come back and talk about it. But but if if work indeed does
not play against Washington next week, Taylor's comma was it
might shrink the playbook because work is so good pre
snap. But Tavan.
Offers a lot of athleticism for running and throwing outside the
pocket. The staff will maximize that
difference, I assume. I think that's you know, and the
thing that I'll say is like his Jackson's second touchdown.
They mentioned this on the broadcast.
You know, came I I forget I think it was it was a little
like a like not screenplay, but it's like a screenplay and then
like a wide receiver caught it and just was in wide open space.
They were saying the play like Gus Johnson was just glowing
about the play because he's like, you know, you, you can run
the hit. The ball has to get past the
receiver behind the line of scrimmage.
But it's a great play. And and my thing is, again,
Jackson and Rourke are both awesome that, you know, Rourke
is making some great throws. But what made me feel really
confident is it wasn't like that was a fluky play.
Like he was wide open, like any quarterback in the country could
have made that throw. And it's like it's the idea of
that, you know, Signetti's able to create and Shanahan are able
to create these schemes and these plays where it's, you
know, some of the throws are hard, like Jackson's first
touchdown pass was was hard, and some of the Rourke throws, but a
lot of them are just pitch and catch.
All you got to do is throw to the guy who is wide open.
Yeah, I mean, let's talk about some stats.
This was an interesting game, and as much as it was not a game
that Indiana won primarily through the air, it was a game
Indiana really won on the ground.
And you know, for all the. Time.
I that's the thing, and I feel like we've said, when was the
last time we've said that every week so far this season, but
this was the Justice Ellison game for Indiana. 9 carries, 105
yards, 2 touchdowns. This was a Nebraska defense that
had not allowed a rushing touchdown all season.
Indiana scored five. I guess.
So I'm not, I don't take that as laughing at Nebraska.
I'm just giddy. And it was like from the
beginning, that first really long, that 43 yard run that
Justice Ellison had, you know, I was thinking to myself, this is
this was not what I was prepared for.
Like, I really thought it was going to be somewhat of the
Maryland game where Indiana was going to need a couple of
quarters to get themselves set to figure out exactly how to,
you know, find the point of attack and exploit it against
Nebraska. And they just came out.
And Nebraska looked completely unprepared for the physicality,
for the execution that Indiana was able to run Tyson Lawton 64
yards on 8 carries and a touchdown had a 29 yarder.
Caitlin Black 22 yards. Haven Jackson had 21 yards.
And and then you look at the efficiency in the passing game,
you know, cold, real. Quick on the running, just so
many of those big runs happened because I we, I keep going back
to this happened because of great blocking and it was a
great scheme, you know, and I'm not knocking previous teams, but
Galen, how many of our big run plays in, in the history?
You know, you had a couple when you had like, you know, Tevin
Coleman, us for great players or Anthony Thompson, obviously, but
they messed his name up on the broadcast like 8 times.
And anyway, but it's like how many of those big runs, most of
the time for IU happened just on like a defensive laps or like
kind of a weird play where like somebody's should have been
tackled, but he didn't. These were running plays where
it was the scheme and there was just a wide open lane.
It wasn't like Nebraska missed a tackle or had a defensive laps.
They were playing the right defence.
We just had a great hole to run into it.
I can't remember a lot of runs like that in IU history.
Yeah, I, I'm, I don't know, I, I, I just continue to be so
impressed by the constant shifting of personnel on
offense, especially that this Indiana team has used throughout
the course of the season, receivers, running backs,
quarterbacks now and then the, you know, the the unsung heroes
on the offensive line, who I mean, this is an unrecognizable
offensive line in terms of how good they are compared to what
we've seen over the past couple of seasons.
And the coaching staff just in general is pushing all of the
right buttons. They're putting guys in the
right spots. And there's just, there does not
appear to be at least two, you know, the average viewer not
going back and watching a lot of tape.
There's not a lot of drop off with this team in terms of what
they're doing. And, you know, you rack up 280
yards in the air with two different quarterbacks.
I mean, they were the the quarterbacks were effectively 24
of 29. I'm going to, I'm going to
excuse the Justice Ellison pass that we're just going to act
like that doesn't count. Yeah, but one shot you shouldn't
count the the the interception was a total.
Just just try. Well, that's the thing.
Yeah. So you really get to go. 2428
because that, you know, you can't really.
Paralyze. Them on the Hail Mary, but
Curtis Rourke, if you take that, that Hail Mary interception out
17 of 20 for 189 yards and a touchdown.
Taven Jackson was 7 for eight for 91 yards and two touchdowns.
I mean that is. This is what the top defense in
the Big 10. Nebraska are one of the top.
Three in the country, according to the statistics, they were
number one in S&P Plus defensively coming into this
game. And Indiana just it it was like,
I mean, as you know, as I was, I was reading through some of the
comments online, especially on Reddit, and it's just like the
the shock with which Indiana was able to so effortlessly move the
block effortlessly as me trying to talk right now.
It's certainly a lot of effort going into it, but Indiana's
ability to move the ball against this Nebraska team essentially
it will was just so impressive. You know, Scott, what's our
favorite game here on Crimson Cast name the it's the.
Drive game. We're just going to call it the
drive game. Name the drive, recite the
drives, right? Recite the drives.
Let me recite the drives for Indiana on offense, It's great
touchdown. Turnover on downs, which didn't
matter because then it was touchdown, touchdown, touchdown,
Hail Mary, interception at the end of the half, touchdown,
touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown, end of game.
That was all of the drives. And you know, I, when they went
for it on that 4th down where they didn't get it, I was really
excited that that was the mentality that was already the
2nd 4th down conversion attempt that they had tried in the game.
And it was the first quarter. The, the, the tone that that
sets with this team on offense. This team just believes so
intrinsically in what they're doing.
And it's almost something that you can't put entirely into
words because it's hard to really get your head wrapped
around it unless you're watching it.
And especially if you're there in person, it just feels like
the offense has such a heartbeat to it that they think that
whatever they're going to do out there is going to work.
And especially. In this.
Especially in the red zone. That was the last thing I was
going to say. The the red zone plays, Indiana
Ram were just spectacular, almost up and down the board.
And you know, by the end of the game, Nebraska was so
demoralized. Like they were basically not
even trying to tackle that. I've never heard Gus Johnson get
bored with touchdown calls. But like by the 5th 1, he was
just like touchdown Indiana. I think he was just trying to be
nice to the Nebraska fans. But I mean, when you've worn Gus
Johnson down because you're executing that hard on offense.
You're you're in a, a parameter that I've never quite
experienced before. That that should be a Bill
Connolly stat. That should be one of the stats
that he has in his like, Oh, you, you have one Gus Johnson
Ware down. You know, we we talk about the
the name, the drive game, recite the drive.
You know, this is this is going to get in the psyche of teams
heads. And I think I felt it a little
bit with the way Nebraska played.
But let me just play the game with you here.
See if you can remember this game.
It's a game this season. The drives are you had turnover
arm downs and a punt and then touchdown, touchdown, field
goal, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown game that
was Northwestern. So but it's like this is, you
know, Maryland is not quite as beautiful as this one.
The Nebraska 1 is just touchdown, touchdown, touchdown.
But this is something that future teams, you're going to
see them, they're coming in, They're already a bit white
knuckled, All right, this IU team, they're going to score.
They're going to score a lot. Oh, by the way, it's 4 down
territory. Yeah.
Andy Moore. Yes, Andy.
Oh, sponsored Andy. I want my car.
My car. Keys, I'm sorry, Recite the
drives is sponsored by Shalhoubis.
You've missed. You've missed all the Shalhoubi
stuff unfortunately. I have that later on.
But I think that later. But but but I think this is
where other teams, you're going to start seeing them really
pressing just the game from the minute the game starts because
they know we're going to score, They know we're coming and they
also know that we're going for it on 4th.
You know, the the thing that I was thinking about, it's not the
perfect Segway, but just with the way that this team is wrong
and how aggressive, like confidently aggressive.
It's not stupid. 4th down calls. Most of the time when they go
for it on 4th, they either get it or they run a really smart
play. And it does seem like the really
high leverage 4th downs, like that first drive they get and
then they're kind of playing with house money on some of the
ones they don't get. But they were talking about us
in the broadcast, you know, Shanahan and how young
Signetti's staff is. And I'm just really struck by
how, you know, Signetti is 6263 years old.
Like he's not a young puppy. I, I have some, I want to get
back to the broadcast near the end.
But just I was thinking today how how modern the staff feels
like how ahead of the game, it feels like we are in both IL
game and the transfer. This is they're talking about
the broadcast, the transfer portal, how many guys are coming
over. It's like this is a new era of
football and we're playing it. And then you look at the play
calls and it's all these great little motion plays.
It's a lot of RPO. I mean, it does feel like we are
running one of the most modern offenses in football.
And then you hear, you know, talking about the staff as all
of these young hungry guys who are coming up and you know, it's
very, you wouldn't expect that from a 6263 year old kind of
football lifer to come in. This would seem like kind of the
young, you know, you know, the, the, the guy, USC or something,
you know, Lincoln Riley, like kind of the young upstart coach.
Like I just was taken aback thinking about that.
Like, and we have it like it's ours, it's our guy and this is
our team. It was just, it's, it's awesome.
I have a stat that's going to serve as the transition point to
talking about the defense 'cause I want to get the defense their
due as well. So Max Olson, this was shared
with me via text by by our friend Griffin Gonzalez.
I think or maybe this was might have been Matt Cohen.
One of the two just shared this with me.
Max Olson, who is a reporter for ESPN, post the following Best
scoring margin through seven games since 2020 Indiana is plus
245 in scoring margin through the 1st 7 games.
That is number one in that time period over the course of the
last five seasons. Second on that list is 2022 Ohio
State, who was plus 243, 2023 Michigan.
Last year's Michigan team that won the national title was plus
2/29/2022 Georgia was plus 228, and 2021 Georgia was plus 223.
And as Olsen notes, Hoosiers currently ahead of the last
three national champions in best scoring margin since 2020.
I, I mean, what? I don't even know what to say
about that, Scott, other than this.
Then again, like people love to pick apart Indiana's schedule.
I as as we've already, we would have predicted this and it's
already started to happen. Indiana blows Nebraska out.
That was supposed to be the big test.
Now Nebraska who who they played.
Yeah. Yeah.
Nebraska's not good now because Indiana just beat the pants off
of them. But I do want to talk about the
defense, 56 to 7. Now, we knew that Nebraska's
offense was not as good as their defense.
They came in, I think they were in the 80s and S&P Plus and
offense. And it was one of the reasons
why we were so confident on the pregame podcast was that we just
felt like Nebraska wasn't going to be able to keep up with
Indiana in terms of scoring. But I thought they would score
like I thought there would be some.
I mean, I, I don't know what's the most impressive statistic.
I think it's probably the fact that Nebraska rushed 29 times
for 70 yards. They had a 2.4 yards per carry
average, which is just nuts. I mean, that is that is a
stellar performance by the defense.
Dylan Rayola, who's clearly talented, 28 for 44234 yards, 0
touchdowns, 3 interceptions. And I mean, just struggled with
pressure, you know, threw some balls that he probably
shouldn't. Just some demoralizing plays by
Indiana. Whether it was the interception,
it was the the tackling. Aiden Fisher was just absolutely
stellar in this game. 11 tackles, four of those solo
tackles was all over the field. D'Angelo Pons did an amazing
job. Terry Jones junior had a sack.
You know the the two fumble recoveries, Jacob Mangum Farrar
and Mikhail Kamara both coming up with with those 3
interceptions, as we mentioned, Sean Asbury, Reliah Hardy and
Jameer Johnson. I mean, as as demoralizing as it
is for other teams to watch Indiana's offense do what they
do, the defense got a lot of criticism in the Northwestern
game. Not undeservedly, but I, you
know, I look at their performance in this game and I'm
like, that is a demoralizing defense to go up and play
against. Like everything was clicking for
Indiana in this game. And as as a one of the
commenters put earlier on Reddit, like at least you know,
Charlotte scored 14 points on IU.
Nebraska was only able to score 7.
It really feels like the defense made some adjustments, really
amped up their energy and focus and just got after it from the
very beginning. I mean that one drive that
Nebraska had at the beginning of the game.
Or close to the beginning of the game that where they scored the
touchdown. Let's recite the drives for
Nebraska in this game. Well, I was going to do that.
I wanted to do the the Ray Skillman.
This is the Ray Skillman. Recite the drive for Nebraska.
Sorry, stepped on it. It was OK, But please go ahead.
Do the do do the recite the drives for that.
Sorry, I was I was loading that up for myself.
No, it's, you know, punt, fumble, touchdown.
I mean, not a great way to start the game, but OK.
And then from there it's punt the three, three play, punt, 3
play, punt A-15 play drive with interception and then an
interception and then turnover on downs and a fumble and then a
one play interception and then a turnover on downs.
And that's game. And as we've joked, this is the
bend but don't break defense that we were talked about in the
Allen era. Like they get down there, you
know, 15 play drive and then Nebraska turns it over.
The play that I thought was to me very interesting is it
happened in one of Nebraska's first two or three drives their
their receiver caught a ball IU like pulled it out and it was
like really on the like wasn't sure he was down or pulled out.
He probably was down first. Nebraska wisely came up and like
called a quick play. But I was thinking again, this
is like pre 2024, Scott was thinking like that would have
been the play where it's like, damn it, Like we let that like
that was the that was the game changer.
Like we had the moment to get Nebraska off and have an
interception like fumble didn't happen.
And you know, as it turns out, it's like, OK, don't worry,
we'll let's get three more turnovers.
We'll just keep going. And that's something with this
team that when things happen that don't go their way or it
feels like we get a a funky call or something just like, OK,
fine, you want to play that way. We'll just get two more
interceptions on that. Like this team has just such a
resolve and such a focus of we're going to do it.
And and the last thing I'll say on the broadcast, you know, Joel
Klatt, who's Gus Johnson's partner, although I could never
remember the time, Joel, look at some name.
You're allowed to change your name in broadcasting, like go
with something different. But I know he played.
So he has to go with that. But he he he kept going like
they they were so positive about IU's offense.
But then Joel would be like the defense you have just Gus, I got
to say here, man, the defense is pretty good too.
Like they couldn't stop glowing about both sides of the ball to
the point that in the middle of the third quarter, they're just
like, this is a good team. He's like, this is a really good
team. And even, you know, Joel said
this, which kind of blew my mind that he was like, I, it's like,
you know, a lot of people were kind of stunned by the TCU team
last year. It's like this, this Indiana
team, he's like, they don't really remind me of TCU last
year because TCU was in a lot of close games.
They had a lot of games they could have lost.
They went all the way to the national championship.
Like Indiana's kicking the snot out of people.
He's like, so they actually remind me of it.
Like they don't remind me of TCU.
They remind me of a better team than TCU.
It's like, I think this guy, the limits for Indiana and I'm I'm
just like, this is like this is a simulation now.
Like we're talking commentators who watch football are talking
like comparing Indiana glowingly to national runners up.
Like, I don't know what world we are living in, but no, we are.
We're good on both sides of the ball.
And even our punting was, we just don't have chance to punt
much, but our punting is good. I know James Evans is like, you
know, the Maytag repairman of college football right now.
It's a lonely job being the Indiana punter.
It was just the whole thing was just such a total.
It was just funny. Because when you were, when you
come to Indiana, you're probably thinking like, all right, well,
if nothing else, I'm going to get 15 punts a game.
Like I'm going to get a lot of practice.
I'll get a lot of film. And Evans just like knew my pro
career, like I was going to be McAfee.
Like there's no tape on me punting.
Yeah, it's, I don't know, it's so much, so much to laud Indiana
for in this game as it is. It is absolutely just nuts
watching them play as well as they did and watching Indiana
just with the confidence and the the the reserve throughout.
And I'm I'm just so pleased. I'm so thrilled at the way that
Indiana approached the game and this was something that was
brought up by a couple of different people.
I think Zach Osterman brought it up in The Star, but the, the
there was so much noise this week.
IU was all over national media. Kurt Signetti was doing all
these interviews. Curtis Rourke was on the Heisman
podcast. You had Big Noon kick off live
in Bloomington. You had Barstool who had a
really unique setup, which I'm going to talk about a little bit
later. Live in Bloomington, there was
so much buzz. IU had a bye week.
They had two weeks to kind of bask in the fact that they were
bowl eligible. That seemed there would seem
under normal circumstances, like something.
Total let down just. Really be a total let down and I
think that in the back of a lot of people's heads, that's kind
of what they were expecting and Indiana just showed up like it
was another game that they there was a let down.
It was Nebraska, right. Well, that I mean I well, but
it's the kind of the flip I think Nebraska was.
I think they were so unprepared for what Indiana threw out in
this game. And there is a level of
confidence and I keep saying competency, but that feels like
it doesn't adequately explain how like if if just efficiently
minded this team is and you know, they haven't played
perfect all season. Kurt Signeti, you know, after
the game yesterday's like, well, that you know, that wasn't that
wasn't perfect. Like we got work to do.
That mentality that has been given by this coaching staff and
imported to some degree, you know, because I think this was
this was one of the underrated aspects.
Everybody focusing on the the transfers from JMU and like, can
these guys really compete at this level?
Well, A, they can. And B, the fact that they were
able to bring in that culture and then have that culture
filter through the rest of the players on the roster, the the
ones that came from elsewhere, the ones that were already here.
It's just such a, a sea change for IU football.
And to watch them in this type of a game, which had let down or
emotional, you know, emotional walk back written all over it.
It just absolutely thrills me that they came out with that
level of intensity and never let up for the entire game.
I mean, the the foot was on the gas.
There was a great stat that Greg Campbell tweeted out that I I
had missed yesterday. Let me see if I can find it
again real quick. So Greg Campbell, the Sid for
Indiana, Indiana had the ball for just two minutes and 24
seconds in the third quarter. So Nebraska had the ball for 12
minutes and 36 seconds and Indiana outscored Nebraska 14 to
nothing in that quarter. And you know that that
interception at the end of that long 70 yard drive that got
returned 78 yards the other way, that that was the the greatest
distillation of how demoralized Nebraska got in this game and
how focused Indiana was. And I've just.
Asterisk on that stat. That was with our backup.
Quarterback, right? Exactly.
Yes, exactly. So anyway that any other items
from the game itself that you wanted to talk about?
I can, I do. I'm just gonna talk about the
broadcasters for a second. Yeah, that's fine.
It was all like I I will say Gus Johnson is pro IU.
Like it's just you can tell because in like when we go up
fourteen to seven, I think his touchdown call was like they
said they've played nobody. They said their schedule is
soft. Just ask Nebraska, Indiana's
here. Something along those lines.
Like he was like speaking for all of the Indiana fans the the
second-half turned into just a signeti love fest.
I mean, they're talking about his, you know, the the gamble he
took going to Indiana University of Pennsylvania, you know, the
the gamble just going down to the low levels and just betting
on himself. You know, the Google me all
that. But Gus Johnson had a great
little tidbit of a story that I thought about more that actually
is this so signeti? I I love this guy so much.
So we all know at the basketball game where he says, you know,
Purdue sucks, Michigan sucks, Ohio State sucks too, whatever,
you know, along those lines, Gus Johnson was the was calling that
game. So he tells us on the air he's
like, so Signetti comes and sits next to me during a time out and
Gus is like, you know, during a time out, I kind of lean over.
I was like, Kurt, It's kind of a crazy thing to say.
And Kurt just looks at him bewildered and says why?
We're going to kick their ass next year.
And and Gus was like, I kind of thought to myself, this guy's
nuts. Like this guy's crazy and he's
like, but I don't think he's crazy anymore.
And then I I apologize for not thinking of this, but with
everything, you know, Signetti's got a plan on everything.
Galen, those are the last three teams we play this year.
Like I thought it was kind of just a Purdue's our rival.
And then, you know, Michigan, Ohio State or the class cream of
the crop, which it might have been, but it also could have
been Kurt Signetti looking at our schedule and being like, how
are we going to finish this year?
We're finishing the year with Michigan, Ohio State and Purdue,
and those are the three schools he called out and in February
he's thinking we're going to kick their ass.
It it it. Anyway, it's a great little
story. I just love gusts off and being
like this guy's nuts. It was December.
I think it was December actually.
But no, I look and and he got asked this by Jenny Taft in the
post game and he said, you know, I got a lot of respect for
those, those coaches and those programs.
And I think he legitimately does.
And ultimately what he said was in that interview, I didn't, I
didn't have a very enjoyable first day because there was just
no hope. There was nothing.
There was no optimism. And we are IU football
podcasters. We're IU football fans.
We know that. We knew I, you know I.
Feel you, Kurt. We feel.
Yeah, the level, the level of beaten down that IU football
fans have gotten to by the end of Tom Allen's time, it was
really, really depressing. I mean, to the point that you
and I were having conversations about is this do we do want to
keep doing like this podcast? It was so depressing.
I mean, Punt John, Punt literally stopped doing what
they did because of how low morale had gotten and.
And shout out to Taylor Layman and all of this.
Taylor's like I'm in. I'm gonna start to swap it up.
Someone's gotta be there. Not only I'm gonna dig into
stats, stats just suck. I'm gonna.
Dig it. I love you, Taylor.
We love you. But the, you know, The thing is
the that that brashness, that that confidence level is
absolutely what Indiana needed, not just on the field, but
that's clearly where it's had the biggest impact.
But the fan base, I think the early adopters were like, this
guy's different. This guy is coming with an
energy that has been needed here forever.
And then to watch it manifest and to see the stadium
yesterday, I mean, to to be in there.
I remember walked in and, you know, I've got my family with me
and I'm looking out at this crowd and I'm just like, I can't
believe what my eyes are seeing. I cannot believe how packed the
stadium was, how energetic the stadium was.
The whole day was like that. The, the, the vibe around campus
and around the stadium in the tailgate lots was just so much
fun. And it stayed that way the whole
game. The energy was like that.
The Maryland game was like that too.
It was a little bit different. It was a little edgier and it
was a closer game for a longer period of time.
Like, you know, we've, we've had complaints about IU fans not
sticking around after halftime. And it's a legitimate complaint
why you fans started leaving because we were beating Nebraska
too much. Like it was like, well, I don't
know what else I'm going to see. And the the ones that stuck
around to the end got to see 56 to 7:00.
But that that brashness, that confidence that Signeti has
brought to the table has flipped the mindset of this football
team. And it is such a joy to watch
that happening. It is such a joy to watch fans
believing for the first time, literally the first time in IU
football and and feeling like they've got something that they
can really bank on with IU football.
We've got random people walking down the street in California or
New York getting stopped and say, hey, what about Indiana?
You know, it's it is so much of what Signeti has done and people
have been critical of it at times or like, who the heck is
this guy? Like, why is he acting this way?
But I think he realizes and you can see it.
And if you pay attention to his press conferences and his media
appearances, like he realized that this place needed a reason
to believe. So you provide one and then you
got to go back it up. And I don't know that in his
wildest dreams, and he probably would never say this, but I I
don't know that anybody would have thought, oh, we're just
going to go in and get this football team to the point where
it's 7 and O and rolling and having all of these amazing
stats. But so much of it, and we talked
about it in the preseason, Scott, so much of it comes down
to belief. Football is a very interesting
game. It's a game where yes, your your
scheme matters. Yes, your players matter.
But we've seen talented teams, really talented teams that don't
believe in what they're doing, have seasons that just go off
the deep end in a bad way. It's happening to USC right now.
This year, US CS, 3:00 and 4:00 and they look like a team that
has just had their confidence stolen from them.
The fact that Sigeti was able to establish that early and has
been able to maintain it and increase it throughout the
course of the season to the point that now people are like
afraid of Indiana is just a baffling turn of events that I I
couldn't be more thrilled for. Well, even on the big the the
big noon kick off show, you know, and he's been saying this
for a while. He had an interview, you know,
Urban Meyer had an interview with Signetti a little bit ago.
But you know, Urban Meyer, like him or love him, like he's one
of one of the better coaches in the last 20 years.
It's just saying, you know, this is the best coach team in
America. Like I've watched the film and
then halftime, he's like, it's it's so unusual to watch a team
on film and then come out and see the exact same thing on the
field in a good way. And Urban is just like this is
the best team. The best coach team in America.
And then you also have Mark Ingram, who is recruited by
Signetti at Alabama, talking about how much he loves
Signetti. Obviously Saban has a very
tight, you know, bond with Signetti.
You you look at this and it's just it is kind of one of those
moments and this happens every so often where a coach hooks on
with the team and has all the pedigree and, and you think to
yourself, that makes total sense.
Like, of course that guy's going to succeed.
It just sucks that it's happening at, you know, Kansas
State or I can't think of the best example, but it's happening
here. And you you have the the
coaching elite who again, say what you want.
Urban Meyer knows how to coach football, knows how to get a
team to a high level. For him to say, this is the best
coach, the best coach team that I see this year.
That's that's high praise. Mark Ingram's saying it, you
know, and, and Leonard is there singing the praises.
It is it, it really, it's not just beating, you know, the
schedule. The people who know football are
seeing the things that make a team great and they're seeing it
all here. And it's unbelievable that it
happened in a one year. Turn around.
But you know, it, it goes to kind of what, you know, Signetti
says and is true. He's, you know, they, they
played a clip for him yesterday where he's, you know, he talked
about how pissed he was that day at IU.
And that's why he said that Assembly Hall was kind of just
tired of being losing. He's like you, you can win
anywhere. It's like if there's support
from the top down and the bottom up, you can win anywhere and you
can win quickly. I mean, and he's doing it.
We've always said this, you know, so much of the idea of
what a program is is really the people that run it.
And it's the same thing in basketball as it is in football.
You can talk about excuses, you can say, oh, you don't have
support here or there. And and certainly there are some
financial elements that more and more come into play.
But historically, as much as programs like to talk about
being places where you can win or can't win, we've seen plenty
of examples of people going into programs like Bill Snyder at
Kansas State where. Virginia Tech Like.
You can change things if you are good at what you do.
And I, you know, the, the really special coaches are the ones
that are able to go in and change culture and they become a
phenomenon unto themselves at the place that they're coaching
at. And look, this is we're just
seven games into Year 1 of what will hopefully be a nice long
tenure for Kurt Signetti here at IU.
But, you know, so who knows what how the season ends up, who
knows how things go. But just to watch the level of
confidence that Indiana's playing with the level of
execution that they're able to bring to the table and to
understand that there is an attitude that goes with that.
It's not just the plays, it's not just the players, but it is
the attitude with which they approach the game.
And that is, to me, the most important and exciting thing
about Kurt Signeti and his whole staff.
And you know, you mentioned this a little bit earlier, but
watching the way that they communicate on social media,
watching how they approach the game schematically and watching
how their players are reacting to what they're doing, it just
feels very different from what we're used to.
And that is really exciting, Scott.
Yeah, no, and I the the thing that it's, it's I just it, it
almost is laughable. Now the narrative of, well, they
have a soft schedule and it's like, yes, we do.
But you know, there's also no other team in the it's not like
other teams in the Big 10 have to play Oregon and USC and Ohio
State and Michigan. Like this is a the amalgamation
of a schedule. It it broke well for us, but
it's broken well for a lot of teams.
You look at Miami of Florida, you know, they played at
Florida, Florida A&M, Ball State, Southern Florida, a lot
of Florida schools, Virginia Tech, California, at Louisville,
not exactly a murderer's row, like not a lot of, you know,
ranked in the top five teams. And you know, this idea of, you
know, Ohio State played Oregon, look at the rest of their
schedule hasn't been that tough. Now we'll play some more tough
games. It's just, it is, it's
frustrating as an IU fan how the Gulf Coast continued to be moved
because, you know, it's like, we got to play a real Rd. game.
Oh, UCLA sucks, like Northwestern, that's not a real
Rd. game. And then now it's, you know,
it's Nebraska, that's your test. And now it's like, oh, they
suck. It's like, well, they partially,
all these teams partially suck because we're kicking the hell
out of them. Like those two things can be
true. I, I saw somebody tweeting out
about like, you know, nobody could have thought this even in
a fever dream. This was real.
Like, I couldn't imagine us doing our preview.
And like, Dale and I, I think I have a seven.
And oh, and like, I just want to throw in, I think we're going to
beat Nebraska 56 to 7. Like we are.
Do you realize we win next week? We've already hit our win total
for the year, which most people thought we were a little bit too
eager this year with. 8 Scott, you, you and I, I think, or I at
least I picked us to lose to Nebraska and I picked us to lose
to Washington. And yes, the fact that we're
already on the precipice of getting to the eight wins that
you and I both predicted and were kind of laughed at when we
did so is really exciting. Yeah.
I mean, gosh, there's so many other directions we could go
here, but a couple of items there was.
I had a question earlier that I wanted to get to from Ron
Mcfaul. Where does yesterday's Memorial
Stadium experience rank in your all time IU football moment?
So I put I tweeted something out about this yesterday and people
got mad at me because I didn't have the O 7 bucket game.
I wasn't there. So I can't really, I can't
comment on that. But now yesterday was the best.
The whole day. It was such a, it was such a, an
amazing vibe in there. And, and even beforehand I, I
was, I was on so little sleep. I had 40 minutes of sleep the
night before. Not because I was juiced or
excited or was like really anticipating him.
I just couldn't sleep. I just could not fall.
It was I could not stay asleep. It was awful.
So I was like, am I even going to make it to the game?
You know, do I have to go nap in the truck at the tailgate or
something like that? But I was, I was in line at 6:35
to get into the lot which opened.
Did your rally towel say sleep later?
Not study later, but sleep later.
That's. Right sleep later.
I love it. I was in line to get into lot 12
at 6:35. I was the 6th vehicle in line so
5 people got there in front of me.
By the time the gates opened, there were about 25 cars behind
me. We got in there, we got set up.
We, I mean me, I, I did all the set up myself because nobody
wanted to get up that early to help set up which shots fired to
the wife. No, no, no, that's OK That she
normally comes later with the second vehicle, which is, which
is needed. So no, the, the, she was the
real MVP with that. But from the beginning it was
just the, the, the fans that were in the tailgate lots were
excited. There were a lot of people
there. It was legitimately a sell out.
I think that the lot that I park in, I think the last number I
saw on SeatGeek was that those passes were going for about $260
each. So you know, forget about
Bitcoin, invest in IU football parking passes I think is my
message for all of you. But that's what I'm doing here.
I'm actually buying and selling pass.
I'm Dominican. I'm just selling EA Lot and lot
9 and lot 8, and I'm going to the beach to do that in a bit.
Yeah, but. Walking around, which I don't
normally get a chance to do 'cause I'm cooking pretty much
the whole time, but I, I shut the grill off at 10 'cause I was
like, I really want to go see what's going on everywhere else.
And walked over with a group to 17th and Forest, I think to, to
where the barstool thing was. That was cool.
They had a big stage set up. They had a huge crowd there.
It, it felt like a mini EDM festival and, or, or like a
backyard fraternity party. And I mean that in the best
possible way. Like it just had this kind of
cool, cloistered off vibe. Then walked over to the fox set
and that was amazing. You know, stood there, we were
right nearby when they were doing some of their field demos.
Mark Ingram, yeah, spiked a football after, like, he caught
a pass from Matt Leinert, bounced up.
I caught him out of the air. So I now have that football that
will I, if I will someday, hopefully get him to autograph
it for me. That was pretty, pretty cool.
But that was nuts. Jeremy Gray, beforehand senior
associate athletic director for IU, who's poured his heart and
soul into marketing and trying to get the game day experience
better. This had to feel like a
coronation for him. He had some tweet where he that
he took a picture from the stanchion above it.
It's like, you know, more beautiful, you know, sight these
eyes have ever seen like, you know, kind of the Rudy quote.
And it felt that way. Like you just were like, I can't
believe that this is all happening at an Indiana football
game. And for those of us who have
been going to games since the 80s or the 70s or the 60s, it
was, it was almost like an, it was like you.
It was like one of those Star Trek episodes where you wake up
in an alternate universe. And that, that's really how it
felt. It's like, how is all this
happening at IU? Everybody got into the stadium
early. I mean, the, the place was
packed and there were 15 minutes left on the clock until the game
started. Like that's how packed the thing
was. And I was just thrilled with the
the absolute vibe that was flowing through the crowd
throughout the course of the whole game.
So to go back to Ron's question, it was one of those things
where, you know, the Maryland game had previously from earlier
this year had become my favorite game at IU because of how into
the game the fans were. I have to go back the, the, the
only other game that really ranks in the top three as far as
games that I've been to. And there's and there's been a
ton of games that I've missed for various reasons.
Like I remember Jason Kennedy and I trying to keep track of
that 2015 game against Michigan that went to what, 4 overtimes
or I was not at the game. Yeah, there were a couple of
others, but I have to go all the way back just real quick that
that game, I remember my son was there.
He's like 2 years old and he fell and like fell down like 2
bleachers in front and hit his head.
He was OK, but people like he have a concussion.
Do you need to leave? And I'm like.
It's overtime one against Michigan.
Like, you know, whatever is gonna happen, it's gonna happen.
But I'm staying here for the rest of this game that we lost
so many of these memories. I remember the Iowa game where
like with so many memories, we lost.
And so I have to go back for games I've been in person.
The only other game that's in the category, and it's a distant
third to the Maryland game. And then the number one for me
now is that Nebraska game was 2001 bucket game in the pouring,
driving rain for those who were there.
That was one of those games you'll never forget.
And that game had like this. That was not a great game.
It was a 14, seven game. Indiana had to have a goal line
stand at the end of the game to preserve the win.
I think it was the last time a goal post got torn down at
Memorial Stadium. But it was one of those games
where what made it so good was how into it the crowd was,
despite the elements and how it felt like finally the Cameron
era had like some kind of a good win associated with it was like,
yes, we did that. We weren't going to a bowl.
We'd already lost our 6th game by that point.
But yes, as as as Matt Ogle points out, Martin Lapostel was
the guy that made the tackle at the end.
So those that were there, it was one of those games you'll never
forget. But this was better by every
stretch of the imagination, not just because of the significance
of the game and how well Indiana's played this season,
but this was absolutely just a demolishing of a team that was
supposed to be good. A fringe top 25 team, a Nebraska
program that is one of the top programs from a brand name
perspective in college history, and a team that did a lot of
talking, or at least their fans did a lot of talking coming into
the game. The team didn't so much I am, I,
I, I'll always remember fondly the entire picture of this
Nebraska game and just how fun it was.
And for those that were there, I think you'll probably all say
the same thing down the line. And for those that weren't
there, all I can say is buy Washington tickets.
But you know, come down and see this team in person.
And and that's The thing is that there's a there's an opportunity
the Michigan game could be the next best experience for for
fans who are there 'cause that could be a team that's
undefeated going in to beat Michigan, Who, you know, is a
bigger, you know, defending national champion And also a
team that we've had our bugaboos with.
They could they could could not be ranked.
That could have, you know, not you're not going to get
obviously big Noon, you know, Saturday, again, maybe it's game
day, don't know. And in the Purdue game, while
Purdue's not a looks like a live opponent this year, that that
would still be fun to kick the snot out of Purdue and maybe
punch your ticket to something Big 10 title game, you know, a
College Football Playoff. I mean, so I, I, I hear you.
This is also the the longing of a guy who just scheduled a trip
for the wrong day nine months ago, you know, but I, I, I
again, much like that, you know, missed fumble that we didn't
get. It doesn't feel like this is my
God. I missed the one in a 20 year
opportunity to catch a great game.
It does feel as if there are more great experiences down the
road. This team just looks focused and
poised. And you know, I'm, I'm nervous
to play without Curtis Rourke, but I'm not frightened.
It's not like, you know, when, when Pennex went down, Ramsey
was still good. But you know, it was, it was
different. Or in 2020, you know, you kind
of felt like all right, going to Jack Tuttle was definitely a
step down from Pennex. And I'm not trying to knock, you
know, Rourke or Jackson. It just it feels like the
schematics are run so well that this coaching staff will be able
to put together a package that works for what Jackson needs to
do. I mean, and that's the thing.
So I guess we can talk about the Rourke injury now.
So, you know, it's there's conflicting reports about what
the injury was. You know what I've been hearing
and I think I think our our buddy Huperazzi verified this,
that that he had his thumbnail ripped off.
And so they had to tape that background, which is tough on
the throwing hand. And so Pete Amo.
Better than a broken thumb? Well.
But yes, absolutely. But, you know, Pete Amo, Pete
Amo. And then we've seen several
other confirmations of this saying that Rourke is unlikely
to play against Washington. Jeff Rabjons from Pigs just
stated that a source says he's not playing against Washington.
I mean, I don't want to undersell that.
I mean, this is a guy who has been throwing himself into the
Heisman contention, quite literally, and has played with
such a poise. I really liked what I saw out of
Taven Jackson. And I liked what Taylor said
earlier about this idea that, you know, this, this this team
is winning because its offensive line has played great and
they've got a really good game plan.
But anytime you lose your starting quarterback, that's a,
that's an issue. And so I'm really interested to
see how Indiana responds. They're going to play a team
that's got a much better offense in Washington than what Nebraska
threw out there. And Washington's, you know,
proven that they're a, a, a decent team at times.
They beat Michigan now that that win looks a little bit less
impressive every week. And then they, you know, they
also didn't look very good against Iowa.
So I am confident in Indiana's ability to get through that
game, but they're going to have to keep their focus and, and
this is where they just can't take anything for granted,
especially if you're going to have work out.
It might be a blessing in disguise to some degree because
as we've heard a lot of people say like, well, IU hasn't faced
adversity in a game yet, which, which a is false, but this is
real adversity. Like, you know, anytime you lose
a, a starting quarterback for a game in the, in a season where
you've only got 12/13/14 games, you're that's, that's adversity
that you have to overcome. And maybe that helps them keep
their focus even more as they go into this week.
Well, not, not that you're saying it, but as somebody who
would say that, it's like we haven't faced a, we haven't been
down because we haven't been down.
Like because we're up 14, nothing in every game that we
play or we haven't ever been down, It's like, yes, we haven't
faced adversity, but partially because we're winning every game
and we're kind of putting teams out of their misery early.
Yeah. So it's it's just, you know, and
that Brian Hicks just had that comment that I showed there,
like, can we jump on Washington the way we've jumped on these
other teams? But you know, I'll say this,
like even in the Maryland game, which was tight for a while, the
the Northwestern game got tight later.
We've seen Indiana win effectively in a variety of
scenarios and situations. We've seen them jump on a team
immediately like that again, get against Nebraska.
We've seen them ease into a big win like they did against UCLA.
We've seen them pull away at the end like they did against
Northwestern and Maryland. So I like the fact that
Indiana's going to be in a position where whatever they
face in this Washington game, it's not going to be a scenario
in a game that they haven't faced in some way, shape or
form, except that they're going to have a different person
likely under under center. I am curious to see how
precautionary all this is. And I'd feel a lot less, I feel
a lot more worried about it if the running game hadn't been so
strong in this Nebraska game. Well, that was the point I was
going to wrap up with is, you know, we, we scored 18
touchdowns through passing this year.
We scored 28 touchdowns through rushing.
Some of that is I know you get close to the goal line and you
punch it in with the run, but we're still averaging 5.3 yards
per carry on our run game on A and it's not like we're not
running, you know, only running the ball in a very small sample
size. We're running the ball a good
amount. So I I like you.
This is not like previous years where our offense is focused
nothing on pass and the run is an afterthought.
Both sides of the ball are functioning well.
Now, maybe that's partially because you have Curtis Rourke
playing so well. We're going to see.
But there's something with this team that doesn't feel as if
Signeti's not going to know. And this is where that breath of
his career and his experience comes into play.
And I think you just at this point, no question, he gets the
benefit of the doubt that he knows what he's doing.
He's had situations with teams where people have gone down,
either starting quarterbacks, running backs or wide receivers
that were key. How do you build your your game
plan differently around that? I I feel like Signeti is going
to be able to do that. And not to mention, you know, if
he if he doesn't have a question, maybe if he's
concerned, he could call up Saban.
I mean, he's got a great coaching treat.
He's just like, hey, Saban or Urban when you're not, you know,
going off on me on the big noon set, you know, kissing my butt.
Give me some ideas. I look, I'll say this, the last
thing I'll say on this and then a couple other things before we
wrap up. I am, I'm, I'm confident that
this coaching staff is going to figure it out and, and figure
out a way to handle whatever they have to deal with.
Indiana's been blessed so far this season and that they really
haven't had a lot of injury concerns.
They've had a couple and but they've been able to cover in
those circumstances, whether it's on defense or on offense
when they've lost people. So I'm not overly worried, but I
any more than I would be just generally like make sure that
you do business the way that you're supposed to do business
if you're Indiana, because this is really where it's, it's
tricky. And I've thought about this a
lot with this football team. So much success has come to them
so quickly and they've handled it so well up to this point.
That builds though, week after week.
You saw this with with Signetti's James Madison team
last year. You know, I mean, they, they had
one bad game towards the end there where they lost the
Appalachian State. That was what they had game day
out there, right? Like that's kind of when it.
Felt like the fever pitch of James Madison hit, you know, But
I think Signetti probably learned some lessons from that.
This coaching staff was with him for that.
So I really count on them to go through this week focused and
intense and realizing. And Signetti even said, you
know, something along these lines at some point yesterday.
It's like at the end of the day, like it's, it's a new week every
week it's a new game that you're you, you can't bask and whatever
you're doing at that moment, you just have to keep pressing
forward and that this team really does seem to grasp that.
It's almost like they don't quite understand or understands
the wrong word. They don't have a situation
where they've acknowledged all of the noise and that and it was
that I think Ethan Barksdale had the quote I was searching for in
vain. We we wake up the same people
and that's. The message and so the work
thing is, is a concern and you just hope that he's able to get
back relatively soon. We don't know what the extent of
the injury is, but I'm not I I have faith right now in this
team and I think this team has faith in itself and in the
coaching staff to do what they need to do.
And so that's why I'm not as concerned.
Any any other thoughts, I guess generally on that Scott?
No, I mean, it kind of goes back to what I said in the beginning.
You know, the the only thing that makes me feel, again, I
would rather have Curtis work behind center and have this team
humming on all cylinders. But the nice thing is you're
playing. Your next two games are against,
you know, Washington, who's a little bit of a mix there at
home. And then a Michigan State team
that has a little bit of firepower but also has a
freshman quarterback who seems to have some, you know,
interception issues that we do well against.
That's on the road, but we have we saw a preview of it.
I would feel more concerned if the Curtis Rourke injury
happened at the end of the game and it's kind of this big
question mark. We kind of know what it's going
to look like with Tave and Jackson under center because we
saw it in the second-half and it was kind of business as usual.
But they scored the same amount of points.
The offense was still was still as functional.
So that that makes me less concerned is that it see, and
that that was probably a situation where you had less
time to prepare. Like they probably weren't
putting a whole tape in Jackson playbook into the Nebraska game
and they did it in 1/2 time and got it ready to go.
So I again, we are at a point where Signeti gets all benefited
out for me and I'm I I'm I like you.
I hope that he can come back from the injury.
The only thing that was, you know, concerning they're talking
about the broadcast is that, you know, some injuries and hand
injuries as a quarterback unfortunately are really tough
because there's not much you can do because you can't just shoot
it up with novocaine because that's the hand that you need to
feel the ball. So you're kind of either playing
in pain or you lose some touch. Like this is something that may
may last for a while which which sucks.
That's just Yeah, we'll see. I I will say the Michigan State
game has always been one I've kind of had in the back of my
head. It's like that's going to be a
challenging game. They look and as up and down as
Michigan State's looked so far this year, they look really
good. Yesterday in beating Iowa, they
beat Iowa 32 to 20. You know, they he jumped on Iowa
early. They were up 12 nothing at
halftime. Should have been up 15 nothing
if they hadn't missed that field goal at the end of the half.
So look, all of these situations are situations where Indiana
just has to keep resetting. And we've seen this across
college football. There are are very few like
really dominant teams. Indiana's been one, but we've
seen plenty of teams not be able to handle business from week to
week. I've been pleased with how
Indiana's been able to handle their business week to week.
This ends up becoming this next stretch, a really tough stretch,
not because of the caliber of opponents necessarily, but
because it is so easy to get tripped up in college football.
It is so easy to have an off week where you're not focused
the way that you're supposed to. And that's that's where Indiana
just this is where they test their medal.
Washington at Michigan State, Michigan at home.
If you can win those 3. Because the team that does like
let's be honest, the team that does that isn't losing to Purdue
at home, which is they just aren't.
So you're, you're giving yourself 11:00 and 1:00.
Well, it's more it's yeah, that's that's exactly right.
And and I guess my big thing is this.
It's an amazing thing to even say that like Indiana in these
next three games can essentially guarantee the greatest season in
College in Indiana history football wise.
But that is a really, that's a tricky thing to navigate as a
football team when you haven't had historically a whole lot of
success. Now, the James Madison players
had success at that level, but this collective group has not
been quite in that spot before. And I am look, whatever happens
the rest of the year, I'm always going to look back with
incredible fondness and excitement at what has happened
so far in this season. And, you know, so whatever
happens the rest of the way, I'm it's not going to affect that in
a negative way for me. But it is really interesting to
think about like what the potential for this season still
is at the way that Indiana's played and, and the fact that
they've looked so consistent week to week.
It's become an interesting running subplot in my own mind.
Like how how are they going to do it this week?
How are they going to come out and do what they need to do to
have two weeks off like they did or a week off, I guess.
And to come out with that level of fire against the Nebraska
team, that was supposed to be a big test.
How do they handle that now in these next few games?
Because I think that pressure internally like it the the
potential is there for it to build and you start to feel the
weight of expectations. So how well does the coaching
staff work with these players and how well do the players self
regulate so that it doesn't become overwhelming from a
pressure perspective? Because we have seen that not
just, you know, potentially with Indiana, we we saw it a little
bit with a couple of Indiana's prior good see seasons and
teams, but we see it elsewhere. You saw that with Texas
yesterday where, you know, all this build up and everything and
and they really got roundly trounced by Georgia.
I mean that that shouldn't have been as close to the game as it
was. So I'm just going to keep an eye
out on it. It's fascinating.
I think it's going to be great to watch and I'm really, really
excited to see what occurs as we move forward with this team.
I want to say something now and I agree.
I agree with you. And I said this I think last
week that if we are at a point where this season is a success,
no matter what happens, we are a success.
Just point blank. We we've hit the limit.
But I, I want to take this a step for this is the Scots fever
dream. Part of the podcast, which I
love is a segment now and people are texting out like fever dream
stuff cracks me up. This was kind of hinted around
on the broadcast, kind of kicked around.
Not really said implicitly, but I'm just going to say it here
because we've talked about, you know, schedules and soft
schedules, this and that. And even as you and I talk about
this like we win the next three, you know, you're going to beat
Purdue, you're 11 and one. I think people are just
inherently just assuming that's a loss to Ohio State.
And I just want to say that right now this looks like a team
that could go in and beat Ohio State.
Now it's we've, I mean, we're talking, we're joking about
National Football playoff, making the Big 10 title game,
which is nuts for an IU team. The idea of almost saying we're
going to go into Columbus and win is like heresy.
Like I feel like I'm not being left back into the US when I go
to customs. Like, sorry, Sir, there was pro
IU optimism. Like you're going back to
Dominican, you're not allowed in.
We had to stop Scott at the border for trying to smuggle IU
optimism into the country. I love it.
So there's too much. They're scheduled soft.
You're staying in Dominican. Is there like?
Is there a duty free IU optimism store at the airport?
Let me know, OK? It's it's it's daunted.
It's definitely daunted at the no.
Here's The thing is you look at all the metrics, Indiana's a
better metric team than Ohio State.
You say, oh, Ohio State, they're good.
Like, why? Because they started the season
ranked high. Like, that's it.
You look at their schedule. They beat Akron, Western
Michigan and Marshall. OK, not exactly a murderer's
row. They played at Michigan State,
Iowa. They won those games 38 to 7:35
to 7:00. Those are mid teams.
We just beat Nebraska 56 to 7:00.
So we can do the exact same thing.
They played Oregon tough. They lost.
I I'm not saying we're going to win, but I, I do think I'm at a
point now where I'm going to say like I'm not taking 12 and O off
the table anymore. I'm not just going to assume,
hey, we can win 3 and then we're going to get our bucks kicked at
Columbus and come back. And why can't this team go in
and beat Ohio State like it it it?
I agree and I and I was not implying that Indiana would lose
to Ohio State but but my my but. Everyone kind of talks.
I'm using you as a scarecrow like everyone kind of talks
about it that way and Scarecrow argument.
No, a straw man, not a scarecrow.
You've done this for like 20 podcasts in a row.
I've had a bunch of people write me and say why not say Scarecrow
argument so. I wish I was better at this
stuff. I really think maybe maybe in
year 40 I'm going to get better at this.
To be fair, I'm on vacation. I spent an hour and 10 minutes
talking about, you know, AI was I actually, I was hoping I was
going to be able to check off that square on the bingo card
for scarecrow arguments. So thank you.
I appreciate it. It's straw man, but everyone's
going to talk, everyone's going to talking around it.
And I do think it we, we have to come to the realization that
this team could, this is the kind of team that could go in
and beat Ohio State. If, if, if you just took the
names off the jerseys, you know, this, this would be a team where
you're like, man, Ohio State should be concerned.
So I just, I think I'm at a point where I'm, I'm ready to be
12 and oh, I, I mean, I am too. And my only point was simply if
Indiana wins the next three. I think if they're 10 and O and
we assume a win against Purdue, which I mean, I hate counting
games before they've been played.
But if in the end of 10 and O going into that Ohio State game,
I think they're making the College Football Playoff unless
something like completely goes off the rails.
And that is just a wild thing to think about.
And your point is is a good point, and one that is backed
up. By, you know, Bill Connolly, the
expert, the guy that runs S&P Plus, where he he had a great
tweet, something like, I guess they're for real or just
something like very like he, he's, he's on our side too pass
the test is what he said. But yeah, yeah, yeah.
The the resume S&P Top 10. So what this is, is it looks at
how you played over the course of the season.
It takes everything into account.
It takes schedule, it takes opponent, all of that and, and
how well you've you've played in these games.
Indiana's the number one team in the country if you look at their
resume and what they've done. And that is that, you know,
Texas is second, Ohio State's third, Miami's fourth, Oregon's
fifth. Indiana is number one in this
list. That is that's it.
That's all there is to it. So yeah, anyway, no more
scarecrows to knock down. We're done at all.
So anyway, we got to take a quick football team, we got to
take one quick break, and we'll be right back.
Just just need to take one quick break here, folks, and we'll be
back in about two minutes. So just hang on for one second
here. I'm going to put the countdown
on. We'll be back here in just like
2 minutes, OK? The.
OK, well, we lost Scott there
briefly, but he'll be back in just a second.
You lost me too briefly, but I'm back.
There were a couple of other quick things we wanted to hit
before we wrapped up here and just kind of talked through
Scott. Sorry about that.
We, I came back a little bit early.
One thing that is really interesting is that attendance
yesterday was what, 53,000? OI forget what the actual number
was, but it was like the fourth highest attendance in IU
history. And what is it, 53,000 O 82?
But I'm confused here, Scott, because the capacity for
Memorial Stadium is listed as 52,626.
Where did all the extra people come from?
Have we figured that out yet? They're probably, I mean the
upper areas, some of the new areas that are just walking
around SROI don't know. SROI like that we wanted to
mention the tickets we're. Definitely not sliding down the
hill on cardboard boxes. There's an old.
Reference, not whole park, not exactly how it used to be, but
that's a lot of people. I did want to also note when
people were asking about tickets, there are 675 total
tickets left for the Washington game.
They sold 4299 tickets yesterday to that game.
This is all courtesy of Tony Adronia's database.
There are 22 tickets available for Michigan.
It's technically sold out, but I think a couple of tickets came
back on the marketplace and Purdue's only got 456 tickets
left. There are 3455 tickets were sold
for that game there. This team could have multiple
sellouts in a row, which goes out this game.
It's basically guaranteed at this point.
I'm glad to see so many people hopping on and and getting
excited about this. The as Patrick points out in the
comments, the student section was packed, absolutely packed.
The aisles were completely full. There were lines in the
bathroom. I will say concessions did a
great job of turning people around.
But as we heard from Tricia Whitaker, they ran out of beer
at several of the stands in the third quarter, which we've only
been selling beer in Memorial Stadium for a year, basically
for a year, a couple of years, I guess.
So that's the first time I think I can remember them actually
running out of beer. But God, the the game day
experience has come so far from when they were running out of
water against Cincinnati. I mean, it's just it was so it
was so good. And I got to tell you, like even
the bathroom lines where I was at, I was, I sit over in Section
11. They were not bad.
They they moved pretty quickly. I thought it was pretty
efficient overall. But I'm, I really would like if
you have not bought a ticket to IU yet and you can make it down
to that Washington again, that may be your last chance because
all the tickets might be sold out after that.
So jump on that if you can. I think it'd be worth your time
to come down here. It might be worth your time in
more ways than one from from what I'm hearing, if you catch
my drift. But we'll we'll see what happens
with all of that. I'm just, I'm bummed.
I mean, just again, let's let's worry about.
Scott, actually, we can break it now.
We can break it. It's been published.
College Game Day is coming to Bloomington, officially just got
announced by Indiana Football. It's gonna be there this
upcoming week. That's awesome.
Scott, what's so back-to-back? What?
Planet is this. Yes, we got Big Noon kick last
week or this past week, and we got College Game Day going to be
in Bloomington for the first real time in the history of the
program. Yes, they came for that fake
game day that they did before the Ohio State game in 2017.
That was on a Thursday. Wow, Scott, I don't even know
what to say at this point. I know I, I had a feeling about
that because we had talked about the Washington game.
So again, let's worry about Scott.
We fly in at like we get in at midnight, 1:00 in the morning
Friday night at coming back. And I was hoping that, you know,
with Washington coming across like that would be a 3:30 or
7:00 kickoff. And then they announced it as a
noon game a couple days ago. And I'm like, damn it, that's
going to be tough to get there. We're going to just kids are
going to have to deal with it. Like we're going, we'll be up at
like 7:00 AM. Don't want to get down there
early because it's going to be that's going to be nuts again.
It that's awesome. I mean, it's awesome.
I just, I, I do feel so bad for Curtis Roark because he's having
this magical season. It would be great for him to get
that a game day game experience, but that's going to be awesome.
back-to-back weeks. It's wild.
It feels like we are the one of the central points of college
football this year. Yeah, it's wild.
It is so man, I don't know that's that is such great news,
so huge for the program. And someone mentioned this in
the comments earlier, just the recruiting benefits that IU is
getting. Somebody said that yesterday,
like any. Recruit who was there is going
to IU. That was yesterday, Dave.
Dave Portnoy said that he was right.
Anyway, we don't want to belabor this too long.
We've been on for 75 minutes, so we should probably wrap up any
final thoughts from you before we we we tail off here.
We're good. This is a good football team
with a good schedule ahead of them.
There's nothing to apologize for.
If your friends are giving you crap about the schedule, just
tell them that's fine. Like whatever like be like
signeting. Just be quietly confident and
continue moving forward and and there's better days ahead.
And this is, you know, I said it a little bit earlier.
I don't want to keep comparing to 2020 just because that was
the last time we were ranked or were, you know, good.
It's just this is this is unlike any IU football team I have seen
and they're doing things I have not seen.
And it's not knocking other good teams, but this is a team that
is not winning in fluke ways. It's not winning because of one
player. It's not winning because of
scheduling. It's not winning because of, you
know, I don't say COVID, but just there's no extenuating
circumstances. They are winning and kicking the
hell out of people. And it looks like they're
getting better. I mean, that's the thing too, is
this team looks better as the season has gone along.
We have a coach who has a plan. He's executing that plan and
everything seems calculated and understood.
And the people who are plugged in to football think this, they
see something special here. The people that are plugged into
the stats see something here. This cannot all be a
smokescreen. Like it's just this is, we've
been kind of saying this every single week.
This is a really, really good football program.
And you know, I don't know where we're going to be ranked.
We'll probably move up a couple of spots.
Like we said a couple weeks ago. I don't, you know, the fever
dream of us being ranked number one in the country, I guess is
still there. This is probably not a top 1234
team in the country, but this is definitely a top 10 to 15 team
in the country, like hard stop and maybe a top 12 team.
Like, we are there and everything that I've seen in
college football, we are a team at a caliber to play in the
National Football Championship. We just are because I think we
are one of the top 15 teams in the country.
Hard stop. And that is, it's a wild thing
to say if you have the IU football history behind you.
But if we were seeing this happen at, you know, Purdue or
Northwestern, we just think, damn, they got figured out.
That's the team. I wouldn't want to play any
other team. I would feel that way.
So just embrace it, enjoy it, and I'll see you all Saturday.
That's about as good of a way to close out as I can think of.
All I'll add is this. I've had so many friends and
people that I know reach out via text and express something along
the lines of I can't believe that this is real.
We're living in a dream right now, a fever dream as you would
say. Scott, this what this football
program is doing right now just means so much to so many people,
myself included, you as well. You know, there's just there's
just this level of energy and excitement that we have never
really experienced with IU football.
We've come close in a couple of things and you could make an
argument maybe in 87 it was kind of feeling like this, but this
feels like a different level beyond that.
So I'm just thrilled. I thank you to the players,
thank you to the coaching staff and thank you to everybody
that's making the season happen. It's been so special so far.
Really looking forward to seeing what happens here over the rest
of these these five regular season games and then whatever
comes afterwards for Indiana. So anyway, thanks to all of you,
thanks to Home Field Apparel, our presenting sponsor, thanks
to Upland Game Day or Upland Upland Brewing Company,
producers of Hoosier Game Day Logger, and thanks to all of you
folks for sticking with us throughout all of these years.
It's been great to be able to podcast about IU football and
it's great to be able to say that it's been great to podcast
about IU football. And we certainly appreciate all
you folks in in the the audience that come up and see us and say
hi. It's it's been a thrill getting
to meet a lot of you over the course of time.
And I hope we all see you here for some games the rest of the
season. So we'll go ahead and wrap up
with that. Thank you for joining us here
this morning. If you're watch live or if
you're following up by listening afterwards.
Thank you as well for Scott. I'm Galen, this is Crimson cast.
We'll catch you folks on the flip side.
Bring back the bison. Stay never daunted.
So long, everybody.