1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:05,280 For those who are watching on YouTube, it's helpful when you 2 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:09,880 put the micro SD card in the podcast recorder before you 3 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:12,000 start the recording of the of the video. 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,400 So, Taylor, entertain the people for a second, please. 5 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:23,600 Hello people. I'm going to mute us both now. 6 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:24,520 Here we go. Hold on a second. 7 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:36,120 You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home 8 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:46,480 Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson Castiel 9 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:48,280 and Clavio. Joining you, we got Taylor 10 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:51,920 Layman with us from Bite Sized Bison joining us on a Wednesday. 11 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:55,560 We're jamming some podcasting in before the month of July comes 12 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,720 to a close and happy to have you folks joining us. 13 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,040 Football has started practice, Taylor, it's back. 14 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:06,920 It's officially back and not the greatest day for it weather 15 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,280 wise. It was a sauna, still a sauna 16 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:10,720 down here in Bloomington right now. 17 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:13,880 We had some thunderstorms earlier, but they're back on the 18 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:15,840 practice field and we're ramping up. 19 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:17,680 We got about a month until the first game of the season. 20 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:21,840 Yeah, I'm, I'm excited for the season to start. 21 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:23,560 There are a lot of sports going on. 22 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:26,000 Like I've been like obsessed with the Olympics since it 23 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,560 started. Watch it constantly. 24 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:30,960 The gold zone on Peacock is actually really good. 25 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,760 And, and you know, the, the MLB trade deadline just happened 26 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,360 yesterday. You know, I'm a Detroit Tigers 27 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:41,200 fan, so there's not a lot of relevance from, from my fandom. 28 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,280 But you know what? It's, it's exciting at least. 29 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:45,920 But I'm ready for college football season to start. 30 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:48,880 The, The baseball trade trade deadline's always interesting 31 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:53,000 cause, you know, I'm a nominally a Reds fan, as as people know, 32 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,120 and they never do anything. And they did nothing again. 33 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:59,120 They did, they made one trade that nobody understood and that 34 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:01,480 that's one more trade than they normally make. 35 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,400 So I didn't feel like it's never something I get excited about. 36 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:08,720 Of course, friend of the show and occasional guest Tricia 37 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:12,560 Whitaker's Tampa Bay Rays traded like their entire team away to 38 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,320 the point that there's been a lot of jokes on social media 39 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:18,680 about whether she's going to get traded away next. 40 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,720 And that seems entirely possible given their approach. 41 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,160 But I have no idea who won the trade deadline, like what's 42 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,320 going on, anything like that. And I don't think anybody else 43 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:29,760 does either. It's all conjecture. 44 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:31,760 But at least there was some news and highlights. 45 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:34,480 And obviously the Olympics, as you said, have been pretty 46 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:37,440 interesting so far. When the Olympics are in Europe, 47 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:39,720 it like, you can watch stuff live. 48 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,200 Like I know like they just had that Leon Marchand race where he 49 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:45,840 just won his second gold and then obviously people will be 50 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,960 able to watch that later on. That 5-6 hour time difference is 51 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:50,960 really good. It when it's like a 12 hour time 52 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:52,960 difference it makes things a lot more complicated. 53 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:56,160 Yeah, yeah, it's nice to actually, you know, I, I just 54 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:58,640 work in an office, so it's nice to have it up on like my second 55 00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:01,560 monitor and I just check in on it and I have the audio in my 56 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,640 ears. So it, it's actually been really 57 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:07,680 nice, like background sound and keeping up with the Olympics and 58 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:09,760 stuff. But the women's rugby team was 59 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:11,320 amazing. That last moment when they won 60 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,200 the bronze was so cool. And then I, I actually got 61 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:16,640 really into the men's gymnastics team the final. 62 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:19,760 That was really fun too. But yeah, that's been it's been 63 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,480 a good time. We'll, we'll keep an eye on 64 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:24,760 what's going on in the Olympics. Still a lot of of Hoosier 65 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:28,680 athletes in the midst of things. And so it's it's cool to see 66 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:31,080 that, but we're going to talk IU sports. 67 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:32,880 So we're going to do that. But first, just a reminder, 68 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:36,240 we're part of the back home network assembly call doing the 69 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:40,240 work podcast XS and Joes. I mean, we've got Austin renders 70 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:43,360 new show where he's interviewing specialists, talking about 71 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:45,000 women's basketball in the Big 10. 72 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:48,320 All of those podcasts brought to you by Home Field Apparel, your 73 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:51,120 place to go for the finest in college fashions, the softest 74 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,400 fabrics, the coolest designs. I, I said on the last show that 75 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:57,560 they were gonna have something dropped soon. 76 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:01,160 Now, I had not gotten any advance notice of this Taylor, 77 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,640 but they did it again. I'm actually gonna for the for 78 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:08,400 the people watching on YouTube, I'm gonna go ahead and share the 79 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,800 screen here for a second 'cause I, I want everybody to see what 80 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:14,920 they've done. So they've announced and I will 81 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:17,320 narrate it for those of you who are listening on audio. 82 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:19,079 But if you'd like to go check out the back home network 83 00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:21,440 YouTube channel. You can see this entire episode 84 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:25,480 live or not live, but in video. That's not, that's different 85 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:27,360 than live. I I went to school to learn 86 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,760 those things. But you can see here the 2024 87 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:35,520 Home Field Platinum Football Boxes coming out August 9th and 88 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,080 to to use the copyright off the website. 89 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:41,680 The 2024 Home Field Platinum Football Boxes are our most 90 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:45,080 ambitious to date, curated specifically to ring in a new 91 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:47,680 era for our game. They're made for football fans, 92 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:50,240 by football fans, with every detail precisely crafted for an 93 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:54,120 elevated home field experience. These aren't for casuals. 94 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,880 We built these for the truest of the true and you can obviously 95 00:04:57,880 --> 00:04:59,960 sign up and you should sign up e-mail. 96 00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:02,920 You can identify which team that you're backing, which of course 97 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:05,920 for us is Indiana. But what caught my attention, I 98 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:09,480 was just scrolling through this and I get down past this 99 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:12,520 horrific Maryland collection that they've got just just 100 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:18,240 kidding, Maryland, sorry. But down here above the 216 new 101 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:23,600 design section, I spy an Indiana Hoosiers 1991 copper bowl 102 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,840 trucker hat, which I, I got to tell you, I was immediately 103 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:29,920 smitten by that. Like, you know, as, as, as 104 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:34,960 someone who's literally got an Oval over his head in, in the, 105 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:37,320 and I got the, I got the block pitchfork over there. 106 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:41,880 I'm a sucker for anything 90s IU and wow, that's a nice looking 107 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:43,360 hat. I'm, I'm really excited. 108 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:45,720 I'm, I'm assuming that's in the IU box and that looks 109 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:48,400 tremendous. And you can only get it through 110 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:50,680 these platinum boxes. It's not going to be available 111 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:52,360 apparently through their regular retail. 112 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,840 That's my birthday, Galen. We were just, we were just 113 00:05:57,840 --> 00:05:59,600 talking about my birthday, August 9th. 114 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:02,640 I gotta get one of those. That is Taylor's birthday, so. 115 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:06,600 I should buy one. For myself, you should do do 116 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:10,240 give yourself absolutely a present. 117 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:12,360 I think you deserve it after all the hard work you've done 118 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:15,160 bringing bite sized bite into the masses. 119 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:18,320 And so anyway, check out home field apparel.com. 120 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:22,800 Go and sign up for their their newsletter. 121 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,920 They'll let you know when these are dropping again, August 9th, 122 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:30,640 which is about what nine days, 10 days from whenever you're 123 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:34,360 listening to this, those will be available and you know, home 124 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:36,000 field apparel, you're going to have some awesome stuff in 125 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,200 there. The boxes I should say they're 126 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:41,840 going to contain an exclusive T-shirt, an exclusive long 127 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:46,840 sleeve, an exclusive hoodie, an exclusive hat or ringer T Looks 128 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:51,720 like IU is getting the hat a a set of core collection socks, a 129 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:54,600 platinum koozie and then a platinum pass. 130 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:57,960 And the platinum pass, according to the website, is a physical 131 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:02,720 pass that allows you to it offers you early access and 20% 132 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:05,920 off of any new premium football releases through the end of the 133 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:08,720 regular season. This is almost like a season 134 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:12,240 pass for video games if you've if you've ever purchased one of 135 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,320 those. So awesome to see home field 136 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:17,880 doing some new things here. Was curious how they were going 137 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:20,080 to handle football season and now we can see. 138 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:23,000 So get over to home field apparel.com and check this out. 139 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:27,920 Also, just a reminder, we're on Substack Taylor's on Substack 140 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:29,760 Taylor. I'm going to post this at about 141 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:34,360 6:00 6/30 on the evening of the 31st. 142 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,080 You've got a promotion running right now for bite sized bison. 143 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:40,920 Tell the people what it is. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's, 144 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:43,320 it's kind of the end of a promotion, I guess. 145 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:48,600 But it's the, the offseason rate is changing to end season rate 146 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:53,080 at midnight tonight. So from August through December 147 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,840 it's going to be $8 a month for buy size buys and instead of 148 00:07:56,840 --> 00:07:59,440 $5.00 per month, which is what the offseason rate is. 149 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:02,840 But the annual rate stays the same and existing subscriptions, 150 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:04,520 they stay the same price. If you already have a monthly 151 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:06,280 subscription, it stays at the $5.00. 152 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:08,440 But you know, to be fair to those who. 153 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:11,280 Who were? Subscribed, you know, during the 154 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:13,680 offseason and everything. I figured it was, it was, it was 155 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:16,440 only right. So does the rates do change at 156 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:17,560 midnight? Tonight, Yeah. 157 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:19,520 So go go subscribe to Bite Sized Bison. 158 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:21,800 If you're watching this pod or listening to this pod, I'm 159 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:24,160 assuming that you like IU football because that's what 160 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:26,360 we're going to talk about for the remaining 40 minutes or so 161 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:28,880 of the show. And you won't find a better site 162 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:33,720 for for written breakdowns and data analysis and and graphs and 163 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:36,600 and cool visuals than bite sized bison. 164 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:40,400 So go get yourself availed of that as quickly as possible. 165 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,039 And while you're at it, consider subscribing to Crimson cast on 166 00:08:43,039 --> 00:08:45,480 sub stack crimsoncast.substack.com. 167 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:48,840 It's free and you get all the podcasts delivered right to your 168 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,320 inbox. We also have an occasional VIP 169 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:53,000 video. I just had one this morning 170 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:58,760 which went through everything from full sports schedules in IU 171 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:02,040 land all the way through to talking about scholarship 172 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:05,560 restrictions as a resort. Lack of scholarship restrictions 173 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:09,840 as a part of this new settlement that may or may not actually 174 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:12,720 stand up to legal challenges in relation to the house 175 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:14,680 settlement. So we had a lot going on on the 176 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:17,040 sub stacks. We also do have a paid option 177 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:20,680 for the VIP videos if you just want to support the website. 178 00:09:20,680 --> 00:09:22,920 We try to give you a little bit something extra back in return, 179 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:25,480 but go to crimsoncast.substack.com. 180 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,000 We'd love to have you in the family anyway. 181 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:30,000 Let's go ahead. And really like those VIP videos 182 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:31,720 you guys do. Yeah, a few videos are awesome. 183 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:35,160 I need to do more of those. I need to just kind of like 184 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,880 maybe when I'm out walking, Stewart, just like record, you 185 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,000 know, Bill Simmons style while I'm walking around the 186 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:42,720 neighborhood and just kind of, you know, you know, I was 187 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,400 thinking about taxes today or something like that, I thought. 188 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:47,880 The points could bird get in the 24 USAT. 189 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:51,000 Whatever the IU equivalents of those are, I'm sure I could pull 190 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:53,920 that off. But anyway, let's go ahead and 191 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:58,120 get to the football as we have several questions from those of 192 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:02,640 you on Twitter and you know, a lot of a lot of interesting 193 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:04,000 things. We've had a lot of interest 194 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:09,840 overall in terms of the the way that the football season is 195 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,520 laying out We and we've got a couple of questions even related 196 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:16,040 to that. So let's dive into a couple of 197 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:18,720 these that the people sent. We're not going to be able to 198 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:22,800 get to all of them, obviously, but I I do think that there's a 199 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:26,400 lot of good thoughts from the folks out there. 200 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:29,040 So we did have a question. I'm going to start with this one 201 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:31,840 from from pit Hoosier, which was seems to be a lot of fan 202 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:33,160 excitement heading into the season. 203 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:35,000 Have we seen any ticket sales updates? 204 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:37,640 What kind of crowd are you expecting for the opener and for 205 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:39,960 Maryland? Can we come into it if we come 206 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:44,800 into it for or no? So our buddy respectable Adam on 207 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:47,120 on Twitter did chime in with this and it's a good answer. 208 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:49,600 He said, if you don't mind me stepping in, I followed the 209 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:52,480 ticket chart pretty obsessively in the offseason and sales are 210 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,520 way ahead of where they've been since 2021. 211 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:59,080 Not talking about sell outs here, but better than it was 212 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:01,960 before. First game is band day, Maryland 213 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:04,080 is family weekend. Both are selling well. 214 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:08,120 I have not looked at the charts. I leave that to Adam to do. 215 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,400 But I, I will say this, I, you know, if you look at first of 216 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:15,800 all, trying to gauge interest in this program has always been a 217 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:19,080 fascinating thing. I think people have lost track 218 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:22,320 of the, the reality that the attendance was pretty good in 219 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:24,560 the Wilson era and the beginning of the Allen era. 220 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:27,640 And it was significantly better than it had been in the previous 221 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:29,400 decade. If you look at what Indiana did 222 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:34,320 last year in terms of home attendance, the Indiana State 223 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:38,600 game, excuse me, the Ohio State game had 50,000 and 50 fans. 224 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,400 The Indiana State game had 42,775. 225 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:48,400 This is all reported attendance. Akron had 44,968 and then 226 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:50,320 Rutgers. You know, by that point Indiana 227 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:54,200 had lost four games, still at an attendance of 43611. 228 00:11:54,840 --> 00:12:01,600 If you go back to the, let's say the 2019 season, Indiana started 229 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:05,000 really slow. They only had 37 people, 37,037 230 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:06,280 people. I've been to seasons where 231 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:10,560 they've had 37 people in the stands, but 37,784 for Eastern 232 00:12:10,560 --> 00:12:14,720 Illinois and they, they really, you know, that they were, they 233 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,720 were kind of around that 40,000 mark most of that season. 234 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:22,280 I feel like given what we've seen in terms of buzz and given 235 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:25,000 just the general excitement that's kind of worked into the 236 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,800 system of, of even people who are just more IU football 237 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:31,160 curious than fully committed IU football fans. 238 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:33,400 I think attendance is going to be pretty good at those first 239 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,800 few games 'cause you know the, the times are going to be good. 240 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:39,880 The second game's on a Friday, so it's going to be nominally 241 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:42,080 easier as long as you haven't left for Labor Day weekend. 242 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:45,640 I'm going to say I think because it's the first game of a new 243 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:49,760 era, I wouldn't be shocked if there were 47,000 people at that 244 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:51,720 first game, especially if it's Band day. 245 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:56,520 And I think if Indiana, even if they're, even if they're, you 246 00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:59,920 know, coming into that Maryland game and they're what, 3:00 and 247 00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:04,040 1:00, I think that you could get close to 50,000 fans for that 248 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:06,600 game, 'cause I think there will still be a lot of buzz and a lot 249 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:08,320 of interest. And it'll be the first game 250 00:13:08,560 --> 00:13:12,000 against a Big 10 opponent at home so far this season. 251 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:12,920 What? What are you thinking? 252 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,200 Yeah, no, I agree. I think even if they are three 253 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:17,880 and one, they'll they'll be a good crowd. 254 00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:22,880 And and normally it does feel like whenever there is some 255 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,440 excitement going into a season, the first home Big 10 game 256 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:28,920 usually turns out pretty well. This actually gives me a a, you 257 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:30,800 know, an idea that I can do for by size bias. 258 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:32,680 And so I'm glad we talked about this. 259 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:38,480 But no, yeah, I think you know what, even even last year and if 260 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:40,600 if I remember correct, your recalls way better on this stuff 261 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:43,680 than mine, Galen. But if if, if I remember right, 262 00:13:43,680 --> 00:13:45,840 even last year before the season, there was there was some 263 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:48,200 excitement because of the transfer class that had been 264 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:52,040 brought in. And I remember thinking, you 265 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:53,880 know, about like ticket prices and everything. 266 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:55,960 And and they kind of went down as the season went on. 267 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,120 I guess you know what it is kind of tied to the to the 268 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:01,920 performance of the team. But I think, you know, that that 269 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,480 first Maryland game, I think that's still pretty early in the 270 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:09,360 in the season to kind of know exactly how good this team is. 271 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:12,360 But the UCLA game is important. It's just, you know, here. 272 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,080 You know, so much and and then we're gonna get into this with 273 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:17,280 another question that we have coming up from Patrick. 274 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:21,160 But so much of this is about how do people feel like, what's the 275 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,440 vibe around the program And and, you know, does it feel like 276 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:30,440 there's been enough energy built around what Kurt Signetti has 277 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:34,120 generated and what his staff has generated that it leads to 278 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,360 something more tangible in terms of fans in the stands? 279 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,440 I have not updated what I'm about to show you all for a 280 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:42,480 couple of years, but I am going to show it to you. 281 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:47,440 So this is, this is a chart. Ignore, ignore please. 282 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:50,760 The fact that the title of the of the, the document is Indiana 283 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:53,680 football history makes you cry that that's, that's not really 284 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:56,320 pertinent to this. But what I did was charted 285 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:00,120 Indiana's reported attendance in Memorial Stadium going back to 286 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,560 1981. And I've got a essentially A5 287 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:06,720 game rolling average line. And you can see it's kind of 288 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:10,400 interesting, like, you know, Indiana football attendance only 289 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:16,600 peaks on that rolling average above 50,000 once in the last 40 290 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:20,120 some years of football. And that was in that period 291 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:23,600 around 198788 when Indiana, you know, almost goes to the Rose 292 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:24,920 Bowl. They beat Michigan, they beat 293 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,880 Ohio State. If it starts to fall off, it 294 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:34,160 falls way off in the mid 90s. It really hits the nadir in 2005 295 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:38,000 when the rolling five game or six game average was like 26 1/2 296 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,960 thousand fans. Those were not good times. 297 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:44,080 You can see it made a nice improvement in the middle of the 298 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:46,200 Wilson era or really at the end of the Wilson area. 299 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:50,280 That 2016 season it was all the way up to 46 1/2 thousand and 300 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:54,480 then coming into the 2021 season it had peaked at 49,000 and then 301 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:56,680 of course it has receded since then. 302 00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:00,000 So the reason I bring this up is a it reminds me that I need to 303 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:04,160 actually go back in and update the numbers in that chart. 304 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:09,640 But, you know, we're we're in a an era where IU football has 305 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:12,720 kind of plateaued its attendance at a level that's at least 306 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:16,480 acceptable, you know, in that in that 40 to 43,000 range. 307 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:19,320 But I feel like we've got the platform here that if Indiana 308 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:23,680 gets off to a hot start and wins a few games early and maybe is 309 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:27,800 either wins against UCLA or is at least competitive, those next 310 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:30,680 couple of home games are going to be games that people are 311 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,000 really going to want to come and be a part of. 312 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:34,760 And you know, it's not just the Maryland game. 313 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:36,880 It's that that whole stretch is really interesting to me, 314 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:41,120 Taylor, because it's like you got Maryland on the 28th, then 315 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:44,840 you're at Evanston for the Northwestern game. 316 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:49,520 Then you have a bye and you come back and you've got Nebraska and 317 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:51,880 Washington at home and back-to-back weekends. 318 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:55,400 Like that's that. That feels like even if as long 319 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:58,640 as Indiana isn't like oh, and five by that point or whatever 320 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:01,960 it is, those two teams by themselves are liable to bring 321 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,800 in a higher level of fan numbers than you would normally get in 322 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:07,760 the middle of October. It's not like you're playing 323 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:10,200 like Rutgers in Minnesota or something like that. 324 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:13,119 Like those are brand name teams, including the the team that was 325 00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:14,720 the runner up in the national championship. 326 00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:19,119 Yeah, no, I agree. And and, you know, especially, 327 00:17:20,839 --> 00:17:25,079 you know, I, I do think I, I do think it the potential turn out 328 00:17:25,079 --> 00:17:27,480 for those games could be tied to the, the Maryland and 329 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,880 Northwestern games. But yeah, no, you're right. 330 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:33,880 Like these are these are these are good programs to be playing 331 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,120 in Memorial Stadium. Nebraska usually turns out and 332 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:40,680 and then, you know, Washington, I don't, I don't know. 333 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:43,640 I, you know, I guess we're, we're, you know, going to figure 334 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:46,080 it out. But you know, when these new 335 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:51,840 teams come to traditional Big Ten programs do are our fans 336 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:54,280 extra interested this year because of the because of the 337 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:56,240 change? So, yeah, no, I think that's 338 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,680 that's a really good thought, just like, and also that's 339 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:01,800 that's quite a bit of time from the beginning and from like the 340 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:06,280 first Big 10 game in UCLA or against UCLA to to that Nebraska 341 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:07,760 game. There's only one home Big 10 342 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:10,880 game in between those. So I think fans, you know, might 343 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,840 just be eager to get to Memorial Stadium, too, to see more of 344 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:16,640 those games. If you like coming to Memorial 345 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:19,440 Stadium, you're gonna get, you could do it for all seasons. 346 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:21,560 You're gonna get it in the heat of summer, you're gonna get it 347 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:24,000 in October when the leaves are turning and you're gonna get a 348 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:26,920 really cold bucket game this year 'cause it's at the very end 349 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:29,000 of of November. So yeah, you're gonna, it's like 350 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:33,640 an absolute spread of, of the climatological conditions in 351 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:34,920 Bloomington. So it should be fast. 352 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:36,000 It's. Actually a great point too, 353 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,080 Galen, because both of those that Washington, those 354 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:40,840 Washington Nebraska games are when Bloomington's typically 355 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:43,960 most beautiful during the fall. We're going to hypnotize Jed 356 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:45,480 Fish. She's not going to know what hit 357 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:46,560 him. He's going to be like, I've 358 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:48,280 never seen leaves like this before. 359 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:51,240 This is the life. It's a long way from Arizona. 360 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:55,200 It is man, they, they even have leaves in Arizona, you know, 361 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:58,840 they, they just cut cactus and scrub brush and roadrunners. 362 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:02,880 So, yeah, let's go to to Patrick's question. 363 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:04,760 He actually had two. We're going to pick the first 364 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:06,400 one, I guess. I guess it was the second one 365 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:08,760 that he wrote. Do we really believe that Coach 366 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:12,720 Sig put a bull's eye on IU for his commentary to the media at 367 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:15,160 Big 10 Media days or at the basketball game? 368 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:18,960 Are other teams watching IU because they quote, Googled him 369 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:20,880 and realized Sig's record is real? 370 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:24,080 Or we'll be the same old IU until otherwise proven? 371 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,160 There's a couple different ways we could take this question. 372 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:29,960 I'm going to let you start though, Taylor, because a lot of 373 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:33,800 this really ties back into this idea of coach speak and how it 374 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:38,560 relates to motivation and whether or not all this actually 375 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:41,920 matters or if it's just window dressing for fans in the press. 376 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:46,240 Yeah, yeah, no, I think I think when it when it comes to the the 377 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:50,520 bullseye idea that you know, him saying these things maybe is 378 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,560 some sort of bullets and material for teams or or or 379 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,360 maybe like makes other programs aware of Cignetti and and 380 00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:01,360 Indiana. The coaching world is small like 381 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:04,640 these guys, the coaches all. Already know of Curse Ignati. 382 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:07,560 They probably had several conversations with him. 383 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,080 They, they probably know the wide receivers coach at Toledo. 384 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:16,600 Like the, it's a, it's, it's a small world that, that, you 385 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:19,960 know, as we get to know coaches, the, the fans and the public, 386 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:21,440 you know, they've already known each other. 387 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:25,080 And so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of coaches already knew 388 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,520 that curse Ignati would, would, would carry this sort of swagger 389 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:30,760 that he has when he got to Indiana. 390 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:37,040 And so I don't think it would necessarily put a bullseye on on 391 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:41,320 Indiana's back or anything along those lines, except for, you 392 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:43,880 know, stories being told through the media and, and, and the way 393 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,240 that, you know, other fan bases perceive Indiana because we 394 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,720 already saw, you know, certain programs. 395 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:54,600 I, I, I tweeted a guy that was, he's saying what is gained from 396 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,120 this? But what is gained is that he's, 397 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:01,600 he's offering confidence in, in a bunch of different, you know, 398 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:07,600 demographics, whether it's fans, whether it's his own team, you 399 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:11,640 know, I, I think we heard Aiden Fisher, it's, it's, it's a lot 400 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:14,000 of self-confidence. It gives the players a lot of 401 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:17,520 confidence that their coach is going out and saying these, you 402 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:20,840 know, somewhat unprecedented things to, to the entire world 403 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:24,240 about his team. And, and then on top of that, it 404 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:29,440 also instills confidence in the institution and, and donors and 405 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:31,520 those who are investing in the program. 406 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:37,520 So it, it stretches across a lot of different, you know, groups 407 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:41,520 of people and, and, and I think he, it, it kind of shakes people 408 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:42,760 awake. And I think that's kind of what 409 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:44,160 he's trying to do. Yeah, I know. 410 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:45,440 I think so. I mean, there's a couple of 411 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:46,880 different ways. I think you got to look at this 412 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:52,280 from a, a psychological perspective and also from a, a 413 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:55,440 business perspective. So one of the things we've 414 00:21:55,440 --> 00:22:00,440 talked about many times on this show is Kurt Signetti is a 415 00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:05,000 proven coach at levels slightly below where Indiana is AT. 416 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:09,800 And will that translate has always been a question, but it 417 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,640 feels like it will. And in large part because not 418 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:15,560 only is does he have a track record, but he's got a really 419 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:17,920 good staff that also has a track record. 420 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:22,160 And, you know, we've seen a lot of coaches follow a similar 421 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,120 trajectory and have success at higher levels. 422 00:22:25,120 --> 00:22:28,760 Caitlin de Boer probably being the most recent example of a guy 423 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:32,440 who came from relative obscurity in a short period of time to now 424 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:35,040 being literally at the top of the coaching profession, it 425 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:37,560 feels like within college sports, or at least with college 426 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:42,680 football. So I think to some degree, a lot 427 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:47,200 of a lot of what Signetti is doing is getting conflated in a 428 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:50,960 couple of different ways. So you've got IU fans who many 429 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:52,760 of whom have decided that they're still going to have a 430 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,600 wait and see approach about IU football, which is very 431 00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:59,480 reasonable and actually ties in with a question that assembly 432 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:02,080 call asked us that we'll tackle a little bit later on. 433 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:06,440 Signetti is coming in and making a a lot of noise. 434 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:07,840 Now. Why is he doing that? 435 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,000 We know what's the purpose of of him doing that. 436 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:15,840 And a lot of it is to give fans and donors a reason to get 437 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:19,360 excited. And it almost to some degree 438 00:23:19,360 --> 00:23:24,240 feels like IU like it's being done in a different way than I 439 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,560 us really ever had. And I think it's important to 440 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,040 remember, like, you know, there was excitement that gradually 441 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,480 started to build around the Kevin Wilson era, but it never 442 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:35,120 really got to the point where people were that excited because 443 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,120 Wilson was really, as I've said before, and I respect Kevin 444 00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:40,520 Wilson's football mind, but he was kind of a technocrat. 445 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,520 Like he just wasn't, he was not a rah rah guy. 446 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:46,720 He was a system guy. And you can get excited about 447 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:50,080 the potential or the, the, the results when they happened, but 448 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:52,920 Kevin Wilson wasn't going to make you reach into your pocket 449 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:57,720 and buy tickets all by himself. Tom Allen was kind of like like 450 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:01,400 the kind of guy who you thought would do that, but Allen made 451 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:05,200 you feel better about being an IU fan, but not necessarily 452 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:09,880 confident about being an IU fan. You were supposed to buy into 453 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,320 the Leo persona and this idea that, well, we care for each 454 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:15,160 other and that's how we're going to win games. 455 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:19,000 And that that work when he had great football minds working for 456 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:20,480 him. And then it it didn't work as 457 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,240 well when when his best assistants left and and you 458 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:25,680 started to have kind of the fall off in terms of the actual on 459 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,600 field performance. So Signetti is an interesting 460 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,720 spot because you've got to get this fanbase galvanized because 461 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:34,840 you've got to get people in the stands, you've got to start 462 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:37,800 building interest in IU football 'cause you got to get money for 463 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:39,960 NIL, 'cause that's how you recruit. 464 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:43,280 You've also got to make this seem like an attractive place 465 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:47,560 for players and taking the nice route from a verbal perspective 466 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:49,080 is not going to get a lot of attention. 467 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:51,720 I mean, I'll use Northwestern as an example. 468 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,840 Is there any buzz around Northwestern football right now? 469 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,600 There's none like and, and and that's in in part. 470 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:01,280 And you know, Pat Fitzgerald, in his own way, he, you know, he 471 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,200 kind of had this iconoclastic, like, I'm going to be the old 472 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:05,840 look. I mean, even though I'm young, 473 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:07,000 I'm gonna look like the old dude. 474 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:08,360 I'm gonna be the old school dude. 475 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:10,880 We're gonna get a particular type of lunch pail player at 476 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,400 this expensive private university on the shores of 477 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,600 Lake, MI. Like that was the vibe that he 478 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:20,400 was trying to put off. If you're in the bottom echelon 479 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:24,280 of the Big 10, you've got to do something to try to separate 480 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,560 yourself in terms of the image. PJ Fleck. 481 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:29,640 People don't like the row the boat stuff. 482 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,640 They don't like the kind of, you know, carnival Barker, like, you 483 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,480 know, tent preacher revival thing that you get out of PJ 484 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:36,960 Fleck. But the reason he does it is 485 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:41,160 what other possible reason would a player have to be like, I 486 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:43,320 wanna go play for the Golden Gophers. 487 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:45,560 I wanna go. They think about Minnesota, they 488 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:48,640 think about PJ Fleck and what, like he was at Western Michigan 489 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:50,160 before that. Why would anybody do that? 490 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,400 Well, it's because of Row, the Boat, things like that. 491 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,680 Exactly. And so I think to some degree, 492 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,440 if you don't like the, you know, the, and this was not what 493 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:00,280 Patrick asked, I just want to clarify, we're going to get to 494 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:02,480 the, the meat of the question. But I think in general, if you 495 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:06,000 don't like the approach that Signetti's taking, I guess ask 496 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,120 yourself, would you rather that he took the row the boat 497 00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:11,440 approach, you know, and come up with a hokey slogan? 498 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:13,720 To some degree, we've already had that with Tom Allen. 499 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:17,920 I mean, Leo Elio was essentially a, a landlocked version of Row 500 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:20,280 the boat. And, and so I think that's 501 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:24,240 important to keep in mind. Now, as far as the idea of did 502 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:28,320 this put a target on IU or did his comments at the football 503 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:31,560 game or the basketball game back in December about Michigan and 504 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:34,520 Ohio State, did it like put a bullseye on IUI? 505 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:38,920 Would love to get your perspective on this, Taylor. 506 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:41,880 My perspective on it is I don't think it matters a bit. 507 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:46,200 I think a lot of this stuff fans react to and yeah, sure. 508 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,320 I mean, foot athletes in general and coaches in general, it's 509 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:51,920 like what we're searching for any scrap of motivation we can 510 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:54,600 use and da, da, da, da. I've always wondered, does that 511 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:56,760 really matter? Unless you do something like, 512 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,760 you know, burn their stadium down or, you know, like insult, 513 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:03,200 you know, all of their family members, It doesn't feel like 514 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,520 that stuff really resonates or, or penetrates the environment 515 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:08,160 where you're actually playing the football game. 516 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:13,400 Most of it just seems like media fodder that fans can get upset 517 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:14,800 about. And yeah, players are going to 518 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,800 be like, well, yeah, we felt disrespected without necessarily 519 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:19,880 even actually having felt disrespected. 520 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:22,920 Now, maybe I'm way off. You've been in locker rooms a 521 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:25,200 lot more recently than I have covering teams. 522 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:27,760 You've you've talked with coaches a lot more like how do 523 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:31,000 they, how, how does a Michigan or Ohio State or other teams in 524 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,480 the conference process a coach like Signetti and what they say 525 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,680 and how they say it, does it really even resonate with them? 526 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:41,200 Yeah, yeah, No, I I didn't make my point well enough earlier 527 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:42,800 when I said the coaching world is small. 528 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:47,160 They know who these guys are. Like that's they know who he is. 529 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:49,640 Like it probably did not surprise them that, that he took 530 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:52,960 that approach. But also like, I don't, I don't 531 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,600 think, I don't think coaches, I don't think Orion Day is 532 00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:00,680 overlooking Indiana. Like I don't, I don't think that 533 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:02,880 happens very often in in the 1st place. 534 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:08,800 So I don't think especially with you know, how how attentive to 535 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:12,440 detail a lot of the a lot of the coaches are not even just head 536 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:14,120 coaches, but just the assistants. 537 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:18,800 I don't I don't think anybody is allowing anybody to overlook an 538 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:22,080 opponent in like Ohio State's locker room and and in their 539 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:24,800 offices. So I don't I don't think him 540 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:29,800 saying that necessarily puts any extra emphasis on the week the 541 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:33,080 teams are playing Indiana. I think they already, they 542 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:38,400 already know who Signetti is. And they and, and also, you 543 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:41,640 know, Ohio State has had issues with, with Indiana. 544 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:43,560 Obviously Michigan lost Indiana in 2020. 545 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:48,320 But I, I, I don't, yeah, I don't think that they're taking these 546 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:50,600 teams lightly like Indiana. Yeah. 547 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:56,160 It's just a lot of it is fans get worked up and a lot of 548 00:28:56,160 --> 00:29:00,160 people I think assume, and this happens with this is a tough 549 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:01,720 thing. I think once you start covering 550 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,800 sports and you're you're involved in, in listening to 551 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:06,600 athletes talk and listening to coaches talk. 552 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:11,000 Like fans get really upset when players don't feel as 553 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:15,680 emotionally invested in a rivalry game or a game as they 554 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:20,280 the fans do. And and yet, you know, you have 555 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:23,120 to think about it from the perspective of football's 556 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:25,440 complicated, basketball's complicated. 557 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,880 You'd almost, you don't want your players to be emotional, 558 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:33,800 you know, balls of energy. Maybe occasionally you do like a 559 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:36,600 kick returner, sure. But in terms of like somebody 560 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:39,320 having to execute what they're doing out there, Like, you don't 561 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:41,800 really want them being real mad about what's going on across the 562 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:43,240 field. And we see that in games a lot 563 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:45,400 of the time where it's like trying to get your opponent on 564 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:49,040 edge is an important thing. I don't think it makes you study 565 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:52,560 any harder or be any more focused on beating Indiana. 566 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:56,720 And like you said, I don't see this being a situation where a 567 00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:58,840 team's like, you know what, we were gonna, we were just gonna 568 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:02,240 not pay attention to Indiana. But hey, Kurt Signetti said we 569 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:04,720 suck and now we have to go pay more attention to them. 570 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:06,840 I don't really think that that's how it works. 571 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:11,520 And so look, ultimately Signetti's, he's got to write 572 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:14,400 some checks and you know, inevitably there's going to be a 573 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,880 couple of games where the checks bounce and that's fine. 574 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:21,080 You know what's what's key here? And I guess the one thing I 575 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:23,080 would add on to what I said earlier about you got to get 576 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,360 fans and boosters excited about IU football because you got to 577 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:27,960 get some juice around the program. 578 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:31,960 You've got to get your players believing that, you know what 579 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:35,480 you're doing and that what you're selling them is what they 580 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:40,280 can use in a game to win. And, and that is ultimately, you 581 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:42,720 know, it, a lot of it is flipping the script and not 582 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,400 letting your players, not having your players believe that they 583 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:48,960 are inferior to any of their opponents. 584 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:53,520 And frankly, it it's kind of felt that way over the course of 585 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:57,600 many of the past years with IU football where IU went into some 586 00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,880 games and just looked like they didn't believe that they should 587 00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:01,440 have been in there in contention. 588 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:04,640 And you've got to change that mentality. 589 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:08,440 That is, that is the 5% that you're really looking for. 590 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,800 And that intrinsic motivation is almost more important than any 591 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:13,960 external motivation that you might be providing the 592 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,640 opposition. Yeah, and I think it's also the 593 00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:19,320 way, you know, Gaylord, I know you and I have talked about this 594 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:21,720 outside actually I think we've talked about it on the podcast. 595 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:25,000 But you know, the head coach is taking a more more of Aceo role 596 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:27,720 in in things now. And I think this is definitely 597 00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:33,440 the way that a lot of coaches will communicate as as like the 598 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,200 CEO, 'cause, you know, he could say these things, but that's 599 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:41,280 because he's confident in his staff's ability to execute their 600 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,000 system. Yeah, I mean not train the 601 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:45,400 players to understand the system. 602 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,960 Yeah, and and that's the work in progress that we're we should be 603 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:51,840 the most focused on. And the thing that the I guess 604 00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:55,040 what cracked me up the most about Big 10 media day was how, 605 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:57,840 you know, this is so predictable because I'm old enough that I 606 00:31:57,840 --> 00:31:59,640 watch Bob Knight do this all the time. 607 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:03,200 Signetti gets up there and does the Kurt Signetti Comedy Hour 608 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:05,400 and that's all anybody talked about now. 609 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:08,560 And it had the desired effect. Jake Butts going on the the post 610 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,040 conference analysis. He's like, you know what stood 611 00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:12,120 out? Kurt Signetti. 612 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:16,120 And to some degree, it almost, you know, it's almost to what 613 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:20,080 Patrick asked, it almost takes the focus off the team and puts 614 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:23,360 it on the coach. And that can be helpful because 615 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:28,120 then the players are almost able to operate under a veil of 616 00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:31,680 anonymity to some degree because all the attention is on the guy 617 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:33,920 who is grabbing the attention. And that's a good thing. 618 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,160 That's that's actually a time honored coaching tradition. 619 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:38,040 Yeah. And is it a risk? 620 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:42,000 Yeah, it's it's a risk Like he could come out, you know, not 621 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:45,040 looking great because he was so confident in the team's ability 622 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:47,440 to to execute. And if they if they don't, if 623 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:50,080 like say they're not competitive against Ohio State and he said 624 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:51,040 that they were going to beat them. 625 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:54,840 Same with Michigan. Or or maybe they just, you know, 626 00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:59,200 don't play to a lot of fans expectations, then yeah, it it 627 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:02,960 looks a little embarrassing, but I don't think it's Yeah, I think 628 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:04,640 it's I think it's what he should be doing right now. 629 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:07,520 Yeah, well, I mean, what you're right, it's embarrassing and as 630 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,800 much as well, maybe they maybe they'll get blown out by a 631 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,520 couple of teams or maybe they maybe they won't actually be 632 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:15,160 that great this year. That's fine. 633 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:19,200 I mean, at the end of the day, the bravado still needs to be 634 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:20,760 there. You need to set the foundation. 635 00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:22,640 Even if the results don't come immediately, it'll be 636 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:26,480 disappointing, but it's certain that that's all that it is. 637 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:28,920 If it's just embarrassing, that's fine. 638 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:34,240 No problem at all. Let's let's jump over and let's 639 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,000 tackle assembly calls question since it kind of ties into this. 640 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:40,720 As a wise owl once said, when you look at someone through rose 641 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:43,920 colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags. 642 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,120 I've never actually heard that saying before. 643 00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:47,080 It's from. Bojack. 644 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:51,040 Yeah, It's from Bojack Horseman. OK, That I appreciate it. 645 00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:52,880 I appreciate it. You're here to help translate 646 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:55,680 these things for me. I, I, I, I missed that one. 647 00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:58,800 If things don't go as expected this football season, what do 648 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,240 you think we'll look back on as a red flag that we aren't 649 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,960 worrying about now during these this Sig 4 Korea stage? 650 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,120 Yeah, Yeah, there I think there's I think there are, you 651 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:14,520 know, multiple, but I think a lot of because of the you know, 652 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:16,159 a lot of people are concerned. Like one of the things that 653 00:34:16,159 --> 00:34:18,639 people are concerned, like most concerned about right now is the 654 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:23,560 the translation of talent and and and you know, the 655 00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:25,159 quarterbacks, people are concerned about the 656 00:34:25,159 --> 00:34:29,159 quarterbacks. And, you know, I would say, you 657 00:34:29,159 --> 00:34:34,520 know, if we, if a lot of people, including myself, are very 658 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,440 excited about the improvement that we saw last year in the 659 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:43,639 offensive line from Bob Bozab. But if you know, what if there's 660 00:34:43,639 --> 00:34:46,040 not that much improvement in Carter Smith from last year, He 661 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:49,480 was he was, you know, decent, but you would hope that he's 662 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:51,280 better in his sophomore year from his freshman year. 663 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:54,320 What if Trey Wettig, what do you know, if there's a reason 664 00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:57,200 Wisconsin let him go, you know, and didn't, you know, offer him 665 00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:03,000 a bigger bag or, you know, made him second string last year like 666 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:07,960 in in we know Mike Kadik, but you know, he hasn't played a ton 667 00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:09,440 of centre. He has more experience than 668 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,120 anybody else, but he hasn't played a ton of centre. 669 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:16,560 So what if the offensive line isn't as effective as as a lot 670 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:19,880 of people believe it is? And I think I think it will be. 671 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:21,960 I think it'll be more effective than last year. 672 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:26,760 But you know, I don't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say that 673 00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:30,600 the offensive line is solved and and I think the the guards are 674 00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:34,880 definitely concerning. But, you know, if, if, if the 675 00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:41,360 offensive line is not as effective as, as, as a lot of 676 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:46,160 people believe that it might be, including myself, then that 677 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:48,640 would be something where, you know, if, if IU doesn't play 678 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:51,400 super well, especially offensively in 2024, we will 679 00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:54,800 look back and say, well, yeah, I guess logically that makes sense 680 00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:57,520 cause 'cause it was in rough shape, you know, just last 681 00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:00,400 season. So I think that that that would 682 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:03,600 probably be the the one where I'm like, yeah, not a lot of 683 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:06,440 people are talking about offensive line concerns at the 684 00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:08,840 moment. I I agree. 685 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,400 I mean, I will say I don't know if there are any red flags we're 686 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,520 missing because I think we've talked about most of the 687 00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:19,320 potential red flags, at least on this podcast and you on bite 688 00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:21,560 sized bison. I think we've covered most of 689 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:24,880 the potential red flags already. Like I think the, you know, to 690 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:30,720 me, the the answer to this is, is less about what we're missing 691 00:36:30,720 --> 00:36:35,160 that we should have caught and it's more what we are wagering 692 00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:37,280 will happen that might not happen. 693 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:40,720 And I actually, we got some questions on The Last Podcast 694 00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:46,960 about why is the media ranking Indiana 17th or 18th in the Big 695 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:49,120 10? You know, why are they being, 696 00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:51,280 why are they basically being relegated to the bottom of the 697 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:54,440 Big 10? And my answer when I fielded 698 00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:58,920 that was, if you'll recall, because media are going to rely 699 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,800 on what they've seen most recently from these teams and 700 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:05,280 then try to order them because much as you'd like to, you're 701 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,920 probably not going to project into the future for every team. 702 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:11,520 Now, you'll do it for like the top three, you know, so like it, 703 00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:14,400 it's easy to project what Ohio State is likely to do given the 704 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,560 level of talent they've got. And and then it's like, well, 705 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:21,320 how do I project what like AUSC or an Oregon is going to do, 706 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:23,840 given that I don't have a lot of common things to keep in mind. 707 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:25,760 But you'll do that. You'll do go through that 708 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:27,720 exercise for those teams. You're not going to go through 709 00:37:27,720 --> 00:37:31,040 it for like the bottom eight teams in the conference. 710 00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:33,680 And even, I mean, you did this just with the graph that you 711 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:37,280 were doing on, on the Substack where you were talking about the 712 00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:40,960 kind of upper and lower bounds that each team might have in the 713 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:44,280 conference. And with IUI think, you know, 714 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:49,000 that really it comes down to are they going to be better 715 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:52,200 significantly in the areas that we think that they're going to 716 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:55,760 get better like you said? And also how do they end up? 717 00:37:56,440 --> 00:38:00,480 How does that level of talent and execution relate to what 718 00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:04,040 other teams that are question marks are able to do? 719 00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:06,480 And many of them are on the schedule for IU. 720 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:09,600 You know, the the question is less, is Indiana going to be 721 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:11,280 better? Is it it's more like are they 722 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:14,320 going to be good enough relative to Northwestern that they could 723 00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:17,320 travel on the on the road and beat Northwestern? 724 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:20,840 Is Washington really going to be able to restock with a brand new 725 00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:22,760 coach? Will they have their legs under 726 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:26,320 them by the time they come to Bloomington where Indiana at 727 00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:29,200 their best would not be good enough to beat Washington is 728 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:31,640 Nebraska. Everybody has predicted 729 00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:34,360 Nebraska's going to be like a nine win, 10 win team. 730 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:37,440 Everybody thinks Matt Ruhl is is it. 731 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:41,440 And yet I, I would actually argue you could, you could say 732 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:46,520 that there's more hope being put into Nebraska projections based 733 00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:51,440 entirely on the coaches profile and the brand name of Nebraska 734 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:54,680 then has anything to do with what's actually on the field for 735 00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:57,840 them, 'cause I just, I have yet to see anything substantial that 736 00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:00,320 makes me think, Oh yeah, that's a team that's gonna do better 737 00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:02,560 than the five and seven or six and six that we've gotten used 738 00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:04,800 to them doing. So I think it's really about the 739 00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:07,720 relative levels of expectations to answer Jared's question 740 00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:10,200 rather than necessarily red flags were missing. 741 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:13,400 Yeah, Yeah, I want, I want to add some things to what you said 742 00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:16,760 like nothing, nothing really different, just further detail. 743 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:20,840 But the yeah, though you're right, like UCLA is a great 744 00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:23,560 example of this. We expect UCLA to not be very 745 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:27,000 good, but I think they'll be better than what a lot of people 746 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:30,440 think they will be. But also, what if they're good? 747 00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:33,480 You know, like what, what if, what if UCLA is actually good? 748 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:36,360 But the The thing is like, you could ask that about a lot of 749 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:37,520 these teams. You could ask that about 750 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:39,320 Maryland. They they have a salt, they have 751 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,520 like kind of a solid defense. And you could ask about 752 00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:44,720 Washington. Washington is one that I think a 753 00:39:44,720 --> 00:39:47,720 lot of IU fans need to be careful with because they're the 754 00:39:47,720 --> 00:39:51,760 most similar to IU and in this conference when it comes to what 755 00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,040 happened last season to last season. 756 00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:56,960 But with a much higher level. Yeah, exactly. 757 00:39:57,160 --> 00:39:59,520 Yeah. So they they, you know, Jed Fish 758 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,200 is a good, a really good coach. What he did at Arizona was 759 00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:04,200 pretty incredible. And then he brings a lot of 760 00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:07,280 Arizona pieces over. Just like Curse Igneti brought a 761 00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:10,040 lot of JMU pieces, but James Madison's in the Sunbelt. 762 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:14,720 Arizona was in the PAC 12. And so there, yeah, there's, you 763 00:40:14,720 --> 00:40:18,640 know, when it comes to Washington, I think that's a 764 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:20,200 really, actually a really good barometer. 765 00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:24,080 Even though they're like runners up last year for in the playoff. 766 00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:28,920 I think that's a good barometer for for comparison for Indiana 767 00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:31,280 just, you know, maybe not necessarily the exact same 768 00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:34,840 level, but I think, you know, I think Washington's going to be 769 00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:36,360 decent. I don't think they're going to 770 00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:39,400 be bad. And and so, but also I don't 771 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:41,440 know. So that's how that's how it is 772 00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:43,480 with a lot of these teams. And so that I think that's a 773 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:48,000 really good point, Galen, about, you know, everybody has a 774 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:51,000 different expectation for different teams in the Big 10, 775 00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:53,880 just like you were talking about with Nebraska, like we don't 776 00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:55,800 even know. We'd like like you were saying, 777 00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:59,720 like what what is what is the tangible proof that they are 778 00:40:59,720 --> 00:41:03,040 going to be better this year besides having a 5 star freshman 779 00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:07,840 quarterback on the roster now? And, you know, but also they 780 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:11,040 could be, you know, like it's it's I haven't really seen the 781 00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:16,080 big 10 like this that that I can remember where there's so much 782 00:41:16,720 --> 00:41:18,640 uncertainty. And I think probably the 783 00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:20,080 transfer portal has a lot to do with that. 784 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:23,680 But also, you know, just coaching changes and things like 785 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:25,280 the Michigan State could be good. 786 00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:27,520 I know that's the thing. Yeah, we're everybody's, you 787 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:29,800 know, they've, you're, you've, they're counting them out. 788 00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:32,800 I mean, there's so much mix. I feel the only thing I feel 789 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,880 confident in is that Purdue's not going to be very good and 790 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:37,600 and and. Yeah. 791 00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:41,920 Everything else feels like it's on the table, you know, 792 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:44,320 including Indiana being good or not good. 793 00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:47,520 And, you know, that's why I'm, I'm not going to do my 794 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:52,120 projections yet. But I, you know, the, that, that 795 00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:55,680 parameter of like wins, you know, to me, like Indiana's got 796 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:59,760 as big of a spread as any of the teams in the conference because 797 00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:02,120 we just don't know what's going to happen yet when the rubber 798 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:04,760 hits the road. And I don't know that we're 799 00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:07,160 going to find out a whole lot in the first couple of weeks. 800 00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:08,920 That's going to be the, the big question. 801 00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:13,800 I mean, I am, I am kind of curious how Indiana plays in 802 00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:18,600 that first game because you know, we a a lot of times we've 803 00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:23,520 we've tended in the past to just write off the non conference 804 00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:28,960 games against F like non non power competition as wins. 805 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:30,800 And you know, most of the time that's right. 806 00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:35,240 But if you think about like some of the experiences Indiana's had 807 00:42:35,240 --> 00:42:38,840 in the past, even with good teams playing against like a 808 00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:42,520 Florida International being a great example, I mean, what 809 00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:48,560 forget what year that was. If it was 2017 or 2018, where 810 00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:53,360 what was that year? It was 2018, Indiana, Indiana, 811 00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:58,120 you know, they only won against Florida International by by 10 812 00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:01,520 points that year. And I think it was, I want to 813 00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:05,280 say maybe 2016. They, that was a close game for 814 00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:07,680 a little while. It wasn't like Indiana blew them 815 00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:10,240 out like right from the get go. It ended up being about a 20 816 00:43:10,240 --> 00:43:13,160 point win. But even games like that, and 817 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:15,480 that's a live opponent like that's, it's not like you're, 818 00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:19,200 you're not playing FCS SE in in the the video game. 819 00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:22,360 Although that's a bad example cause apparently FCS SE like has 820 00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:25,280 beaten a bunch of teams so far in, in other people's dynasties. 821 00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:29,720 But it's going to be an interesting on ramp because 822 00:43:29,720 --> 00:43:32,600 again, your first game in the big 10 is against the UCLA team 823 00:43:32,600 --> 00:43:36,440 that has as many questions, one could argue as Indiana does. 824 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:42,160 New coach, weird, weird vibe around the program right now and 825 00:43:42,160 --> 00:43:45,280 and a fan base that is historically not terribly 826 00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:47,400 plugged in. Who knows what that Rose Bowl 827 00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:49,640 situation is going to look like. It could be really interesting. 828 00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:53,400 I want to add another one too, that that might be a red flag 829 00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:57,200 that we're not thinking about right now, which is and some 830 00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:02,160 people are, but what how how does the passing attack mesh 831 00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:06,000 wants the season is is here because that that I'm doing a 832 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:10,680 wide receivers preview for by sized Bison pretty soon and I'm 833 00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:12,760 looking at the talent. There's plenty of talent there. 834 00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:14,320 There's plenty of experience there. 835 00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:17,960 Same with Curtis Rourke, but you know, Curtis Rourke has some 836 00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:20,320 question marks coming into the season after last season not 837 00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:24,680 being his 2022 self. And but also from what we saw in 838 00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:26,720 the spring game, like they're they're they were not on the 839 00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:28,160 same page, which is to be expected. 840 00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:31,200 But what if what if they just never are? 841 00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:36,280 Like what what if, what if it's never as electric as, you know, 842 00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:40,880 a previous James Madison passing attack was or like the talent 843 00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:43,840 shows. And so I think that's that's 844 00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:46,000 another one as well, But I just want to throw that in there for 845 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:49,200 I. Think it's worthwhile 11 last 846 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:50,200 question. We're gonna hold off on the 847 00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:52,880 depth chart questions until the next time we do one of these. 848 00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:54,440 We will do another one of these soon. 849 00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:57,160 So we're we're not ignoring the questions, but Jim Hoff had a 850 00:44:57,160 --> 00:45:00,000 good one. I thought he said Athlon's 851 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,880 college football preview opposing Big 10 coach said 852 00:45:04,240 --> 00:45:05,800 quote. If you're setting reasonable 853 00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:08,320 year one expectations, I'd look for them to build an offensive 854 00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:12,600 identity to help recruiting. Do you agree with this premise? 855 00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:19,040 If So, what offensive identity do you expect the the? 856 00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:22,680 Premise of building an offensive identity to help in recruiting. 857 00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:25,440 Like that, like that being a reasonable, I think what that 858 00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:29,240 this is the opposing coach who I think is probably trying to say, 859 00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:32,840 don't expect to come out and win seven or eight games, but lay 860 00:45:32,840 --> 00:45:35,240 the groundwork for recruiting. And then the next season. 861 00:45:35,240 --> 00:45:37,400 And they're saying that the way to to set reasonable 862 00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:40,160 expectations is you're going to play offense this way. 863 00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:42,480 That's going to help you in recruiting because now you can 864 00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:44,280 show recruits, this is what we're doing. 865 00:45:44,280 --> 00:45:46,000 So that's that's I think what he's asking. 866 00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:53,200 Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think, I think Curt 867 00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:56,440 Cignetti is, is obviously trying to win in year one. 868 00:45:56,640 --> 00:45:58,360 It's really hard to win in year one. 869 00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:03,040 I think, yeah, I, I think you're just trying to build an identity 870 00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:06,200 on, on, I mean, on either side of the ball to to help with 871 00:46:06,200 --> 00:46:09,640 recruiting. I think, you know, Galen, you 872 00:46:09,640 --> 00:46:12,720 and I have talked about this as well, but on the defensive side, 873 00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:15,240 that defensive line is probably not where they want it to be. 874 00:46:15,240 --> 00:46:17,440 And so how, how do you get it? It's going to take a little bit 875 00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:20,880 of time. And so eventually, I think that 876 00:46:20,880 --> 00:46:23,200 defensive line is going to be one that really rushes the 877 00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:24,720 passer. I mean, it could be this year, 878 00:46:24,720 --> 00:46:29,000 but I it depends on the translation of talent, but the 879 00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:33,880 building an offensive identity is probably how this program is 880 00:46:33,880 --> 00:46:36,240 going to be known after this season. 881 00:46:36,240 --> 00:46:39,480 So I guess maybe, maybe, maybe from from that perspective, 882 00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:42,480 yeah. The because you're going to have 883 00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:44,360 Curtis Rourke, you're going to have Donna Nicola, you're going 884 00:46:44,360 --> 00:46:51,840 to have Elijah Serrat. But the as far as you know like. 885 00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:55,160 I don't know. Like yeah, I don't know. 886 00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:56,560 I don't. I'm not sure exactly how to 887 00:46:56,560 --> 00:46:59,080 answer it. I guess I would say this in 888 00:46:59,080 --> 00:47:04,000 response to Jim's question. I think in a pre portal college 889 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:06,600 football that answer makes a lot of sense. 890 00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:11,840 But I think like we've seen, what is it, 3035 new faces that 891 00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:15,400 have come in for Indiana, a larger number came in for 892 00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:17,880 Washington. Like you can, you can sell 893 00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:21,120 people on a vision and an identity offense wise through 894 00:47:21,120 --> 00:47:23,760 the film that you've accrued in your past stops. 895 00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:27,200 I think that's what Indiana largely did here with what they 896 00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:29,200 did in the transfer portal in the offseason. 897 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:33,960 I think that's more important to some degree than than take your 898 00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:36,560 lumps your first year, but show that you're doing XY and Z 899 00:47:36,560 --> 00:47:38,240 'cause I mean, we saw this during the Kevin Wilson era. 900 00:47:38,240 --> 00:47:43,200 Like that offense didn't look great the first two years and 901 00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:46,400 then it suddenly started looking pretty good when they started to 902 00:47:46,400 --> 00:47:48,880 get the talent in the right spots and, and they got better 903 00:47:48,880 --> 00:47:52,520 line play. And I, you know, I look at it 904 00:47:52,520 --> 00:47:55,080 from the perspective I, I, you know, if, if I'm a coach and I'm 905 00:47:55,080 --> 00:47:57,320 thinking about things the way that they've been historically, 906 00:47:57,320 --> 00:47:59,400 you're thinking, well, this Indiana rebuild's probably going 907 00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:01,480 to take three years to really get up and running. 908 00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:06,160 And AII don't know that it has to take that long for Indiana to 909 00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:10,720 compete for six or seven or even eight wins simply because the 910 00:48:10,720 --> 00:48:13,200 schedule this year is very favorable. 911 00:48:13,400 --> 00:48:16,680 I think if if if Signeti was starting next year with next 912 00:48:16,680 --> 00:48:18,640 year's schedule, that's a different story. 913 00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:22,440 But he's not, you know, so you have to factor that in. 914 00:48:22,720 --> 00:48:27,760 I also think, like as you said, the, you know, the way that the 915 00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:32,640 defense plays at this point feels very critical to Indiana 916 00:48:32,640 --> 00:48:35,880 because when Indiana has struggled the most over the 917 00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:38,840 course of the really the, well, almost its entire history, but 918 00:48:38,840 --> 00:48:42,640 especially the last 25 or so years, it's tended to struggle 919 00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:46,040 more on the defensive side. And it's harder to attract 920 00:48:46,040 --> 00:48:49,520 people to a defense that looks like it's constantly getting 921 00:48:49,520 --> 00:48:52,120 bent over. And you know, if you can show 922 00:48:52,120 --> 00:48:56,160 that Indiana can can play solid defense, I think you build both 923 00:48:56,160 --> 00:48:58,960 confidence in that unit and you it allows you to recruit out of 924 00:48:58,960 --> 00:49:02,440 the portal and recruit incoming players at a higher level. 925 00:49:02,720 --> 00:49:05,640 It does feel like the coaches already are doing that. 926 00:49:05,640 --> 00:49:08,160 I mean, I don't know what your analysis is of the existing 927 00:49:08,160 --> 00:49:10,200 recruiting on the defensive side, but it almost feels like 928 00:49:10,200 --> 00:49:12,600 that's going better than the offensive recruiting in some 929 00:49:12,600 --> 00:49:14,760 ways. I mean, I'm not sure if you'd 930 00:49:14,760 --> 00:49:16,640 agree with that, but that's kind of how it's felt to me. 931 00:49:17,320 --> 00:49:19,160 Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, like 'cause the the 932 00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:22,280 defensive backs that that recruiting has been fantastic. 933 00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:29,640 So, yeah, yeah, I think, you know, I think yeah, I, I, I 934 00:49:29,640 --> 00:49:33,440 think offensive identity to to help in recruiting I think is 935 00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:38,920 probably not, not not the way that that I would say that. 936 00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:43,840 But but yeah, I think this is just offensive idea and you 937 00:49:43,840 --> 00:49:47,920 know, focus on recruiting. But but I, I don't, I don't see 938 00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:51,800 an offensive identity being the path toward better recruiting 939 00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:54,360 like you were saying, because the defensive side has been, has 940 00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:57,720 been actually going OK. And the 2026 class is the one 941 00:49:57,720 --> 00:50:02,560 that's going to be the big one. So, you know, maybe if you want 942 00:50:02,560 --> 00:50:04,240 to focus on the offensive side of the ball, sure. 943 00:50:04,240 --> 00:50:07,720 But yeah, I, I, I I don't think so. 944 00:50:08,240 --> 00:50:11,200 This is, it's funny because it's kind of like this is where the, 945 00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:18,280 This is why I don't buy Athlon. I always skip the Athlon preview 946 00:50:18,480 --> 00:50:20,360 to some degree 'cause I was always like, I'm not sure if I 947 00:50:20,360 --> 00:50:23,680 really buy what I'm getting out of this, but I am curious to see 948 00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:27,160 what reasonable expectations are in the first year and what like 949 00:50:27,160 --> 00:50:29,960 what will actually work when the rubber hits the road on these 950 00:50:29,960 --> 00:50:32,360 things 'cause it is. It is a bit of an open question, 951 00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:35,680 but I do think that ultimately it feels like that that 952 00:50:35,680 --> 00:50:39,080 particular answer just feels like an answer that is more of 953 00:50:39,080 --> 00:50:42,200 an of a past era thing rather than being something that 954 00:50:42,200 --> 00:50:44,680 Indiana necessarily has to think about doing right now. 955 00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:48,240 But who's who knows, this is where the uncertainty that we 956 00:50:48,240 --> 00:50:52,160 talked about earlier comes in. And we'll just, we'll have to 957 00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:54,560 see what happens. Anyway, any final thoughts, 958 00:50:54,560 --> 00:50:55,840 Taylor, we'll go ahead and wrap up here. 959 00:50:55,840 --> 00:50:57,160 But any anything else that you've got? 960 00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:00,960 No, no, that's that that like I said, I'm going to have a wide 961 00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:02,600 receivers preview coming out pretty soon. 962 00:51:03,080 --> 00:51:05,880 It's a position I haven't talked about a whole lot because a lot 963 00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:07,640 of people are very excited about it. 964 00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:12,640 So, you know, I'll, I'll, you know, send that out and and 965 00:51:12,640 --> 00:51:14,640 yeah, you know, subscribe to buy Size Bison. 966 00:51:15,600 --> 00:51:19,120 Yes, please do that and we'll have more work with with Taylor 967 00:51:19,120 --> 00:51:21,120 coming up soon as we talk through some more items. 968 00:51:21,120 --> 00:51:22,440 We'll talk depth chart next time. 969 00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:25,040 We'll talk about positional battles and the kinds of things 970 00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:28,480 we need to look at as we go through fall camp as we get 971 00:51:28,480 --> 00:51:31,320 ready for this first game as Indiana getting ready to start 972 00:51:31,320 --> 00:51:34,960 the 2024 football season. So, Taylor, my thanks to you for 973 00:51:34,960 --> 00:51:37,200 taking the time to join us again, folks, if you're watching 974 00:51:37,200 --> 00:51:41,800 this and it's the 31st, let's let's yeah, get the 975 00:51:41,800 --> 00:51:45,760 subscriptions in and we'll look forward to spending some more 976 00:51:45,760 --> 00:51:48,480 time with you as we talk through IU football. 977 00:51:48,600 --> 00:51:51,600 Taylor, thanks again for joining us and thanks to all you folks 978 00:51:51,600 --> 00:51:53,760 for watching or listening. Be sure to subscribe to the 979 00:51:53,760 --> 00:51:55,280 YouTube channel in the back Home Network. 980 00:51:55,280 --> 00:51:56,440 Our thanks to Home Field Apparel. 981 00:51:57,120 --> 00:52:00,120 We will catch you folks. On the flip side, I'm Galen 982 00:52:00,120 --> 00:52:02,680 Clavio, bring back the bison. So long, everybody.