How you doing everybody? Welcome back to our second ever
episode of the Tuesday evening Bison Chat.
I'm GAIL and Clavio, otherwise known as Doctor GC.
We got Joe Cronin, our Co host back with us.
And we welcome special guest Audrey Marr from the Hoosier
Network for the first time, our first official guest on the
show. Audrey, great to have you with
us. How you doing today?
I'm good. I'm honored to be the 1st guest.
I'm I'm really excited to have to be on and I think it's going
to be a really fun show. And Joe, obviously great to have
you back as well. We kept you on for another week
and I'm glad you decided to come back.
How are you doing today? Yeah, it's good to see.
I've made the cut in in the Week 2 doing doing good.
I'm ready to right ahead to Pasadena.
Looking forward to that trip. Yeah, should be a lot of fun,
should be a really fascinating experience and a really unique
game for IU. As you know, their season really
already has a chance to take a path that has been certainly
less travelled for IU football. Not a whole lot of three and O
starts in the history of the program and certainly a chance
to do that in a historic venue. First game of the Big 10 season,
A lot to talk about there. But before we get to that, let's
talk about what happened this past weekend.
We all saw the game. Indiana blowing out Western
Illinois by a 77 to 3 mark. Historic in a number of ways.
Joe, let me start with you. It was one of those games where
Indiana played about as perfectly as you can play,
albeit against the team that was far from perfect in Western
Illinois. But you can only play the team
that's in front of you, and Indiana certainly did that with
flying colors. Yeah, This is really just that
take care of business game for Indiana.
Last year it was Indiana State, this year Western Illinois.
And I don't think there was any any disagreement.
And this was one of the worst teams in Division One.
I mean, they were four and 44 in their past couple seasons.
There are Four Seasons heading into this one.
And the thing I really noticed about this is in years past, I
don't see those last two to three years of Tom Allen's years
being able to put up those numbers.
No matter the opponent, and I think that just goes to show
some of the culture change surrounding this team is they
kept their foot on the gas and even when it was the second
third stringers, even 4 stringers at times, they were
playing hard. And when when Signetti talked to
the media after the game, he was still upset about the 1 scoring
Dr. that Western Illinois had at the end of the first half, they
gave up three total points, 77 to three.
And he still is pinpointing exactly what went wrong in that
drive. And I just think it just goes
into that this team is fighting for something and and it seems
like that needle is starting to get moved.
And yes, it was Western Illinois, but got to take it one
step at a time. Audrey, you got a chance to
watch the game as well. Obviously a lot different from
what we saw last year with this IU football team.
What stuck out to you the most in that in that Western Illinois
game? Yeah, you mentioned it.
I mean, it's completely different than last year.
I think what stuck out to me the most is I think this was the
first game that I personally saw this Indiana football team
having that much fun. I've never honestly seen that,
especially looking into last year.
I think you said it, Joe. I mean, they never took their
foot off the gas. And I think that that was really
big. They're just showing how here
they are for this year. And I think they're just really
showing their presence. And I mean, I would look on the
sideline, see Coach Signetti, he would look like he was just mad
at everything, even being up 49 to three or whenever they were
up by that much at halftime. And I mean, he always has
something to keep an eye on and maybe pick on, but to play as
well as they did. I personally couldn't even pick
anything out then having that perfect performance that they
did. It is a really interesting
psychological change with this team.
You know, I mean, Tom Allen came across as like everybody's
friend and a guy who, you know, believed in love, love each
other. Like the whole Leo mindset.
Signetti comes across as this kind of stern, you know,
disciplinarian, like, we're going to do things the right
way. And yet it does almost feel like
the team is more locked in and having more fun with playing
football right now in the first two weeks than we saw in the
last couple of seasons. Now, obviously, winning helps a
lot of that, but even in wins, it almost felt like a relief
that Indiana would win games under the previous regime, not a
not like what we expected to do that.
And so it is it is an interesting transition, I think,
and one to keep an eye on moving forward.
Obviously, as the competition gets tougher, we'll see if that
mindset continues. Kurt Signetti had several quotes
after the game and several things interesting are esteemed
producer in the background, Emily Fox, going to be pressing
some buttons for us here? But let's hear from Kurt
Signetti first and foremost as he talks about the performance
of his starting quarterback Curtis Rourke, a guy who people
have some questions about coming into the year but so far has
performed at a pretty high level through two games.
What I really liked was you could see the kind of the
cohesiveness of the team on both sides, guys cheering each other
on, congratulating each other, him taking charge and and it was
great to get a lot of guys involved.
I mean, Curtis Rourke, Joe, I don't know what I completely
expected, but as someone who's watched IE football for a while,
I haven't felt physically just like watching a person on the
field this confident about a quarterback since Nate Sudfeld,
who, you know, it's last year or eight years ago.
I mean, Michael Pennix, you love his arm talent, but you're
always afraid he's going to get injured.
Curtis Rourke just has this like, rock like stability in the
pocket that really makes you feel like he knows what he's
doing on almost every play. Yeah, even just passing the eye
test, he going back to spring ball.
This is a six, five, 220 LB quarterback.
I mean, that's just that prototypical guy you want in the
pocket. He has some decent mobility to
to stretch some plays outside. It's all in the first game.
FIU just launched the ball down to Miles Cross.
But I mean, once again, you got to take the opponent with a
grain of salt. Just understand it was Western
Illinois, but he was making good throws.
The throws were on time in stride as compared to really
that FIU 8. There were a few missed time
ones. There was a deep post.
It was the first touch they scored against Western Illinois,
but they ran that same play against FIU.
It was Anderson, Kobe, same receiver and it was a little
missed time, a little under thrown in the one at FIU got it
cleaned up against Western Illinois.
So you can see the progressions getting there.
He's more confident with these receivers because once again,
it's a whole new system for him. He's coming from Ohio.
He's injured. Last year was the 2022 Mac
Player of the year. But I mean, this is a guy, he
does have the Big 10 arm talent, if that makes sense.
Going on to another quote by Kurt Signetti, it's one of those
things where the defense has been almost more impressive than
the offense throughout the course of this season so far,
and they've really been able to cause a lot of problems for the
opposition. Let's hear what Kurt Signetti
had to say about that. I think it's a culture of
mindset and identity and the philosophy, you know, the
program culture and mindset that we're, we're an attacking type
of team, relentless competitor, playing fast and physical, one
play at a time. And then his style, our style
defense is, you know, we want to turn those guys loose up front
and wreck havoc and disruption. Audrey Havoc has a particular
meaning in football these days. It's a key statistical factor.
How much do you screw up what your opposition is doing?
Is this actually how I would distill that?
And it's kind of ironic because your time Allen defense first
guy. And yet what we've seen out of
the first two weeks is a defense that really is seems to be
dialed in to try to cause as many problems.
Not just in terms of the backfield, but they forced 3
turnovers in this game, which was two more than they forced in
the first game. Yeah, I mean, I would look back
to last year and I there wasn't really a lot of stability on the
defense. And I think just over these last
two games we've seen that stability.
And pointing out Aiden Fisher, I feel like he has that captain
role in the defense like Aaron Casey had last year.
That was a really good switch and kind of just, I don't want
to say replacement, but in a way replacement.
And Aiden Fisher, I mean, even talking in the Big 10 media
days, he has a lot of belief in that defense as well.
Everybody does. I think that they have shown
that this will be a much, much more consistent defense at this
point of the year and I think it should be really interesting to
see how they go up against these Big 10 teams, especially heading
into this week. Yeah, and heading into this
week, they they go to a place that they haven't played since
1968, which is the Rose Bowl and and somehow our favorite in this
game. And it's interesting, like
watching all this line up and Kurt Zignetti obviously not
going to dwell too much on it, but is certainly, as we'll see
in this next clip, you know, just trying to take everything
in stride. For me and the team, it's more
of a business trip. Whether we're playing in a Rose
Bowl or in a parking lot, it's all the same.
I love that. I mean, it's, it's really it.
It's. Full of good quotes.
Well, it's not easy full of good quotes, but I tell you, I mean,
talking with a lot of IU fans, especially some older IU fans,
that whole line in the press conference really resonated with
that because it really felt like, OK, good, This is what
we've wanted forever. Like a coach who just looks at
these things as business trips as they we're going to go
wherever we're playing. We want to give maximum effort
and we want to give maximum focus.
And and you know, Audrey, it kind of feeds into something you
mentioned, which is like the, you know, the the attention to
detail and the way that this team is kind of, you know, even
when they've won in these last couple of games.
And Joe, you mentioned this as well, like this idea of, well,
we're still upset about that one scoring Dr. that we let up or
we're upset about not doing better in the second-half
against FIU. Like that type of mentality
feels like it's going to yield something more positive as we
move forward. Yeah, even talking to some of
the players, whether it's availability or after the game,
like they're pinpointing these mistakes that are made in the
game or mistakes that Signetti has mentioned.
And back to talking about that Rose Bowl.
It was Big 10 media days back in back in late July.
And Kurt Signetti, he's asked about, hey, you're playing in
the Rose Bowl. And he said, I don't care where
we're playing, we're just going to some dusty old stadium to
kick someone's that you can fill in the blank how he finished
that sentence and, you know, kind of blew up on social media.
And it's just his mentality of all these games.
It's like it's just business. He just go in there to coach
some football and see his guys like try and get a win.
And I feel like from a player standpoint, it's hard to not
kind of fall in love with that. And you see it talking to like
Aiden Fisher, guy who's been with Singh that these past
years, Elijah Sarat. They understand that that's the
mentality. And then even some of the guys
that have him with Mike Kadik, long time offensive lineman for
the Hoosiers, he recognizes that there is a culture change and,
and we've talked to him a few times and he has just been a
little more fired up for this year than maybe last year.
We're go ahead, Audrey. Oh yeah, no, I was just going to
say kind of leading off of that, I talked to Aidan Fisher, Mike
Kadic and Justice Ellison all at media day and they all said that
they are really feeding into what Coach Zagnetti's mentality
is this year. And it's bleeding into the
locker room, it's bleeding into their practices, bleeding into
their everyday life. And they're they're really just
using it as their motivation heading into the season.
They know where they want to end up.
They're all agreeing. Even Mike Kadic said, I asked
him like, what was the one thing that he's looking forward to or
that what is his one goal this year?
He said beating. So that was his main point.
And they're they're looking to get to that bowl game.
And but right now their first look is at that Purdue game.
And yeah, I mean Coach Signetti's mentality, I think
it's good to have something like that bleed into this team
because now they all have something to look forward to and
something to play for. It's even bled into my life like
I, I, I gave my lecture today in class and I made like three
small factual layers and I went back and like replayed those and
practiced it for a while to make sure that I didn't make those
mistakes again. It's a really, it's a nice life
mentality in general. It is interesting because like
with Mike Haydick, he was testing the draft waters,
Donovan McCoy was stressing the transfer portal.
Those were two of the best players on Indiana's roster last
year. And they see Signetti come in,
see the talent that immediately is brought in from James Madison
and that influences their decision to stay.
And it just goes to show, like with what Audrey said, it's just
there is kind of a fire with this team there.
That culture change seems to be trending in the right direction.
Obviously, it's one step at a time.
And I think this UCLA game could be a big turning point to really
start to make that switch happen.
Speaking of UCLA, that's Indiana's opponent this week, as
Joe so aptly points out. And Joe, you got a chance to
talk to a UCLA expert earlier this week.
Give us a little intro on this next clip that we're going to
watch. Yeah, I talked to James
Williams. He's been out for USA TODAY
Sports. He's been covering UCLA for a
few years now, back when Chip Kelly was the head coach.
He also is the Co host of a UCLA football podcast along with a
former UCLA player. So was definitely in the works.
Been around this whole transition with the Sean Foster
coming in. Had a great conversation with
him. He kind of dove into some
details about their Week 1 performance against Hawaii.
They did have a bye week and they have a tough schedule after
this game. So I just think there's a lot of
pieces around this Week 3 match between those two teams.
There are big implications for either side.
Let's go ahead and dive right into that as we watch Joe's
interview with Mr. Williams. All right, welcome in.
I would like to welcome Mr. James Williams.
He writes out for USA TODAY out in Southern California as well
as one of the Co hosts for the Believe in UCLA football
podcast. James, pleasure having you on
the Bison Shay here today. If you don't mind, just kind of
introducing yourself and how many years you've been covering
UCLA athletics. Yeah, thanks, Joe.
First of all, I appreciate you having me on.
Yeah, it's been, I think I'm going on my 7th year now.
I've kind of lost track when, when you had Chip Kelly as the
coach, part of that, a lot of those years ran together and
we're a little bit longer than than they probably actually
were. So I think we're on like year
six or seven since 2019. So it's been a good little
while. And obviously excited for the
new chapter and the new era that's ahead, not only for the
Big 10, but to have Desean Foster as the head coach.
So yeah, excited to to talk to you about the team.
Keep it on. Deshaun Foster, first year head
coach obviously was the inside hire for the Bruins, similar to
IUS first year head coach with Kurt Signetti.
I mean, between, you know, fall camp and your first week out in
Hawaii, how have you seen this team start to gel with their new
coach? Yeah, I, I think that's the
unique thing about this team this year is there wasn't a lot
of gelling that needed to be done right.
I think one of the advantages and I think one of the key
reasons not to discredit Desean Foster, but for UCLA to bring on
Desean Foster is the fact that he knew all those guys in the
building already and those he didn't already know are the ones
he brought in himself from the transfer portal.
So I, I think the Deshawn Foster hire was significant because it
was what the players wanted. As soon as Chip, literally Chip
walks out of the meeting room after saying, hey, you guys, I'm
out of here, I'm going a different direction.
And Martin Jarman, the athletic director, is in the room and the
players more or less demanded, hey, we want Deshawn Foster as
our next head coach. Martin Jarman, you know, takes,
I think it was like 72 hours, maybe a little less than that.
I think interviewed a couple people, but decided on Deshawn
Foster. And I think it worked out great
for them because you had very few people leave for the
transfer portal as a result of that move.
And you kept a lot of significant pieces that should
make this team at least viable for the first year in the Big
10. And yeah, it's, it's been, it's
been going good so far. Deshaun Foster still is kind of,
you know, learning to be a head coach, obviously, as we're all
aware with the Big 10 media day and the pause and, and, and the
stuff with that. So there's, there's a learning
curve there for him. And, but I think overall he's
doing pretty well and it's kind of business as usual.
Yeah, I mean, I imagine it was just a lot of nerves being first
year head coach and and it I mean that was his first head
coaching role as compared to some of the new faces.
Like with Zignetti, he had been a head coach previously with
this upcoming week. It's the first Big 10 game for
UCLA, first Big 10 game for Indiana of this season.
I mean, has it been a little weird seeing the Big 10 logo on
on those UCLA unis? Yeah, a a little bit.
It has a little bit. And I think it's going to be,
I'm trying to remember if they have the, if they had the PAC 12
logo out on the field for the Rose Bowl.
I would imagine they do. Or if anything, I'm sure the Big
10 is going to try and implement that and have that on the Rose
Bowl field. So that will be different when I
first walk to the press box or I'm out on the field prior to
the game. Just kind of seeing that that
would be, that would be different.
That would be interesting. But yeah, just for the patches
itself, it there's only been a few times we've actually kind of
seen the jersey. I think when Foster was first
hired was the first time we really kind of saw during his
introductory press conference. And again, obviously for the
Hawaii game. So even that's going to take a
little time to get used to. But after a while, all that will
kind of start blending together. But I think it's more so when we
start seeing some of these other teams in the Big 10 that they're
playing against, especially some of these more historic teams
that have tons of history, obviously Ohio State, Michigan
among them. Yeah, It it, it's, it's it's
going to be kind of eye opening to realize this is where college
football is at this point in time.
What do you, what have you noticed as an excitement level
for this team to have? You know, it's the NBC, the
white slate. Their first Big 10 game is kind
of under that pedestal. Yeah, I think for the for the
guys and even Coach Foster, they're kind of downplaying it a
little bit, right? I think it's just kind of
business as usual for them. It was funny because even when
you listen back to some of the the the media, the media
availability that they had on Monday, you know, Deshawn Foster
was just kind of saying, yeah, you know, this, it was just, it
was just a bye week, but we treated like a game week.
You know, it was just still kind of high paced, wasn't a whole
lot. I think if anything, maybe they
just switched to days and gave them a little bit of rest at the
beginning. But even then, he wanted the
guys to be mentally taking those reps as well.
So even Carson Sweshinger, one of the guys on defense
mentioned, yeah, I mean, we had a little rest, little recovery.
Obviously you're coming back from that trip from Hawaii and,
and you're you're hitting that that time zone now.
You're going to be hitting some of these other time zones here
soon. So I think if anything, it was
it was kind of just a learning lesson for them as far as
getting into the habit of traveling.
And obviously they're playing at home against Indiana this week,
but they're going to be back on the road here pretty soon.
Now what are you mentioned that Hawaii game week 1 Bruins have
to travel out to Honolulu get the 1613 win want to know on the
season because they had that bye week this past week.
I mean, what did you notice from that week one game?
You know, it, it was kind of the same thing with the rest of
college football and it was just kind of funny because everyone's
like, oh, look, so and so team's going to be bad because this and
I'm like, it's week one, it's week 0.
Like what these things are all going to be kind of plain sloppy
the first week or so. So obviously I think there,
there was a lot. The the biggest change maybe
we'll we'll talk a little bit more about is Eric B Enemy and
and him being the offensive coordinator and adding that to
UCLA's. You know, it's kind of different
than what Chip Kelly was doing with his offense a little bit
just in terms of probably mindset, I would imagine.
But yeah, just kind of seeing how the offense started to come
together and they're kind of getting their first live action
using that offense, right. So obviously there's still going
to be some growing pains, different things like that.
J Michael Sturdivant is considered their number one
receiver, but you know, you weren't seeing a lot of
production out of him, but then you're seeing a guy who
transfers in like. Rico Flores, junior from Notre
Dame, true sophomore comes in and just, you know, go goes
ahead and had AI believe over 100 yards, if I'm not mistaken,
did have a touchdown. So there were some bright spots,
right And I I think it's going to take a little time.
But The thing is, you know, Indiana's is, is going to be the
next possible win for them here anytime soon because, I mean,
coming up, they have a three-game stretch that, you
know, they, they may not tell you they're nervous about, but
I'm sure the fans are going to be nervous about it.
You have Oregon, Penn State and LSU, maybe not in that order,
but you have those 3 coming along.
So, yeah, I, I, I think they need to work out whatever groin
pains, whatever kinks that they have, they need to have that
address. And and hopefully that's what
they did during the bye week, but hopefully they make the most
of that against Indiana and learn from that as they get
ready for this tough stretch following that all.
Right and welcome. Well, let's unmute and talk
again here. Thank you, Joe Good interview.
And as we think about this match up, it's an interesting one
because obviously there's going to be some question marks just
in terms of what UCLA really looked like in that game versus
Hawaii. Was that really just first game
jitters or was that something that was more significant and
more concerning? I don't think anybody really
knows at this point. And when you look at UCLA, it's
like it was a team that was OK last year, but certainly not
among the top teams in Division One.
Yeah, it is interesting. And they found themselves down
10 O at half time against Hawaii was able to, you know, come back
1613 as the final score and was it is just kind of that first
game sloppiness and it's just kind of a test of not many teams
play well at Hawaii. That's a tough place to go and
play at your your different time zone.
Obviously UCLA is going to have to get used to playing in
different time zones this year with their schedule, but I don't
know if it really says all that much.
I'd say with their quarterback they offer, it's Ethan Garber.
It's just a dual threat capability and I asked Signetti
about this on Monday and it's just really what's stopping the
run containing them in the pocket.
That's going to be their main focuses.
They have some decent guys on the outside, but I don't know
how much of A handful will be for the guys in the outside on.
I use corners, whether it's the Angel pawn Sync, Renetti, Jimer
Johnson, any of them. I mean, it should be an
interesting game. Nonetheless.
These two teams have never played each other.
So it it's just not a lot of film on UCLA for this season.
And with IU, it's just so much new.
So either team's not really seeing a lot of consistency.
Audrey, as we think about this match up, I mean, one of the big
things is obviously how well does Indiana's offense that
there has been pretty good so far in these first two games
travel and how do they travel? I mean, this is not a program
that's had a lot of success on the road.
You know, they, they wanted Michigan State a couple of years
ago and there hasn't been a whole lot beyond that.
You know what, what are you anticipating or what are you
going to be most watching out for as we go into this game?
Yeah, I think it's gonna be super interesting to see how
they gel. I think James made a good point
with UCLA is that they don't know if they have, if there, if
there is any gelling to do. But I think in both sides, on
both cases, I mean, they're both in a similar position.
I mean, they both have a new head coach now.
Indiana has a completely different team, completely
different offense. So you don't know how completely
they gel each and every time if they're on the road at home, how
different that is. So I think this will definitely
be the biggest test overall. I think it'll be interesting to
see, especially if Donovan Macaulay played.
I mean, they've had a lot of stability with that wide
receiver room. I think it'll be really that'll
be something I'm watching out for personally is seeing if they
are gelling as well as they are at home and if they do have that
edition of Donovan McCauley. So I don't know, just seeing how
Curtis work plays on the road, I think will be very interesting
to see. Obviously he's delivered here at
home, but it's it's it's going to be just up to how a.
Couple comments from the audience we wanted to get into
from from our buddy Hooperazzi earlier.
The running game is crucial with this IU team and gives the
defense time to rest. This team is coached in the
basics. It's an interesting point going
into this game, which is going to be played at a higher
temperature than what Indiana's face.
Well, they faced probably around the same in the FIU game.
It was it was maybe a little bit cooler.
It's going to be in the mid 80s. Shouldn't be a huge amount of
humidity. Southern California, at least I
hope there's not a huge amount of humidity.
If there is, there's maybe bigger problem than the, but
the, the, the running game being so good two games in a row,
again, not something this IU team has been used to over the
course of the past few seasons. Joe That's going to be critical,
not just for gaining yards, not just for giving Curtis work time
and options, but also to keep the defense fresh going up
against the UCLA team that you know, might be fairly, you know,
adept at offense in certain ways. 1st, I want to talk about
the weather first. I I think this team is getting
very lucky. It was 105 in Pasadena
yesterday. That was when I talked to James.
He was like, yeah, it's scorching here.
And I think it's supposed to dip down in the, like you said, the
mid 80s. So, yeah, the run game has been
what they've leaned on these first two games.
And it's it's so hard to really pinpoint like what exactly the
offensive consistency is going to be with those with FIU and
Western Illinois. But like, Tyson Lawton got 16
carries in League One, the ground game at over 300 yards
against Western Illinois. Now, once again, considering the
opponent and everything. But yeah, they're going to try
and run the ball. Tyson Lawson, Justice Ellison,
that's a good 1-2 punch right there.
And the offensive line has created very good holes through
those two weeks. Once again, it's all it's all
the match ups, but this is going to be that first.
Hey, this is a power four team. This is a a conference opponent.
So it's interesting to see how those offensive lineman will do.
A lot of them have that Power 5, Power 4 experience like Kadig,
Trey Weddig coming over from Wisconsin and then the running
back duo, Justice Ellison coming from Wake Forest and Tyson
Lawton. He obviously was at JMU, but
he's been getting good reps so far.
So I think they'll be pretty solid on the ground.
I think it's where the passing game will be interesting,
especially if McCoy doesn't play and then just the timing of
those mid, mid to deep distance rounds, whether it's up to Sarat
or getting Miles price in the mix.
I'm going to blow my screen up here real quick because I want
to show the forecast for Pasadena that you can all see
here. This is really high tech stuff.
You can see. I'm glad they're not playing
today because it's 95, but it's going to be an estimated high of
81 and that'll dip down a little bit because obviously the game,
the tail end of the game is going to be a little more in the
evening. So that's exciting, you know,
and that's actually a big benefit, I think, for Indiana.
Not that anybody's used to playing in 110° temperatures,
but certainly Indiana would be less ready for that, I think,
than UCLA. We had another comment from from
Ross and Audrey, we can kind of talk about this in a little bit.
Is there some rationale for IU traveling so late in the week?
And you know, my take on this and I'm curious to get yours is
like goes back to what Signeti said about this being a business
trip. You don't need to travel early.
You just want to treat it like you were going to Wisconsin or
going to Northwestern or someplace like that.
Yeah, and I I think that kind of goes back to what he said last
week heading into this matchup against Weston IL And he said it
doesn't matter what day he plays.
They just put it on the schedule and they're ready to play.
So I don't think it really matters as much for at least
Coach Signeti and and this team. But I mean, I think it'll be
interesting to see how they do perform.
But I don't think that there is any difference in the way that
they're preparing for this and the way that they're really
their mentality heading into it. Made another comment this from
from Caleb slightly concerned about the largely untested
defensive backs taking on better wide receivers in the defense
that kind of leaves them on an island to win one V1 hoping they
can get home up front more often than not.
I mean, Joe, let me start with you about that.
I mean, that is a concern now you know, it is, it is going to
be interesting when you think about the fact that, you know,
UCLA, we, we have seen them once and we've only seen them once.
And I, and I thought James brought up some good points, but
in that game, I mean, they only passed for 272 yards, 2
touchdowns, excuse me, two 2 interceptions, 1 touchdown was
not a banner day per SE for their receiving core.
Only one guy over 42 yards in in receiving and that was Rico
Flores junior and it's hard for me to envision Hawaii having
better DBS than Indiana. It's it's going to be
interesting scheme wise though to see how all of this plays in
and and how the talent interacts with what UCLA is trying to put
out on the field. Schematically, it will be
interesting what Bryant Haynes decides to put everything
together. I think having a guy like Aiden
Fisher in the middle that it, that's a rock right there.
You know you're going to have a good run stopper.
Obviously, this is more about the pass game.
And I talked to to Fisher in Big 10 media days and he said the
thing he's been working on the most is he's breeding that
passing defense, finding those lanes in the zones and could be
interesting. And then for the quarterback one
DeAngelo Ponds, obviously it's so early, but he really has a
chance to be one of the more impactful guys in this defense.
The way he jams, he's very physical, not a tall guy, but he
has that low center of gravity that he's going to jam you real,
real tight at the line with scrimmage.
Could Joel at least the wide receiver one for UCLAI mean
Jamere Johnson not as tested in these past couple weeks, but
he's had some good reps so far. I think overall up front is
where the damage is going to be done.
And this Hoosier, this Hoosier front on their on the defensive
line are proven guys, James Carpenter, Michael Kamara, Jacob
Mangum, Farr transferring over to that stud position where he's
playing majority defensive end this year.
Those are guys that are going to be able to put some pressure on
to Garber's. I think I just considering
they're going to have this four man rush consistently, I think
they're going to be able to get a handful of sacks.
Audrey, I want to, I want one last thing up here.
And this is courtesy of our buddy Taylor Layman over at Bite
Sized Bison. The the statistical breakdown of
this game and I'll the numbers may be a little hard to see here
for you folks at home, but the one thing I want to really zoom
in on is the fact that this is not going to zoom.
Of course, there we go. The the the green numbers are
good. The purple numbers are bad and
it's only one week, but man, UCL as offense look bad against
Hawaii. What I'm really fascinated by in
this matchup is Indiana's offense versus UCL as defense.
I mean, the one thing we saw statistically in this offseason
looking back at last year was UCL as defense was really good.
I mean, they were like a top 25 defense.
How does Indiana's new found offensive approach and the skill
position players they've got, you know, not just the running
backs, but obviously Elijah Serrat, If Donovan Mccully
plays, he's in the mix, Curtis Rourke, that whole crew, you
know who wins that battle? Like, what do we what's going to
be the the breaking point one way or another as IU tries to
take on that defense? Yeah.
Well, overall, I think from the outside looking in, I think you
would think that UCLA has this has this advantage heading into
the game. But I personally think that
Indiana has the advantage. I mean, they had that one game
that was not an easy win and they have a lot of they had a
lot of kinks to work out. Maybe it was first game jitters,
but Indiana has had these two games to figure themselves out.
You saw a completely different game and they didn't.
They barely had any penalties. That big issue that first game
was those penalties and then what did they have one?
I think it was a pass interference early in the game.
They have figured out some of those kinks that they need to
work on. And I think that is something
that this Indiana team is good at doing is figuring out where
they went wrong. So I think just overall, it'll
be interesting. I personally do think that this
Indiana offense has had a lot more time to figure themselves
out and I think it'll it will be their biggest test.
But I think that Indiana does have that advantage heading
one-on-one because they they know how they work.
And if Donovan Macaulay does come in, that'll be a really big
addition as well. Well, we'll see what happens.
It's going to be a really fascinating match up and it's
the national game on NBC. It's the, this is the really the
debut of Indiana in in the prime time window on the East Coast
and a great spotlight for the program just in general should
be really fascinating. Audrey, any final thoughts
before we wrap up? Yeah, well, I don't know.
I I think that if Indiana does pull this one out, I think that
this will make everything click for some IU fans, Hoosier fans,
that there is something to be excited for.
And I think right now they're these are some 2 easy wins, but
this is their first big test. If they can do it on the road,
which was a lot of problems in these earlier seasons, they
can't get it done on the road and they play all four quarters.
I think it'll really start to click with everybody that there
is something the lookout for here and it should be really
interesting to see how they really handled this test.
Joe, final thoughts from you. Yeah, just got two things.
One, UCLA schedule after this is brutal.
You heard James say it. They go out to LSU next week,
then they host Oregon, and then they're back on the road against
Penn State. That is a brutal schedule. 2 top
ten teams. Whether they're overlooking
Indiana or not, this is really a must win for them to start to
get some consistency on the year.
And the second thing is students are even back at UCLA yet, so
don't really expect a big crowd. And I honestly wouldn't be
surprised if the IU contingent is stronger at the Rose Bowl
than the UCLA fans are. Yeah, it's, it's going to be
interesting. I've heard from a ton of people
who are going and I'm looking forward to seeing what the IU
contingent looks like. IU almost always travels well
with any sport. It's the execution after the
fans show up that's been the problem.
And, and whether that's football or basketball or, or whatever
sport, a lot of disappointment for a lot of people on some of
these trips. So my hope is, I say that as
someone who's been on many of those trips myself.
But you know, I really, I really like this opportunity for IU.
And we said this earlier this year on Crimson Cast.
If they lose, but they're competitive, fine.
Yeah. I think what you want is a good
showing. I'm sure Kurt Zignetti is not
saying that in the locker room like he's saying, guys, we can
go win this game. And and look, I I think all the
numbers and everything, the fact that Indiana's a favorite is not
a fluke. It's betters looking at how
these two teams have played, looking at the statistics and
making an educated guess where they say we actually think
Indiana is the better team. They obviously have to go prove
that. It's still a team that's
gelling. It's still a team that's
figuring out who they are and what they're going to be.
But I love the fact that they get this particular test at this
point, it's it's not, you know, it's like borrow the 33 little
Bears. Like it's not too hot and it's
not too cold. Like it's kind of just right.
It's not an overwhelming opponent talent wise.
It's a cool venue, but one that will probably the Sheen will
wear off a little bit very early on because there aren't going to
be very many fans except IU fans and there's no students.
As you mentioned earlier, Joe, the students aren't going to be
there for UCLA. So it's a really great
opportunity for IU. We'll look forward to seeing
what they're able to do with it as it's it's going to be quite a
fascinating thing. We did have one last thing.
I'll ask you 2 to answer and then we'll wrap up.
David asking what what's the feeling of students like heading
into this game, You 2 being students?
I mean, are people interested in IU football and this game in
particular? Is there buzz about this at all
on campus? Well, I went around to some of
the tailgates this past week and I think it was a little bit of
half and a half. There are some people that
didn't even couldn't even name a single person on this team.
And there was someone that was pretty much just went going on
to Curtis Rourke. So I think there's certain
people that people are really excited for.
Mostly everybody's very excited for Coach Zignetti.
So I think it should be, I don't want to say they're completely
fired up just yet. I think that they will be fired
up if Indiana does put out this one on the other side.
Yeah, I think there's still a little bit of a dormancy for
that, for that flame around this team.
I've been, I've been seeing more of the signetti shirts on
students around campus and it's more common.
I mean, I wasn't seeing any Leo shirts these past couple years.
I mean, a few conversations like, oh, I used playing in the
Rose Bowl. That's cool.
I mean, they'll be playing in this Rose Bowl instead of the
actual Rose Bowl game. Just jokes made like that.
I think a win this upcoming week, that's when you start like
with Signetti talking week 1 about oh, the fans need to stay.
That's when that needle starts to get.
That's when fans realize, oh, this team is trending up.
This team is three and oh and not three and oh on three by
games they have a big 10 win under their belt.
So I think that's, I mean, if you want to get fans this day at
Memorial Stadium, you go out to UCLA and I mean, in the words of
cursing, you kick some fill in the blank.
Right. You go and take care of business
on the business trip. And so we'll watch to see what
Indiana is able to do with that. Be sure to follow along with all
of our student media outlets as they will be on site covering
the game. IUSTV going to have folks out
there who's your network, Indiana Daily Student and Wiux
going to call the game as well. So be sure to hop on social
media, follow those accounts. I'll be out there giving on the
site witty observations via X and other venues, so you can
watch me there as well. But anyway, we'll go ahead and
wrap up. Our thanks to James Williams
from USA TODAY for joining us on the show.
Our thanks to you, Audrey Marr, for being a part of the show.
Please come back on at some point soon.
We'd love to have you. Our thanks in the background,
Emily Fox, our producer, once again doing a great job behind
the scenes. And my thanks to you, Joe
Cronin. As always, thanks to all you
folks for watching as well. Whether you're watching live or
whether you're watching after the fact or if you're listening
on any of the podcast feeds, we appreciate that as well.
For all of those people. I'm GAIL and Clavio saying
thanks for joining us on Tuesday night.
Buy some chat. We will catch you folks on the
flip side. So long, everybody.