You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home
Field Apparel. Welcome back folks.
Galen Clavio joining you once again.
It is Friday the 10th of November and it is time to talk
some IU football, maybe a little more than that.
As the Hoosiers coming off a big win last weekend as they knocked
off Wisconsin at home 20 to 14, they will be on the road this
week as they take on the Illinois Fighting Illini Big
game for this IU team. We've got Taylor Layman from
Bite Sized Bison joining us on the show.
Taylor, great to have you back. It's been a little while.
How you doing? Yeah, Yeah, good.
I'm good. Thanks for having me.
Galen. Yeah.
You. You in.
I wanted to have you on last week and I was 6, so I'm glad
I'm able to join this week. We're we're, it's always a
better show when we're talking IU football and you're here.
So anytime we don't know about that, it is, it is, it's true.
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All right, Taylor, let's wait. Before we get to the IU game, we
got to cover what just happened in the Big 10 as the Big 10.
In in the Friday news, dumpiest of Friday news dumps but but
maybe with A twist on it, has announced that Jim Harbaugh will
be suspended from coaching on the sidelines for the remainder
of the regular season. And man, this thing has gone all
over the place. I mean, earlier this week, Tony
Petiti, the Big 10 commissioner, apparently went to Ann Arbor to
talk with the president of Michigan.
Did not get satisfaction. I'm guessing in that
conversation. And then the Big 10 announces
while the Michigan plane is in the air on route to State
College that Jim Harbaugh, because of this sign stealing
scandal, is not going to be permitted to coach during the
game. He'll be able to coach during
the week, but not during the game.
Which means, in addition to to that Jim Harbaugh has to spend,
I guess, the day in his hotel room in State College, which
sounds really boring. They are appealing though they
are. Well, but this week, right?
But it's veteran's day, which means there's.
I don't think they can file a court case because there's no
way no judge is going to hear it.
They're all on break today. That is so true.
I didn't even. Think about I didn't think about
it either, but yeah, they're trying the immediate injunction.
This is a fascinating story, and it the the coverage of it has
almost been worth its own separate Crimson Cast college
sports episode, which we might do if we get bored next week.
But Taylor, you've you've covered college football, you've
covered the Big 10. Well, we've talked about how
this has been an endlessly entertaining story.
For those of, you know, if you were a Michigan fan, I'm sure
it's not entertaining. But for all the rest of us, wow,
this has been the gift that has gotten me through the fall.
I mean what are your overall thoughts about where things are
at now? So I I I can't claim this as an
original thought, but I saw it on on X or Twitter and and I
thought it was, I thought it was the most accurate thing that
I've seen, which was this is like like peak embarrassment
without affecting the football, right.
Without without affecting the performance of Michigan.
So like you know, my first reaction was like, you know, OK,
Jim Harbaugh, he is claiming ignorance to this anyway.
So what would keeping him off the sidelines do to, you know,
directly address this sign stealing thing?
But I I don't. I think, I think in the end this
is I I feel like this is optimal.
Like this is kind of further than what I expected them to do
as as far as Big 10 goes and like having him off the off the
sidelines not coaching for the rest of the remainder of the
season. I mean that also influences the
Ohio State game and and so this it's going to be when that week
comes around it's going to be insane.
But I I think this is you know for like IU fans, I think this
is like a pretty good ruling for for you know rooting interest.
But as far as like how this all came about, it's been like
somewhat of a roller coaster. I feel like I'm on like a one of
those roller coaster, one of those wooden roller coasters
that kind of put that kind of jostles you from side to side
because it's some of the national columns and and and
things along those lines that just haven't they've they've
gone back and forth and it's been kind of interesting to
watch like you were saying the the coverage of it itself has
been just as interesting as the actual events taking place.
It really and we're not going to go a whole lot more on it now.
I mean I I'll, I'll say two things.
One some of the the columns. And the tweets that have come
from national sports writers that cover college football.
This is it was like it's been embarrassing frankly.
Like the naked defense of Harbaugh and the the the false
equivalencies. I mean, it's really fascinating
how just completely UN I I don't understand how people have been
so taken in by the Michigan perspective on this.
And you know, look, I mean, do we have ironclad proof?
In front of us? No.
But the fact that the Big 10 has now seen fit to suspend Harbaugh
for the final three games, I don't think they're doing that.
Like, for no reason. Like this is, you know, the
people I go, they're out to get Michigan.
It's like Michigan. This is literally the Big 10's
best chance to win a College Football Playoff title Since
what? When Ohio State did it.
I mean like this is, this is like you look at the way that
this team has played and the talent and the fact that they
were in the playoff last year. Why would the Big 10 want to do
this? Like what would be their
motivation? This is one of those where you
would rather if you were the Big 10 that just went away.
But the fact that the rest of the coaches in the conference, I
don't know. If people heard Brett Bielema's
commentary on this yesterday, I'd I'd recommend going and
checking it out like the Bielema was pretty direct and for him to
be that direct after saying that he wasn't going to talk about
it. Is there's a lot of heated anger
under the surface and the idea that, you know, with all due
respect like the idea that this had to wait and go through like
due process. I think the Big 10, they were
really forced to act here. And I mean, I I think there's a,
there's a real chance of some kind of revolt around among the
Big 10 coaches and the presidents of all the other
institutions. If you don't act here and this
honestly in the short term feels kind of mild because as you said
like it's it's not that they're they're not disqualifying
Michigan from the Big 10 championship game.
They're not disqualifying them as a as a as ACFP competitor.
This feels like about the the most that you could do, but also
the least that you could do if you're the Big 10.
So I never anticipated them keeping Michigan from the Big 10
championship or or anything like that, that this, that's why this
went further than I thought it was going.
I thought it was going to be fine, honestly.
Right. The the other thing I'll say on
this is like Michigan released a response almost immediately.
And, you know, claimed essential and paraphrasing that the Big 10
is acting arbitrarily. There's procedure that they're
violating. And I'll I'll I'll hat tip our
buddy Fake Mike Woodson on Twitter, who very accurately
pointed out that Michigan, among other schools in the Big 10,
didn't seem particularly interested in due process when
they arbitrarily moved Indiana out of the Big 10 championship
game in football in 2020. You know, there was a procedure
that everybody agreed to, and then when it became inconvenient
for the Big 10, they just arbitrarily changed that rule.
Only one person voted against it, and that was Scott Dolson.
You know what, I don't have a lot of sympathy for Michigan
here if they're going to try to play the arbitrary card because
what's good for the goose is good for the gander when it
comes to this stuff as far as I'm concerned.
Yeah, no, I totally agree. And also I was, I I saw I
retweeted his tweet from Nicole Lauer back that that was just a
screenshot from from their from the big 10s ruling.
And it was basically that they were unmoved by the by
Michigan's counters by saying the rest of the coaches were
getting their signs from from each other.
And and I thought that. I thought that was also, I
thought that was also pretty embarrassing for Michigan, too.
But yeah, I know. I, I, I I think that, yeah, like
you were saying, I think we could talk about this for a long
time. Yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll
see what happens over the weekend.
But let's go ahead and get to the Indiana game as IU goes into
this game. You know, it's funny the way
that the reaction has been and the way that people have acted
about IU over the course of this week.
You'd think that they were on the precipice of a bowl.
That they'd finally gotten the season completely turned around,
and they've won one Big 10 game so far this season, and that was
last week, and they really needed to hold off Wisconsin on
the final drive to do it. The three and six.
It's playoff mode, as you pointed out in in the Bite Size
Bison. There are ways away from from
anything happening here, but they're in this weird spot where
they really do look like they've got a potential route to a bowl
if they can take care of business statistically.
Not a very high probability. I think Punt John Punt noted
that it was like a 4% chance that they would win the last
three games. But this is an intriguing match
up. This game against Illinois on
the road statistically is the toughest of the three match ups
that they've got remaining on the schedule.
Let's talk a little bit about the match up.
First and foremost, you had a great bite sized Bison post
about this game. What is it about the Illinois,
Indiana match up that people really need to know as we go
into this game tomorrow? Yeah, I mean Illinois, they've
shown some positive. They've they've had some some
positive performances. I think what I noted the most in
in bite size Bison was just that they will take advantage of an
inconsistent phase of a football team.
I mean they're inconsistent themselves as well.
But they like if there's a defense that is inconsistent,
they will take what the defense gives them on offense.
No, that is with Luke Altmire quarterback.
So that's to be determined. If he's gonna, if he's gonna.
Start Yeah, that's become a weird subplot here where he
might not actually play I I I mean, I don't know what to make
of that. Do you?
I mean, no. If if I was Illinois, I would do
everything I can to get him on the field though because the
rest of their schedule, I mean they have Iowa after this week
in the Northwestern and they have four wins.
So if they want to get to a bowl themselves, they're like they're
gonna have to play this one pretty tough.
So yeah no I I I was kind of surprised I at the beginning of
the week when I was kind of putting together the bite size
bias and I was like you know it looks like he's probably going
to play but as the week's gone on it's like maybe there's more
of a chance that Jon Paddock plays from Paul State and and
he's not particularly impressive.
I I looked I looked up his his grades on PFF last year which
was really his first his only full season and he threw the
most passes in the Mack but he was great at 11th in the
conference among quarterbacks so you know he's.
I don't know. So I I think yeah it's it is
interesting this Illinois team still just kind of hard to pin
down. I mean the the offense the
analytics say the offense is not very good but they've put
together some decent performances against one of them
against Wisconsin pretty recently they ran pretty pretty
well against Wisconsin but then they also let Braden Locke throw
all over the defense. So you know you never really
know what what team what team's going to show up here for
Illinois. But I think.
I think that's what makes them dangerous.
Yeah, I mean we we've seen Illinois have just a weird
season and you know Illinois look like a prime regression
candidate. We talked about this a little
bit before the season in that you know they they last year
Brett Bielema's first year, I think they went 8:00 and 5:00
but you know they lost Indiana obviously in the first Big 10
game of the year, they. They lost that embarrassing game
to Purdue down the stretch. They lost to Michigan State at
home. Both of those games were at home
down the stretch. But they also, you know, pulled
off some big wins. They won at Wisconsin last year.
They won handily against Minnesota.
This season has not gone quite as well for them and they they
needed a late drive to beat. I think it was Toledo.
Earlier on they they let Purdue score a ton of points against
them. This is probably, this might be
the most schizophrenic team right now in the conference
other than maybe Wisconsin in terms of figuring out what
they're going to do on a day-to-day basis.
And it's like, what do they do? Well, what do you think they can
bank on if Altmire's playing? I mean, I guess we have to take
the, the Altmire thing's a separate thing.
But if he's in there, what is it that they do well?
I mean, they have really good receivers.
They have actually pretty great receivers and and Isaiah
Williams, he's a he's a he's kind of he's a top five wide
receiver honestly graded as such and then Pat Bryant behind him
is 6 three is is is also he's in the last four weeks they're both
top 10 receivers in the big 10. So those guys are are those guys
are going to give IU some trouble but you know Luke
Altmire is actually pretty decent when he's not under
pressure but when he is under pressure that's that's when you
know he's not as he's not as good he's he's actually pretty
bad. So but and and the good thing
for Indiana is that Illinois's offensive line is not super
great And so I think Altmider has the most drawbacks under
pressure in the conference. Yeah yeah so and you know
defensively the front seven and I've I've said I've emphasized
this in the bite size items too. The front seven is going to have
to show up this week that there's like no way around it.
Yeah, that's going to be the big thing.
Now. They had a really good game last
week and relatively speaking, I mean they really, it's hard.
This is where it's tough with this Indiana team because they I
can't. I went back and watched the game
this morning. I can't tease out whether it was
I use defense that was doing well or whether Wisconsin's
quarterback just sucked in that game.
It was a little bit of both. I mean when Wisconsin chose to
run. They seem to really give the
Front 7 problems, but they chose to run so infrequently that you
wonder, what was that a product, if I use defense primarily?
Or was it a product of just Luke Fickell making bizarre decisions
from an offensive perspective? I still haven't quite figured
that out. Illinois certainly has not
scored particularly well this season overall.
I mean, you look at their overall points per game, they're
at 21.1 points per game. They're allowing 28 points per
game essentially. That does not generally bode
well, but the big question for Indiana is, you know, obviously
a can you keep them from scoring a lot of points?
You know, because they did put 27 points up on the board last
week against Minnesota. They put 27 points up on the
board at Maryland. We know Indiana couldn't score
particularly well against Maryland and that's not a really
particularly good Maryland defense.
So, but I just don't know what to make of this because I can't
tell if Illinois. I can't tell what Illinois
team's going to show up on the field and what kind of effort
they're going to get out of that team at this point.
Yeah, no, I mean I agree and and if just like looking at, I mean
I put together the the stat previews every week and you know
there's like no consistency in Illinois.
You know it's like a like they actually have decent success
rates in pass and rush but then their EPA is like 73rd in the
country. It's like how does that even how
does that even happen. But no, you're you're right.
And and when I think about the last couple weeks for Indiana,
you know, when it comes to the offensive success against Penn
State, you know, we can say those were defensive breakdowns.
And and I think that's accurate to say.
And then last week when you talk about Wisconsin's offense, you
know, I think a lot of it was Brayden Locke.
I also think if they had Braylon Allen, things would have ended
differently. And so, you know, when it comes
to college football, how many times can you say that without
it being that Indiana is actually affecting these things.
And so I've kind of gone back and forth with that as well.
Galen, I think, I think the front seven has played well.
I think Aaron Casey really stepped up his game.
I was looking at some of the individual grades and you and I
have talked about this before where the defense needs.
So they they wean so heavily on individual performances because
that's just the nature of the defensive and and their four to
five system. And Aaron Casey, Jacob Mingo
Farrar, even Andre Carter a bit. A lot of those guys, they were,
they dipped big, big time for like 3 or 4 weeks there in the
middle of the season. And then suddenly things are
changing and and you know they're they're changing some
things schematically and they're they're making themselves
unpredictable on defense. And I think that is really
working in their favor. And I think as long as they
continue to do that, it it will continue to work in their favor.
I'm just curious to see how they do that against an Illinois team
where you know obviously they're the coaches are better football
minds than I am. But like I I don't know how you
would adjust between the Husky and the bowl positions and
change your defense that way to account for an offense that I
don't really fully understand. You know, I I I I don't know
their I don't know what their bread and butter is.
And besides their slot receiver, who by the way in 2019 when Watt
failure had all of those targets in in the IU offense.
Isaiah Williams has a bigger percentage share of targets in
in this offense than Watt failure did back in 2019.
So just a heavy toast of him, So yeah.
Yeah, I don't know. It's an interesting one.
One thing, so I had a bunch of people ask her this question on
on on Twitter, 'cause we I I solicit questions like I always
do. And there was a question from
our buddy Patrick taking away making a bowl, What would make
Crimson cast feel good about IU football headed into the
offseason? Patrick's answer was a
competitive finish with consistent play from Soresby.
And a competent defensive performance.
So I want to set aside the defensive performance stuff for
a second. But I've heard this a couple of
times and I I think I feel the same way.
You know, it does feel like almost by accident.
Indiana has now found a starting quarterback that they can stick
with and and Soresby has impressed me in how he has kind
of started to limit mistakes. He's still not throwing for a
huge amount of yardage. I think that's as much a product
of the offensive line and the general play calling philosophy
as it is him. But I've been really impressed
with what I've seen out of him, and I've been interested in
seeing how he has developed confidence under center over
these last four weeks. I mean, that feels like a really
good building block for IU regardless of what happens these
next three games, because it might provide some stability at
the quarterback position headed into the offseason.
I mean, how do you feel about that and what you've seen out of
Soresby? Overall, yeah.
Just just the quarterback position.
Well, yeah. With Soresby in particular,
yeah. OK.
Yeah. Yeah.
No, I I think Soresby's great. I I mean, I've noted before that
you know he has and in the last three weeks that he's been, you
know, the committed, the, the IUS committed to him as a
starter, he has a he's. Basically the same statistics as
Kyle McCord at Ohio State and I, you know, and then played
essentially the same schedule in those three weeks.
So I the Ohio State people are gonna come after you for that,
Taylor. I'm aware of that.
I know. That's why.
That's why I did not mention Kyle McCord in my tweet when I
tweeted out that that that chart comparing the two.
Cause. Yes, you're absolutely right.
No, I think Soresby. I I think you know I've been
I've been a Soresby fan from the beginning not necessarily you
know Soresby versus Jackson or anything like that.
I just like Soresby as a quarterback and I think that he
has a strong arm and I think he, I I mean I don't think Tom Allen
was exaggerated when he says he can make all the throws.
I think that Brendan Soresby is tooled with you know talent
around him especially an offensive line.
I think he could be a good quarterback and and I think
he's. Proving so now and I think I
think Scott comparing him to Peyton Ramsey.
I think it was that last week. I think that was pretty good.
I think you know we're seeing some like early in his career
we're seeing some Peyton Ramsey as type of things like you were
saying like limiting turnovers and you know like making three
turnover worthy plays in three weeks for a freshman for retro
freshman quarterback is is great.
But I thought it I think his running is getting better I
think he's I think he's. And he's doing a better job of
identifying when to leave the pocket and when to stay in.
And you know, one thing I like about Taven is his footwork.
And I don't think Brendan, I don't think Brendan Sourceby
really has that. But but you know, he's
developing and and like we had said before, regardless of which
quarterback it is, there's going to be some growing pains.
And you know, there are some throws that he just absolutely
sails and it looks terrible. And then you know he's dropping
handoffs out there just last week.
So you know he looks like a red shirt freshman.
But based on his high school career, this is.
I mean this is impressive like he was.
I I don't know how he was developed.
I'm not sure exactly how he came into the program.
But however he got from his high school career to here is
honestly pretty impressive from a developmental standpoint.
Yeah, I, you know, I look, I think ultimately, well, one
thing I want everybody to remember about the quarterbacks
and what, and we've said this about Tavin, we said it about
Brandon as well. They're young.
I mean these are guys who haven't taken very many snaps.
And you know, there's there's some people on Twitter who seem
to think that any quarterback can just walk in and be a
functional starting Big 10 level quarterback.
It doesn't happen that way. You you need seasoning.
Peyton Ramsey was very inconsistent his first couple of
years. You know, Michael Pennix was
very inconsistent when he wasn't injured his first couple of
years, you know, So I was, I've just been really impressed.
And I think what impressed me the most about about Soresby,
especially last week after I went back and watched the games,
was, you know, he, he corrected mistakes.
You know, he sailed that first touchdown attempt pass to
Mccully. It was a little high.
It was people were blaming Mccully for dropping it.
I mean, Mccully's not 9 feet tall.
I don't know how he was supposed to accurately get that.
Soresby dropped the angle of the next throw on the following
drive and got it exactly where it needed to be.
There was a play in the third quarter where, you know, Soresby
tried to roll out and immediately got absolutely
smothered by two Wisconsin defenders coming off the edge.
Then there was that first down on that drive that ended up
netting them the field goal. He waited just a hair like
beyond where you might have thought, read everything, and
then immediately took off and went a direction that he saw the
defenders were not coming from and that netted that a very
important first down that eventually set the field goal
up. I mean, he is making mental
adjustments on the fly and as much as I liked what Taven was
doing in certain areas, we weren't seeing quite the same
thing. I also don't think Taven was
getting great play calling, so that didn't help much.
But the fact that this combination works.
So to go back to Patrick's point, if I'm looking for
building blocks for the offseason with this football
program, having a quarter, especially if if Sorsby wins his
last four or even three of his last four, yeah, that.
You know that. That to me is a real, real
positive sign moving forward. And especially, I'm sorry I was
going to say the last thing, especially since he lost his
number one receiver. I mean, camp Camper's out for
the rest of the season and he's still figuring out ways to get
different guys involved in the receiving core.
I think that's a really, really good sign.
No. And and I mean early in the
season his only snaps were were against like the top tier
competition that he's gonna play you know so I guess Ohio State
against Michigan. So now he's actually getting
some reps against some of these more you know mediocre Big 10
teams And so however he finishes out.
Yeah, I I mean, I agree with Galen I I I hadn't really
thought about that from the quarterback standpoint is like.
How can he lead this offense? That is not particularly
impressive, you know, and it's it's not schematically
impressive. Kind of like, you know, you
know, Peyton Ramsey in that 2019 season, he was running Kaylin
Deborah's system, you know, not to take anything away from Kate,
from Peyton Ramsey, but, you know, if we're compare, if, if I
were to compare the two, you know, Brendan Soresby is running
a much less effective schematic offense than Peyton Ramsey.
And and he's doing it, you know? I I I wouldn't say he's
maximizing it but I think in a lot of opportunities he is
maximizing play by play what he can do on each of these plays
and and it's it's been good to see from a guy that's so young
and I I I personally don't think a lot of people were expecting
much from Brendan Soresby when he came in so even the fact that
he is taking this job is to to me is impressive.
I've, I've liked watching it. We had a couple other questions
we'll get to here before we wrap up.
So assembly call Jared asks. Let's dare to dream.
Well, we can say the Big 10 football sees part and Indiana
is delivered to a bowl game with a four-game winning streak to
end the season. What other totally unpredictable
runs of success would be analogous and IU sports history.
I'll take. I'll take most of this one,
Taylor, I mean. Yeah, you have a deeper
knowledge than I do. I mean, look, I think that the
1967 Big 10 titles in basketball and football, we're out of
absolutely nothing. I mean, you look at IU men's
basketball in like the six years preceding it.
I mean it. The whole athletic department
got put on postseason probation. Nobody could go to the NCAA
tournament. Everybody was bad IU basketball.
I don't think it had a winning record in a while.
Or maybe they had won in the last seven years or something
like that and they came out of nowhere and won the Big 10 title
same year that IU football out of nothing having not had a
winning record since 1958, you know ends up going nine and two
and and going to the Rose Bowl and you know that was those are
the most improbable. Like I don't know what happened
in 1967 in Bloomington. The Summer of Love loved
Bloomington and and IU in some way that that I think still
can't be adequately explained. I think that certainly there was
a build up that was impressive with IU Men's Baseball.
But I'll still say that going to the College World Series in
2013, when you look at where the baseball program was at in the
90s and the 2000s, for them to go to a College World Series is
still to me the most improbable thing from a program perspective
that we've ever seen. And that would be kind of my
programmatic one. Although, yeah, honestly, I
mean, you know, it's like there's a couple of others.
I mean, you can say women's basketball.
And the success that they've had under Terry Moore in here is
really, really unexpected. As far as the season thing, I
mean, it's funny, I've heard a lot of people saying, Oh yeah,
they're going to win these last three and go to a bowl.
And the number of times that hasn't happened in IU history
where I remember clearly, my sophomore year, it was 1998 and
Indiana was sitting at 3:00 and 5:00 and we had Antoine Randall
L was the the the quarterback. He had just taken over the
starting role and Indiana was sitting in the same spot.
They were three and five. They had just lost to Ohio State
and I remember sitting with one of the football players at I
think it was Mcnutt or Briscoe having lunch because he was
friends with a friend of mine and he's like, yeah, we're going
to win these. Last three, they went to
Illinois and it was November 7th and they lost 31 to 16 and they
ended up they ended up finishing that season four and seven.
They had a nice win at home against Minnesota the next week
and then they got boat raced by Purdue in the final game.
The only time I can remember this happening where Indiana had
their backs against the wall and had to win multiple games in a
row was 2015 when Indiana they lost the game to Michigan and
they they were that dropped them I think to four and five.
I think they lost one more game after that and then they had to
go and win their last two and they ended up winning their last
two. They won that that big game up
at Ross Aid and that's what got them into the Pinstripe Bowl.
That's the only time that I can remember Indiana being in this
position where they had to win the games and actually winning
the games. So that's about the closest I
can come. Anything recent that you can
think of that would fall into this category?
I think you know the first thing that comes to mind.
You know, I've. I've not I don't have as as
historical I don't have I don't have like a lot of filing
cabinets in my brain of IU historic sports historically.
But I was the sports editor at the IDs during the 2015 sixteen
IU basketball season and I thought that that season I think
it's it's it's not as comparable but when they because there are
some things happening within the pro.
Like off the court and and then they went on that 12 game win
streak in the middle of the season and then they ended up
going they ended up in to get the Sweet 16.
That is like the only comparison I can make just off the top of
my head. But I I think you know I I saw
Ken Bikoff tweet that IU has has beaten.
If I understood it right IU has beaten has won four big 10
conference games in a season. Just what was it?
I can't remember the exact number of times in the last 30
years, like, not very often like, but.
And it's to to win them. To win four in a row, is the OK?
It's not really. Here's all the times Indiana has
won four games in the conference in the last Let's just go back.
Let's go back 30 years. OK, So we're going to go back to
1993. They did it in 2020, they did
it. They won six games that year in
the Big 10. They did it in 2019.
They won five that year. They did it in 2016.
They won four games that year in the conference.
They did it in 2001. They won four games in the
conference that year, and they did it in 1993, when they won
five games. So it's that's all.
That's the only times in the last since 1993 that Indiana has
won more than three games in the conference in a a single season,
which I need to go pour a stiff drink now after looking that up.
That's bad. How many of those seasons did
they fire their offensive coordinator mid season game or
change quarterbacks in the middle?
I mean, you know, it's, you know, outside of something other
than injury. No, it's it's wild.
So it's it's why I'm not getting too much on the hype train with
this because it just it really does feel improbable because
it's just it's hard this this even though Indiana won against
Wisconsin they're still 95th in SP plus and and you know the the
metrics still think that they look bad and.
And they didn't budget at all after beating Wisconsin.
No, because they didn't play that well.
I mean, they they they made plays that won the game.
And this is the tough thing. It's like I think it's I admired
the scrappiness and the grittiness of IU in winning that
game. I thought the players deserved a
ton of credit. But it's not like they played a
great game. It's they they had a great first
drive of the half of the first half.
They had a great last drive of the first half and they rolled
the dice and sent a kicker out who had only hit like a what, a
42 yard field goal for his career and had him kick A50 or
51 yard field goal, which would have if he'd missed given
Wisconsin the ball down three, close to midfield with a short
field to even go and kick the the, you know the field goal.
Now they were missing their quarterback or the excuse me,
they're missing. Well, they they were missing
their quarterback and their kicker.
So there was some calculated risk there, but it was a very
lucky win and look we need, we need lucky wins against
Wisconsin. Like I'm not, I'm not.
I'm not saying throw it back, but what I am saying is that
it's a bad idea to take a win where a lot of lucky stuff
happened and try to extrapolate oh, Indiana's going to be able
to do XY or Z moving forward. That's really not how it works.
I mean that was that you know, that was that that's just that's
not wise. And then so my point is
ultimately as we go into this, just temper your expectations,
guard your heart, IU fans, because it's it would this would
be if this Indiana, this does happen.
If Indiana wins their last four and gets the 6:00 and 6:00, this
would be an absolutely unprecedented thing in IU
football history. And I think we will reward it
and celebrate it as such if it happens.
I would not hold my breath for very long as far as it's
concerned. I think the Big 10 is very bad
this season. It is like, I don't think
they're good, but to be at the bottom of that is saying
something and so I think you know when.
When you look at the last couple of games, you know and then you
could say this about any team that's going to lose Indiana
this season. But it seemed like the the last
two games, Wisconsin and Penn State underachieved or
underachieved in the in in in each of the individual games
when you just watch the game, and I mean even like
analytically too, they did under underachieve.
And so my my concern is that one of the next three teams is not
going to underachieve, they're going.
To either achieve or overachieve and and the odds of all three of
these teams underachieving to a point that allows this Indiana
team to win all three games is just so improbable.
But, but I mean, the Big 10 is bad.
Like Illinois is not that great of a football team, right?
Well, that and that's in state. You can make a legitimate
argument that Indiana is is statistically clearly better
than Michigan State. Yeah and you can make an
argument that the way that they're playing now is better
than Purdue is playing because Purdue just seems to have
decided that defense is optional this year.
And they also both their head coach and their offensive
coordinator don't seem to really quite have a grasp on this whole
coaching in the Big Ten thing you know.
So it's it is really a fascinating situation.
But again, we'll we'll, we'll we'll hold our powder on this
until we see what goes on. A couple of the comments real
quick. Matt Simon talking about this
scenario. It's almost a perfect match to
IU men's basketball 2016. Crane and Allen both had
unexpected successes for two seasons.
Two seasons below standards, then would have both rebounded
to salvage success in a season that appeared disastrous early
on. True, we'll see big difference
between getting blown out a couple of games in Maui and
almost losing to Toledo, but but we'll see how things go.
Jamie Jordan asked. Do you think with all the new
faces and time for the quarterback situation to get
settled, this team is just starting to gel late, or are
they just playing the worst part of their schedule?
What What would you say about that?
A little bit of both. You know what?
Well you know, no, no, actually no.
I I think, I don't think they played the worst part of their
schedule yet. You know like besides non
conference, you know. But this, I think this game here
starts the worst part of their I mean, Wisconsin.
They didn't have Braylon Allen. They didn't have Tanner
Mordecai. You know, I guess you you could
say that that started their worst part of their schedule.
But you know they played well against Penn State at Penn State
and I I think there's something to be said for that.
I think the offensive line is gelling.
I I think, I think I've. I think I've.
Would lean towards the former rather than the latter in in
that in that scenario I look, I think as much as we disagreed
with the idea that Rod Carey should be given the permanent
offensive coordinator role, I don't think there's any question
the offense is looking significantly less lost under
him than it did under Walt Bell. And that doesn't still mean it's
good, but it's not nearly as bad.
And I do think that that's having an impact.
And I also think I mean defensively they've made some
very curious personnel decisions as you've highlighted on on the
newsletter. But they are getting some more
positive plays out of their defense, I would say because the
whole, the whole team in the Maryland and Michigan games just
look like they've thrown their hands up and they were done with
it. And the fact that they've they
fought as much as they have the last couple of weeks, I mean I
still, I will forever be confounded by what happened with
the Rutgers game. I just I and it's and it will it
completely changed the prism of the season because I mean
imagine Indiana on A2 game-winning streak going into
this one knowing that they don't have to beat Illinois to
Illinois. But if they did, now they've
lined up a potential seven and five finish as opposed to
scrapping or being in playoff mode to try to get to 6 and six.
You know, it's like where was that effort that they showed
against Penn State and against Wisconsin, against Rutgers?
Now Rutgers, I think is is pretty good, but still you know
that that's. I mean, they ran on 82% of the
place, yeah, it was just, it was just, you know, so, so it is.
I think Jamie, it is a bit of both.
As Taylor said, I do think that certainly the competition's
gotten a bit easier, but Rutgers should have been one of those
games that they played better in.
So I don't know something seemed to happen with the team the last
couple of weeks that wasn't happening before and maybe we'll
find out at some point, probably not, but that's that's going to
be the kind of the interesting thing.
All right, we're we we had a couple more questions we need to
wrap this up. So I guess if you're going to
register a pick here, what's your pick in this game?
I mean, S&P plus has Illinois as a 10 point favorite, I think the
lot what is? The.
Line's 6 1/2. It's 6 1/2, so there's already a
bit of a discrepancy there. What are you thinking here?
I think it's closer than 6 1/2, I think.
I think it's a close game. I think, man, I I've been
feeling inspired by what they by what they've done with the
defense schematically like. I've I feel like the defense is
really feeding the offense in a lot of ways.
That really lends itself to playing on the road.
And so I, you know, Galen, I'm, I'm going to go out on a limb
here, I think Indiana wins and I don't think they win by 7:00.
So I think it's closer than this, this closer than the line,
you know, but I think, I think Indiana wins.
So they would still cover. But yeah this is like the kiss
of death. But I actually feel the same
way. I just it's it's feels.
I don't know there's I'm going to probably we're all going to
sound like idiots when we recap this with Scott on Sunday
morning and it's like what are you doing don't you like.
But Scott's going. To be laughing at you, he's
going to laugh his ass off at this.
I'm with you though, actually. I feel like it's going to be a
low scoring game. I think both teams are going to
struggle to consistently do things on offense.
But I think Indiana is just like they It feels like there's some
belief that's built up with Indiana here.
And so I'm going to say Indiana wins and it's tight.
I think it's going to be like 19 to 17 Indiana wins.
And I won't be shocked if it goes the other way.
But I agree with you. We had a question from I think
it was Hoosier hype on Twitter. What's your best bet?
I'm taking Indiana +6 and the under 44.5.
IA 100% agree with both of those.
I think Indiana plus six. I'll be shocked if I I wouldn't
be shocked if Indiana lost. I'd be shocked if Indiana lost
by a touchdown. And that has very little to do
with Indiana. And it has a lot to do with
Illinois and the fact that Illinois offense hasn't looked
good with Luke Altmire. I can't imagine what it would
look like without and so I think that's the best bet and the
under 44.5 is that feels like very easy money, but we'll see.
Anyway, Taylor, as always, a delight to have you on the show.
Glad you're feeling better? We will go ahead and sign off
and be sure to check out Taylor's work.
Bite Sized bison.substack.com Be sure to check out Crimson Cast,
as we've got plenty of shows for you to listen to.
And if you're heading over to Champagne, good luck, because
man, that's a depressing town. Anyway, for Taylor, I'm Galen,
and for the Crimson Cast podcast in the back Home network, we'll
catch you folks. On the flip side, bring back the
Bison. So on everybody.