Welcome back to the Tuesday night Bison chat.
We're back again. We're talking IU football little
later than normal, as normally we're doing this at 6:30 in the
evening. But Joe Cronin, we are in prime
time. We are going right up against
the vice presidential debate. I'm hoping that people use the
same choice and decide to watch us instead.
I I think. Yeah, unquestionably.
Anyway, I'm Galen Clavio. That's Joe Cronin.
We got Emily Fox pushing the buttons and making the magic
happen behind the scenes. We might have Zac Browning on
later. It's kind of a coin flip at this
point. He's been having some mic
issues. But whether or not we have Zac
on, we are here to provide you with a solid 30 plus minutes of
IU football talk as your five and O Indiana Hoosiers head into
a rarity, a chance to get bowl eligibility before Columbus Day.
I think it's it may never have happened actually in IU football
history, but IU certainly in some good shape as they head
into this game. And Joe, first of all, great to
see you. How are you doing?
How's the week been so far? We're good.
Yeah. A little bison chat under the
lights is what we'll call this week's been week's been starting
off strong. Classes going well.
Glad that the rain kind of stopped after, you know,
Hurricane Helene. That was kind of wild that how
strong the rain was here. Can only imagine what it was
down South, but we're here. Football, football season is
rolling along 5 and a start for Indiana.
I mean, I've only been here for a short amount of time and and
this is my third year at Indiana and this is the best year at
Indiana that I've ever seen. So at a football standpoint.
So it's been exciting so far, exciting to see like where this
team is able to able to go from here.
I mean, if it makes you feel any better, I've been here a lot
longer than you and this is already close to the best team
I've ever seen. So I think, you know, we're
you're you're getting spoiled early is what I would say.
Joe Cronin. But that's the kind of spoiling
I like to see Lot to talk about In this episode.
We're going to talk a little bit about the Maryland game and what
we saw out of that. We'll talk about the Donovan
McCullough news. We'll also talk about the match
up coming up this weekend as Indiana takes on Northwestern
and a lot to really tackle in this.
So we'll go ahead and dive right in.
First of all, let's go ahead and talk a bit about what happened
in that game against Maryland. Indiana winning that game 42 to
28 and one of those games where it felt like for a while this
was going to be a game Indiana struggled in Curtis Rourke early
struggles had two interceptions. You're seeing both of them here
in short order. That second one, I was right in
line for Joe. I was like, what on earth
happened to Curtis Rourke? But you know the thing about
this IU team, they just don't let things get them down.
They score, you know, to make it 7, nothing.
And then late in the first half, Omar Cooper junior with a great
catch off, an even nicer throw by Curtis Rourke.
And then in the second-half, Indiana really just started to
pour on the gas. And even though Maryland kept
touch with them for a little bit, it was really all Indiana
as you got into the fourth quarter.
You see here Elijah Serap able to pick up the touchdown catch
and of course Donovan Mccully pour one out as he leaves his IU
career on a positive note with that touchdown and Indiana puts
the capper on it with about four minutes to go.
Joe, it was just an an awesome performance by an Indiana team
that looked like they were going to struggle.
Look like this might be the game that you know, the the preseason
predictions of them maybe being kind of mid table or lower than
that would catch up with them. They really, when it mattered,
played some incredible football and that was really, really
gratifying to see. Yeah, this was really the first
time all year that they've had to face any adversity on either
side of the ball really. Because you mean you saw
Maryland was strive to strive for them up until the score was
2121 and then it was that what, last 40 seconds of the third
quarter and into the 4th where IU just had that extra extra
gear in front of them. And and I think for Rourke, what
it showed is just how mature he is as a quarterback is like you
start that poorly with two picks on your first five throws, you
have two interceptions. And then from there, he was
still able to get a 300 yard game, put together 3 touchdowns.
And yes, he had some great receiver performances around
him, but I think tip tip of the cap for him on the ability to
respond from that moment. And yeah, this team is rolling
at really all three levels, too. Yeah, it's it's a really
fascinating team and we keep finding new layers to the Onion
every time they go out there. One of the folks that's been
covering this team pretty regularly that we wanted to
bring on. I think we've got the mic
problems taken care of. Zac Browning from all over the
place. You know him from Indiana
Rivals, you know him from NBC Sports, you know him from WIUX,
you know him from Big 10 Plus. And now he's on Bison Chat for
the first time. Zac Browning, welcome to the
show. Good to see you.
Thank you guys so much for having me, looking forward to
it. So Zach, we got Joe's thoughts
on that game. What were your overall
reflections of Indiana's performance as they take down
Maryland for their second Big 10 win of the season?
You guys touched one of the fact that Curtis Work was able to
respond after those two early interceptions.
That was great to see. But I really what stuck out to
me was the complimentary football that Indiana played
throughout that game. Whether it was the two early
interceptions where the defense picked up the offense or whether
it was late in that third quarter and the defense gave up
back-to-back scores against Maryland, the offense was able
to respond and put some points in the board themselves.
I think that's what really stuck out to me.
I mean, after Indiana's turnovers last Saturday,
Maryland was unable to get a first down.
It was 3 announced after each of Indiana's turnovers last
weekend. And I think that's really what
stuck out to me, the complimentary football.
It's not an offensive team, it's not a defensive team.
It's an offense and defensive team.
Yeah. It's one of those things where
we're used to Indiana being OK in one phase and maybe not OK in
another phase. And this team continues to
demonstrate that the it's not just one facet or one aspect
that's hold like holding the team up and and dragging
everybody else behind them. Instead, it really does feel
like a team effort. And Joe, I think the thing that
strikes me the most about this team is something we've talked
about before on the podcast is how interchangeable the parts
appear to be in many different places.
You know, you see, I mean, Aidan Fisher leads the team in
tackles, but it always feels like there's a different guy
who's in second, another different guy who's in 3rd
receivers. You've got, you know, different
leaders in pass catching. You're starting to see a little
bit of separation with Sarat and Omar Cooper as like the top 2,
but there's always other players that are contributing.
You see the same in the running backroom.
It's really cool and and fresh by you to have this breadth of
options and guys who are contributing to a common cause.
It sounds hokey, but it's really seeming to work for them up to
this point. Yeah, it's not just one guy in
one position really outside of quarterback, obviously.
But I mean, like you mentioned with Aiden Fisher, this is
something that we were talking about after that Maryland game.
It's the guy right next to him, Jalen Walker.
His his presence in the passing game has just been electric.
And his ability to just cut off these screens and and negate any
of these short pass situations has been huge for that IU
defense. And it's just kind of an unsung
hero so far because obviously Aiden Fisher, like you said, he
leads a team in tackles. He leads the Big 10 in tackles,
14 by the way, he has 50. The next best is 36.
So he's been everywhere. But I think Jalen Walker, that
too, that pair right there. I, I mean, haven't seen a lot of
a lot of those top dogs in the Big 10 quite yet, but I, I, I'd
be surprised if there is a much better duo than those two at the
middle linebacker spots. Yeah, it's the, the, the
collection of personnel is really fascinating.
And, and Zach, we've talked about this a little bit on the
show before, but it's amazing how many of these were pieces on
other teams that were allowed to be let go, maybe weren't
considered that important. Like Signeti is doing a really
fascinating job of, of bringing all these different pieces
together and having them work. And, and I keep saying that
every week and it becomes more true.
You know, I, I kind of was asking myself going into this
Maryland game, is this the game game where we start to say,
well, maybe there's some limitations to this and maybe
Maryland may, you know, Maryland that looks like a team is going
to be in the 567 win range. Like they're definitely very
much in the middle of the Big 10.
But this is still a, a bona fide Maryland team.
That's a good defensive team. And Indiana just figured out a
way to be better than them over the course of the 60 minutes and
especially the last 25 to 30. I'm just really impressed.
You know, and, and I'm curious from your perspective as someone
who's covered the team for a while, like what is the vibe
difference between this team and what we saw on the roster last
year? It's not necessarily even a
talent disparity this year, just more so the confidence.
And I think that obviously starts at the top with Curt
Signetti and it kind of trickles down to come some of the
position groups and then some of the players within those
position groups. But I think it was Miles Cross
who last week said something that really stood out to me.
He made the comment of, you know, he was asked something
along the lines of how Indiana is able to compete with some of
these Big 10 schools to fight a lot of these guys coming from
lower level college programs, a lot of the transfers coming in.
And he said there's not really a big difference talent wise,
especially in the skill group. You've got power 5 level
athletes and Power 5 level talent guys at every level of
college football, even the FCS. He said that's not the biggest
difference. So he's and that's why this
Indiana team hasn't necessarily struggled against a lot of these
teams, especially as they've gotten into Big 10 play.
They have power 5 level athletes.
They just weren't playing at Power 5 level schools again.
And I think that's on Curt Signetti.
That's on the entire coaching staff of Indiana to identify
those guys, whether they were at James Madison with Signetti or
whether they were at another conference school or that they
were in the Sunbelt, maybe in the ACC at a lower school like
Wake Forest. We see a couple of guys from
there with Indiana. I think that's the about the
talent identification that this staff has shown.
They brought in all the right pieces.
Yeah. I want to add on that a little
bit, if that's OK. And just we when we talked to to
Cignetti on Monday and even after the game on Saturday, it
was kind of like I asked him what the growth from fall camp
to now. The biggest thing that he's
seeing and it was the mentality of his team and how these guys
in this is something he'd love to say is they're humble and
hungry. These guys want to get better
each week. They're not satisfied with just
winning. They want to beat the crap out
of things. They want to shut them out and
put up 50 on them. And it's just week in, week out,
like they're upset that Maryland scored 28 on them and they still
won by multiple scores. So I just think there is a clear
shift, especially from these new guys.
You can see they're the ones kind of the driving force,
whether VA Fisher leading the charge, talking like that or
some of the guys on other guys on the defensive end, Curtis
Shorick even. And it like Zach says, it starts
on the top because Signeti, he just he has so much confidence
to him. Sometimes it's a cockiness, but
it's a cockiness that has worked up this point.
Yeah, you mentioned Aiden Fisher, and you know, we often
think about explosive plays when it comes to offense.
But this is a guy who's also very much thinking that we met.
It got to make explosive plays, impactful plays on defense, too.
Let's hear a little bit of what he said earlier this week.
I thought. We left a lot of explosive
opportunities on the field, me and myself.
I know there have been a couple. You know, the UCLA game, there's
a SAG and interception in there that I think I left on the
field. And you go to each position
group, everybody will come and tell you first hand there's
there's been opportunities that they've missed that they wish
they could have back. But you know, that's part of
football. That's part of getting into the
the film room, improving and capitalizing those opportunities
next time you have them. Yeah, you also mentioned
Signetti and just his kind of overall approach.
And, and this is a guy who's got a serious demeanor on the
sideline. You know, he's constantly
pushing his guys to think like Aiden Fisher just verbalized
there. But he's also having some fun.
You know, we got into a bit of a debate last time on the show
about what the heck Curtis Rourke's nickname is.
I, I correctly noted it is actually the Maple Missile.
It's not Canadian baked. And I would like to.
I like that one. Better.
Thank you. I appreciate that you finally
came around to my side on that, Joe.
But the, you know, the other, the other person's nickname
that's kind of popped up and I guess it's got a connection on
the breakfast front at least, is, is Elijah Serrat.
Let's hear a little bit about what Coach Sig had to say on
that front as far as how Waffle House is doing and how that's
fitting into the overall landscape.
I heard that he had created that name.
I can't attest to the validity of Waffle House always being
open, but even when he's not, he'll find a way to come down
with a ball. He absolutely does.
I, I it's fat. You know, Sirat obviously comes
from James Madison to Indiana and you're like, OK, can this
guy really compete at this level?
This, he looks like a dude out there, like he looks like the
most put together wide receiver I've seen so far this season,
like on either team. But what's fascinating Zach
about his story is like he didn't start at James Mattis and
he started at a much lower level.
That guy has worked his way up the ladder here in college
football over the last few years.
You're exactly right, Galen. I mean, you start at Saint
Francis, Pennsylvania, then you make your way to James Madison,
now in his third season with a third different program, still
with the same head coach that he had at James Madison.
But it's not just that he's been at three different levels.
It's the fact that he's dominated at three different
levels. He was a guy that caught north
of 1100 yards receiving last season.
He was top 25 in the nation and receptions and receiving yards
and receiving touchdowns last year.
He dominated. And that's exactly what he does.
And I think the best part of that quote from Signetti is the
fact that he may not always be open to 100% of the time.
But even if he's not, if there's a ball in his area that Curtis
Work throws to him, there's a better than not chance that he's
going to be able to come up with that football.
And I think that's really the big thing that separates himself
from maybe some other guys. It doesn't necessarily have to
be that's the rats always open because it's going to come up
with so many contest catches. There was a there was a play, I
forget what quarter it was, Maryland had punted down it on
the one and the first play that IU ran was back shoulder Roark
to Sarat for 25 yards. And it was just that connection
right there that kind of spoke volumes to pretty much exactly
what you said is the confidence of both of them.
And it's like if you get the ball to Sarat, he's going to
have a chance to make a play on it.
Yeah, and it's a good thing. I mean, you know, IU, as we
mentioned, some real depth at a lot of their their different
spots. But some sobering news today for
people who've been following the program for a while as we got
the news that Donovan Mccully had put his name into the
transfer portal. We had talked over the weekend
on the show about how it looked like Indiana had gotten clear
that, you know, the players who potentially might be thinking of
leaving, as we've seen in a couple of other spots did not.
But we had the tweet earlier on today from many other spots, but
including Zach Osterman from the Indy Star that Mcculley was
entering the transfer portal. You know, we had a couple of
comments in the in the chat kind of, I guess the touch on the
duality of this. Stephen Dunn noting, sorry,
there we go. I don't know why they didn't
want to play Donovan after he healed up 'cause he obviously
had the injury earlier on in the season.
But then Luke noting, I think it speaks volumes to this team and
coaching staff that we just lost our leading receiver from last
year to the transfer portal. And there's no panic from the
fan base. I mean, Joe, I guess first of
all, I mean, obviously I think everybody wanted it to work with
Donovan Mcculley that, you know, was was clearly one of the few
bright spots last year for Indiana.
But I think it's important for people to remember the the
sequence, you know, Tom Allen leaves, Donovan Mcculley goes
into the transfer portal, ended up getting talked back out of
the transfer portal and then has the injury earlier on this this
season and now back in the portal again.
It's it's unfortunate, but it's also one of those things where
sometimes for whatever reason, you just don't have the same
level of of either buy in or interest from players who were
in the previous regime. It's not necessarily that
there's a villain. I know it.
We saw assembly call tweeted that earlier.
Like there's not always a villain and a transfer portal
story. Sometimes it's just not working
out. It seems like one of those
situations here, perhaps with Mccully and the Signeti era.
Yeah, I mean, this is a talented guy.
He's A-65 receiver that led IU in all receiving categories last
year. And yes, that was very, you
know, traditional IU season going 3:00 and 9:00.
But this was something kind of dating back to spring camp, even
that Coach Signeti alluded that Donovan's play, he needed to
step up. And I remember it was like
practice 2. We had talked to him and he was
like, yeah, he just needs to step up.
And someone had mentioned. And so that was all the way back
in March. Flash forward to fall camp and
especially he gets hurt in that FIU week.
And then you see some of these other guys step in like Miles
Cross, you see Keyshawn Williams, guys like that that
are making plays at UCLA, FIU game, Charlotte game.
This is a very deep receiving room.
And I think if the margin for error to get your reps is very
slim and they're going to play the guys that are best fit and
ready to play. And like you said, I don't think
it's a villain story at all. I just think it's tough to find
your role when the talent is so high because Sarat and Price are
going to be getting their reps every single game.
And then whether it's Miles Cross, Keyshawn Williams, then
Omar Cooper Junior has exploded onto the scene this year.
So it's just, it's a, it's a congested wide receiver room and
if you're not up to speed with some of those, some of those
guys in the middle, it's going to be hard to get your reps.
So I, I think in the end it'll be a smart decision for Mercola
because this team is loaded in that room.
I don't think they needed any more weapons as it is.
Yeah, and it's it's fascinating because, you know, you look at
what Omar Cooper's been able to do this year and really kind of
been the breakout star of the returning players.
And I think everybody had that hope with Mccully, Zach, but for
one reason or another, it just kind of wasn't meant to be.
And, and I know there's some disappointment among the
fanbase, but it's kind of a testament to how good Indiana's
looked so far that they've accomplished everything they've
accomplished, especially offensively, essentially without
Donovan Mccully so far. The touchdown in the Maryland
game was a nice exclamation point, but the sentence wasn't
very long that it was on the end of.
I mean, they've, they've gotten most of their production from
other receivers so far this year.
And, and most of that production has come from receivers that
weren't necessarily as highly touted as Macaulay coming out of
high school. I mean, Macaulay obviously a
four-star recruit that was for quarterback coming out of high
school, transition into more of a wide receiver ahead of his
sophomore season. But this is one of the most
talented recruits Indiana football has ever landed.
You've got a guy like Dassan Mccola, Samson James.
Those are I think the only two recruits that have ever been hot
more highly rated out of high school than Donovan Macaulay
coming to Indiana from the high school ranks.
And to lose that guy and not really skip a beat necessarily.
And we haven't seen it take place in the field.
But so far the season they haven't had him on the field and
the Hoosiers offensive seemed fine.
I think that is, again, as you said, speaks to the amount of
production that Indiana's getting, not necessarily from
the guys that were the highest rated recruits.
I mean, you think about Miles Price, he was a decently highly
rated recruit went to Texas Tech Keyshawn Williams was decently
highly rated. But Elijah Strout, we already
mentioned he started his college career at Saint Francis, PA.
That is not a highly touted recruit coming out of high
school. So it's what this Indiana
coaching staff has been able to do to turn guys that weren't
necessarily super high star prospects out of high school.
They've been able to get the absolute most and develop those
guys into the guys that we see today on the field.
Yeah, it's gonna be interesting moving forward to see how
Indiana continues to fit these pieces together.
I mean, I I'll be surprised if there's any other defections, at
least among the regular players right now.
But again, a lot of it really comes down to there are some
culture shifts that happen and and not everything necessarily
works out the way that it needs to.
But the production Indiana has had so far, I do think if you're
concerned at all about the news today, I wouldn't be too
concerned yet. We'll see.
I mean, obviously you like to have a 65 target out there that
you can regularly go to with the athleticism of Mccully.
But Curtis work has been so good.
The running game's been consistently very good.
The passing game's been so good that it's probably not something
to hit the panic button about or anything like that.
And I, and to the credit and, and what the comment the
commenter said earlier, nobody really seems to be hitting the
panic button. That's more of a head scratcher
than anything else. So Joe, anything, any final
thoughts there? Well, I just wanted to add like
this receiving room, it was just kind of a fun stat that I found.
I use the only school in the Big 10 that has three receivers in
the top 20 in yards up to this point.
Only school so it it just goes to show the depth of this team
and like teams are going to struggle on the defensive end
having to guard these guys and and the three are Sarat Omar
Cooper and Miles Price. So Ox cross not even in that mix
and for a wide receiver 4 to be Miles Cross a trusted receiver
of Kurdish work it just there are real dogs as he would say on
this in this receiver. Yeah, no.
And I mean, you even you even get beyond that group.
I mean, you're you know, we you can't talk about the receiving
core without talking about Zach Horton, who's made a number of
key catches so far this season, is a great safety valve.
Keyshawn Williams is tied for the most touchdowns among the
entire receiving core. It is a lot of it is the play
calling. You know it it is the way that
this offense is set up and it's the ability to leverage
different parts of the field and different receivers.
And that is really exciting to think about as we move forward
through the rest of the season. Even the running backs have been
used sparingly but effectively in the passing game.
It it really is kind of the offense we've always wanted to
see out of this Indiana team and we've only gotten glimpses at
what it could be. Even in the Kevin Wilson era,
which was very much an offense first era.
It it wasn't this good every game.
It may not be this good every game.
And in fact, a really fascinating test I think for
this Indiana team is going to be what happens in this next game
is they take on the Northwestern Wildcats.
Coach Signetti had some thoughts about Northwestern in his press
conference. Let's hear what those were.
Northwestern, very tough challenge.
This will be the best defensive team we've played.
Really extremely well, coached in the right places.
They know what they're doing. Make you earn your points.
They're not going to lose the game.
You're going to have to win it. Offensively, struggling a little
bit to get their rhythm going. Quarterback positions been low
in consistent form, but have some dynamic guys.
Coach Signetti being very kind when he talks about Northwestern
offensive issues so far this season only averaging 17.3
points a game and they only scored five points total in
their game against Washington a couple of weeks ago.
Now, that said, the defense has been pretty consistently good.
Even in the games they've lost. They only gave up 26 points to
Duke. They gave up 24 points to
Washington. So it's one of those situations
where Northwestern has has caused Indiana problems for a
long time. Like, this has been a series
that's been surprisingly lopsided in favor of
Northwestern. Indiana hasn't won in Evanston
since 1993. Northwestern loves to skunk
things up and make it difficult for you to do what you want to
do. And you know, you look at what
they've done so far this season, they're only allowing their
opponents to rush for 2.8 yards per game.
Their opponents have have thrown 6 touchdowns, 4 interceptions.
It hasn't been the easiest sled for teams to try to move the
ball in the air either. So it's certainly A-Team that's
capable of doing things. They won eight games last year.
They won a bowl game last year, but they're also a team that
looks very limited offensively. And I'm certainly curious to see
how IU, coming off a big emotional win against Maryland,
travels to a lesser opponent that they're still going to have
to take seriously. And what their offense,
Indiana's offense, can do against Northwestern because
that looks like it's the the match up that matters the most,
Zach. Yeah, and I think the biggest
thing that we know from this team is that they're going to
take care of business. That's what they've done all
season long. You talk about a big emotional
win. How about that UCLA game and
then coming back a week later and taking care of business
against a lesser Charlotte team. That's a similar situation to
what the Hoosiers are facing this weekend.
And you touched it. You nailed it right on the head
there, Galen. With all the stats that really
reflect the awkward start to the season for Northwestern both
offensively and defensively, they've really got to figure out
what they're going to do moving forward with their quarterback
situation. It appears like Jack Lausch is
going to be the guy for the Wildcats moving forward for the
rest of the season as far as the quarterback situation is
concerned. But even in that last game, he's
struggled so far. He went eight for 27 with 53
yards and two interceptions in their last game against
Washington. He really struggled.
He's much more of a past first quarterback, much more than Mike
White, who was the original starter for the Wildcats this
season. But then you talk about another
reason their offense might struggle.
They're running back Cam Porter. He's a little banged up.
He's been dealing with some injury issues.
He's a leading rusher. He has 2 and 34 yards on the
season. But he missed NW Northwestern's
most recent game against Washington.
So it'll be interesting to keep an eye on his health situation
because that severely limits an already limited offense if he's
not able to go. Joe, I mean, obviously for
Indiana, getting their offense in rhythm early is going to be
important, but they're playing in a unique situation to say the
least. A a lacrosse field that's had
temporary bleachers set up around it.
Only 10,000 plus fans going to be able to watch this game in
person. You've got the wind coming off
of Lake, MI. Like, there's a lot of weird
factors to this game that are going to be interesting things
for Indiana to have to deal with.
Yeah, and like you mentioned with the wind, we got to talk to
Zach Horton and Fisher today and that was brought up and they had
real good answers and just said, hey, Northwestern has to play on
it too. So I don't think it's anything
special that we're playing there and it's going to be windy.
But yeah, I mean, 10,000 fans, it's going to be weird.
I mean, I imagine with the start that I just had, the contingent
of fans are going to be traveling.
There was a strong contingent at UCLA.
So Northwestern's not that far of a drive either.
And Northwestern start of the season has been weird like
you've mentioned. And I just it will be
interesting with some of the weather things.
I think IU they're going to want to start on the ground early
like they have already. And it if they're able to get
their offense rolling score on that first possession.
I mean, this Northwestern offense is still shaky.
They're still figuring out their quarterback like Zach mentioned.
So if they're able to take care of business on the offensive
end, I think the defense should be able to just pick up from
where they've been going for these first five weeks.
I will note, as I always do, that despite the marketing
slogan, Indiana is truly Chicago's Big 10 team and has
demonstrated that over and over again every time Indiana plays
at Northwestern in any sport. As Ryan Cotter points out, not
Curtis Pork. I don't know why that was
called, but there we go. Should be you crowd.
I mean, it should be now even even with we had a whole we,
we're we'll do a whole episode eventually on the Curtis pork
phenomenon. I don't.
Entirely. I don't entirely.
Get it. But it's fine.
I'm just letting it go. But there should be a lot of IU
people there. I've talked to.
I think that I know 20 people just me and I don't know that
many people. I know more people than many,
but I, I know a lot of people who are going to be there at
that game and you know, it's, it's going to be a game where IU
fans are going to look at the, I mean the ticket prices.
Last I checked I think it was like the get in price about $165
which is not that bad at the at the end of the day, especially
for a game I'm. Thinking from a college budget
perspective. So I guess that's why, you know,
got a little like, Oh my, 160 dollars.
Sounds like a great advance holiday present would, would be
what I would say like, hey, mom, hey dad, if, if at all possible,
you know, but but the one I was going to say it's, it's, it's a,
it's a decent amount of money. But for the opportunity to
potentially go and watch Indiana get bowl eligible the first week
of October on somebody else's field.
I, I do think there's some value in that.
And I think the IU fans that are going to be there going to be
pretty fired up. It's going to be fascinating to
watch. I mean, we talked about this
before the UCLA game. How well would Indiana travel as
a team? How would they play in a, a a
different environment? And I would take if I had to
line the rosters up, I would take the UCLA roster from a
talent perspective over the Northwestern roster 10 times out
of 10. Coaching, maybe not, but from a
talent perspective, you know, that UCLA team, I feel like
certainly I think blow by blow is a better team than
Northwestern And Indiana was entirely unintimidated by the
Rose Bowl, entirely unintimidated by having to
travel. So I, I'm not nearly as I guess
trepidatious, I don't wanna say concerned 'cause I don't know
that I was truly concerned going into that UCLA.
But I'm not, I'm not looking at this.
I'm like, God, I hope Indiana shows up on the road.
Cause they've already done it once and, and against the team
that arguably was a bit better, you know, but they still have to
take care of business, Zach. And, you know, I guess if you're
thinking about it like, where do you see the potential pitfalls
for Indiana being like, is there something that they should
really be focused on and concerned about going into this
game, in your opinion? It's going to be about the
sloppiness. If Indiana can make this not a
sloppy a game, as Northwestern wants to make it, then I think
the Hoosiers will be fine. Northwestern, as you mentioned,
allowing just around 15 points per game so far this season.
They want to force you into turnovers.
They want to force you into penalties.
They want to make this game ugly.
They don't want it to be pretty. They want to get your offense
out of rhythm and then maybe keep they can sneak a point up
there or two on the board. Their offense has struggled so
far this year, but I think we have to kind of throw out
everything that we know so far or have known at least in my
lifetime about Indiana football. In years past, this is an
Indiana football team that would have struggled in the game like
we saw against Charlotte after coming off that big win against
UCLA. This is an Indiana football team
that when they get that turnover against UCLA on the 1st
possession of the game for the Bruins offensively, there's no
way any football teams of the past are capitalizing and
scoring 7 points off of that. So this Indiana team though,
it's different. The word has been thrown around,
they're calling it new Indiana. This is not the same Indiana
team that we've seen in years past, or at least for sure in my
lifetime. So I think we have to understand
this is a different Indiana team.
It's coached a different way. It is led by different players.
And I think so far as to what we've seen this season, we have
to take with what we've seen and all we've seen is success and
that business like mentality being carried out on the field.
It reminds me of those like, you know, infomercial commercials
from the 80s, like forget everything you knew about
carpeting or something like that about Indiana football.
That's essentially where we're at right now.
And I agree with you 100%. So, any final thoughts on the
game as we head into it, Joe? Yeah, I mean, first I will get
you up to speed on Curtis Pork. Don't you worry.
I want. To take you saying that actually
does make me worry, but please go on.
It's it's just a a positive meme community on Indiana's
quarterback. But interesting comment right
here. I did 56 at Northwestern.
I think is bold. But no, like you mentioned with
the road trip and the implications of going to UCLA,
that's a whole nother type that's you're jumping a few time
zones going across the country in a place that this team like
none of the players were even alive when the last time Indiana
played in that venue. And they took it like a business
trip, arrived the night before the game, got in and left after
the game to go back to Bloomington and had a red eye
flight that it was all business for them.
This is a bus ride or I don't know if they're doing a short
flight, but I imagine a bus ride up to Northwestern and it's
going to be the same kind of mentality.
Go in, do what they've been doing and get on out of there
because I don't know if they're going to want to stick around
Northwestern all that much. I think they're going to want to
celebrate being 6 and O into a bye week, bowl eligible into the
bye week. And like you said in the first,
first weekend of October is unheard of for Indiana football.
Quite literally, I will note to Stevens projection of 56 to 10.
The last time somebody hung 56 on Northwestern, that wasn't
that long ago, but still it was it was October 2nd of 2021 and
they were at Nebraska. I'd have to go back even further
to find the last time they got 56 hung on them at home.
So I love the optimism, Steven, but that might I Northwestern
will do everything they can to try to gum up the works on this.
And I think that that's an important thing to keep in mind.
You almost have to judge the offense, I think in this on a
little bit of a curve until we see how they're able to perform.
Zach, any final thoughts from you on the game?
I think we're going to get to see some more of what this
Indiana football is about and what Curse Agnetti is all about.
I think it'll be interesting to see.
We've talked about how this Northwestern defense likes to
muddy up the game. They like to make it ugly.
I think that'll present a unique challenge for offensive
coordinator Mike Shanahan because up to this point he's
been flawless, averaging north of 40 points per game.
The Indian offense has been excelling at All in all facets.
The running game, the passing game, the short passing game,
the long passing game, intermediate stuff.
Everything that Indiana's offense has done so far this
season has been great. It's been a different look each
and every week. There's been a combination of
different things. So I think this will be
interesting to see what Mike Shanahan and this Indiana
offense can do against the team that wants to make this game
ugly. Can they kind of do their own
thing and not necessarily get sucked into that?
All good points, gentlemen. It'll be fascinating to see what
happens with this contest. I'm going to go up there and see
the game in person as well. I'm looking forward to it.
Should be a lot of fun. Before we wrap up, just a quick
update from elsewhere in the IU Athletic Sphere.
Our good friend Josh tweeting out Indiana beating Wisconsin on
the road. Wisconsin 8th ranked in the
country. Indiana wins three to two, A
huge win on the road for an IU team that had really been
struggling, but a couple of good results in a row for Indiana on
the road, first at Ohio State and then here at Wisconsin.
So great job for Todd Gigli and the guys as they start to
hopefully pull things together as we move forward here into the
rest of the season. So anyway, we're going to go
ahead and wrap up as we are at time.
My thanks as always to the lovely Emily Fox in the
background who's making the videos work for us and
everything else. Zac Browning, great debut on
Bison Chat. We look forward to seeing you
again on here soon. Joe Cronin is always a pleasure
and looking forward to renewing all of this next week as we
recap what happened in this game coming up this week against
Northwestern. So thank you all and thanks to
all of you for tuning in. Whether you're watching live or
whether you're watching on delay, be sure to check out all
of the shows on the back home network via the YouTube channel.
You can also check out the wide array of materials and content
being produced not just by Zach over at Rivals and NBC and all
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sports media spectrum with IUSTV, Hoosier Network, WIUX,
Indiana Daily Students. So much great content covering
IU football. Go check it out for all the
folks involved. I'm Galen Clavio, thanks for
joining us here on the show once again Tuesday night Bison chat.
We will catch you folks on the flip side.
So everybody.