You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home Field Apparel. All right, folks, welcome back to Crimson Cast. Scott here with you. Indiana football did something I think we were not expecting. Playing pretty well at Penn State. They ended up losing 33 to 24 again finding another spectacular way to another way to lose. He just always interesting stuff with IU football. Unfortunately, Galen is busy this weekend. Maybe he's in the Galapagos Islands.
I should make fun of him now. Galen is busy this weekend so we have Taylor Layman joining us. I'll get to Taylor in one second. First off, just want to remind everyone to check out home field apparel. It's hoodie season folks. It's I I broke out the Marshall hoodie. I was telling you, I am going to order the Idaho hoodie. There's tons of great hoodies and hoodies aren't your thing. They got bomber jackets that they have everything you could possibly want.
Check them out Home field apparel. They are friends of the pod, friends of the whole home network. And use the promo code HOME 23 to get 15% off your first purchase. Also, we'll stay with Indiana basketball kicking off. You have assembly call coming back. Just the home network is like engaged. It's like the old I'll date myself here. It's like Voltron, like all the pieces are coming together. The home network is officially activated.
We are ready to go, but excited to have our friend from Bite Size Bison, who is one of the stalwarts in Indiana football coverage, that there's we're few but we are mighty. It was funny today. Indiana's playing really well, like on Twitter, like searching. It's just like there's the same six people tweeting about IU football. It's like a fan base that's just just been beat down again. Indiana loses 33 to 24 at Happy Valley. Taylor, good to have you on, man. How you doing? Yeah, I'm good.
Thanks for having me on, Scott. Yeah, No, I was noticing the same thing it was. It's always, it's always funny because early in the season, you know, I sometimes I look at the notifications, see if I'm missing any replies or something and see who's interacting with my tweets. And it's like a, you know, a pretty diverse group of people. And then today it was just like the same, like maybe 10 people. I was like, yeah, that's that's about right. And I know you are. You're recovering from a
Halloween party. I want to, I want to guess what. So I will let the listeners know. One time in college I went as Goldberg the wrestler. So that was one of my like younger Halloween costumes. I haven't dressed dressed up in a while. I did have a good costume two years ago. But Taylor, who were, I want to guess, were you? Did you go as just like you know offensive coordinator, IU, offensive coordinator, next hire and just made everybody confused
or would you go as? I I joked with my girlfriend that I should go as Tom Allen. I have like a you know, over ear headphones with an IU hat and. I could get a leather cheap leather jacket or something, put IU on the front of it. No, I always go as a couple of costumes with my girlfriend. It means a lot more to her than it does to me. So we were the Milky Way. So I just created these little. Felt planets. And attach them to a black sweatshirt and she dressed up as the Sun.
So, OK, yeah, that's not bad. Yeah, it was cool. It was it was fun. You know what what's funny is like you you hear couples costume and everybody's like oh like you go as you know Kelsey and and AT swizzle. But what's fine is like everyone I've talked to who people like you and other people like a couple of my friends in the street who do couples costumes like no one's doing. I think that might be the costume. It's like everyone's zagging so no one.
Like if you did Taylor Swift and Kelsey right now, I think you might be the only ones because I think everyone's like, oh everyone's going to do that and ends up no one's doing it. Exactly. It's the it's the Kelsey and Taylor Swift and then also the Barbie and Ken because I. Talked to a lot of people trying to avoid those. Those two, Yeah, I like three years ago we'll get off Halloween talk, hot Halloween talk here in a second.
Like two or three years ago, my neighbors have a crazy Halloween party. It's the one where it's Side Story I will tell in the pod maybe next week. It's this one where I had a former Purdue basketball player steal something out of my my yard. It's a wild story. But at that party, like, I was like, what? What can I dress up as? My wife and I did a couples costume and we did Forrest Gump and Jenny. And I was like, I had not seen
that costume in years. And there was two other couples as Forrest Gump and Jenny at the same party, including a similar Forrest Gump. I was like, I haven't seen and I haven't seen Forrest Gump 10 years before. I'm not going to see it 10 years average. Like, I guess it's just the the the zeitgeist. Everyone gets in the same, the same mindset at the same time. We actually saw Forrest Gump last night. It was, it was, it was good. It was good. These Forrest Gump is still around.
I didn't see any. I didn't see any Jenny's though. Yeah. So all right Indiana loses 33 to 24 at Penn State. What's kind of your. And we're doing this Jared at assembly call is always like I want you to do a like a really close post game reaction. Normally Galen might take some time to calm down without Galen here like you know the the handcuffs are off. Scott, we're like doing this at maybe 1/2 hour after the game. What are your initial thoughts from that game?
Are you like, happy, sad, Like What's your main take away? I tweeted we kind of took the scenic route to Indiana covered you know I, I, I, you know I guess surprised surprised that the the front seven specifically overachieved and and I think that that's kind of my biggest my my biggest feeling it's you know man I guess I was kind of thinking myself I guess it was kind of. Nice to be back.
You know the things that we used to complain about with IU football, right, was like they'll get so close to beating these good teams and then they've been you know, they find a way to lose. They always find a find a way to lose in the in the second-half And I was like well, I guess, you know it's a it's a taste of that again instead of just you know what we were anticipating which is you know a huge loss. So I I I think I'm probably a little more.
Putting out a little more positive because I went in a lot more negative, but I don't know how are you feeling, Scott? Yeah, you know I listened to Galen in in the pregame really kind of solidified what I felt too which is like it's you go into this like you're you're assuming you're going to lose. Like you just don't expect to win at Penn State.
You know Penn State. Michigan, Ohio State are kind of games where it's like I'll take whatever I am and you know, I'm not expecting a win and you hope that you can at least find something to build on. That said, you know, the the frustrating part for me is they played really well and even after the first half you're like, all right, well this might be a, you know, feeling the same as like maybe the the first couple series of Michigan where it's like you play really well
and then it's just like the wheels fall off. The wheels didn't fall off, like you kept the pressure on Penn State, You put them in a tough spot. The the frustrating part for me is I'm never going to go into a season or a game dealing. We should win at Penn State. That said, you get to a point where it's like you just intercept their quarterback. There's 6 minutes to go. It's kind of like everything's out the table, like the crowd is
quiet. So it's really not like a normal, you know, Happy Valley experience. That's the game, like that's the game to go for it. And I I leave frustrated. Not that we lost because again I'm not like expect I don't go into a season be like God, we got to be Penn State because that's that would be Idiocracy. But it's like you have an opportunity to go take that game And I even, I don't get on X much but I got on X and it's like you know you felt like we were playing to tie.
We ran three straight rushes right after that interception and it's like I I was thinking to myself I tweeted this out there that it's like you very rarely do you see upsets like this happen where you back into it like you normally you have to go take it like you just it it was there you have to go take it now. I know Soresby had a hurt
shoulder. That also could be maybe where, you know, having five quarterbacks we keep rotating through, like maybe you could have gone with Tevin Jackson. You could have swapped out that, like you had your two choices there. But it's like, go take it. And that's what was really frustrating to me is they didn't do it. And then I started thinking, you know, when was, I'll ask you that You probably know this gay one would know this off the top of his head because he knows
everything. But you know, I was starting to think like, all right, you run three straight rushes. When was the last time we had a rushing touchdown this season? Do do you know? Because I went back, I went back and looked. It was against Rutgers. We had a rushing touchdown, but it was Brendan Soresby. So I even dug a little deeper. The last time we had a running back score, a rushing touchdown, and that was against Akron.
So we haven't had a running back score a rushing touchdown this season in the Big 10, which is a whole separate podcast we could talk about. But it's like that's the part where I get frustrated where it's like you don't score a lot of points running the ball This season with this team. You have 3 downs, take one shot because you're probably not going to a bowl this this season. The season feels like it's falling away.
This is one of those opportunities where again, there's 6 minutes left, You have a shot to like put a knockout and maybe Penn State still comes back and scores that touchdown and you lose by three. It's like, maybe it doesn't matter, but you have a chance to like, go take it. And it time and time again it feels like we play from it. We're scared. It's like we're playing the conservative. Normally in football, you go for the points and see what your defense feels like that you
can't do that. Your IU. It's just it sometimes makes me wonder where this has because if you're Tom Allen, it's like if you could somehow score a touch, just take one shot, score a touchdown there maybe Penn State's more, maybe they're really freaked out. If you somehow win this game, it changes the paradigm of the season, the extension, like it changes everything. Instead, we're here with three rushes and then you end up being losing kind of the way that I think many people expected.
That's that's like my main take away from the end of the game. Yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm with you on that. I was, I was kind of baffled and I I've been really racking my head as to why they would have gone so conservative. Because at first I was like you know that's really that's like coward ball from Kerry. And then I was like well you know maybe it was more than Rod Kerry. You know, like it's like, so something that Galen has talked
a lot about in the past is that. Tom Allen approaches the game as the offense is more of a complimentary piece to the defense. And so I've kind of been rolling around this idea in my head. You know, without the press conference, we haven't seen what he says in the press conference yet. I'm sure it's going to be very enlightening. But, you know, I think I, I I've been thinking about what he might have been thinking, which was perhaps offense. Don't blow this play for the
tie. Put our defense in a position to play for a win, whether that's in regulation or in overtime, and give them the amount. Give them opportunities. They just created this take away. You know, that's kind of how I I I, but I also know I think it's right and I think that's the way he was thinking. Yeah, and and but then there are people who are debating about the the Brendan Soresby injury, the the shoulder injury, but he had just thrown that touchdown pass to Omar Cooper the the
drive before. And I I don't I don't know about putting Taven and I'm glad he didn't switch the quarterback at all I'm I'm kind of you know tired of that. But I think that just throw like I think you know he's already shown that he can throw on on his his shoulder. It's not going to require a ton of throws. I I think like you were saying what is there to lose?
Like he he just said last week that he felt like the season was slipping away and then he he. You know, responds with three runs when they have a chance to take the lead, and it's it's. It is also baffling to me. Yeah, well it's like you have you know, the the only thing they did in the first half that was good was they had two pass plays. Like they had two pass plays that broke.
You know you look at the the drive chart for the first half, it's you know, 3 plays punt, 3 plays punt, one play for a 90 yard touchdown, 3 plays punt, 1 yard for a 69 yard touchdown, 6 plays drive and then or sorry over on downs and then interception. So I mean the offense wasn't, it wasn't like the offense was like functioning amazingly. They just had two, two great plays, which is awesome and that that counts. But they were both passing
plays. Like you've shown that you can shred this, you know, Penn State defense a little bit. Yeah. And then it's not only that those 3 running plays in the second-half, you have the drive where they have a 14 play drive, they get 56 yards.
I think they go for it once on 4th and then you you're in the, I think you get in the they finally get in the red zone but they they miss a field goal attempt and again it's kind of like there's like you've already gone for it once like I was kind of go forward again like just take a shot like your defense has been holding up it. Again it's like I don't quite know what the mode or like the what this what the headspace is on this offense because like they'll go forward on 4th and
they won't then they'll kick a field goal and they'll play safe and sometimes they'll go I don't know but it's it's still baffling. But again I also walk away. It's like look you they played really hard. They came back and this team showed a lot of resilience to play hard so you can take some of that away as a positive. It's just, you know, there's not a lot of opportunities that you get to win at a place like Penn State and you know all the historical stuff can be put aside.
I go back to again, it's like there's 5 minutes left, you have the ball, they're stunned. I've been watching college football for a long time. Normally the way that that upset happens is that the upset team team throws a pass right there and just goes for the jugular. Like they score a touchdown and then suddenly it's like, oh shit, like, Oh my, like this is real versus like what we did. Which is just you just very rarely see upsets happen that way. Yeah, yeah. No, absolutely.
I mean I think in the second-half they had a couple successful drives. One that was 12 plays ended in the missed field goal, one that was 14 plays which was that touchdown. And you know I I just based on the first half, I didn't. I don't think that there, you know, was a lot of room for. Those types of drives to be replicated and and I think you would pretty much use your opportunities here. You're not going to get a lot of
those again. So if you're presented with a short field then you know take advantage of it like you were saying like take the upset you you like you're not you're not going to find it if you're if you're playing for a die.
But yeah, no, I mean, I think. I I was encouraged by some of the things from the offense and and getting their wide receivers involved finally decrease Carter man like I it's Gala and I joke about between each other all the time because I wrote a whole like an entire by size bison about decrease Carter because I thought he was going to play a major role in the team this year and and I've been really singing his praises and he defeat like
eighth game into the season he's finally used the way that he is you know made to be used so I was like. Wow, who would have thought? But even that play looked like an accident. It's just like those two receivers should have been that close to each other.
Something some wires got crossed there but it worked out and and then just that Donovan McCauley blown defensive assignment by Penn State and then and then you know like you were saying it's really just the the two good plays in the first half and and then. You know, those who weren't watching the game very closely thought Rod Carey was calling a good game at that point. But really there was just the the couple of drives that were in the second-half that I
thought were impressive. But overall, I think it was the front. I think it was, I just think it, I think the difference in the game was the defensive front seven. I think they they were the ones that had IU in the position by halftime and if there was any havoc in the second-half, they were the ones creating it. It was a defensive pressure and interception at the end of the the Josh Sanguinetti interception was caused by defensive pressure on the quarterback.
So I've I you know I've really been tough on the front seven and bite size Bison and I thought they definitely performed better than I was expecting to. Yeah I mean you you look at the defense you know and for they gave up 31 points and that's been kind of our bugaboo is like they're the defense is giving up over 30 points in basically every big 10 game outside of the Ohio State game. Wouldn't have guessed that the odds on that would have been insane. I was like all over.
But this is 1 where you know outside of the busted play which did happen, it was again like I don't know how you get one-on-one coverage and just just tackle the guy, don't let him. But it's always like just don't let, don't get beat deep. All of that said, it's like it does count, but you take that away, it's like that's 24 points
up to that point. And while again the deep, you know you, you keep putting the defense in these positions where it's like you got to make stops and we've been tough on the defense. The defense has not been doing well in the Big 10. That said, you know 44 points against Maryland is not good enough. But to me, you hold Penn State to 24 for most of the game and
31 for the whole game. At Penn State I I feel like the the defense did mostly what we needed them to do and that's why I'm focusing more on the offense is you can't expect IU team just go in the defense that we've had this year just be like we're going to only hold Penn State to 21 at home. Like as tough as Penn State's offense has been, they still have a really good frontline. They still run the ball really
well. It's just frustrating to get beat basically in the air by. It's just like it continues to be whack A mole. It's like they don't really get the running game going, but they they end up crushing us in the air at the end. Yeah, I mean a 57 yard score from the least explosive offense in the country, that's pretty back breaking. But there's an interesting stamp
offensively. And I know it's probably just from the two big passing plays, but this performance in yards per drop back, they had 12.23 yards per drop back. IU did and that would have finished in the top 2% of performances in 2022. And I'm just like. And and so obviously a lot of that comes from the yardage I was gained from the two, you know, the two big plays. But at the same time I thought Brendan Soresby really played
well in the second-half. He had some really good throws and and it just kind of further highlights like why would you not throw in that last opportunity. No, I, I and I think you know and kind of what have you back in that headspace, Scott was the fact that you know there will probably be people that will say that you know.
The 57 yard touchdown after the field goal, after it was tied negates any frustration of not scoring a touchdown on that drive after the interception because they would have been down by a field goal again. But I just, I I don't know, man. I just think, I just think that's just lose your ball, you know? No, I completely agree.
And I think, I I think that you know what that doesn't to to me, what you're missing there is let's just play the alternate reality Indiana, the Indian does get their interception. The the crowd is shocked. It's like the Penn State crowd is completely shocked if in one of the next two or three plays let's just play alternate reality. You throw a pass and you know not even a touchdown.
You just get it within the five and then you punch it in or you just throw up. Like literally next play you just throw a 20 yard touchdown pass or you know, do something and you get a touchdown there. You're you're up by at that point, you're up by 4, right? So yeah, you're up by 4:00. But it's like, what that does is it changes Penn State's mentality again. Now Penn State is like, they're freaked out. Like that's like again, it's
like an oh shit moment. Like we are about to lose to Ohio State and now we're going to lose to Indiana at home. Like, this is like our season is now off the rails. They are going to approach that next offensive series differently. I just have a hard time believing they're going to take their quarterback and just throw it an INT and have him Chuck at 60 yards down the field. They're probably going to play a a much different style.
They're probably going to try and pound the ball and get to a point where they can kick a field goal, get to overtime and let us make the next mistake. But instead, it's a Tide game where now it's like, if you're Penn State, it's like, all right, the chance of Indiana, you know, picking this off and doing a pick 6. It is always there, but it's
very unlikely. So you're much more likely to take a a shot because like worst case we're going to overtime whereas suddenly you know if you're down by 4 points, I mean you can't even go, you got to get a touchdown. Like it's just going to change the whole mentality of the game. And I I just don't know if Penn State runs that plate. Maybe they do, maybe they still do and we're down by three and like, but it's to your point, it's like it's loser ball like you, you have to go take the win.
Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. I I agree. And you see this all the time with Indiana where like you know, same same thing you saw in the Ohio State game. Like, I forget the exact circumstances. Like we had the ball. It's like I think we were down like 2:50 or something and it's like we just ran it three straight times and went to halftime. It's like we'll just take, it's like stop taking it.
Like you had a chance to. Again, you're not going to knock Ohio State out in the first half, but you could go into halftime 1010 or take a shot at it and be like, hey, these guys are they're they're coming like versus versus like oh, we we know when it gets tight they're going to tighten up and they're going to do the conservative thing. Like I always like look at it from the other fan bases perspective. If you're Penn State, what do you want Indiana to do? I want you to run it up the
middle three times. I don't want you going forward on 4th. Exactly. Yeah. No. And and you know just a very surface level thought I was having right after the game was during that Ohio State game when Wahlpell said that he. That he, you know pitter patter for too long. You know I feel like those these two things are tied a little bit if you had, I'm not saying that you know they shouldn't have made a change in offensive coordinator but this is kind of a symptom of changing regimes,
right. It's like the lessons that you learn before the change don't always transition into the the new regime so. I don't know like if if if maybe a lesson had been learned from that Ohio State and like you were just saying maybe they don't run it up the middle three times maybe you know. But also I've I've, I've thought that their approach to these these teams, the the big three teams has been really strange. Like the Ohio State game they were, they like that game was very weird to me.
Like the weirdest Ohio State Indiana game I've I've ever seen. I don't think any team was interested in. Competing and but the don't tell the TV partners, hey, we just signed a $500 million TV deal. Yeah, first game of the season. Yeah, this is awesome. Both teams are checked out. Fantastic. Then the Michigan game, they're trying to figure out who the quarterback was and and then against Penn State, it's it's
you know? And I think that's why it's, I saw some comments that Tom Allen made on the radio after the game to to Don Fisher and he was saying, you know, really proud of the offense, really proud of the way they played. Now we're in playoff mode and I'm assuming by that he means that it's like they have to win out to get to a bowl game because they have 6 losses now. And I was like, I just, I do. I I just personally do not appreciate that, that the observation immediately after that game.
I I just, you know with how winnable it was and and and how the other two of the three big big three games have been treated. I was like you know this it's just the it's just strange to me. I I don't know, I I I I thought that was a weird thing to say right after the right after the clock hit zero, you know. Yeah, yeah, that's we'll move on. I can't. I need time to digest that. I'm not ready to say anything about that.
Right. But but I mean this is where you know it's it's I I don't quite know who to blame. But it's like this, this team has always been super tight when things get tight and they they just default to the most conservative offensive style and the only constant has been Tom Allen. Like you've gone through multiple offensive coordinators and like this is what this team is wants to do when it gets really close or when they get in the red zone or when they get in high leverage situations.
They do not want to do anything risky and it it has to come from the top down because you've had multiple offensive coordinators. And this is, like you said, like this is exactly the way they acted in the Ohio State game when they were really close and they did the same thing. And so it it it fall. And again as the head coach, it's like you could easily get on the headset and be like, hey do run one pass in this three
down series. Like guess what your offensive coordinator is going to come up with a pass play. So I don't want to keep harping on it because again in the end it's like you I, we we've, I I hate the fact that we've kind of just seeded 3 losses every single year. It's like, all right well Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan. Like those are just a bridge too far. But they are like fundamentally they are. It's just it's it's annoying. It sucks.
And like we're one of the only big 10 or SEC schools that just automatically has losses and just assumes that you can't expect to go in and win that game. It's like, well, you can. I want to take a step back though from the game and like, you know, I'm really trying to
be positive from this. And you know in the preview Galen was talking about how you know his hope is that we can just take something away here and you know hit the reset button and build on it. And on the surface you feel like you would be able to do that and that you had a lot to build on. But here is trying to be positive, Taylor, I really am. But I'm going to go back and look at the last couple of
years. So if you look at 2018 and a lot of them are actually against Penn State, the last times that we've played one of these top tier teams really well. So in 2018 we played Penn State. We lost 33 to 28 at home. We then went on to lose three of our next four games. That was a team that had four wins, was fighting for a ball berth, went out and then lost at Minnesota.
Not a great Minnesota team, lost at home to Maryland and then lost at home to Purdue. So in that year a close win showing something against Penn State led to a one and three kind of finish when you had a bowl possibly there for the taking. In 2019, it's actually Penn State again. We play Penn State pretty tough, 34 to 27. We lose to them near the end of
the year. We then finish the year one and two and we know we then it's it's not a great analysis because our next game is home to Michigan. It's like all right again, whatever.
Michigan doesn't count, but it's like then we play a four and eight or four and seven at that time Purdue team, we have to win that game to get to a bowl and we go as close as we possibly can, 44 to 41. We squeak out a game that you have to get and then we go and lose the Outback Bowl to Tennessee. So I I wouldn't say that like that win against Penn State really changed the fortune of
that season for a good thing. I'm going to leave 2020 out, 'cause we had it like that was a good team that won a lot of games. So it's not like a bad team. It's it's not the best analogy there. But yes, the Penn State win in 2020 kind of propelled that season, but that was a good team. The other example, there's two of them in the 2021 season, we played that Cincinnati team at home really tight. I mean that was a 12/14 point loss, 38 to 24, but that was a
really tight game. They went on to finish that season one and eight after playing W, beating Western Kentucky and then just giving up the rest of the year. But they also played, you know, 9th ranked Michigan State that year. Really tight 20 to 4:15 at home and then just they were done, like after that they were
completely done. So you know while I do want to look at this and say, hey, there's some real positives to grow from this game and we did exactly what Galen wanted us to do in the in the pregame was have something to build on. I I am nervous that the history of the Tom Allen regime outside of 2020 is that after these really close losses against really good teams, we haven't shown that we take that and build off of it. Do you think this year could be different? I think it could.
I think it could. I think I think the, yeah, I think sometimes, sometimes these games could definitely be deflating. I think, I think the the thing that's encouraging to me is that I think it would be really easy for the defense, specifically the Front 7 to continue to be you know, weak and though the way that it has been recently.
And and I didn't think that they were that in this game and and even though they did give up more than 30 points, I just think that the front seven was really strong and I think you know you carry that into these games like specifically next week against Wisconsin who really can only run the ball right. So you know, you carry that into that and and and what I've also been concerned about, I wrote about in the last by size Bison is that. And Indiana had been prioritizing the run game on
offense. And I I had the graphic where, like you, there was success in the Russian game. It was marginal and gradual, but along with that, there was a decrease in the success rate in passing. And then along with all of that, the offense was getting worse in the SP. Plus, you know, formula. So. I thought that they had a good mix of past plays in there and and and that they were pretty
successful. I I, I'm I'm on a website game on paper.com is a really good website to follow if if you guys don't know about it but it kind of shows just like successful plays based off of EPA and and it kind of breaks the game down and and some really good in good ways.
So IU ran a total of 63 plays. And twenty of them were considered successful, which is 38%, it's not very good, but but ten of them were passing into, yeah, and 10/10 were passing into ten were rushing, but 45% of their passing plays were considered successful. And so you know, if they can carry that into the rest of the season, I think that's something to be encouraged from Rod Carey, who like my concern with with Rod Carey taking over was that there would be a ton of running.
Not a lot of passing because just given his history, given the end of last season when he took over his offensive line coach, I just thought that there wouldn't be much passing in this offense from from now on. So seeing that, seeing the success that it had, I think that is something you can build off of offensively. And if there was any side of either side of the ball that I I was hoping to see something from was the offensive side. So that is what I'm excited
about. But I could also see how a loss like this could be deflating for a team. But I. I think for this team specifically, I mean it looked like it was already they, I mean they've kind of looked dead in the water sky and so like just showing any kind of life I think could could do a lot of work for a locker room. And I I what are your thoughts? Do you think they can carry I I no, I I agree with you.
I mean I think if anything was going to be deflating, it would have been losing at home to Rutgers, having the Shianu get, you know, Gatorade bath on your feet like that was and just basically being non competitive in the second-half. Like they looked, I don't say checked out. They just looked overpowered by like that was just a rough loss to Rutgers. That and then when you look at like, Oh my God, now we got to go to Penn State. Penn State, as Galen said, was like they're pissed.
Like they lost it. Like everything was was arrows pointing toward disaster and they came out and looked really
tough. And at times if you just didn't know the any of the history or anything you're like man you know that that team in red really is pushing around like they were blitzing and it's like the the as you said, the defense of seven, most of the time they were getting pressure to you know to the quarterback you would just be like man, is that is that a Georgia team is that Oklahoma Like they they looked really, really good. So I'm I'm encouraged by that.
So I I don't see this as being a deflating loss. My concern is this is that things just can't ever work out in a good way. Like, all of the, you know, crazy Russian roulette that we had at quarterback seem to finally coalesce on Brandon Sores. Me. It's like, OK, fine, now we're here. Like, we we, I don't know why it took us to, you know, Halloween to pick a quarterback and to get through this charade, but, like, great, we have a quarterback.
Maybe next year we can do it in like September, but fine, we have a quarterback now with this injury, it's like, is it going to, you know, open up Tom Allen to his worst instincts where it's like, hey, now we're not going to name a starter. Now we can bring, you know, Jackson back. Hey, Dexter Williams, you know Dexter, come on out.
Dexter, you can play like, is it going to, are we going to start the Dexter Williams game, where now we're going to run like a quadruple option, just something we've never seen before? Like that's my biggest concern is, but obviously I want Soresby to. I mean college kids. I want them to be healthy. I hope he's healthy. I don't want him to play if it's going to do further injuries. Like that's obvious kind of a no S moment.
But if he's healthy enough to play, I hope this doesn't kind of bring all the quarterback stuff into flux because there's enough problems with this team that you don't need to be monkeying around with that at the most important position. And I'm just concerned because it looked like, all right, like after this game, take that, you know, one injury out, it's like it looked like, all right, we have quarterback figured out. And it would be nuts to suddenly be like, all right, let's bring
the Dexter Williams experiment. And nothing gets Dexter. It's just like he's coming. Like, he's just not coming like this. We have a quarterback now. Let's do it. And so that is my biggest fear is this kind of opens it up to let Allen start monkeying with that. And I think the team has shown, you know, you have two games against two power 10 teams on the road. In one game, you were flipping quarterbacks all over the place. It didn't work well.
In another game, you had a coherent plan and it seemed to work a lot better. Like, let's continue to do that. I'm just, I'm very worried that this is going to throw all that in the flux. Also, you know, yeah, so Brennan Sorosby is injured, right? So let's let's consider that he can play, right? So even if he is healthy. I still, I don't know if I just carry some, like, doubt with me. Now I'm just like, is this over? Is this really over?
The broadcast is like, oh, they they've really settled on the quarterback, Brendan Soresby. And I was like, yeah, but Dexter Williams is off the injury report. So, like, is this over? But oh, what's? So what's the standard for the quarterback? Right. So because Brandon Soresby just led the offense into a very close situation where they almost beat Penn State at Penn State, one of the best defenses.
This is the thing that was expected to compete for a watch Football Playoff spot before losing to Ohio State. So you know is that is that the quarterback that IU wants, that the staff wants, that the fans want. I we've seen Taven throw well and we've seen Brendan source we throw well and you know ultimately what do we want at that position. But no, I agree and and I think I just, I'm just, I walk away thinking that Brendan source we
can do what IU wants. The quarterback to do in this offense and just move forward with that if he can. And but yeah, yeah, I mean you're right. Like it seems like as soon as we do get that quarterback, something happens and then then they take the ball out of his hands like like that at the end of the game. What That's This is very fatalistic and I'm not.
I never obviously don't want injuries at all, but it's like it's just quarterback at Indy. Starting quarterback in Indiana is a very injury prone position like it's been we've done it before. It's like 9 out of the last 12 years. Like we the starting quarterback has not finished the season as the starting quarterbacks like. That's partially why I get so frustrated at the beginning of the year where you do this quarterback shuffle. It's like don't don't even do it.
Like the chance that whoever the starter is is going to finish the starter is like Tom. You will get to change quarterbacks like it'll be something that will happen at IE like just let it happen naturally. Let the tree fall down naturally. You don't need to cut it down like it's going to happen. I. I also yeah I also end with this that you know we're in playoffs all right. We're in playoffs. I for those fans who don't know I want to playoffs playoffs playoffs I want to go to that
that that sound bite. You know, I I my other take away is this that you know to anybody out there who who has any kind if if Indiana does not win another game this year to just be like oh man you know bad luck or we were really close. It's like no. Like this team has, it has glimpses where they have talent. They played Penn State at Penn State to AT at times they were pushing them around. They played 1/2 of great football against Louisville.
They played a really good half against Ohio State. The questions that I leave from those games are like, why are we making the coaching decisions? Why are we playing so conservative? And then why are we not able to do that for longer than small stretches of time? Or why do we take three games off and then come back and do it? But that's my other take away from this year is that there is zero reason why Indiana should not win one or two more games this year.
Like the talent is there. Just be like, man, the talent. Like to just say there's no talent, this team isn't good. Like that is not. That's just fundamentally not true. And so I, I, I just would let everybody kind of have that mindset in a positive way like there's something here in this team can compete. They're not giving up. They are trying hard. But on the flip side like there does need to be some expectations and I think the fan base you know we're we're kind
of a crucial point here. Let, let's continue to push for this team. Let's continue to support. I think they have the chance to win at Illinois and beat Michigan State and beat the last three games are all winnable. And honestly with the Wisconsin quarterback thing, if they played today, they did today it's possible, but you know if they have the opportunity to do that. So let's give them the opportunity to do that.
But I would just forecast that if they don't, I do think that you need some seriously hard questions after a game like today, because today showed that they can do it and it is there, It's just not being unlocked or not being unlocked enough times during the game. Yeah, no, I agree. I saw somebody on Twitter. I wish I could remember who it was so I could credit them. But they said, you know, there's not really, there's not really a place for the staff to hide at
this point. It's pretty clear that there's talent on the roster and if you can't get the talent there then. What are the changes that have to be made, You know, so like I,
I, I agree, I agree. And and I think you know, the only place where I could see this, where the, the, you know, the staff could hide is the idea that there were so many transfers this year And that that can keep from having that natural cohesion because they lost all of their, all of their infrastructure when a lot of the other guys transferred out of the program. But I mean that also speaks to
the staff as well. So you know there really isn't a place for the staff to hide like they they do need to get these guys in position where they can win these games and they almost did it today and and the and and the the the talent is there. I I don't I don't think that the this team individually like I think I think individually the parts are. Better than what we've seen. The sum of a part, the sum of
those parts. At times this year, the team has looked way worse than the talent that's on the roster. And that's why even if even if IU finished with like five games this year, I still wouldn't feel good moving forward. It's just I I just, I don't I I don't know, Scott, I'm I'm I'm getting a little nihilistic. Now, no, no, no.
I'm. I'm with you. And like I I should say like, again it's it's, you know, I just, I think it's a very unfair as somebody who's been very critical of the program and was kind of critical today. It's like I do I I fight back. People who are like, oh man, they just suck. You know, no one's good. Like, it's the bad team. They're just going to lose. It's like, no, like if they lose out, it's not because they're bad. There's just no talent there.
It's like there really is that's my encouragement from today is they played tough and unlike in 2021 where it's like they look like they just mentally checked out after Michigan State this team has not checked out and and trying to end on a positive. I so going back to the what positive can we take out of this is I said this earlier in the season I think after the Akron win, the great Akron win, the amazing Akron overtime win.
But you know looking at this season I I think I said that you know Maryland was going to be tough but you know Michigan I was kind of expecting more at a Rutgers but I knew Penn State and Wisconsin were going to be tough. But it's like you've got to get to the Illinois get you've got to keep the team engaged to November 11th because once you get there I I still look at at Illinois home to Michigan State at Purdue. None of those are a road too far. Whether we can win all three or
even one I I don't know. You're going to have to execute. You have to play well. You're going to have to do some things correctly. But in my mind, there's no reason why you couldn't win all three of those games. Like those are all teams that I think you stack up very favorably with. You have talent, you probably have superior talent in some areas of the field and I will look forward to reading it in Bite side Bison where you will
point out. But I think no question those three games, there's going to be areas where it's like, look Indiana's got the edge here and and but it's like you have to get there mentally. And that was my biggest fear is, you know with a probably a drubbing at Michigan. You know I thought drubbing at Penn State maybe a home loss to Wisconsin. Like I was worried that by the time we got there the team would be so mentally beat down they
wouldn't be able to capitalize. I I have to give the team and the coaching staff and Tom Allen credit at least right now you're really close. You got to get there through Wisconsin. It it looks like they have not lost this team mentally and they're still trying and they're still you know pushing as hard as they can which is important because there is still you know we're in we're in playoff mode Taylor it's playoff time you know.
But they have a shot to do something and even if they you know we're we're kind of talking about a bowl like it's something I I it's probably out of the realm of possibility for this team. But you know you've got to win some big 10 games you just can't go 2 for 30 in in three years. So you've got to find a way to win one or two of these games and at least you win two. You're treading water.
It's not awesome. It's it's better than like winning one where it's like, man, that's where it's just like you got to find some stake in the ground and and find a way to get it done. And that. That's at least my encouragement I'll take away is I think this team will at least be in the right headspace for those last three games. No, absolutely. And I think, you know and I think something that a lot of a lot of folks aren't aren't really.
Maybe they're not thinking about or they're not talking about, but. I think when you when you consider all the transfers that they brought in this year and thinking about Indiana as a destination spot for transfers and even for recruits too. You don't want to end the season with like two wins with like two or three wins. Because if you're if, if you made, I don't know what promises were made to these transfers and they were coming in but if you.
Told them this is a place where they can find success and they can find development and they feel like they didn't find it here. That's not great for the future of IU performance on the transfer portal or on the recruiting trail. So I think that's also something we have to think about too when it comes to finishing this season because even if they can't make a bowl, they they it has to be better than what I have personally forecasted the rest of the season for IU football to be.
You know, I was thinking like three wins. And I now I'm thinking maybe 4, you know, and maybe not picking up one of those last three, probably not the Wisconsin one, That's kind of where I'm at personally. But I think it's important to finish strong even. And I share the same concerns that the team be deflated maybe after the Wisconsin game, depending on how that game kind of unfolds. But yeah, I I'm with you. Yeah, it's so we move on to Wisconsin.
I look forward to reading you on a bite sized bison and I appreciate you hopping on. Quick, quick notice I'm, I'm excited to hear and put it on Twitter. Whatever you If you guys are switching your costumes and you're going like Snickers or Kit Kats or you're sticking the Milky Way, come come Halloween, I'm excited to hear. Awesome. Yeah. Thanks for having me on Scott. Oh dude, of course.
And if you guys are wondering, both of my kids are, One's going to be my oldest is going to be Bugs Bunny in a tune Squad outfit from the original Space Jam. Not the new one, the original Space Jam. And then my youngest is going to be an Ant because he wants to stuff the Ant cost. Ant man is very easy to find, just a straight Ant is not easy to find online. There's spiders. He's like, that's not an Ant. There's like insects, not like he wants to be an Ant.
So I kind of threw that at my wife like alright you're going to figure out how to make a thorax out of a out of a pillowcase and let's see I look forward to Taylor the the the costumes get get harder and and kids want to be all kinds of random things and then like a week ago is like I may not want to be an Ant like no no you're an aunt we've already bought the stuff like you are aunt is locked in so we'll see how that goes on on Tuesday night for those of you trick or treating
and then yeah Wisconsin back home again November 4th a noon kickoff hopefully the weather should be nice and crisp but we shall see. But Taylor awesome to have you read him on bite sized bison and he might be on with Galen for the preview. And as always for everyone else out there I appreciate you guys. Appreciate you guys listening. We'll have more basketball preview podcast and both Taylor and Crimson Cast will be here through the rest of the football
season, whatever it brings. But I thank you all for listening and this is Scott for Crimson Cast signing off.