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 the 9000 other places that he's working, but across the IU 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.