Ep 1141 - Indiana is 7-0 And That Game Was Incredible

The. You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home Field Apparel. Welcome back folks to Crimson Cast. I know a lot of people have been waiting for this episode and we decided we needed to do it live. I am still processing everything that we saw yesterday. One of the most fun, maybe the most fun IU athletics day I've ever personally taken part in from beginning to end. Indiana demolishes Nebraska 56

to 7 on national television. They move the record to seven and O and we have so much to talk about. I know you folks have so much to talk about. We've already got like 25 comments queued up and ready to go. We wanted to share this moment with you folks. We appreciate you tuning in on a Sunday morning as we relish this amazing Indiana team and what they have accomplished so far and what they look like they're primed to accomplish moving forward.

Scott, you're on vacation. We were able to get you away from touring distilleries that you're going to purchase to come in and talk to my you football. It's great to see you my friend. How you doing? I'm good, man. No, I'm a Dominican. We're doing Cuban cigar factories today, so, you know, it's just expanding. Crimson Cast Industries, Crimson Pack, Inc. Don't they make Cuban cigars in Cuba though? Well, I mean, we're, we're not a big time podcast yet.

We're working our way there. So Dominican Cubans, it's dude, we're going to sell them as Cubans can't restart the pod. We can't give away our no man, It's great. I I, I will say this a couple of times, like it absolutely kills me that I wasn't there. I've been to so many games. It's just our fall break and you know, we we leave normally on Saturday for a fall break trip. Normally IU football for the last couple of years hasn't really factored into the

equation. The Westfield's fall break was a year past a week past the normal, which sucks or else we would have been on off. But anyway, it I I watched the game on the plane, it was fantastic. I had to do this. This was a great. But what's cool about it is it doesn't feel like this is a moment we need to relish, because I feel like there's going to be. More ahead. So it's like this is the first of what feels like many future moments. Yeah, I there's a lot that we're

going to talk about with that. I agree with you. It's just weird how both out of the blue, how fever dreamish this was, but also how it just feels like another day at the office for this Indiana football team. And we're going to talk through all of that on the pod. We're going to talk about the scene here on the ground. You're going to talk about the broadcast, which I still have not gotten a chance to go back and watch. But first of all, couple of items that we wanted to talk

about at the beginning. First of all, we are part of the back home network here at Crimson Cast. We're partnered with our friends at Assembly Call who are it's their season as well as our season as we're talking basketball Hoosier hysteria happening on Friday of this past week. And be sure to tune in to Assembly Cult throughout the course of this upcoming season as they'll have amazing content. The doing the work podcast, they're up and running with women's basketball.

We've got Bison chat on Tuesdays all through the back home Network and all of those podcasts brought to you by Home Field Apparel. Your place to go for the finest in college fashions, the softest fabrics, the coolest designs like this one and home field apparel. I I saw Connor walking around the tailgate yesterday. He. You know this home field serves

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amazing job. Again home field apparel.com proud sponsor, the back home network. We are also brought to you this season by Hoosier Game Day Logger. Brought to you by Upland Brewing Company. The iconic candy striped can I saw all over the place. I enjoyed a couple of them on route to the game and had one in the stadium.

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If you'd like to get updates on what's going on with Crimson Cast, just head over to crimsoncast.substack.com. We'd love to have you join it. We hit the 1000 subscriber mark this week. Scott 1000 of you have signed up for the e-mail updates. We and tell them the good news yeah our 1000 subscriber was Kurt Signetti like I was it was wild, but he just he hit the subscribe button he's like you guys are you guys are in apparently he googled us who would have guessed it's. Great.

Anyway, Grims and cats.substack.com, it's free. Sign up. You get the emails right to your inbox when we do stuff. So we would love to have you join us on that voyage. Anyway, Scott, let's get to the game. You know, coming into this contest, we, we did a nice podcast on Thursday of last week with Taylor and broke down the game a bit. And you know, Taylor and I before that podcast, we and if you're not, if you have not yet, go visit Bite Sized Bison.

It is absolutely essential reading for any IU football fan. Go subscribe, support Taylor's work. We rely so much on what Taylor does here at Crimson Cast and he has just some amazing statistical insights. But you know, Taylor and I were talking before that pod and he looks at me. He's like, I'm, I'm really confident this week that Indiana's going to win this game. Like I really, I think they're going to win by a really large margin.

And I, I felt the same way. And we talked about that a little bit on the podcast. You're still a little bit uncertain because a team like Nebraska, they came in, they had the number one defense in the country by most of the advanced metrics. They had a really, really tough defensive line. They had only allowed on the season, Scott coming into the game, 68 total points on the year. So I thought Indiana was going

to win. I think we, you know, we were tossing her up. You know, maybe Indiana can score 3538. Like, I don't think Nebraska's gonna be able to keep up with them offensively. I did not expect Indiana to nearly match Nebraska's entire points given up total in one game. And Indiana did that despite losing their starting quarterback halfway through the game. Just an absolute demolition. I mean, Indiana came out and we talked about this in that pregame podcast.

We were like, it would be. They really need to try to seize the game from the beginning. And it was seized. Like, consider the game seized right off the beginning. There was a great quote from Justice Ellison in Zach Osterman's piece. I think it was Zach Osterman's piece where, you know, that first run for like 40 yards that Ellison had Ellison's. He gets done with that. He's like, this might be a real hard game on Nebraska today.

And it just certainly was. I mean, I don't know what it looked like on television, Scott, but in the stadium, Indiana just felt like they were in control from the moment the ball was kicked until the final whistle, buzzer, whatever. I mean, what was it like on TV watching it? What was How did it feel for you watching Indiana be that dominant? I mean, so I was watching on air, you know, on Southwest Air flight.

So it was a little bit laggy. But yeah, I mean, it turned into basically the second-half was like a Signeti fest, just them glowing about Signeti. It it was, it was wild to watch. I really was bummed that I wasn't there. Like, I'm just seeing that like having complete FOMO, you know, my take on the game just as a whole, like, and and I apologize, we used to curse a lot more in the past.

We'll we'll bring it back today. I'm just like the thing that stuck in my head is like, we just kick the living shit out of them. Like that is all we did. We just beat them. And and to your point, you know, we have this next man up mentality where where the running backs, you know, Justice Ellison is awesome, but you know, we come in like the second guy comes in and it's like we run the same type of place. The wide receivers is going all across the board. We're getting wide receivers all

over the place. And this is no knock on Rourke, but it's like Rourke goes down and we still run a similar type offense. We have 28 points in the first half, 28 points in the second-half. And for all you know, Rourke had some great back shoulder passes, Jackson had a great back shoulder pass, I think to Sarat in the in the end zone and it I don't want to at all. I'm not saying these are scheme guys because the players who are

doing it are great. But you can definitely tell like there's a scheme and a way to play here where you can just put put guys in and do it. And the last thing I'll say in my opening selfo here is again, I love this feel that we come out the first drive and you know, you, you said it. I'm sure Signetti knows it, that, you know, if we can get a lead, it's really tough for teams to kind of keep up that pace of scoring. The first drive is so huge.

I'm sure the stadium has electric and it's like we have a 4th down play. What do we do? It's like not even a question. No time out to think about it. It's like, oh, no, we're going for it. And like even the commentators like Gus Johnson's like, oh, you know, they're going to go for it. Like they obviously knew they had been talked about and there's no question they went for it.

They got it. They scored a touchdown and it's like this feeling of like we got our foot on the gas and like you better keep up whoever's playing us because we're coming at you the next drive went forward again and didn't get it. But like I absolutely love that. And you feel the pressure that this put on the other team when we just come out there and it's like we're just going to keep hitting, keep hitting, keep

hitting. And honestly, what I loved is second-half, you're up 28, seven, you have a backup yo, your backup quarterback in a total moment for a let down. It's like, Oh no, we still run the same stuff we're doing like flea flickers. We're still coming at you. You have more interceptions, like just the pressure never ends. And it's, it's a quiet confidence that I, I, I just, I've never seen a team like this

before. And I want to get to some comparisons to the 2000 team, but it's like this is just, this is a, a, a different level. But it was unbelievable. No, I've, I've never seen an Indiana team with this. Now that's that's what. Yes, that's what I meant. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen other football teams. Yeah.

Something that you said earlier. I was texting with Taylor this morning and I asked him if I could read what he sent me because we were talking about the Rourke Tavan Jackson thing and whether, you know what that was going to look like. And I thought he he made a really insightful point. Like Rourke is definitely a great player, but this success that IU is having right now feels like a great offensive line play. Absolutely. And BA great system and an active coaching staff.

It's the system winning more than any single player, which IU football fans are not used to seeing that. But that's just not something we're used to. I mean, normally this is me editorializing here, but you know, normally Indiana has thrived off of one really great player or two really great players. And the only other time I can remember Indiana looking like this, and it was a weak version, comparatively speaking, was 2019 where, you know, Indiana used multiple quarterbacks.

But really it was the scheme that made them look as good as they did throughout the course of that season and and help them to keep getting better. And I think Taylor brings up a good point as well. If Rourke does indeed not play, which we'll talk about a little bit later on. There was an announcement that came out through Pete Hamill today that he was unlikely to play, which I think is weird

wording. I'll I'll just say that we'll come back and talk about it. But but if if work indeed does not play against Washington next week, Taylor's comma was it might shrink the playbook because work is so good pre snap. But Tavan. Offers a lot of athleticism for running and throwing outside the pocket. The staff will maximize that difference, I assume. I think that's you know, and the thing that I'll say is like his Jackson's second touchdown. They mentioned this on the broadcast.

You know, came I I forget I think it was it was a little like a like not screenplay, but it's like a screenplay and then like a wide receiver caught it and just was in wide open space. They were saying the play like Gus Johnson was just glowing about the play because he's like, you know, you, you can run the hit. The ball has to get past the receiver behind the line of scrimmage.

But it's a great play. And and my thing is, again, Jackson and Rourke are both awesome that, you know, Rourke is making some great throws. But what made me feel really confident is it wasn't like that was a fluky play. Like he was wide open, like any quarterback in the country could

have made that throw. And it's like it's the idea of that, you know, Signetti's able to create and Shanahan are able to create these schemes and these plays where it's, you know, some of the throws are hard, like Jackson's first touchdown pass was was hard, and some of the Rourke throws, but a lot of them are just pitch and catch. All you got to do is throw to the guy who is wide open. Yeah, I mean, let's talk about some stats.

This was an interesting game, and as much as it was not a game that Indiana won primarily through the air, it was a game Indiana really won on the ground. And you know, for all the. Time. I that's the thing, and I feel like we've said, when was the last time we've said that every week so far this season, but this was the Justice Ellison game for Indiana. 9 carries, 105 yards, 2 touchdowns. This was a Nebraska defense that had not allowed a rushing touchdown all season.

Indiana scored five. I guess. So I'm not, I don't take that as laughing at Nebraska. I'm just giddy. And it was like from the beginning, that first really long, that 43 yard run that Justice Ellison had, you know, I was thinking to myself, this is this was not what I was prepared for.

Like, I really thought it was going to be somewhat of the Maryland game where Indiana was going to need a couple of quarters to get themselves set to figure out exactly how to, you know, find the point of attack and exploit it against Nebraska. And they just came out. And Nebraska looked completely unprepared for the physicality, for the execution that Indiana was able to run Tyson Lawton 64 yards on 8 carries and a touchdown had a 29 yarder.

Caitlin Black 22 yards. Haven Jackson had 21 yards. And and then you look at the efficiency in the passing game, you know, cold, real. Quick on the running, just so many of those big runs happened because I we, I keep going back to this happened because of great blocking and it was a great scheme, you know, and I'm not knocking previous teams, but Galen, how many of our big run plays in, in the history?

You know, you had a couple when you had like, you know, Tevin Coleman, us for great players or Anthony Thompson, obviously, but they messed his name up on the broadcast like 8 times. And anyway, but it's like how many of those big runs, most of the time for IU happened just on like a defensive laps or like kind of a weird play where like somebody's should have been tackled, but he didn't. These were running plays where it was the scheme and there was just a wide open lane.

It wasn't like Nebraska missed a tackle or had a defensive laps. They were playing the right defence. We just had a great hole to run into it. I can't remember a lot of runs like that in IU history.

Yeah, I, I'm, I don't know, I, I, I just continue to be so impressed by the constant shifting of personnel on offense, especially that this Indiana team has used throughout the course of the season, receivers, running backs, quarterbacks now and then the, you know, the the unsung heroes on the offensive line, who I mean, this is an unrecognizable offensive line in terms of how good they are compared to what we've seen over the past couple of seasons.

And the coaching staff just in general is pushing all of the right buttons. They're putting guys in the right spots. And there's just, there does not appear to be at least two, you know, the average viewer not going back and watching a lot of tape. There's not a lot of drop off with this team in terms of what they're doing. And, you know, you rack up 280 yards in the air with two different quarterbacks.

I mean, they were the the quarterbacks were effectively 24 of 29. I'm going to, I'm going to excuse the Justice Ellison pass that we're just going to act like that doesn't count. Yeah, but one shot you shouldn't count the the the interception was a total. Just just try. Well, that's the thing. Yeah. So you really get to go. 2428 because that, you know, you can't really.

Paralyze. Them on the Hail Mary, but Curtis Rourke, if you take that, that Hail Mary interception out 17 of 20 for 189 yards and a touchdown. Taven Jackson was 7 for eight for 91 yards and two touchdowns. I mean that is. This is what the top defense in the Big 10. Nebraska are one of the top. Three in the country, according to the statistics, they were number one in S&P Plus defensively coming into this

game. And Indiana just it it was like, I mean, as you know, as I was, I was reading through some of the comments online, especially on Reddit, and it's just like the the shock with which Indiana was able to so effortlessly move the block effortlessly as me trying to talk right now. It's certainly a lot of effort going into it, but Indiana's ability to move the ball against this Nebraska team essentially

it will was just so impressive. You know, Scott, what's our favorite game here on Crimson Cast name the it's the. Drive game. We're just going to call it the drive game. Name the drive, recite the drives, right? Recite the drives. Let me recite the drives for Indiana on offense, It's great

touchdown. Turnover on downs, which didn't matter because then it was touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, Hail Mary, interception at the end of the half, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown, end of game. That was all of the drives. And you know, I, when they went for it on that 4th down where they didn't get it, I was really excited that that was the mentality that was already the 2nd 4th down conversion attempt that they had tried in the game.

And it was the first quarter. The, the, the tone that that sets with this team on offense. This team just believes so intrinsically in what they're doing. And it's almost something that you can't put entirely into words because it's hard to really get your head wrapped around it unless you're watching it. And especially if you're there in person, it just feels like the offense has such a heartbeat to it that they think that whatever they're going to do out there is going to work.

And especially. In this. Especially in the red zone. That was the last thing I was going to say. The the red zone plays, Indiana Ram were just spectacular, almost up and down the board. And you know, by the end of the game, Nebraska was so demoralized. Like they were basically not even trying to tackle that. I've never heard Gus Johnson get bored with touchdown calls. But like by the 5th 1, he was just like touchdown Indiana. I think he was just trying to be

nice to the Nebraska fans. But I mean, when you've worn Gus Johnson down because you're executing that hard on offense. You're you're in a, a parameter that I've never quite experienced before. That that should be a Bill Connolly stat. That should be one of the stats that he has in his like, Oh, you, you have one Gus Johnson Ware down. You know, we we talk about the the name, the drive game, recite the drive. You know, this is this is going to get in the psyche of teams

heads. And I think I felt it a little bit with the way Nebraska played. But let me just play the game with you here. See if you can remember this game. It's a game this season. The drives are you had turnover arm downs and a punt and then touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown game that was Northwestern. So but it's like this is, you know, Maryland is not quite as beautiful as this one. The Nebraska 1 is just touchdown, touchdown, touchdown.

But this is something that future teams, you're going to see them, they're coming in, They're already a bit white knuckled, All right, this IU team, they're going to score. They're going to score a lot. Oh, by the way, it's 4 down territory. Yeah. Andy Moore. Yes, Andy. Oh, sponsored Andy. I want my car. My car. Keys, I'm sorry, Recite the drives is sponsored by Shalhoubis. You've missed. You've missed all the Shalhoubi stuff unfortunately. I have that later on.

But I think that later. But but but I think this is where other teams, you're going to start seeing them really pressing just the game from the minute the game starts because they know we're going to score, They know we're coming and they also know that we're going for it on 4th. You know, the the thing that I was thinking about, it's not the perfect Segway, but just with the way that this team is wrong and how aggressive, like confidently aggressive.

It's not stupid. 4th down calls. Most of the time when they go for it on 4th, they either get it or they run a really smart play. And it does seem like the really high leverage 4th downs, like that first drive they get and then they're kind of playing with house money on some of the ones they don't get. But they were talking about us in the broadcast, you know, Shanahan and how young Signetti's staff is. And I'm just really struck by how, you know, Signetti is 6263 years old.

Like he's not a young puppy. I, I have some, I want to get back to the broadcast near the end. But just I was thinking today how how modern the staff feels like how ahead of the game, it feels like we are in both IL game and the transfer. This is they're talking about the broadcast, the transfer portal, how many guys are coming over. It's like this is a new era of football and we're playing it. And then you look at the play calls and it's all these great little motion plays.

It's a lot of RPO. I mean, it does feel like we are running one of the most modern offenses in football. And then you hear, you know, talking about the staff as all of these young hungry guys who are coming up and you know, it's very, you wouldn't expect that from a 6263 year old kind of football lifer to come in. This would seem like kind of the young, you know, you know, the, the, the guy, USC or something, you know, Lincoln Riley, like kind of the young upstart coach.

Like I just was taken aback thinking about that. Like, and we have it like it's ours, it's our guy and this is our team. It was just, it's, it's awesome. I have a stat that's going to serve as the transition point to talking about the defense 'cause I want to get the defense their due as well. So Max Olson, this was shared with me via text by by our friend Griffin Gonzalez. I think or maybe this was might have been Matt Cohen. One of the two just shared this with me.

Max Olson, who is a reporter for ESPN, post the following Best scoring margin through seven games since 2020 Indiana is plus 245 in scoring margin through the 1st 7 games. That is number one in that time period over the course of the last five seasons. Second on that list is 2022 Ohio State, who was plus 243, 2023 Michigan. Last year's Michigan team that won the national title was plus 2/29/2022 Georgia was plus 228, and 2021 Georgia was plus 223.

And as Olsen notes, Hoosiers currently ahead of the last three national champions in best scoring margin since 2020. I, I mean, what? I don't even know what to say about that, Scott, other than this. Then again, like people love to pick apart Indiana's schedule. I as as we've already, we would have predicted this and it's already started to happen. Indiana blows Nebraska out. That was supposed to be the big test. Now Nebraska who who they played.

Yeah. Yeah. Nebraska's not good now because Indiana just beat the pants off of them. But I do want to talk about the defense, 56 to 7. Now, we knew that Nebraska's offense was not as good as their defense. They came in, I think they were in the 80s and S&P Plus and offense. And it was one of the reasons why we were so confident on the pregame podcast was that we just felt like Nebraska wasn't going to be able to keep up with

Indiana in terms of scoring. But I thought they would score like I thought there would be some. I mean, I, I don't know what's the most impressive statistic. I think it's probably the fact that Nebraska rushed 29 times for 70 yards. They had a 2.4 yards per carry average, which is just nuts. I mean, that is that is a stellar performance by the defense. Dylan Rayola, who's clearly talented, 28 for 44234 yards, 0

touchdowns, 3 interceptions. And I mean, just struggled with pressure, you know, threw some balls that he probably shouldn't. Just some demoralizing plays by Indiana. Whether it was the interception, it was the the tackling. Aiden Fisher was just absolutely stellar in this game. 11 tackles, four of those solo tackles was all over the field. D'Angelo Pons did an amazing job. Terry Jones junior had a sack.

You know the the two fumble recoveries, Jacob Mangum Farrar and Mikhail Kamara both coming up with with those 3 interceptions, as we mentioned, Sean Asbury, Reliah Hardy and Jameer Johnson. I mean, as as demoralizing as it is for other teams to watch Indiana's offense do what they do, the defense got a lot of criticism in the Northwestern game. Not undeservedly, but I, you know, I look at their performance in this game and I'm like, that is a demoralizing defense to go up and play

against. Like everything was clicking for Indiana in this game. And as as a one of the commenters put earlier on Reddit, like at least you know, Charlotte scored 14 points on IU. Nebraska was only able to score 7. It really feels like the defense made some adjustments, really amped up their energy and focus and just got after it from the very beginning. I mean that one drive that Nebraska had at the beginning of the game. Or close to the beginning of the game that where they scored the

touchdown. Let's recite the drives for Nebraska in this game. Well, I was going to do that. I wanted to do the the Ray Skillman. This is the Ray Skillman. Recite the drive for Nebraska. Sorry, stepped on it. It was OK, But please go ahead. Do the do do the recite the drives for that. Sorry, I was I was loading that up for myself. No, it's, you know, punt, fumble, touchdown. I mean, not a great way to start the game, but OK.

And then from there it's punt the three, three play, punt, 3 play, punt A-15 play drive with interception and then an interception and then turnover on downs and a fumble and then a one play interception and then a turnover on downs. And that's game. And as we've joked, this is the bend but don't break defense that we were talked about in the Allen era. Like they get down there, you know, 15 play drive and then Nebraska turns it over.

The play that I thought was to me very interesting is it happened in one of Nebraska's first two or three drives their their receiver caught a ball IU like pulled it out and it was like really on the like wasn't sure he was down or pulled out. He probably was down first. Nebraska wisely came up and like

called a quick play. But I was thinking again, this is like pre 2024, Scott was thinking like that would have been the play where it's like, damn it, Like we let that like that was the that was the game changer. Like we had the moment to get Nebraska off and have an interception like fumble didn't happen. And you know, as it turns out, it's like, OK, don't worry, we'll let's get three more turnovers.

We'll just keep going. And that's something with this team that when things happen that don't go their way or it feels like we get a a funky call or something just like, OK, fine, you want to play that way. We'll just get two more interceptions on that. Like this team has just such a resolve and such a focus of we're going to do it.

And and the last thing I'll say on the broadcast, you know, Joel Klatt, who's Gus Johnson's partner, although I could never remember the time, Joel, look at some name. You're allowed to change your name in broadcasting, like go with something different. But I know he played. So he has to go with that. But he he he kept going like they they were so positive about IU's offense. But then Joel would be like the defense you have just Gus, I got to say here, man, the defense is pretty good too.

Like they couldn't stop glowing about both sides of the ball to the point that in the middle of the third quarter, they're just like, this is a good team. He's like, this is a really good team. And even, you know, Joel said this, which kind of blew my mind that he was like, I, it's like, you know, a lot of people were kind of stunned by the TCU team

last year. It's like this, this Indiana team, he's like, they don't really remind me of TCU last year because TCU was in a lot of close games. They had a lot of games they could have lost. They went all the way to the national championship. Like Indiana's kicking the snot out of people. He's like, so they actually remind me of it. Like they don't remind me of TCU. They remind me of a better team than TCU.

It's like, I think this guy, the limits for Indiana and I'm I'm just like, this is like this is a simulation now. Like we're talking commentators who watch football are talking like comparing Indiana glowingly to national runners up. Like, I don't know what world we are living in, but no, we are. We're good on both sides of the ball. And even our punting was, we just don't have chance to punt

much, but our punting is good. I know James Evans is like, you know, the Maytag repairman of college football right now. It's a lonely job being the Indiana punter. It was just the whole thing was just such a total. It was just funny. Because when you were, when you come to Indiana, you're probably thinking like, all right, well, if nothing else, I'm going to get 15 punts a game. Like I'm going to get a lot of practice.

I'll get a lot of film. And Evans just like knew my pro career, like I was going to be McAfee. Like there's no tape on me punting. Yeah, it's, I don't know, it's so much, so much to laud Indiana for in this game as it is. It is absolutely just nuts watching them play as well as they did and watching Indiana just with the confidence and the the the reserve throughout.

And I'm I'm just so pleased. I'm so thrilled at the way that Indiana approached the game and this was something that was brought up by a couple of different people. I think Zach Osterman brought it up in The Star, but the, the there was so much noise this week. IU was all over national media. Kurt Signetti was doing all these interviews. Curtis Rourke was on the Heisman

podcast. You had Big Noon kick off live in Bloomington. You had Barstool who had a really unique setup, which I'm going to talk about a little bit later. Live in Bloomington, there was so much buzz. IU had a bye week. They had two weeks to kind of bask in the fact that they were bowl eligible. That seemed there would seem under normal circumstances, like something.

Total let down just. Really be a total let down and I think that in the back of a lot of people's heads, that's kind of what they were expecting and Indiana just showed up like it was another game that they there was a let down. It was Nebraska, right. Well, that I mean I well, but it's the kind of the flip I think Nebraska was. I think they were so unprepared for what Indiana threw out in

this game. And there is a level of confidence and I keep saying competency, but that feels like it doesn't adequately explain how like if if just efficiently minded this team is and you know, they haven't played perfect all season. Kurt Signeti, you know, after the game yesterday's like, well, that you know, that wasn't that wasn't perfect. Like we got work to do.

That mentality that has been given by this coaching staff and imported to some degree, you know, because I think this was this was one of the underrated aspects. Everybody focusing on the the transfers from JMU and like, can these guys really compete at this level?

Well, A, they can. And B, the fact that they were able to bring in that culture and then have that culture filter through the rest of the players on the roster, the the ones that came from elsewhere, the ones that were already here. It's just such a, a sea change for IU football. And to watch them in this type of a game, which had let down or emotional, you know, emotional walk back written all over it.

It just absolutely thrills me that they came out with that level of intensity and never let up for the entire game. I mean, the the foot was on the gas. There was a great stat that Greg Campbell tweeted out that I I had missed yesterday. Let me see if I can find it again real quick. So Greg Campbell, the Sid for Indiana, Indiana had the ball for just two minutes and 24 seconds in the third quarter. So Nebraska had the ball for 12 minutes and 36 seconds and Indiana outscored Nebraska 14 to

nothing in that quarter. And you know that that interception at the end of that long 70 yard drive that got returned 78 yards the other way, that that was the the greatest distillation of how demoralized Nebraska got in this game and how focused Indiana was. And I've just. Asterisk on that stat. That was with our backup. Quarterback, right? Exactly. Yes, exactly. So anyway that any other items from the game itself that you wanted to talk about? I can, I do. I'm just gonna talk about the

broadcasters for a second. Yeah, that's fine. It was all like I I will say Gus Johnson is pro IU. Like it's just you can tell because in like when we go up fourteen to seven, I think his touchdown call was like they said they've played nobody. They said their schedule is soft. Just ask Nebraska, Indiana's here. Something along those lines. Like he was like speaking for all of the Indiana fans the the second-half turned into just a signeti love fest.

I mean, they're talking about his, you know, the the gamble he took going to Indiana University of Pennsylvania, you know, the the gamble just going down to the low levels and just betting on himself. You know, the Google me all that. But Gus Johnson had a great little tidbit of a story that I thought about more that actually is this so signeti? I I love this guy so much.

So we all know at the basketball game where he says, you know, Purdue sucks, Michigan sucks, Ohio State sucks too, whatever, you know, along those lines, Gus Johnson was the was calling that game. So he tells us on the air he's like, so Signetti comes and sits next to me during a time out and Gus is like, you know, during a time out, I kind of lean over. I was like, Kurt, It's kind of a crazy thing to say. And Kurt just looks at him bewildered and says why?

We're going to kick their ass next year. And and Gus was like, I kind of thought to myself, this guy's nuts. Like this guy's crazy and he's like, but I don't think he's crazy anymore. And then I I apologize for not thinking of this, but with everything, you know, Signetti's got a plan on everything. Galen, those are the last three teams we play this year. Like I thought it was kind of just a Purdue's our rival.

And then, you know, Michigan, Ohio State or the class cream of the crop, which it might have been, but it also could have been Kurt Signetti looking at our schedule and being like, how are we going to finish this year? We're finishing the year with Michigan, Ohio State and Purdue, and those are the three schools he called out and in February he's thinking we're going to kick their ass. It it it. Anyway, it's a great little story. I just love gusts off and being

like this guy's nuts. It was December. I think it was December actually. But no, I look and and he got asked this by Jenny Taft in the post game and he said, you know, I got a lot of respect for those, those coaches and those programs. And I think he legitimately does. And ultimately what he said was in that interview, I didn't, I didn't have a very enjoyable first day because there was just no hope. There was nothing. There was no optimism. And we are IU football

podcasters. We're IU football fans. We know that. We knew I, you know I. Feel you, Kurt. We feel. Yeah, the level, the level of beaten down that IU football fans have gotten to by the end of Tom Allen's time, it was really, really depressing. I mean, to the point that you and I were having conversations about is this do we do want to keep doing like this podcast? It was so depressing.

I mean, Punt John, Punt literally stopped doing what they did because of how low morale had gotten and. And shout out to Taylor Layman and all of this. Taylor's like I'm in. I'm gonna start to swap it up. Someone's gotta be there. Not only I'm gonna dig into stats, stats just suck. I'm gonna. Dig it. I love you, Taylor.

We love you. But the, you know, The thing is the that that brashness, that that confidence level is absolutely what Indiana needed, not just on the field, but that's clearly where it's had the biggest impact. But the fan base, I think the early adopters were like, this guy's different. This guy is coming with an energy that has been needed here forever. And then to watch it manifest and to see the stadium yesterday, I mean, to to be in there.

I remember walked in and, you know, I've got my family with me and I'm looking out at this crowd and I'm just like, I can't believe what my eyes are seeing. I cannot believe how packed the stadium was, how energetic the stadium was. The whole day was like that. The, the, the vibe around campus and around the stadium in the tailgate lots was just so much fun. And it stayed that way the whole game. The energy was like that. The Maryland game was like that too.

It was a little bit different. It was a little edgier and it was a closer game for a longer period of time. Like, you know, we've, we've had complaints about IU fans not sticking around after halftime. And it's a legitimate complaint why you fans started leaving because we were beating Nebraska too much. Like it was like, well, I don't know what else I'm going to see. And the the ones that stuck around to the end got to see 56 to 7:00.

But that that brashness, that confidence that Signeti has brought to the table has flipped the mindset of this football team. And it is such a joy to watch that happening. It is such a joy to watch fans believing for the first time, literally the first time in IU football and and feeling like they've got something that they can really bank on with IU football. We've got random people walking down the street in California or New York getting stopped and say, hey, what about Indiana?

You know, it's it is so much of what Signeti has done and people have been critical of it at times or like, who the heck is this guy? Like, why is he acting this way? But I think he realizes and you can see it. And if you pay attention to his press conferences and his media appearances, like he realized that this place needed a reason

to believe. So you provide one and then you got to go back it up. And I don't know that in his wildest dreams, and he probably would never say this, but I I don't know that anybody would have thought, oh, we're just going to go in and get this football team to the point where it's 7 and O and rolling and having all of these amazing stats. But so much of it, and we talked about it in the preseason, Scott, so much of it comes down to belief. Football is a very interesting

game. It's a game where yes, your your scheme matters. Yes, your players matter. But we've seen talented teams, really talented teams that don't believe in what they're doing, have seasons that just go off the deep end in a bad way. It's happening to USC right now. This year, US CS, 3:00 and 4:00 and they look like a team that has just had their confidence stolen from them.

The fact that Sigeti was able to establish that early and has been able to maintain it and increase it throughout the course of the season to the point that now people are like afraid of Indiana is just a baffling turn of events that I I couldn't be more thrilled for. Well, even on the big the the big noon kick off show, you know, and he's been saying this for a while. He had an interview, you know, Urban Meyer had an interview with Signetti a little bit ago.

But you know, Urban Meyer, like him or love him, like he's one of one of the better coaches in the last 20 years. It's just saying, you know, this is the best coach team in America. Like I've watched the film and then halftime, he's like, it's it's so unusual to watch a team on film and then come out and see the exact same thing on the field in a good way. And Urban is just like this is the best team. The best coach team in America.

And then you also have Mark Ingram, who is recruited by Signetti at Alabama, talking about how much he loves Signetti. Obviously Saban has a very tight, you know, bond with Signetti. You you look at this and it's just it is kind of one of those moments and this happens every so often where a coach hooks on with the team and has all the pedigree and, and you think to yourself, that makes total sense. Like, of course that guy's going to succeed.

It just sucks that it's happening at, you know, Kansas State or I can't think of the best example, but it's happening here. And you you have the the coaching elite who again, say what you want. Urban Meyer knows how to coach football, knows how to get a team to a high level. For him to say, this is the best coach, the best coach team that I see this year. That's that's high praise. Mark Ingram's saying it, you know, and, and Leonard is there singing the praises.

It is it, it really, it's not just beating, you know, the schedule. The people who know football are seeing the things that make a team great and they're seeing it all here. And it's unbelievable that it happened in a one year. Turn around. But you know, it, it goes to kind of what, you know, Signetti says and is true. He's, you know, they, they played a clip for him yesterday where he's, you know, he talked about how pissed he was that day at IU.

And that's why he said that Assembly Hall was kind of just tired of being losing. He's like you, you can win anywhere. It's like if there's support from the top down and the bottom up, you can win anywhere and you can win quickly. I mean, and he's doing it. We've always said this, you know, so much of the idea of what a program is is really the people that run it. And it's the same thing in basketball as it is in football. You can talk about excuses, you can say, oh, you don't have

support here or there. And and certainly there are some financial elements that more and more come into play. But historically, as much as programs like to talk about being places where you can win or can't win, we've seen plenty of examples of people going into programs like Bill Snyder at Kansas State where. Virginia Tech Like. You can change things if you are good at what you do.

And I, you know, the, the really special coaches are the ones that are able to go in and change culture and they become a phenomenon unto themselves at the place that they're coaching at. And look, this is we're just seven games into Year 1 of what will hopefully be a nice long tenure for Kurt Signetti here at IU.

But, you know, so who knows what how the season ends up, who knows how things go. But just to watch the level of confidence that Indiana's playing with the level of execution that they're able to bring to the table and to understand that there is an attitude that goes with that. It's not just the plays, it's not just the players, but it is the attitude with which they approach the game. And that is, to me, the most important and exciting thing about Kurt Signeti and his whole staff.

And you know, you mentioned this a little bit earlier, but watching the way that they communicate on social media, watching how they approach the game schematically and watching how their players are reacting to what they're doing, it just feels very different from what we're used to. And that is really exciting, Scott. Yeah, no, and I the the thing that it's, it's I just it, it almost is laughable. Now the narrative of, well, they have a soft schedule and it's like, yes, we do.

But you know, there's also no other team in the it's not like other teams in the Big 10 have to play Oregon and USC and Ohio State and Michigan. Like this is a the amalgamation of a schedule. It it broke well for us, but it's broken well for a lot of teams.

You look at Miami of Florida, you know, they played at Florida, Florida A&M, Ball State, Southern Florida, a lot of Florida schools, Virginia Tech, California, at Louisville, not exactly a murderer's row, like not a lot of, you know, ranked in the top five teams. And you know, this idea of, you know, Ohio State played Oregon, look at the rest of their schedule hasn't been that tough. Now we'll play some more tough

games. It's just, it is, it's frustrating as an IU fan how the Gulf Coast continued to be moved because, you know, it's like, we got to play a real Rd. game. Oh, UCLA sucks, like Northwestern, that's not a real Rd. game. And then now it's, you know, it's Nebraska, that's your test. And now it's like, oh, they suck. It's like, well, they partially, all these teams partially suck because we're kicking the hell out of them. Like those two things can be

true. I, I saw somebody tweeting out about like, you know, nobody could have thought this even in a fever dream. This was real. Like, I couldn't imagine us doing our preview. And like, Dale and I, I think I have a seven. And oh, and like, I just want to throw in, I think we're going to beat Nebraska 56 to 7. Like we are. Do you realize we win next week? We've already hit our win total for the year, which most people thought we were a little bit too

eager this year with. 8 Scott, you, you and I, I think, or I at least I picked us to lose to Nebraska and I picked us to lose to Washington. And yes, the fact that we're already on the precipice of getting to the eight wins that you and I both predicted and were kind of laughed at when we did so is really exciting. Yeah. I mean, gosh, there's so many other directions we could go here, but a couple of items there was.

I had a question earlier that I wanted to get to from Ron Mcfaul. Where does yesterday's Memorial Stadium experience rank in your all time IU football moment? So I put I tweeted something out about this yesterday and people got mad at me because I didn't have the O 7 bucket game. I wasn't there. So I can't really, I can't comment on that. But now yesterday was the best. The whole day. It was such a, it was such a, an amazing vibe in there. And, and even beforehand I, I

was, I was on so little sleep. I had 40 minutes of sleep the night before. Not because I was juiced or excited or was like really anticipating him. I just couldn't sleep. I just could not fall. It was I could not stay asleep. It was awful. So I was like, am I even going to make it to the game? You know, do I have to go nap in the truck at the tailgate or something like that? But I was, I was in line at 6:35 to get into the lot which opened. Did your rally towel say sleep later?

Not study later, but sleep later. That's. Right sleep later. I love it. I was in line to get into lot 12 at 6:35. I was the 6th vehicle in line so 5 people got there in front of me. By the time the gates opened, there were about 25 cars behind me. We got in there, we got set up. We, I mean me, I, I did all the set up myself because nobody wanted to get up that early to help set up which shots fired to

the wife. No, no, no, that's OK That she normally comes later with the second vehicle, which is, which is needed. So no, the, the, she was the real MVP with that. But from the beginning it was just the, the, the fans that were in the tailgate lots were excited. There were a lot of people there. It was legitimately a sell out. I think that the lot that I park in, I think the last number I saw on SeatGeek was that those passes were going for about $260

each. So you know, forget about Bitcoin, invest in IU football parking passes I think is my message for all of you. But that's what I'm doing here. I'm actually buying and selling pass. I'm Dominican. I'm just selling EA Lot and lot 9 and lot 8, and I'm going to the beach to do that in a bit.

Yeah, but. Walking around, which I don't normally get a chance to do 'cause I'm cooking pretty much the whole time, but I, I shut the grill off at 10 'cause I was like, I really want to go see what's going on everywhere else. And walked over with a group to 17th and Forest, I think to, to where the barstool thing was. That was cool. They had a big stage set up. They had a huge crowd there. It, it felt like a mini EDM festival and, or, or like a

backyard fraternity party. And I mean that in the best possible way. Like it just had this kind of cool, cloistered off vibe. Then walked over to the fox set and that was amazing. You know, stood there, we were right nearby when they were doing some of their field demos. Mark Ingram, yeah, spiked a football after, like, he caught a pass from Matt Leinert, bounced up.

I caught him out of the air. So I now have that football that will I, if I will someday, hopefully get him to autograph it for me. That was pretty, pretty cool. But that was nuts. Jeremy Gray, beforehand senior associate athletic director for IU, who's poured his heart and soul into marketing and trying to get the game day experience better. This had to feel like a coronation for him. He had some tweet where he that he took a picture from the stanchion above it.

It's like, you know, more beautiful, you know, sight these eyes have ever seen like, you know, kind of the Rudy quote. And it felt that way. Like you just were like, I can't believe that this is all happening at an Indiana football game. And for those of us who have been going to games since the 80s or the 70s or the 60s, it was, it was almost like an, it was like you. It was like one of those Star Trek episodes where you wake up in an alternate universe. And that, that's really how it

felt. It's like, how is all this happening at IU? Everybody got into the stadium early. I mean, the, the place was packed and there were 15 minutes left on the clock until the game started. Like that's how packed the thing was. And I was just thrilled with the the absolute vibe that was flowing through the crowd throughout the course of the whole game.

So to go back to Ron's question, it was one of those things where, you know, the Maryland game had previously from earlier this year had become my favorite game at IU because of how into the game the fans were. I have to go back the, the, the only other game that really ranks in the top three as far as games that I've been to. And there's and there's been a ton of games that I've missed for various reasons.

Like I remember Jason Kennedy and I trying to keep track of that 2015 game against Michigan that went to what, 4 overtimes or I was not at the game. Yeah, there were a couple of others, but I have to go all the way back just real quick that that game, I remember my son was there. He's like 2 years old and he fell and like fell down like 2 bleachers in front and hit his head. He was OK, but people like he have a concussion. Do you need to leave? And I'm like.

It's overtime one against Michigan. Like, you know, whatever is gonna happen, it's gonna happen. But I'm staying here for the rest of this game that we lost so many of these memories. I remember the Iowa game where like with so many memories, we lost. And so I have to go back for games I've been in person. The only other game that's in the category, and it's a distant

third to the Maryland game. And then the number one for me now is that Nebraska game was 2001 bucket game in the pouring, driving rain for those who were there. That was one of those games you'll never forget. And that game had like this. That was not a great game. It was a 14, seven game. Indiana had to have a goal line stand at the end of the game to preserve the win.

I think it was the last time a goal post got torn down at Memorial Stadium. But it was one of those games where what made it so good was how into it the crowd was, despite the elements and how it felt like finally the Cameron era had like some kind of a good win associated with it was like, yes, we did that. We weren't going to a bowl. We'd already lost our 6th game by that point. But yes, as as as Matt Ogle points out, Martin Lapostel was the guy that made the tackle at the end.

So those that were there, it was one of those games you'll never forget. But this was better by every stretch of the imagination, not just because of the significance of the game and how well Indiana's played this season, but this was absolutely just a demolishing of a team that was

supposed to be good. A fringe top 25 team, a Nebraska program that is one of the top programs from a brand name perspective in college history, and a team that did a lot of talking, or at least their fans did a lot of talking coming into the game. The team didn't so much I am, I, I, I'll always remember fondly the entire picture of this Nebraska game and just how fun it was. And for those that were there, I think you'll probably all say

the same thing down the line. And for those that weren't there, all I can say is buy Washington tickets. But you know, come down and see this team in person. And and that's The thing is that there's a there's an opportunity the Michigan game could be the next best experience for for fans who are there 'cause that could be a team that's undefeated going in to beat Michigan, Who, you know, is a bigger, you know, defending national champion And also a team that we've had our bugaboos with.

They could they could could not be ranked. That could have, you know, not you're not going to get obviously big Noon, you know, Saturday, again, maybe it's game day, don't know. And in the Purdue game, while Purdue's not a looks like a live opponent this year, that that would still be fun to kick the snot out of Purdue and maybe punch your ticket to something Big 10 title game, you know, a College Football Playoff. I mean, so I, I, I hear you.

This is also the the longing of a guy who just scheduled a trip for the wrong day nine months ago, you know, but I, I, I again, much like that, you know, missed fumble that we didn't get. It doesn't feel like this is my God. I missed the one in a 20 year opportunity to catch a great game. It does feel as if there are more great experiences down the road. This team just looks focused and poised. And you know, I'm, I'm nervous to play without Curtis Rourke, but I'm not frightened.

It's not like, you know, when, when Pennex went down, Ramsey was still good. But you know, it was, it was different. Or in 2020, you know, you kind of felt like all right, going to Jack Tuttle was definitely a step down from Pennex. And I'm not trying to knock, you know, Rourke or Jackson. It just it feels like the schematics are run so well that this coaching staff will be able to put together a package that works for what Jackson needs to do. I mean, and that's the thing.

So I guess we can talk about the Rourke injury now. So, you know, it's there's conflicting reports about what the injury was. You know what I've been hearing and I think I think our our buddy Huperazzi verified this, that that he had his thumbnail ripped off. And so they had to tape that background, which is tough on the throwing hand. And so Pete Amo. Better than a broken thumb? Well.

But yes, absolutely. But, you know, Pete Amo, Pete Amo. And then we've seen several other confirmations of this saying that Rourke is unlikely to play against Washington. Jeff Rabjons from Pigs just stated that a source says he's not playing against Washington. I mean, I don't want to undersell that. I mean, this is a guy who has been throwing himself into the Heisman contention, quite literally, and has played with

such a poise. I really liked what I saw out of Taven Jackson. And I liked what Taylor said earlier about this idea that, you know, this, this this team is winning because its offensive line has played great and they've got a really good game plan. But anytime you lose your starting quarterback, that's a, that's an issue. And so I'm really interested to see how Indiana responds. They're going to play a team that's got a much better offense in Washington than what Nebraska

threw out there. And Washington's, you know, proven that they're a, a, a decent team at times. They beat Michigan now that that win looks a little bit less impressive every week. And then they, you know, they also didn't look very good against Iowa. So I am confident in Indiana's ability to get through that game, but they're going to have to keep their focus and, and this is where they just can't take anything for granted, especially if you're going to have work out.

It might be a blessing in disguise to some degree because as we've heard a lot of people say like, well, IU hasn't faced adversity in a game yet, which, which a is false, but this is real adversity. Like, you know, anytime you lose a, a starting quarterback for a game in the, in a season where you've only got 12/13/14 games, you're that's, that's adversity that you have to overcome. And maybe that helps them keep their focus even more as they go into this week.

Well, not, not that you're saying it, but as somebody who would say that, it's like we haven't faced a, we haven't been down because we haven't been down. Like because we're up 14, nothing in every game that we play or we haven't ever been down, It's like, yes, we haven't faced adversity, but partially because we're winning every game and we're kind of putting teams out of their misery early.

Yeah. So it's it's just, you know, and that Brian Hicks just had that comment that I showed there, like, can we jump on Washington the way we've jumped on these other teams? But you know, I'll say this, like even in the Maryland game, which was tight for a while, the the Northwestern game got tight later. We've seen Indiana win effectively in a variety of scenarios and situations. We've seen them jump on a team immediately like that again, get against Nebraska.

We've seen them ease into a big win like they did against UCLA. We've seen them pull away at the end like they did against Northwestern and Maryland. So I like the fact that Indiana's going to be in a position where whatever they face in this Washington game, it's not going to be a scenario in a game that they haven't faced in some way, shape or form, except that they're going to have a different person

likely under under center. I am curious to see how precautionary all this is. And I'd feel a lot less, I feel a lot more worried about it if the running game hadn't been so strong in this Nebraska game. Well, that was the point I was going to wrap up with is, you know, we, we scored 18 touchdowns through passing this year. We scored 28 touchdowns through rushing.

Some of that is I know you get close to the goal line and you punch it in with the run, but we're still averaging 5.3 yards per carry on our run game on A and it's not like we're not running, you know, only running the ball in a very small sample size. We're running the ball a good amount. So I I like you. This is not like previous years where our offense is focused nothing on pass and the run is an afterthought. Both sides of the ball are functioning well.

Now, maybe that's partially because you have Curtis Rourke playing so well. We're going to see. But there's something with this team that doesn't feel as if Signeti's not going to know. And this is where that breath of his career and his experience comes into play. And I think you just at this point, no question, he gets the benefit of the doubt that he knows what he's doing.

He's had situations with teams where people have gone down, either starting quarterbacks, running backs or wide receivers that were key. How do you build your your game plan differently around that? I I feel like Signeti is going to be able to do that. And not to mention, you know, if he if he doesn't have a question, maybe if he's concerned, he could call up Saban. I mean, he's got a great coaching treat.

He's just like, hey, Saban or Urban when you're not, you know, going off on me on the big noon set, you know, kissing my butt. Give me some ideas. I look, I'll say this, the last thing I'll say on this and then a couple other things before we wrap up. I am, I'm, I'm confident that this coaching staff is going to figure it out and, and figure out a way to handle whatever they have to deal with.

Indiana's been blessed so far this season and that they really haven't had a lot of injury concerns. They've had a couple and but they've been able to cover in those circumstances, whether it's on defense or on offense when they've lost people. So I'm not overly worried, but I any more than I would be just generally like make sure that you do business the way that you're supposed to do business if you're Indiana, because this is really where it's, it's

tricky. And I've thought about this a lot with this football team. So much success has come to them so quickly and they've handled it so well up to this point. That builds though, week after week. You saw this with with Signetti's James Madison team last year. You know, I mean, they, they had one bad game towards the end there where they lost the Appalachian State. That was what they had game day out there, right? Like that's kind of when it.

Felt like the fever pitch of James Madison hit, you know, But I think Signetti probably learned some lessons from that. This coaching staff was with him for that. So I really count on them to go through this week focused and intense and realizing. And Signetti even said, you know, something along these lines at some point yesterday.

It's like at the end of the day, like it's, it's a new week every week it's a new game that you're you, you can't bask and whatever you're doing at that moment, you just have to keep pressing forward and that this team really does seem to grasp that. It's almost like they don't quite understand or understands the wrong word. They don't have a situation where they've acknowledged all of the noise and that and it was that I think Ethan Barksdale had the quote I was searching for in

vain. We we wake up the same people and that's. The message and so the work thing is, is a concern and you just hope that he's able to get back relatively soon. We don't know what the extent of the injury is, but I'm not I I have faith right now in this team and I think this team has faith in itself and in the coaching staff to do what they need to do. And so that's why I'm not as concerned. Any any other thoughts, I guess generally on that Scott?

No, I mean, it kind of goes back to what I said in the beginning. You know, the the only thing that makes me feel, again, I would rather have Curtis work behind center and have this team humming on all cylinders. But the nice thing is you're playing. Your next two games are against, you know, Washington, who's a little bit of a mix there at

home. And then a Michigan State team that has a little bit of firepower but also has a freshman quarterback who seems to have some, you know, interception issues that we do well against. That's on the road, but we have we saw a preview of it. I would feel more concerned if the Curtis Rourke injury happened at the end of the game and it's kind of this big

question mark. We kind of know what it's going to look like with Tave and Jackson under center because we saw it in the second-half and it was kind of business as usual. But they scored the same amount of points. The offense was still was still as functional. So that that makes me less concerned is that it see, and that that was probably a situation where you had less

time to prepare. Like they probably weren't putting a whole tape in Jackson playbook into the Nebraska game and they did it in 1/2 time and got it ready to go. So I again, we are at a point where Signeti gets all benefited out for me and I'm I I'm I like you. I hope that he can come back from the injury.

The only thing that was, you know, concerning they're talking about the broadcast is that, you know, some injuries and hand injuries as a quarterback unfortunately are really tough because there's not much you can do because you can't just shoot it up with novocaine because that's the hand that you need to feel the ball. So you're kind of either playing in pain or you lose some touch. Like this is something that may may last for a while which which sucks.

That's just Yeah, we'll see. I I will say the Michigan State game has always been one I've kind of had in the back of my head. It's like that's going to be a challenging game. They look and as up and down as Michigan State's looked so far this year, they look really good. Yesterday in beating Iowa, they beat Iowa 32 to 20. You know, they he jumped on Iowa early. They were up 12 nothing at

halftime. Should have been up 15 nothing if they hadn't missed that field goal at the end of the half. So look, all of these situations are situations where Indiana just has to keep resetting. And we've seen this across college football. There are are very few like really dominant teams. Indiana's been one, but we've seen plenty of teams not be able to handle business from week to week. I've been pleased with how Indiana's been able to handle their business week to week.

This ends up becoming this next stretch, a really tough stretch, not because of the caliber of opponents necessarily, but because it is so easy to get tripped up in college football. It is so easy to have an off week where you're not focused the way that you're supposed to. And that's that's where Indiana just this is where they test their medal. Washington at Michigan State, Michigan at home.

If you can win those 3. Because the team that does like let's be honest, the team that does that isn't losing to Purdue at home, which is they just aren't. So you're, you're giving yourself 11:00 and 1:00. Well, it's more it's yeah, that's that's exactly right. And and I guess my big thing is this. It's an amazing thing to even say that like Indiana in these next three games can essentially guarantee the greatest season in College in Indiana history football wise.

But that is a really, that's a tricky thing to navigate as a football team when you haven't had historically a whole lot of success. Now, the James Madison players had success at that level, but this collective group has not been quite in that spot before. And I am look, whatever happens the rest of the year, I'm always going to look back with incredible fondness and excitement at what has happened

so far in this season. And, you know, so whatever happens the rest of the way, I'm it's not going to affect that in a negative way for me. But it is really interesting to think about like what the potential for this season still is at the way that Indiana's played and, and the fact that they've looked so consistent week to week. It's become an interesting running subplot in my own mind. Like how how are they going to do it this week?

How are they going to come out and do what they need to do to have two weeks off like they did or a week off, I guess. And to come out with that level of fire against the Nebraska team, that was supposed to be a big test. How do they handle that now in these next few games? Because I think that pressure internally like it the the potential is there for it to build and you start to feel the

weight of expectations. So how well does the coaching staff work with these players and how well do the players self regulate so that it doesn't become overwhelming from a pressure perspective? Because we have seen that not just, you know, potentially with Indiana, we we saw it a little bit with a couple of Indiana's prior good see seasons and

teams, but we see it elsewhere. You saw that with Texas yesterday where, you know, all this build up and everything and and they really got roundly trounced by Georgia. I mean that that shouldn't have been as close to the game as it was. So I'm just going to keep an eye out on it. It's fascinating. I think it's going to be great to watch and I'm really, really excited to see what occurs as we move forward with this team. I want to say something now and I agree.

I agree with you. And I said this I think last week that if we are at a point where this season is a success, no matter what happens, we are a success. Just point blank. We we've hit the limit. But I, I want to take this a step for this is the Scots fever dream. Part of the podcast, which I love is a segment now and people are texting out like fever dream stuff cracks me up. This was kind of hinted around on the broadcast, kind of kicked around.

Not really said implicitly, but I'm just going to say it here because we've talked about, you know, schedules and soft schedules, this and that. And even as you and I talk about this like we win the next three, you know, you're going to beat Purdue, you're 11 and one. I think people are just inherently just assuming that's a loss to Ohio State. And I just want to say that right now this looks like a team that could go in and beat Ohio State.

Now it's we've, I mean, we're talking, we're joking about National Football playoff, making the Big 10 title game, which is nuts for an IU team. The idea of almost saying we're going to go into Columbus and win is like heresy. Like I feel like I'm not being left back into the US when I go to customs. Like, sorry, Sir, there was pro IU optimism. Like you're going back to Dominican, you're not allowed in. We had to stop Scott at the border for trying to smuggle IU

optimism into the country. I love it. So there's too much. They're scheduled soft. You're staying in Dominican. Is there like? Is there a duty free IU optimism store at the airport? Let me know, OK? It's it's it's daunted. It's definitely daunted at the no. Here's The thing is you look at all the metrics, Indiana's a better metric team than Ohio State. You say, oh, Ohio State, they're good. Like, why? Because they started the season ranked high. Like, that's it.

You look at their schedule. They beat Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall. OK, not exactly a murderer's row. They played at Michigan State, Iowa. They won those games 38 to 7:35 to 7:00. Those are mid teams. We just beat Nebraska 56 to 7:00. So we can do the exact same thing. They played Oregon tough. They lost. I I'm not saying we're going to win, but I, I do think I'm at a point now where I'm going to say like I'm not taking 12 and O off

the table anymore. I'm not just going to assume, hey, we can win 3 and then we're going to get our bucks kicked at Columbus and come back. And why can't this team go in and beat Ohio State like it it it? I agree and I and I was not implying that Indiana would lose to Ohio State but but my my but. Everyone kind of talks. I'm using you as a scarecrow like everyone kind of talks about it that way and Scarecrow argument. No, a straw man, not a scarecrow.

You've done this for like 20 podcasts in a row. I've had a bunch of people write me and say why not say Scarecrow argument so. I wish I was better at this stuff. I really think maybe maybe in year 40 I'm going to get better at this. To be fair, I'm on vacation. I spent an hour and 10 minutes talking about, you know, AI was I actually, I was hoping I was going to be able to check off that square on the bingo card for scarecrow arguments. So thank you.

I appreciate it. It's straw man, but everyone's going to talk, everyone's going to talking around it. And I do think it we, we have to come to the realization that this team could, this is the kind of team that could go in and beat Ohio State. If, if, if you just took the names off the jerseys, you know, this, this would be a team where you're like, man, Ohio State should be concerned. So I just, I think I'm at a point where I'm, I'm ready to be

12 and oh, I, I mean, I am too. And my only point was simply if Indiana wins the next three. I think if they're 10 and O and we assume a win against Purdue, which I mean, I hate counting games before they've been played. But if in the end of 10 and O going into that Ohio State game, I think they're making the College Football Playoff unless something like completely goes off the rails. And that is just a wild thing to think about.

And your point is is a good point, and one that is backed up. By, you know, Bill Connolly, the expert, the guy that runs S&P Plus, where he he had a great tweet, something like, I guess they're for real or just something like very like he, he's, he's on our side too pass the test is what he said. But yeah, yeah, yeah. The the resume S&P Top 10. So what this is, is it looks at how you played over the course of the season. It takes everything into account.

It takes schedule, it takes opponent, all of that and, and how well you've you've played in these games. Indiana's the number one team in the country if you look at their resume and what they've done. And that is that, you know, Texas is second, Ohio State's third, Miami's fourth, Oregon's fifth. Indiana is number one in this list. That is that's it. That's all there is to it. So yeah, anyway, no more scarecrows to knock down. We're done at all.

So anyway, we got to take a quick football team, we got to take one quick break, and we'll be right back. Just just need to take one quick break here, folks, and we'll be back in about two minutes. So just hang on for one second here. I'm going to put the countdown on. We'll be back here in just like 2 minutes, OK? The. The. OK, well, we lost Scott there briefly, but he'll be back in just a second. You lost me too briefly, but I'm back.

There were a couple of other quick things we wanted to hit before we wrapped up here and just kind of talked through Scott. Sorry about that. We, I came back a little bit early. One thing that is really interesting is that attendance yesterday was what, 53,000? OI forget what the actual number was, but it was like the fourth highest attendance in IU history. And what is it, 53,000 O 82? But I'm confused here, Scott, because the capacity for Memorial Stadium is listed as 52,626.

Where did all the extra people come from? Have we figured that out yet? They're probably, I mean the upper areas, some of the new areas that are just walking around SROI don't know. SROI like that we wanted to mention the tickets we're. Definitely not sliding down the hill on cardboard boxes. There's an old. Reference, not whole park, not exactly how it used to be, but

that's a lot of people. I did want to also note when people were asking about tickets, there are 675 total tickets left for the Washington game. They sold 4299 tickets yesterday to that game. This is all courtesy of Tony Adronia's database. There are 22 tickets available for Michigan. It's technically sold out, but I think a couple of tickets came back on the marketplace and Purdue's only got 456 tickets left. There are 3455 tickets were sold

for that game there. This team could have multiple sellouts in a row, which goes out this game. It's basically guaranteed at this point. I'm glad to see so many people hopping on and and getting excited about this. The as Patrick points out in the comments, the student section was packed, absolutely packed. The aisles were completely full. There were lines in the bathroom. I will say concessions did a great job of turning people around.

But as we heard from Tricia Whitaker, they ran out of beer at several of the stands in the third quarter, which we've only been selling beer in Memorial Stadium for a year, basically for a year, a couple of years, I guess. So that's the first time I think I can remember them actually running out of beer. But God, the the game day experience has come so far from when they were running out of water against Cincinnati. I mean, it's just it was so it

was so good. And I got to tell you, like even the bathroom lines where I was at, I was, I sit over in Section 11. They were not bad. They they moved pretty quickly. I thought it was pretty efficient overall. But I'm, I really would like if you have not bought a ticket to IU yet and you can make it down to that Washington again, that may be your last chance because all the tickets might be sold out after that. So jump on that if you can. I think it'd be worth your time

to come down here. It might be worth your time in more ways than one from from what I'm hearing, if you catch my drift. But we'll we'll see what happens with all of that. I'm just, I'm bummed. I mean, just again, let's let's worry about. Scott, actually, we can break it now. We can break it. It's been published. College Game Day is coming to Bloomington, officially just got announced by Indiana Football. It's gonna be there this upcoming week. That's awesome.

Scott, what's so back-to-back? What? Planet is this. Yes, we got Big Noon kick last week or this past week, and we got College Game Day going to be in Bloomington for the first real time in the history of the program. Yes, they came for that fake game day that they did before the Ohio State game in 2017. That was on a Thursday. Wow, Scott, I don't even know what to say at this point. I know I, I had a feeling about that because we had talked about the Washington game.

So again, let's worry about Scott. We fly in at like we get in at midnight, 1:00 in the morning Friday night at coming back. And I was hoping that, you know, with Washington coming across like that would be a 3:30 or 7:00 kickoff. And then they announced it as a noon game a couple days ago. And I'm like, damn it, that's

going to be tough to get there. We're going to just kids are going to have to deal with it. Like we're going, we'll be up at like 7:00 AM. Don't want to get down there early because it's going to be that's going to be nuts again. It that's awesome. I mean, it's awesome. I just, I, I do feel so bad for Curtis Roark because he's having this magical season. It would be great for him to get that a game day game experience, but that's going to be awesome. back-to-back weeks. It's wild.

It feels like we are the one of the central points of college football this year. Yeah, it's wild. It is so man, I don't know that's that is such great news, so huge for the program. And someone mentioned this in the comments earlier, just the recruiting benefits that IU is getting. Somebody said that yesterday, like any. Recruit who was there is going to IU. That was yesterday, Dave. Dave Portnoy said that he was right. Anyway, we don't want to belabor this too long.

We've been on for 75 minutes, so we should probably wrap up any final thoughts from you before we we we tail off here. We're good. This is a good football team with a good schedule ahead of them. There's nothing to apologize for. If your friends are giving you crap about the schedule, just tell them that's fine. Like whatever like be like signeting. Just be quietly confident and continue moving forward and and there's better days ahead.

And this is, you know, I said it a little bit earlier. I don't want to keep comparing to 2020 just because that was the last time we were ranked or were, you know, good. It's just this is this is unlike any IU football team I have seen and they're doing things I have not seen. And it's not knocking other good teams, but this is a team that is not winning in fluke ways. It's not winning because of one player. It's not winning because of

scheduling. It's not winning because of, you know, I don't say COVID, but just there's no extenuating circumstances. They are winning and kicking the hell out of people. And it looks like they're getting better. I mean, that's the thing too, is this team looks better as the season has gone along. We have a coach who has a plan. He's executing that plan and everything seems calculated and understood. And the people who are plugged in to football think this, they

see something special here. The people that are plugged into the stats see something here. This cannot all be a smokescreen. Like it's just this is, we've been kind of saying this every single week. This is a really, really good football program. And you know, I don't know where we're going to be ranked. We'll probably move up a couple of spots. Like we said a couple weeks ago. I don't, you know, the fever dream of us being ranked number one in the country, I guess is

still there. This is probably not a top 1234 team in the country, but this is definitely a top 10 to 15 team in the country, like hard stop and maybe a top 12 team. Like, we are there and everything that I've seen in college football, we are a team at a caliber to play in the National Football Championship. We just are because I think we are one of the top 15 teams in the country. Hard stop. And that is, it's a wild thing to say if you have the IU football history behind you.

But if we were seeing this happen at, you know, Purdue or Northwestern, we just think, damn, they got figured out. That's the team. I wouldn't want to play any other team. I would feel that way. So just embrace it, enjoy it, and I'll see you all Saturday. That's about as good of a way to close out as I can think of. All I'll add is this. I've had so many friends and people that I know reach out via text and express something along the lines of I can't believe that this is real.

We're living in a dream right now, a fever dream as you would say. Scott, this what this football program is doing right now just means so much to so many people, myself included, you as well. You know, there's just there's just this level of energy and excitement that we have never really experienced with IU football. We've come close in a couple of things and you could make an argument maybe in 87 it was kind of feeling like this, but this feels like a different level beyond that.

So I'm just thrilled. I thank you to the players, thank you to the coaching staff and thank you to everybody that's making the season happen. It's been so special so far.

Really looking forward to seeing what happens here over the rest of these these five regular season games and then whatever comes afterwards for Indiana. So anyway, thanks to all of you, thanks to Home Field Apparel, our presenting sponsor, thanks to Upland Game Day or Upland Upland Brewing Company, producers of Hoosier Game Day Logger, and thanks to all of you folks for sticking with us throughout all of these years.

It's been great to be able to podcast about IU football and it's great to be able to say that it's been great to podcast about IU football. And we certainly appreciate all you folks in in the the audience that come up and see us and say hi. It's it's been a thrill getting to meet a lot of you over the course of time. And I hope we all see you here for some games the rest of the season. So we'll go ahead and wrap up with that. Thank you for joining us here

this morning. If you're watch live or if you're following up by listening afterwards. Thank you as well for Scott. I'm Galen, this is Crimson cast. We'll catch you folks on the flip side. Bring back the bison. Stay never daunted. So long, everybody.