You're listening to the back home network, presented by home field. Apparel, welcome back to Crimson, Cask ale, and klaviyo joining. It's been a while. Sorry folks had to take a, a forced work Hiatus for just a few things going on around the office, but I'm back. It's the end of the August period here. As we get ready for the start of the football season. We've got a lot to talk about over the course of the next few days.
As we get ready for Indiana, taking on Illinois, on Friday, a rare Friday game in Bloomington, and we got a special guest joining us here to talk about things. But first, before we get to that, a reminder that as you mentioned or is Jared mentioned in that intro, we are part of the back home network in the back home network. Is presented by home-field apparel. Be sure to check out home field apparel.com for the latest in classic and some new fashions and Designs.
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check them out. Connor and the folks over there, we'll get you taken care of Home field, apparel.com, we are going to talk IU football exclusively on this show and we've got one of our favorite guests, who maybe will be a more regular
guests as we move forward. But Olivia, Rea joining us who you probably know if you if you're from back in the day, in the IU, Sports media realm, you know, her from her work here, but more recently has been in Indianapolis at WISH-TV and has a new gig in Cincinnati. It does. WLWT going to be covering the Bengals and another Sports down there, Olivia. First of all, congratulations on the new job and welcome back to the show. Thank you. Yeah.
Feeling right at home. And my first weekend since he last week because I ran into some former Hoosiers like mr. T, gray scales, he was a ball Hawk on Saturday in the Bangles final preseason game could potentially make the roster due to some injuries. He's, of course, a Colerain grad there from Ohio, and they love their Local products. So, you know, jumping right in and still managing to bring up IU football, any chance I get even in a completely different
market. So things are normal here in week 1. I guess that's how you do think now. Am I right that the first practice you attended was the one with the Big Brawl or was that was that a different time? No it was. That was my first practice I attended as a working media member in Cincinnati was the Pearl with the to Helmets and Aaron Donald taking swings around. The Cincinnati fans were not welcoming to him and pay for stadium on Saturday. I'll tell you that.
No, I don't blame them that. But I mean, that's, I guess if you put two teams that played in the Super Bowl together, that sort of thing is probably going to happen. It'd be like if Indiana and Purdue decided to Stage like a scrimmage in Green Castle or something. Like that's probably not going to end the particularly well, no, no. So, so Olivia, let's kind of, you know, we got a lot of questions.
Since we solicited some questions from the folks out in social media lab, we're going to talk about some of those but I guess overall as we head into this season, you know, what are your overarching impressions of what I you looks like, they're going to put out on the field coming up on Friday and Beyond. It was was obviously a disappointing year last year. We've talked about that kind of Ad nauseam on the show. And yet it's been kind of a quiet.
August, so far for this IU football program. You know, there's been some questions about the quarterback situation, we'll get into that later, you know? But there seems to be this kind of quiet confidence coming out of Tom Allen. And this coaching staff about how this is a different team. It's a different circumstance from last year and they feel more prepared for this upcoming year. Are you buying that I guess, first of all and, and what's your overall feeling as you head
into this season? I don't know if I'm buying the coaches speak. Currently here in week one. However, I do think that radio Silence has been orchestrated. It's actually, I mean, Kevin Wilson did it back in the day of, I'm not releasing a starter. I'm not letting anyone into practice. We're not going to show anyone, you know, our hand just yet. But I don't know if there's any reason to be quite confident just yet.
I understand there have been a lot of changes but even that offensive coordinator, who has been brought in to completely revamp, Up this offense and just a makeover from top to bottom, besides the o-line and the offensive coordinator came out
saying. This offense goes as the o-line goes, so the fact that there have been no changes made their leaves me wondering where the confidence is coming from at this moment, unless we're seeing major strides from that Old Line from the faces that were there last season. Yeah. It's always a big question mark. I mean, this is where Hard, especially is Media when you're trying to analyze what's going on. I mean, fans so much of the of the Fall Camp thing.
Whether it's pro or college, is to try to get People Pumped up, you know, see if you can get people to buy tickets, you can get people excited and what's going on. And so, you have to take everything with a bit of a grain of salt, but it is interesting. And this is where you, you know, I think it's easy to get sucked into like, oh, this receiver who people haven't heard about has risen to the more.
He may be the Number one, or these players look like, you know, they've really rededicated themselves to the game and I think it's important for people to remember that. Yeah, it's fine to get excited by that, but on the flipside, every program across the country is saying the exact same things about their program about their team about the strides that
they've made. So you do have to kind of pump the brakes a little bit on how much of it you're actually going to accept as reality versus just optimism. Indeed, and we have to remember a lot of these guys that have risen on the depth chart. As you're saying, you know, too wide receiver one too, tight end. One would usually be buried in other programs and that's usually the case when they do transfer. So keep that in mind just being realistic, as you said don't buy
into the hype just yet. Tom Allen can make you want to run through a wall, but I think this football team may also make us want to do that for other reasons, by the end of this year. Hear me - out of the game. No, no. But I think it's, I do think for a lot of people you have to take a wait-and-see approach. Because we've done it many times on this podcast.
You've heard, if you've been listening for years, you've heard Scott and I, you know, we get to this point and we've, we've drank a little bit of Kool-Aid and we're like, oh well, they can win this. And if this breaks right, they can win this and it almost never actually happens that way.
So it, you almost have to just essentially do a mind eraser on everything that's happened between June 15th in the present-day, not because you're trying to be pessimistic but because if you don't it all, you've gotten is positive news up to this point. All you've gotten is stuff to make you feel good and that's just not really how things work. I mean, if it's it's interesting cuz you go to like an Alabama,
it's almost the opposite. You know, where it's like they're trying to Tamp down expectations, a little bit because any good news people just assume you're going 12 and 0. So the point being being that happens everywhere. I will say something that it's interesting to me and this isn't just a Tom Allen thing. We've given time a little bit of grief over, not naming, a quarterback starter up till this point and there's not going to
be one named. Are you noticing what's going on around college football right now where this is happening with a lot of programs? I mean Lane kiffin won't name a starter and you know, Jim carbaugh went so far as to name two starters one for each of the first two games and Texas. And now Indiana, and a few of the programs have gone so far as to not release a depth chart for the opening game, which I can't
tell what's going on here. If there was like some kind of secret meeting at the Coaches convention, where they all got together in a room or like, hey, let's just screw with everybody for the first couple of weeks or what, but it is. It feels like there's like a purposeful effort on the part of a lot of coaches. Tom, Allen included to just put as little as possible out about what their team is doing. And I'm not sure it really accomplishes a whole lot.
That's just kind of a peculiar thing to watch the coaches. Clearly think it's doing something I'm just not sure exactly what it will actually do. I do think this was a theme of the offseason.
I've had some kind of off the record conversations where coaches have mentioned offhand that they didn't want to do a spring game, they didn't want to do, you know those actual team organized events because it meant that it had to be broadcast on television because of their rights with the conference or whatever League there in.
And I feel like I'm a lot of coaches of felt like those broadcaster and most intrusive and in a way while their team is still trying to figure things out, and maybe they felt like they were giving too much away, but it's been more than one coach to this mentioned that to me in the offseason. So I find it interesting. Now, that as you said, a lot of these college coaches are taking the approach.
Kind of that. The pros have of like, will let you know, you know, come week one, what's going on, which is ironic because it's the, it's the media coverage that they don't. Like that's paying the bills to a large degree. It's like, I don't have a spring game. Hey, what content are we going to put? In April at this point there's only so many reruns that we can run. So yeah, it's a fastened and I get it.
I mean, I understand coaches or it's a tough profession, we poked fun at coaches but I mean you're a couple of plays away from getting fired. It feels like almost every year. So I do understand some of the paranoia but not releasing a depth chart. Seems a little bit on the extreme side of things. I don't know.
Anyway, as we get into things, we had some questions from Some folks out there that I wanted to dive into as you know I think there's a it's a weird atmosphere going into this season for IU and you've seen several of these you work for the football program, you've covered the football program at various points in your college and pro careers.
You know the Tom Allen are has had an interesting Arc and you almost can't really tell the story of the Tom Allen era, without going back to the Kevin Wilson era and talking about the Arc of that and like it felt Like, you know, took years to get people up to the point where they were excited about the start of an IU football season and then they got there and then it kind of hovered around like the five or six Windmark for
four years. And then, it really felt like Allen had this huge, push, and momentum, through 2019 and 2020 leading into the start of last year this year. And this was something that was brought up by by Matt Blasco who's clearly a friend of the of the podcast and has been following things for a while, but, you know, he mentioned.
Playing along the lines of, you know, what's it going to take to win back, the fanbase will six and six with a win against one of the big guys do it. There seems to be a lot of apathy amongst fans and the least amount of excitement since I became a Hoosier in 2011. So, I mean, how do you feel about the overall attitude that people have right now towards the Sigh you team? I think I agree with that.
And, and that's just because, like, you, I usually drink the Kool-Aid. I mean, it got me to drive. What Seven hours last year on Saturday of week, won the Iowa on my once, old day off through the, through the month of September August, whenever that was. But I don't feel that way this year. I feel like my my expectations are pretty low and honestly, I don't think that's a terrible thing for IU football because I will get excited if there's Bowl eligibility on the table.
And one of the final weeks of the year, and if they go and be Purdue. I think that will bring excitement back for the fans. I truly do think that's all they need is Bowl eligibility. They need to win a dang ball game though because I really am tired of attending them and watching things collapse in the final seconds. Yeah, that I I mean we've sat through several of those at this point now and it does not. It does get old, I don't know.
I mean I I go back and forth on this like If I, you goes four and eight but they beat Ohio State in a random game. Is that a successful season? Probably for Indiana? I mean, that would be at the very least and this is something we've talked about for a while on this podcast. It's like you can be like an Illinois Indiana's, first opponent, or, you know, a, there's a couple of other teams that fit into that category Northwestern.
Maybe where you'll have a down year, but you'll get a scalp that is impressive and Indiana has to beat Ohio. Some point. I'm not saying I do it this year, but that's I think the longest FBS like power conference winning streak that one team has over another right now stretches all the way back to what 1987 88 I think. And so you know, something like that would be a success.
I think even if Indiana doesn't beat any of the big teams but gets to 6 and 6 and gets to a bowl, that would be tangible progress and I think people would leave the season with a good taste in their mouths. The big question is like, Well, what if they go five and seven and don't beat any of the big teams, I mean, is that enough progress?
It's more than double the win total from last year but I'm not sure if that gets a lot of people back on board for 2023 at that point because yes, you've shown okay. You, you weren't as abject Lee terrible as you showed in the 2021 season but you're still not good. And in a Big Ten where it's only going to get harder moving forward. It's hard to point to that and say wow there was a real tangible. Progress made. No, I agree with you.
There has to be a big win that people can remember the season by, because frankly, I don't think a bowl game is actually in the future of this, this postseason, but you do get a ranked win a big win over. Someone, you haven't beaten in a
long time. I mean, I'm thinking back to a couple years ago and I felt like Jeff brohm, I won't say was on the hot seat, but wasn't a favorite among Lafayette fans and fans in West Lafayette and they got that big win over Ohio State and I was like, okay, all is right in the world. I have no idea, I can't remember it this rate because my brain is a mess from moving cities, but I don't remember what else
happened that season? I don't think, you know, but they got a ring twin so I think that's a good point to make is, is get a big win over rival or Someone here in the Big Ten, a Powerhouse and we'll see how things go but fans are definitely non excited. Whoops, leave it at that. Yeah, that produce that produces an was interesting, it was real
mixed bag. I mean they beat Ohio State, they beat Iowa who was ranked and that was like the real high scoring games 3836. But they also had some stinkers that year and they lost to Eastern Michigan, they lost to Mizzou, they lost to Minnesota like a blown out in that game at Minnesota, and then they end up getting just obliterated. By Auburn in the Music City Bowl as I think a lot of people remember. But still, you know, and I keep
going back to this. It's like, if and this is where Alan, I think still to some degree. Has some good will among the fan base, as bad as last year was because they beat Penn State and they beat Michigan. And those were two teams that they hadn't beaten in, then beating Penn State period, and then beating Michigan since the 80s. Even if those were down years for those teams that still mattered, and I think still does matter to a lot of fans. So it's I think that it's not.
It's like, you can, you can miss a bowl. If you pick up a big win, or you could pick up a bowl and not get a big win, but I think you got to do one or the other. You can't do neither and still have people come out of this and say, this was a successful season, agreed Ali, Sands and Bakr friend of both of ours and friend of the, the podcast because we already know to some extent, what Jack Tuttle brings does the quarterback competition. Going this late concern. You did.
We expect Connor basil act to be the clear favorite. This is really interesting question because, you know, there's been a lot of chatter around, Allen's lack of decisiveness publicly and naming a starter. And you know what that's all about. And, you know, on the one hand, it's like you could say, well this is just gamesmanship and we don't want to tip our hand as to who are starting quarterback would be.
I don't, I mean I've old and you know, I don't know how you feel about this but to me it's like Like of all the positions where you don't want to be wishy-washy. If you have a clear starter, it feels like that's where you should name. The clear starter is it quarterback? Because that's the leader of your team. That's who's going to be setting
the tempo on offense. That's going to be who's essentially viewed as the leader not just by the offense, but also by the defense and special teams in a lot of cases and it just feels odd. That of all the things, this is where they've decided that they're not going to come out and say. The starter so I guess kind of go back to Ali's question. I mean, would you interpret this as just gamesmanship and they've known for a while who the starter is or do you interpret this as an actual battle?
So let's start with that and go from there. I think it was a battle but they've known for a while who their starter is, and they've known for the reasons why you just said, you think it's odd? They're not naming him publicly, they've named him internally. I've also been this is how I do business and how the business goes now. But stalking each of these kids is social media pages and they've been radio, silent for months at a time.
They know who the starter is. They also know that this roster has to be managed with Another option at quarterback because that wasn't the case, the last few years and that was a major error on this on all of the staffs part because everyone knew Michael penix was going to get hurt. At some point, the fact that there was not a clear backup, who was, you know, game tested and ready to rock and roll.
I'm sorry Jack, Tuttle, you weren't ready to rock and roll at that point but they've known for a while who the starter is I believe. And I think they Also know that they have a backup that they can trust to put the ball in his hands. And also if they need to run a bit of a two quarterback system at times they can.
Yeah, it's you know, I think good ultimately it's interesting because I it's possible that there was a legitimate competition at quarterback and that might be a bad sign, which I think is what Ali is ultimately alluding to because if you watch if you watch Jack Tuttle in the Games last year. And I mean let's be clear like Jack title came in and difficult circumstances in his first full season. He quarterback the team to the win at Wisconsin. They should have had an extra touchdown.
They had a big catch get dropped. I can't even remember by. Who is it? Mi Marshall maybe I don't want to I'm not trying to cast aspersions but there should have been a touchdown that wasn't caught. But even with that they win that
game title. What separates his shoulder in the Outback Bowl and and still tries to gut it out and you know, God Them in a position where they could have wanted the end but last year was one of the more confounding years for a quarterback that looked like they were talented and ready to step in. Because if you go back and watch the film, his throws were all over the place. He was constantly moving around in the pocket. He was clearly afraid of contact, and I don't blame him.
I mean, the offensive line was real bad in pass protection last year, but you need, if you're going to be quarterback at Indiana, you know, that going in and that's something to kind of stretches. All eras. It wasn't a good showing by Tuttle and so it is a little bit concerning that you know, Connor basil act starter for Mizzou and the SEC and was clearly a very good players.
Freshman year, took a step back as sophomore year didn't just come right in and take the job, you know, Alan's a loyal guy. And I do think that that's part of the equation that needs to be factored in. I mean, Alan felt such a loyalty to Michael penix the previous year that he was like, you know, yes Pete. And Ramsey, you can transfer and go somewhere else because we feel like we owe it to Michael penix to give him the starter job.
So you know, maybe there's some of that with Tuttle and maybe this is Alan's way of saying, hey, you know, you've been in the program for this long. We're not going to automatically hand the job to somebody else, but by the same token, you got to have somebody back there that can make the throws and see the field and it'd be just really surprising at this point of somehow Tuttle, it improved so much in the offseason that he was ready to not just beat out, Connor basil act but Good enough
to be a starting. Big Ten quarterback. Yeah, I think the loyalty is probably a lot more in that a lot more of the Loyalty was poured in that competition cup than his actual talent and what he had put on film over the last
few years for title. And as soon as you said loyalty, I think one name popped in my head and I saw lots of questions about it but Darren Hillary who joined the staff is when coach Allen did and the fact that he's the only person that was not you know, removed or decided to leave. Yet all of the glaring issues that have surrounded his position group, its loyalty right there again. So I do think that's what played in the quarterback competition.
I also think they've noticed, it's Connor, it's been Conner for quite some time. Yeah, I mean that. And that's really what I would expect. So, you know, we'll see how it goes with that. And and clearly, as you said especially with the offensive line issues, you need to have two people ready to roll on this front and so hopefully both are ready and hopefully it wasn't actual competition. Action. But, you know, I would be really surprised.
If Connor Bane's like didn't come out under Center someone mentioned, I'd have to find it. But you know, Alan needs to call like a wildcat style play at the start of the game where both of them are out there on the first play just to mess with everybody. That would be kind of hilarious. I would, I would enjoy that quite a bit of a. I'm actually did that I doubt that that actually happens.
And if I can find that cop, I read that comment and I can't remember exactly who sent that to me earlier. But that was a pretty good. It's oh, oh, sorry was sweet man. Be Jambi. Yeah, I'm hoping Allen starts them both on the first play in the backfield with an RPO, just to blow everyone's mind. Absolutely. That's that would be, that would be an excellent conclusion to this whole thing for us. But anyway, let's let's jump into a couple of other questions
here. So Master night kind of asks an overarching question. We'll get into some specifics on the Illinois game after this. How do you think the team will respond this year? You know, both in game one and Beyond. Will they be able to produce their own momentum? And this is an interesting one because you got a whole bunch of questions on offense and will probably be asking those questions well into October.
Because you just don't know how a lot of this is going to shake out but the defense has a lot of returning fire power. You know you've got a really experienced secondary. Yeah you lose Mike McFadden in the linebacking core but you bring back a couple of really good players there. You've got some intriguing prospects on the defensive line.
You know, it feels like the strength of the team could be defensively, which is kind of a throwback to the earlier, Tom, Allen era, and you've got options it offense that may not be quite as unexploded as what we saw last year with this team.
I do believe they can create their own momentum like you said vintage, Tom, Allen vintage IU, Tom Allen because that's when I felt like the moment I'm picked up for this program was when he came in as defensive coordinator and went what last two best in the Big Ten, you know, took that team to a bowl game and I understand that he didn't necessarily do that as the defensive coordinator, but he did stuff in as head.
Coach pretty quickly after that and In you'd writing not hot hand and like you said, the returners on defense, this could be a decent defensive team. I mean, it could stand out in the Big Ten and which is shocking to say. But knowing that, you have to Mullen Brothers potentially two of the top corners in the conference. Maybe a lot of college football, I know there was a lot to replace losing Mike McFadden, but you have, you have a couple
even true freshman's. And on defense, but could make a name for themselves. So I think the defense and if they can go back to forcing turnovers like they did, you know, four years ago, five years ago, I think it can create momentum, but we'll see you. Like you said, how the question marks play out on the other side of all? Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, you obviously look to some of
your more experienced players. And I mean defensively, James head is, is that for Varsity letters Demarcus Elliott? Nah, faggot TOA with, you know, as a senior, you've got red shirt Juniors coming back in a couple of different spots. Bow Robbins is back and then in the linebacking core, cam Jones, Aaron Casey both back, you've got Mullen, you've got Jaylyn Williams, I mean, there's a lot of guys that have played really
well. And last year notwithstanding, it's almost hard to blame the defense. I mean the whole team kind of fell apart down the stretch but people forget like that Michigan State game.
Even the Cincinnati game to a large degree, the defense help, keep the team in it even when the offense wasn't necessarily able to execute, if you get some offensive execution to go a long with maybe a slightly improved defensive performance out of some of these pliers and overall as a team, there's a real chance that you could see some momentum being generated whether it's through turnovers or just through, making a lot of stops
and giving the offense some more advantageous positions to start drives. And we can even count on the defense to score a few points. Hopefully this year too. So that would be nice. Let's take that right? I will say, I wish there was a way for IU to get like four safeties on the field at once. You know, we'd between between Devon Matthews and Brian Fitzgerald low up, Noah Pierre and Josh sanguinetti. I mean, it's such a deep
position. There's just a lot to, like, out of the defense overall, if everything comes together and I do think this is one of those things going back to the question it. I feel like even though the defense I think played pretty well overall if you disregard the end of the season which is probably the only way that you could safely interpret. I you as potentially being able
to be significantly better. As if you just look at the last five games and say well they really weren't trying too hard at that point. Clearly, there was a problem with the relationship coaching lies between Charlton, Warren and Tom Allen. And way the defense was was playing and the way that everything was being made Allen's even made comments like well, we weren't really one of the defense that I wanted to run and that's pretty jarring.
When you consider that the defense throughout the rest of the time that I use either been run by Allen himself or by Kane Wommack who ended up being a pretty good defensive coordinator, so Allen back in this role and also Chad Wilt coming in as kind of an Yeah, I think who will eventually become the play calling defensive coordinator?
I will be really curious to see what kind of impact that has on the defense and the way that they play, and the sorts of calls that they're making throughout the course of a game. I agree. I also found one of the comments. Super interesting from Alan back in January where he said he's actually going to let some of the assistant coaches get in his ear about game management and and clock management and things like that.
That's a nice one. During if if his understudy will take that role while he's calling defensive plays, you know. So he's not doesn't have all of those balls in the air that he's juggling at one time because it was clear. He was overwhelmed in the last Years with, with that aspect, it's tough. I mean, and actually, Patrick asked this question and he's talking to me when he says this as an outspoken critic of Alan's game management. What are you looking for in
game? One personally, with this game being so crucial, I don't want to see any conservative calls all gasp, no brakes. So, here's the thing. I actually disagree with that a little bit Patrick and here's why. So, first of all, I have been critical of Alan's game management as I think anybody who's watched the games, Lee should be. I don't think this is a particularly isolated island
that I'm on here. I mean, there's been a lot of question marks in terms of of penalties, in terms of timeouts, being called, at odd times you go back. I mean, what I've been going back and forcing myself to watch the Supercuts of the highlights from last year's losses to see what exactly happened. And you like, you look at that, Cincinnati game. And I actually think that they lost that game in part because they were not conservative
enough. There were several possessions in the Red Zone in the first half where instead of just kicking the field goal and adding the points up on the board, Alan's going for it and it's resulting either in no points or turnovers, you know, I think overall Allens game management hasn't been great during his time because he's really, he's a coach that relies on emotion. He's a coach that relies on getting his team fired up. He's not really a guy who has yet demonstrated.
I think, you know, himself to be a superb tactician of football plays and there's nothing inherently wrong with that.
There's been a lot of really successful coaches that have not demonstrated Superior Tactics when it comes to calling plays, but I do think, you know, in a game like this, I do worry, sometimes that Alan will try to make too much of a point will try to do too much too quickly and that ends up compounding because it takes away opportunities for his teams to build a lead to Comfortable to not feel like they've failed when they haven't converted one of these aggressive calls as
opposed to just feeling like. Okay, that's something to build on for the next Drive. Yeah, I completely agree and I found the exact quote from him. He said he's going to assign someone the responsibility of watching for game, management, situations during games. So interesting. There you go, Galen, I'll be interested pump or I love it. That's great. Hey, that's, that's awesome,
that's growth. I love to see growth and I'm curious to see how it manifests itself because it's one thing to say, we're going to assign this to somebody. It's another thing for it actually, to play out in the game and It's tough. And I think, especially tough for a guy like Alan who clearly gets so emotionally involved in what's going on on the field. It led to you when you were here, you know, him getting inopportune 15-yard unsportsmanlike, conduct penalty calls on him.
And, you know, it's tough in the moment. When you're that fired up to be thinking clearly about, okay, what am I, what should I really do on this? Fourth and six from the 21 yard line. And so I'm really curious to see how that plays out, because that is As we know it's funny, like we just saw in Nebraska lose. Another one score game, IU has struggled in close games as well because the two or three plays that they often need to execute.
They don't execute, and it's largely, I think, you know, or at least, maybe not large leave at least in part because of some game management issues that have happened. So great, some other items. Let's see. So a couple of other small comets are John, Blair, as a Hoosier football fan, who saw a game in, the old Memorial Stadium went to the Rose Bowl and covered the Hoosiers for The Herald times and UPI. This is this good.
Good good resume here. I'm refusing to get excited this year because last years hype before the season killed me emotionally, this is a tough spot. And that we've seen this from a lot of people in the in the fanbase, we talked about a little bit earlier.
And I don't know if there's a good answer for this, I mean, because on the one hand, I do think that it's gotten a little too Doom and Gloom in some circles with this IU team because it's an easy thing to kind of cut off any idea that the team is going to be good, it's almost easier to default to. Well they're clearly going to suck because they clearly sucked last year.
And yet you know the and and look they may actually suck it's entirely possible that that will be the answer, but I do think
Think that to some degree. It's been so long since I you had a truly Bad season like last year was that it's easy to lose sight of the fact that sometimes teams just have a really bad season and it doesn't necessarily act as a Harbinger for the upcoming year, there are certainly things that would Tamp down my excitement about this season, whether it's the uncertainty at the skill positions on offense, or the huge number of coaching changes that happened or as you
mentioned earlier, didn't happen. But by the Same token. There's also at least some kind of a pedigree of at least a medium level of success by Indiana. Standards of you know five wins or six wins or whatever. Not just with with Alan but also back to the Kevin Wilson are. So it's not like it has to be another two in ten season. So I would say, don't don't completely cut off your emotional excitement about this upcoming year but also guard your heart to some degree.
I guess that's that's kind of where I've landed with all of this. Yes, oral and look at the bright spots, if it is another really terrible year. We can we can count on potentially a few more coaching changes that I think should have happened a while ago. A couple of other questions here if note. So we did have a question about the Illinois game in particular
at a couple of them. So, you know, we'll start off with this me. Let me find the question that we had here but basically, you know, the It started off with asking, you know what, like, how confident are you in? Indiana beating Illinois. DC will be Bell throwing the ball around or not in that game and Beyond. Let's start with that. I mean Illinois, they played their first game of the year this past weekend.
It was it was against Wyoming at home and it's almost impossible to gauge how Illinois is as a team based upon that game. They got, you know, if they Outscored, Wyoming 38 26, they got a pretty good game out of their new starting quarterback, Tommy DeVito's, 27, 437 494 yards. They, you know, they got a really good game out of Chase Brown their junior running back. 151 yards on 19 carries. They weren't really tested defensively. You know, they get a game under their belt.
This is an Illinois team that had a pretty good season last year. All things considered this is, you know, a team that under Bret Bielema ended up going five 7. But they got a couple of pretty good wins. They beat Penn State at Penn State last year, they want at Minnesota, they had some close losses.
They only lost by four to Purdue, but it's also a team that fired their offensive coordinator and is still kind of trying to find their footing as they transition out of lovey, Smits players, and into Bret Bielema as players. So what's your read on this game overall? Like what what do you think are the keys for Indiana? If they're going to try to beat Illinois in this one? And what kind of chances do you give?
Them. I think one of the last lines that you just said is the one I've highlighted and underlined at this point is they're still learning under new offensive coordinator and you're bringing in a really experienced Indiana defense who's reverting back to Tom Allen's play calling and we can expect them to turn the ball over to tally a couple turnovers there and maybe rattle Illinois's cage a little bit earlier and often than they ever.
Saul against Wyoming and week's hero that was brutal to watch. Not like that. Not like the game and double and I think I tuned out pretty quickly. Yeah, I fell asleep during the Illinois game. I stayed up for the north western Nebraska game but yeah, Illinois game was a tough watch. Yes, yeah. I think I have guarded confidence against Indiana beating Illinois on a Friday night at home.
Illinois has no idea what to expect because Indiana The fans have no idea what to expect and I think that's the plan. I said that's the plan to get one conference went, right? This year is to, is to go in with your of element being completely blindsided and, and week one. So, we'll see how it works, but I'm pretty confident in Indiana on Friday and if, if I eat my words, I eat my words on that one. Yeah, it's tough.
I mean, this is one of those games where it's hard to get a read on. Exactly. What is, you know, what are you supposed to expect? In terms of this game because again, we really don't know that
much about Indiana's offense. You know, we know something about Indiana's defense and I do think that if Indiana is going to win, a lot of it is going to be based on how well, the defense plays, how well they able to bottle up what this Illinois team is trying to do. And what do we, you know, what are we going to see in terms of the way in which Illinois approaches the game defensively? Not necessarily knowing what Indiana is going to do across the board.
I mean, this is where to some degree having tape is helpful for Indiana and that they now have at least a little bit of a sense of what Illinois is going to do. But almost certainly Illinois, pulled a lot of punches in that Wyoming Game. They didn't have to do a whole lot Beyond just the basics and, you know, Illinois can also look at Indiana and say, well, we haven't seen tape of you from this year, but we saw tape of you from last year and we're
pretty sure we can. Can you know, we can bulrush your offensive line and give your quarterback problems and not give them time to throw the ball. And also, by the way, you have no running game because you had no running game last year, and you have no returning Running Backs from last year, the line on this Games been fascinating. Olivia, because it started back in June with Indiana - two and a half. It went all the way up to Indiana -6. And now it's back to depending
on the sports book. You're looking at anywhere between my Indiana - two and a half in Indiana - Three and a half. So Vegas is they're like, well, Indiana gets the three points for home field advantage or what, you know, whatever it is close to that. But that's about it. They're looking at this game is pretty even at this point, you'd like to give the nod to I you because they're going to be at home.
But Indiana doesn't really have a home field advantage Memorial Stadium and they really and it's even going to be more exacerbated on Friday because that's a game where you're going to get a lot of people not coming because they're going to have high school football there. They're going to be watching and stead or they're just not going to be able to make it down after a full day of work since. So many of Indiana's football fans tend to come from a couple of hours away.
So it's a really hard mix of things to get a read on. And, you know, I would lean towards Indiana just because they're the home team and that that normally does mean something in these games, but there doesn't seem to be a lot distinguishing. These two teams right now where you would say that one side, clearly has an advantage over the other So those are Hoosiers? Yeah, I think so.
I mean, I think if your push comes to shove here, I think you would go with Indiana, but we'll have to just wait and see what happens with all that. A couple of other questions I guess in General on this. As we as we head into this game, I mean, you mentioned, obviously the defense is going to play a big role in this special teams is going to be really interesting as well as it generally is. But overall, it just to me, it feels like so much of this in detail. Deanna's this Indiana teams.
Attitude towards games. And I think it was really obvious both last year and the year before in entirely different ways, it's dependent on how well they start and how well they're able to capitalize because this team really seems to ride these emotional waves. I mean, you know they got off to some really good starts in 2020 and and that really resulted in you know, some wins that perhaps might not have happened another
years. They they got off to not ideal starts like in the Will game that you mentioned last year and it was over basically, before it began, you know, can I you find a way to keep their emotions a little more in check and be a
little more clinical? I think ends up being one of the big questions, not just for this Illinois game, but through the rest of the, the month of September because this team is going to have to find itself from an emotional perspective, if they're going to play their best football. And that's not something I normally say about a lot of teams. But it feels like it's especially an issue within the Deanna. I think that could be where Walt bills offense and quick tip.
O offense, can maybe help this team because they are going to have to be clinical. Like you said, and what they're doing, they have to focus. They've learned a whole new playbook and he's going to throw a lot more wrinkles into things that we haven't seen before. And I think maybe the focus on executing their and an up-tempo offense, could take a little of the emotion out of it. Maybe the bad emotion, right? I mean It's a missed, throw it. It's a stopped run and it
doesn't matter. You have to get up and do it again versus kind of hang your head and walk walk over to see what's next for the Hoosiers. So well if it's like a lack of bad plays or black, you know, bad juju on plays, I mean and so it's like avoiding sacks and avoiding all those crippling drops. That seemed to happen in the passing game last year, or the fumbles in the running game, which were so decisive for Indiana on a lot of key.
Ives, like, that's that. And then granted, those aren't always, like early momentum things.
But gosh, the, it's just like one of the big, you know, the positives about the Tom Allen are have always been this team when it gets really fired up, looks like it can beat anybody, but then when stuff goes wrong, they get so down on themselves and that seems to be a struggle that they haven't really fully figured out how to navigate and I'm curious and this is we're bringing in a Walt Bell, you know, bringing in Chad will to
help lead the defense some maybe that ends up helping because you get some different voices in the room that aren't the same voices that have been there year after year. I don't know if it makes a huge difference, but it feels like something's gonna have to change their. If this particular team which does have a lot of question marks is actually going to string together enough wins to get to a bowl. so, One last question. This was something that Reddit college football posted today.
I don't know if you saw this, the Jordan Bailey who's a constant contributor to the podcast, noted this right at CFB tweets out, Indiana is five losses away from becoming the first FBS team to pass 700 losses. If they're going to miss that, they're either it. Oh, it's either. Feather, 700 losses on the year or nine win Deanna as our friends at home? I said, because that's what it would take to avoid, hitting, that Mark, and Jordan asked, which of those two scenarios.
Do you see? Is the more likely to see the nine wins? Or do you see Indiana achieving a dubious record from a record perspective? Jordan, what do you think the answer is to that? We're not printing nine when Deanna shirts this year. I'll tell you that much, but we may need to check with home field on that, but I'm not entirely. I'm sure, I'm sure. They have a stock somewhere of those. Still around. They might be hey home field. Let us know if there's a sale on
the 9th of Indiana shirts. All all wear one just for just for Reddit sake here. Yeah, I use gonna get to that 700 number and it's going to hurt but it's deserved. I think at times well and look and I'll say it there's actually some dispute about whether it's actually seven hundred losses. I've had to do a lot of digging into this because I do have a module in one of my classes on the history of Indiana football and it's like well is it 700 or is it? 78. Because there's there's what
games get counted for. What is, it's shockingly with college football. There's not one Authority on this, there's like different record, keeping things. But yeah, I'm really hoping they can avoid this or that a big deal is not made of it, but it probably, it'll a probably happened and be there probably will be a big deal made out of it. That's just how things go. But hey, you know what, you can't change the past, you just have to embrace it and hey, the team hitting 700 losses.
And And making a bowl, would be quite a story of a that's that's Redemption right there, right? Exactly. Yeah. Anyway. Final thoughts from you before we wrap things up and on the podcast? Sure, I believe. If you set anywhere near me at a tiny football game last year, you probably heard me starting Donovan McCauley chance, any time, things went wrong with the offense and I believe I went on record saying I think he will start by his sophomore year.
I didn't know, it could potentially be in the receiver roll, but I would love to see him out in Walt Bells offense. I think he could be a good fit. You know, in the slot is sizes, is incredible. I think a lot of people are surprised by that when they see it, and I'd love to see him get a little confidence back after after what was last year when he got thrown into the mix without any preparation.
So I just wanted to go on record And saying, if Donovan McCauley gets a start that that I was right. You were right? Yeah, youyou, never specified, what? What position? I didn't will give you that but no, I agree. I think that one of the big interesting subplots and we'll talk about this more on Wednesday. I know Scott and I are going to do a show before the game on Friday, but McCauley coming in is he's the tallest receiver by 2 inches in the receiving room right now.
I've heard, you know, anecdotally that he is like He clearly looks physically more imposing than what you're getting out of most of the rest of the receiving Corps.
And that's, that's key. I mean, people forget like Thai fry Fogle had a really disappointing final year, but his size was such a decisive factor in 2020 in terms of being able to catch balls and get into the right spots and things and you know you pair him with a revitalized DJ Matthews you pair him with you've got Javon Swinton back.
Who's got a lot of experience you've got You know, several receivers David Baker, who struggled with injuries, but has a nice history with the team so far, you've got some options there and that would be interesting to watch if McCullough is able to come out and really demonstrate his ability to play that position and that's the kind of athleticism that Indiana really needs and that they have struggled with at that position. Correct.
And one final note. So for all my new pal fans out there, I did pass mr. Charlie Spiegel and hallway a couple of days ago, and he already looked like a bowling ball when he was in high school and a man amongst boys. Now, he looks like a man amongst boys college, boys.
He's he's put on some weight and we'll see if he can turn walk on into some actual touches this year and meet Full touches, I should say five ten to twenty one, seems pretty imposing and that's if that's just his listed weight and size. I'm curious to see what he actually looks like on the field, but I mean look Indiana. Really need somebody to step up in the running back or you know the the expectation is going to be Sean chivers the transfer from Auburn he's a little guy as
well. 57 188 you know that there's just that position feels wide open and it feels like a couple of people coming out and just You know, grabbing the reins of that position are going to be really key for Indiana who go into the season so we'll see what happens. Anyway, Olivia Ray, thank you.
As always for joining us, we look forward to having you back throughout the course of the Season, as we talk how you football, good luck with everything in Cincinnati, and we'll look forward to seeing what you're doing down there. Thank you. Thank you, everyone go Hoosiers. Absolutely wrong about this. Well, let's hope were right about Illinois because I think both of us have picked in the end of the word that with. So we'll see what happens.
But anyway for Livia. I am Galen clivia, thanks for joining us here on the show. Will be back later in the week with another preview episode is Indiana takes on Illinois. 8 p.m. Friday will catch you folks on the flip side. Bring back the Bison, so everybody