You're listening to the back home network presented by home field apparel welcome back to Crimson Cask ale and klaviyo here. It's Thursday. The 22nd of September, it's officially fall. I'm officially on the road to seasonal affective disorder as I think I woke up and it was like maybe 52 outside it's going to be like 43 tomorrow. This is not funny, Mike. I don't need laughter here. This is a serious serious thing.
But yes, that we had our way like 95 degrees here in Bloomington on Wednesday. And I think that might be the last time we get above 80 until May perhaps so Not good. But anyway, we're not here to talk about my problems with the weather. We're here to talk about IU football and we've got Mike Petrie joining us. If you've been following the podcast for any length of time, you've heard from Mike and Mike, it's good to see you and hear you again. How are you doing?
I'm doing well. And yeah, I think we're not here to talk about your problems with whether we're here to talk about how you footballs problems of richest with the weather. But over all of which there are are either many depending on who you ask or none and we should just not like there's no problems at all and everything is great.
So we'll see who's right on that as we move into this game here, but before we do that quickly, just a reminder that we are part of the back home network here, Crimson cast and the back home network is brought to you by home-field apparel our presenting sponsor your place to go for some tremendously soft gear, some tremendously, awesome, vintage designs, Mike,
I don't know if you saw this. But home-field just debuted their Wake Forest collection which you as a you know, as a Xavier you know, proximal person from being in Cincinnati. You've got some ties to Wake Forest through that and some good designs out of that. I think some interesting stuff that they've come up with excellent. My brother went to Wake Forest so even better. Yeah that that works out really well but if you fully proceeded skip Prosser there. Well that's well.
I mean he was laying the Groundwork for skip Prosser. Yes, there in the first place but if you have not been to own field apparel, you should go. It's home field, apparel.com, home-field apparel on Twitter, check out their gear 15 percent off your first order. If you use the code home and you absolutely should do that if you haven't already. So I don't feel the Peril.com, be sure to check them out as maybe while you're listening to the podcast, we can do multiple
things. Now we don't have to just focus on one thing. Anyway, Mike as we just mentioned - of Cincinnati, Mike and I go way back. To the the student Radio Days here at IU and Mike leave. It's interesting. I was thinking about this. I remember when we were in school, I you in Cincinnati had a series then and it seemed kind of out of place because, you know, back then all anybody paid attention to were like the big conferences and Cincinnati might as well have been like a
division 2 team for all. We knew at that point and even cam Cameron's teams were able to handle. Dole Cincinnati in both of the games that they played. If my memory serves me correctly, this you battle.
So you've had a long history with the city, obviously, but also with you see and, you know, it's interesting because I don't think many people have much of a memory of you see, prior to Luke fickle, doing what he's done over the last few years, most people, fortunately miss the Tommy tuberville era, and most of the previous eras before that what was your like, what was it like kind of being around. Found the you see program, you know kind of observing what they were doing and we do.
What were they like in for instance like the 80s early 90s? Well it it was to put it bluntly a trash Heap, set on fire and burning into the atmosphere in the 80s. The the football program would compete and I use compete rather rather liberally here. With 10th state to be the 107th ranked team in division. One at the time there were 117 s
in division one. They went back-to-back years, I saw, I was just looking through, kind of the House of Horrors that was their athletic department back in the 80s. They went back-to-back years. One year went one and ten and one year went one night and one the only time Was against Rutgers now which also shows how far they've come.
I guess. Yeah. Maybe and, you know, and the basketball team I think that people kind of have a feeling that anybody who's been a fan of basketball, the last 30 years, like Cincinnati's pretty much always been there, but the program that Bob Huggins picked up in the late 80s again wasn't absolute. Abject disaster. I look back.
There was a year. They went 3 and 25 and their winds were two of the Winds. I don't think even counted because one was Eastern Kentucky by two points and another one was Northern Kentucky who was definitely a division to school at that time. And then in a time that was reminiscent or I guess much like Mike Davis, help is on the Way,
there was a very much. Ballyhooed freshman class that everybody was very excited about in the program and it was going to set the program back on the right side of the line and the entire freshman class was declared ineligible. So I mean just no matter what you were trying to do at that time, they couldn't do it. Right? Nippert Stadium which is one of the great really cool venue and I think they've done a lot of great things with that recently.
During the 80s. It was essentially condemned and University of Cincinnati which couldn't draw enough to fill that stadium was instead playing off campus at Riverfront stadium. And when you can't sell a 10,000 seat Stadium, heard, you know, it 15 to 20,000 seat Stadium, it doesn't look very good when you then go to a fifty thousand seat stadium. So yeah. I mean, Everything that could go wrong.
Did go wrong. And then from about the 90s, they used the basketball program, kind of got that back into a prominence and use that to move themselves up and they've basically, been coming up against, you know, against the odds, and against some stacked debts for the last 25 to 30 years. Yeah, it's interesting because, you know, the Cincinnati program it's just kind of always around
at this. And, you know, I mean, I think they deserve a great deal of credit for, you know, finally breaking through and making the playoff as, you know, a group of five team. But the fact that they're in the group of five and say, Louisville for instance, is in the ACC, it kind of makes you scratch your head a little bit because those those things don't feel like they should necessarily be that way. People forget Cincinnati was in the Big East for a pretty long period of time.
You know what a decade I yes or close to it a little under a decade and you know and they had some pretty good teams, you know, Blaine Butch Jones had them. Ranked Brian Kelly obviously was there and and had them in the
top 15 somewhat regularly. I think what they were even, you know, top five at one point under Kelly but they, You know, despite going to the Orange Bowl, going to the Sugar Bowl, they weirdly they feel like on their outside looking in at this point even even with all of that recent history, Yeah, I mean, I think that they are probably not top of Mind in terms of non
power. Five Conference teams that are I think even Boise State probably gets more attention as being the nation's darling to a certain extent, you know, BYU and Notre. Dame are other non power, five teams that Have more cash a I guess and are just don't have the next deck stacked against them you mentioned, the Big East that was a huge move for Cincinnati. They really thought they had arrived. They had become a power 5 team and, you know, five years after that happened.
Oops. The ACC goes, the Raiden and pulls out three of the, I guess, three of them. Most Minute that the time, Big East schools and the Big East says, oh well, we're just going to become a basketball conference now and set the football playing members adrift at that point. And yeah, even now they are going to become a Power five Conference team again, I think 2024, 2025 whenever all that happens, I think I think they've gotten out early now, so it'll be 20. 94.
But you know, as you talked about all summer, it's really not the power 5 anymore. It's the Big Ten, the SEC and kind of everybody else. Yeah, fending for themselves and seeing if there's going to be some more consolidation. So every time they've made a big step up. Thank King. Okay, well, this this is it we finally arrived kind of the floor drops out from under them
again. They do seem to be kind of an interesting incubator of coaches, which I think is a fascinating thing about the program. We mentioned. Brabus e, Brian Kelly and Butch Jones and Luke fickle seems like at some point. He'll go to a bigger program at this. I don't know you've gone 13 and one you've made the playoff.
I don't know exactly like what you do after that or what you're waiting for, but it is a marked at Mark, dantonio was also the head coach at you see it's And we're going to just forget the Tommy tuberville exist. I think that's best for everybody, but but it is it's fascinating that this has become a big launching off point and that it doesn't.
I mean, you know, despite all of these kind of back-and-forth sorts of things, like this program has not been down for more than a couple of years in a row really since what Rick Minter left and you know that was 20 years ago at this point. Yeah. Well if you're looking for a reason for Or that I think the best explanation I've come up with, is that I decided I was going now. I grew up, I was a big Cincinnati fan.
My parents raised me correctly. They were graduates in 61, and 64 and 1962. So, they were there. When they won two national championships in basketball, over Ohio State, who refused to play them in anything for 30 years. But you know, so there I was as big of you. If and as you can imagine and then I decided to come to Indiana in 1996 and we've seen how the fortunes of both schools have kind of diverged since
then. So if Indiana fans are looking for a reason to someone to blame, that would probably be nice. I mean, the number of people that probably need to be blamed for IU, footballs fortunes really long. I'm gonna put you kind of like two-thirds of the way back in line, not over it out of it, but
I'll put you in there. R. Let's talk about this current Cincinnati team, you know, they stumble in their first game against Arkansas, it wasn't a bad loss, by any means, you're on the road, an SEC opponent, they only lose by seven. They didn't play particularly well in the game, but they still manage to keep it relatively close. And, you know, then they blow out Kennesaw State and then they have kind of a weird game last week at Miami of Ohio, they Trail early and they come back.
They went Road. Comfortably, but maybe not as comfortably as people might have. I know, I certainly bet on Cincinnati, and they did not cover. So, that was, that was disappointing to say the least. But, you know, obviously a different team than last year. A lot of players from that team are they're gone or there in the NFL or something like that. So what does this vintage of Cincinnati football have going for it? You know what is it?
What are the primary things are the primary people that you would say I you fans would be looking for in this game. I think that what they have more than anything is a culture and the culture is that Luke fickle hasn't left the game against Miami is always a weird one. You know that's that is Miami of Ohio Super Bowl. They are playing for. I think the victreebel is the oldest Trophy. West of the Allegheny Mountains it is you know a very historic,
right? Re but obviously one, that's become very much one-sided to the point where Cincinnati kind of keeps talking about. Well, are we going to keep playing this really do? We need to keep playing this and, you know, they haven't they haven't said that out loud but you know there's enough murmurs of like How often do we have to win this game, by 40 points? You know, that it becomes that much more of a Super Bowl for Miami, right? So that result I think is a little bit, you can't kind of
throw that out. Ultimately I you know from a Personnel standpoint, I think that in a lot of ways, this is the team. As opposed to a mediocre or an underperforming, Big Ten school. I think the next two weeks are going to be really interesting for Indiana because the recruits that that Cincinnati is getting our nut of the Vintage that Indiana is going to get physically, dominated. I think, even when you saw last year, Which was by far the best
Cincinnati team. You know, that had has been around and at least, you know, at least 12 15 years and probably longer than that, that was a team. Indiana could play with ya in a year when Indiana was not at its best. I think this year's Indiana team is better. I think this year's Cincinnati team is obviously not quite to that level. but, It's an execution thing that is going to keep in the keep Cincinnati.
Well, ahead of Indiana at this point, they're not going to physically dominate Indiana. But in some ways because of that, in the end, I might be able to keep up with Cincinnati more so than, you know, I think everybody kind of pins their hopes to Nebraska Nebraska should honestly, just they've got the caliber of athlete and a caliber of player that they should be able to run Indiana off the off the field.
The fact that they don't is whether coach got fired, but, you know it it's a game like this. I think that Indiana will hang around. A lot longer than people would expect. Yeah, it's interesting because the, we know when the, when the numbers came in on this game from a wagering perspective and I do think there's some value in looking at that because it's a lot of people think that numbers don't matter at all.
But it's a, it's normally a pretty good gauge of the perceived quality level of both opponents. And you know, it started off at like I think Cincinnati was at eight and a half Point favorite in the blue and all the way to 18 and a half. It's and it's settled back down now to wear it Cincinnati by 16 and a half points you know that's you know it's I mean it's roughly equivalent I guess two more or less where the game kind of ended up last year, was a
14-point game last year. So, you know, even with some of the losses you could see the argument for Cincinnati, being that good. But I think your point is well taken. Like if you look at the grading of Cincinnati players so far on the season, Like they really struggled against the athleticism of Arkansas. They couldn't block, you know, they really couldn't tackle. They really struggled in coverage against really Speedy players. They played much better.
Obviously the last couple of weeks against more inferior competition. If Indiana were to play well and to the level of their talent, you know, I think you're right. I think they could stick with them. I do Wonder though how well we still don't know how this IU team will travel this year like literally Figuratively.
And, you know, it's going up against in Cincinnati team that beat them soundly last year, although didn't blow them out, you know, Cincinnati's not going to be scared of playing a big 10 team at least not Indiana, maybe they'd be scared of playing another Big Ten team, but but Indiana is not going to put a
lot of fear into them. And while Indiana certainly has some SEC light type of talent, you know, whether that's players out of Data that they've recruited or players that have transferred in from SEC or ACC programs. It is one of those situations where they're facing, you know, against the Cincinnati team that that really does know how to play well, and probably has recalibrated after that Arkansas game. So, I don't know. We'll have to see how that goes, as you know, the IU.
Certainly hasn't graded a particularly well, in any of their games either. And I do think that, you know, when you look at the way that Cincinnati's grades have gone. At least they are trending upward where his Indiana is, we still don't know. Indiana might be a good team that just hasn't shown it yet or they might be a little bit of Fools Gold just in terms of what they've been able to do against the teams that they played. Which frankly hasn't been a
whole great deal thus far. So that's that's I think the biggest question mark for me as we go into this game, is this idea of you know how How does Indiana matchup against the team that knows exactly what it's wanting to do and overall has certainly been able to do it on a pretty consistent basis, Mike the you know the Indiana certainly struggled, but one against Illinois, they struggled. But one against Western Kentucky, you know, the kind of
picking up on on that. If it's, you know, when you look at this Indiana, team's resilience and that's been the word that Of people have talked about Tom Allen's talked about it quite a bit in his press conferences. We do you think belief is enough coupled with the talent Indiana's, got to really be able to make a game of this and potentially even walk in and win?
Or do you see that not really being something that bothers Cincinnati after what they've been through the last couple of years, I don't think that that bothers Cincinnati so much, but what I think what Indiana has going for it is that this game is a bigger opportunity for Indiana than it is for Cincinnati. Especially you know, coming off of last year, last year they came into Indiana, they were looking to prove something they were playing a Big Ten team on
the road. It was a big 10 team that had been knocked down a pig Maybe by Iowa but was still, you know, came in the year with very high expectations. Now we are kind of just another game on Cincinnati schedule and I think that that's one thing that Indiana has going for it because this is an opportunity to kind of wake up everybody to what to the fact that this year is different than last year.
And I think that some of that belief, some of that confidence, you know, is something that can build within a game and you get
to the second half of the game. And you've certainly seen many opportunities where, again, if you get to a second half of a game against Ohio, State or Michigan, and you know, Indiana's hanging around but in hanging around in a game that they don't necessarily belong in This is the Cincinnati team that doesn't have that extra physical level that, you know, that we're when Cincinnati or where Indiana's hanging around late in
the game. They're not hanging on by their fingernails against a physically superior team. Yeah. And I think that that's the biggest advantage that that Indiana has. Yeah, it's going to be interesting.
I mean, I and I am curious as much as I'm curious about what Cincinnati looks like in this kind of A game like you said, where they're, they're not going to take Indiana as seriously as probably the wrong word, but it's kind of the only word I can think of that, like the way they took them last year. You know Cincinnati coming in ranked fourth but probably still feeling like they needed to prove something on the national
stage. Indiana, everybody thought was still good at that point last year, how right how quickly that turned around? But that is going to be an interesting Factor. You know, you've watched this Your team through three games so far. What has stuck out to you? Good or bad about the way that they've played and the way that they've been in these games, I think it's been that a lot of what has gone wrong is is fixable, I think that's the only optimistic take you.
Can you can have from the three games and I think that when you're talking about the bare minimum of level of success, For a team, like Indiana in the Big Ten, which is the bare minimum is get six wins. There's a path to that. And I think they're going to have to steal a game or two that they don't really deserve to win, but I think that that's
possible. You know, they've gotten lucky certainly to win the games that they've to win all the games that they won, they've certainly gotten themselves up to the Cliff's Edge. Far more often than we'd like. But I think that that does that winning those games, does it gives you a certain sense of invincibility?
And I think that that is why especially this game, you know, if you get to it, close to it to where it's closed at the end, you've got a shot because You can tell yourself whether it's
right or wrong. We've been here before we, you know, if we're down 14 points at the start of the fourth quarter, we've done that and it's a better opponent obviously and they'll have to execute much more sharply and they'll have to play better to only be down, 14 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but all of those things are things that they are capable of doing. Yeah, now it's true. I mean, it feels weird think about.
I you as, you know, underachieving or maybe just not, not not not taking advantage of opportunities. But it's like, you don't, if you can come back and win at the end, against Western, Kentucky or against Illinois. Clearly, like there's something there that you can take advantage of and maybe elevate your game in something like this. It's just weird to me, maybe.
Well, weirds the wrong word, but it is kind of its peculiar in a way that I use to keep He woken up in the fourth quarter and then that does concern me a bit because I think you can, you do somewhat get away with that in a home game against a mid-level competition. But even with what they've lost I think, you know, and the and even you can point to some of the talent disparity and and, you know, Cincinnati not having like perhaps better Talent necessarily from a ratings
perspective than I you. But that's it's a real concern. If you're going on the road and facing a team that knows what they're doing, When you're an Indiana team, that at least for half of the game so far or half of each of the games, maybe has shown that. It doesn't quite know what it's doing. Yeah, there's a professionalism that Luke fickle has brought to the, you see Team. I think that the experience that Indiana has an incoming bag.
I think is is counterbalanced by the experience that you see has in plain teams that it should be and, you know, it I guess if there's anything that the AAC has been good for for Cincinnati is that it's given them, a lot of experience on. Here's what, here's how you put away in fear, you're sitting here, you know, and here's what happens. When here's what you do. When you're in a game that, you know, with the team that you should be beating pretty
handily. And I think they probably feel like they should beat Indiana handily. But You know, there's the professionalism, that that Luke fickle has brought, they're not going to take since take Indiana lightly, right? But it's not the level of motivation they had. For, for the, for the IU fans, that are heading down to nippert for this game. What advice would you give them anything? They need to be? Keeping an eye out for or anything. You would advise them to to get
into. Um, you know, the nippert stadium is a really cool place to watch a game. I think that they've refurbished it and it is, you know, just a really cool old stadium. I think it's been open since since the 20s to be honest. And just, you know, to take in the whole experience, they've made a much better experience out of the whole game day around around. The Bearcats as pretty much everybody has over the last 20
years. It's become much more of a production, but it used to be again, going back to the bad old days. Even when they got themselves back into Nipper, it was get yourself to the, get yourself into the stadium, get yourself out. And hope that your car still has four tires on it. When you're leaving, you know, the area around nippert Stadium. Is much better in terms of just an overall overall experience got it? Yeah.
The Cincinnati Zoo is nearby. I notice that's that's I don't know if that's it. The William Howard Taft. National Historic Site is nearby. I'm not sure if these are things. People should be going to. But with your, if you're going, where are you stopping to eat or drink before the game, where are you Get yourself some Skyline Chili.
Oh my God, it's really funny. Actually and and I remember I sent you a kind of a thing for the getae which is also another Cincinnati. Yes, kind of delicacy and the recipe says it's not much to look at but trust me. It tastes really good and I thought is there any Cincinnati food specialty, that doesn't begin with that disclaimer it? Look very good, but trust me, maybe maybe the beer which probably doesn't count as a food item.
But, yeah, that's wow. That's quite a, that's quite an advertised it. Well, you know, it should be an interesting game to say the least and I'm quite curious to see how this plays out. I tend to think I kind of I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I get the feeling I you is going to stick around a bit. They might even have an early
lead. It does kind of feel like it's got the Hallmarks of the game that I you could eventually get kind of get ground down in, as Cincinnati, kind of figures out what they need to do throughout the course of the game. But nothing would surprise me in this one, you know, I mean, I could see, I could see how you getting blown out by 30. I could also see them sticking around and, you know, having a shot to win it at the end. It's, it's one of those.
It's a weird game to because a win in this game, kind of completely transforms. Indiana. See, And as you mentioned your kind of alluded to earlier because at that point it's like why you gosh it's now you got you got you know, Nebraska Marilyn Rutgers and Purdue and you only need two wins out of that those four to get to bowl eligibility. Whereas if you lose the game, you need three wins out of that group.
And and, you know, with a couple of those games being on the road, it seems somewhat less likely given how Indiana normally plays on the road? But yeah, I mean, it clearly Cincinnati not going back to the playoffs this year. So I am interested to see how they perform, since they don't have the, I mean they came in what rank fourth last year? I think in that game, clearly, they knew they were playing for
something big. Maybe they don't feel like they're playing for stepping quite as big because quite frankly, they're not well, well, yeah, not only, is there not the
reward at the end? They are, you know, they're there is no way they look at what it at playing Indiana, you know in this As they did last year, you know, it's the way that the decks again kind of going back to the same theme, I am really glad that Cincinnati was able to make the playoff plus here but it really would have been fitting if the fact that's that Indiana tanks the way they did was the reason that Cincinnati did not get ya get into the playoff that really
would have kind of cemented Cincinnati's. Well Well, earned gripe against the whole college football establishment. I mean, hey, if you can't schedule properly seven years in advance and what are you even doing right? Well, yeah, exactly. Well Mike, anything else you'd like to touch on before we wrap up? No, I think that covers it. Everybody should check out my Twitter thread on on here. Cincinnati though that I haven't gotten blocked by nearly enough
people. So obviously not enough people have read that. We definitely need to get Mike blocked by as many of you as possible. Sybil Mike, your Twitter account is, I am th e, MD P, I'm the mdp and yes, he has a 13 tweet thread going about Cincinnati's fight song that I highly highly recommend, and I think if you get through all of that tweet at Mike, he might record himself singing the song and you can listen to that before you block him. And then Everybody will be
happy. Well, right if you get me singing, I will definitely get Block. There you go. That tape that that will and I will deserve it Mike Mike Petrie once again joining us here in Crimson cast. Mike always great to talk with
you. Good luck to you and thanks to all you folks for listening in IU takes on Cincinnati on National Television, 3:30 on ESPN2, we'll keep an eye out for that and be watching that and probably have some commentary during the game and Definitely have come Terry coming up on Sunday morning so be sure to tune back in for that. Catch you folks on the flip side, bring back the Bison. So long everybody.