Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana was packed last week. The Indiana Hoosiers sent the Michigan State Spartans back to East Lansing with a 38-13 loss. Two in a row for the Hoosiers in the Battle for the Old Brass Spittoon. The offense was solid. Indiana never punted. It was the first time the Hoosiers didn’t punt in a Big Ten game since 1989 against Northwestern. If memory serves, Anthony Thompson scored five touchdowns that day.

Indiana’s offense scored on their first 5 possessions of the game.

Fernando Mendoza completed 24 of 28 passes for 332 yards and 4 touchdowns. In five home games so far this season, Mendoza had completed 85% of his passes and has tossed 18 TDs in the home games. A huge tip of the cap to the Indiana offensive line.

With every third or fourth down the Michigan State Spartans dared to go for was met with the Indiana version of the Terrible Towel. My apologies to Steelers fans.

This Indiana Hoosier team is ranked #2 in the country in both the AP and Coaches Polls. With a record of 7-0, the Hoosiers are looking for their 14th consecutive victory at home. Coach Cignetti has a record of 18-2 in his first twenty games as the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers.

The UCLA game is special for me. I always wanted to watch UCLA take on USC at The Rose Bowl and I was fortunate enough to able to do that in 2016 and 2018. I’ve never seen the Bruins in a road game. Still getting used to having USC and UCLA in the Big Ten. Glad to see the Bruins coming to Bloomington.

I plan on getting back to The Rose Bowl the next time Indiana makes a visit.

10 wins and 4 losses last week. I think that is five weeks in a row. Maybe things will be better this week.

Nebraska beats Northwestern… The Cornhuskers are faster and stronger.

Ole Miss beats Oklahoma… They are in Norman for this one. Hope all the Coach Kiffin to Florida talk is as hollow as I hope it is.

Indiana beats UCLA… Look for Indiana to put up big numbers on offense in this one. The scoreboard is going to be warm.

Virginia beats North Carolina... UVA will take care of the hard to watch boys from Chapel Hill.

Alabama beats South Carolina… Bama’s have a great offense, and their defense stole one from Tennessee.

Illinois beats Washington… Altmyer may throw for 400 yards for the Illini.

Mizzou beats Vanderbilt… Is Vandy-built for this moment. The ESPN Game Day bunch is in Nashville. I think the carriage turns back into a pumpkin for Vandy.

Iowa beats Minnesota… Two mules fighting over a turnip. Great Big Ten Football.

Pitt beats NC State… While I am thinking about it, did any football player ever look better in uniform than Tony Dorsett in 1976 for Pitt?

Texas beats Mississippi State… I know there are many hoping State give Arch Manning what for. Not so fast my friend.

Louisville beats Boston College... BC is bad. That is good for Louisville. They just beat Miami, and they don’t need a letdown.

Michigan beats Michigan State… Sparty will give Michigan a game and they will be glad they are playing at home and not playing Indiana again.

LSU beats Texas A&M… Coach Kelly is due to have a team come through.

Tennessee beats Kentucky… How does UK outgain Texas 365 to 195 or whatever it was and still lose at home? Next time run the bootleg when they have 13 in the box.

Enjoy the games this week. I think I may have to give Paul Finebaum a call next week.

The Louisville Cardinal offenses made some great plays last night in the team’s upset of the second ranked Miami Hurricanes in South Florida. The offense made some great plays. The DEFENSE made some GREAT plays when IT HAD TO. That is a sure recipe for football success. Hats off to Coach Jeff Brohm. He and his staff did it again. Be it, Iowa, Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame, or Miami. Coach Brohm has brought down his share of giants in the last ten years at Purdue and now at Louisville.

I sent Co-Defensive Coordinator a text last night immediately after the game. An hour and a minute later, Mark Hagen responded and said what the rest of us rooting for the Cards were thinking. “…That was fun.”

The Louisville Cardinals are now 5-1 and taking down the 2nd ranked team in the land better get you into the Top 25. I have never doubted that team had this in them. And let me say thanks to the Cards. The Indiana Hoosiers are ranked #3 and if they take care of Michigan State in good fashion today, they should be ranked #2 tomorrow.

Today the Indiana Hoosiers will run out of the tunnel as the #3 ranked team in college football. Let that sink in. For many of us, even though WE don’t doubt it, this is still sinking in. And it is fun.

Last week’s picks were a rerun. I am stuck on picking 10 winners and 4 losers for three weeks in a row. What about this week?

Georgia Tech beats Duke… This is a home game for the Dukies. Should be a good one.

LSU beats Vandy… Vandy is the favorite in an SEC game for the first time in 1978 is what I have seen. Need I say more?

Michigan beats Washington… This is in the Big House. I am rooting for the Huskies.

Indiana beats Michigan State… We’ll see the highest ranked team in school history take the field for Indiana. They won’t screw that up. There are 109 rows of bleachers on the west stands of Memorial Stadium. Those players don’t want to run those after the game.

Ohio State beats Swissconsin… Wish they could both lose.

Ole Miss beats Georgia… I can see the eyeroll from here to Scott County, Mississippi. I have a feeling the Rebel defense will make some plays like Louisville did last night.

Clemson beats SMU… The Tigers are back on the rails.

Oregon beats Rutgers… The Ducks will be ready to forget last week’s home loss to the Hoosiers.

Iowa beats Penn State… The Hawkeyes have a stout defense and could hold the ball for 40 minutes if things go well for them.

Texas beats Kentucky… There won’t be much “First DOWWWWN KENNNNTUCKY!” from the PA announcer today.

USC beats Notre Dame… The Trojans are finding their way. I hope the bad weather stays away!

Pitt beats Syracuse… Had they started Heintschel at QB to start the season, he is a true freshman, Pitt would…well.

Mizzou beats Auburn… On the plains at that. Auburn got robbed by the SEC machine that obviously wants to protect Georgia. The Bulldogs will have to deal with a loss to Top Ten Ole Miss today. But they were spared last week.

Alabama beats Tennessee… I have been there for that one. It will be a hoot!

Enjoy the games today. I will be in Bloomington.

Being an Indiana Hoosiers Football fan is not a bad experience these days. Beating up on Oregon even made the SEC Mouth of the South, Paul Finebaum, give Coach Curt Cignetti credit. It was a sad day for the Southeast Conference.

The Oregon Game Notes ahead of their game against the Indiana Hoosiers will need some serious overhauling this week. When things are going well, you only need a lackey to change the number of your “streak”. Be it a Big Ten winning streak. Be it a home game winning streak. The person putting the next set of game notes together for Oregon will actually have to get comfortable for a while and do a little thinking as to what to put down now?

Indiana Football is all business. A source I promised anonymity said, “Those players don’t jiggle their butts and wiggle around like fools when they make a good play. They are all business.” Watching the games, you can’t help but to agree with this assessment. This Indiana Football Team is all business. Well said.

This season in Walking on the Moon: The Sequel for Indiana Football fans. How can you improve on the season the Hoosiers had in 2024? You turn the calendar and enjoy it all over again.

Leading up to last week’s Indiana-Oregon game, I wrote in my weekly preview, “…the Hoosiers need to protect the ball, and their defensive front must put pressure on that pesky Duck QB early and often. Oregon has not played a stout defense this year.” First time I’ve ever been right!

Indiana fans got to enjoy complete glory for about a day. Then word that James Franklin was fired at Penn State came out. Coach Cig is the name atop or the near the top of every list looking for Coach Franklin’s replacement. So, there is that to deal with. No one said it would be easy, even in the best of times. That all will be what it will be. Can’t blame the guy for staying at the school that gave him his first shot at the big time and a big-time paycheck to go with it. I wrote when Coach Cig got here that I had always hoped that Indiana would one day hire Mike Leach. Coach Leach was different. Indiana University is a different kind of place. In Coach Cig, Indiana got another shot at different, and it worked out. Did it ever. However, you can’t blame an old Pennsylvania boy from taking the best football job in that state. In the meantime, we’ll concentrate on how many more TFLs this Indiana Defense will put up against Michigan State when the highest ranked Indiana Football team ever runs out onto the field at Memorial Stadium this Saturday. This weekend I floated the idea of playing the ABBA tune Fernando, or at least the chorus, while the red hat comes out on the field for a long media timeout after Fernando Mendoza throws a TD pass. I never heard back from my contact at IU. They’re busy enough.

Tim Brando believes. A road win at Oregon will do this kind of thing to a guy sitting in Shreveport.

The Hoosiers are also #1 for Kirk Herbstreit this week. Who fainted?

Notice how Joey Galloway is in pain when he hears this news.

And RGIII has Indiana on top too.

Look, we are going to enjoy this while we can do so. The moon never looked this close before.

First things first. A nice-looking scoreboard in the west endzone at North Harrison last night. It got better. North beat Clarksville 56-26. Nice job boys.

The Indiana Hoosiers are in Eugene, Oregon for a tussle today. I have said to more than one, the Hoosiers need to protect the ball, and their defensive front must put pressure on that pesky Duck QB early and often. Oregon has not played a very stout defense this year. UCLA showed us that in their win over Penn State last week. What a game that was.

I am delighted that this game is in Eugene and that I am not going to be in attendance. I don’t think I could hold up to watch this in person. My senses can only take so much overload.

We are just an hour away from the noon kicks. I have to get moving here.

Last week was another week of 10 winners and 4 losers. Gotta do better than that!

Alabama beats Mizzou… Hey, I hope so. At Columbia, the Tigers can be grrrrrreat!

Ohio State beats Illinois… I just don’t see the Illini D playing in front of the Buckeyes all day. I am an Illini fan today.

Florida State beats Pitt… Not close.

Michigan State beats UCLA… Sparty has to beat the Bruins. I will be cheering for UCLA.

Ole Miss beats Washington State… This will be the 9th conference game soon instead of this nonconference matchup. That is a shame. Folks from Washington need the serene culture Oxford can provide them for a weekend.

Indiana beats Oregon… I can’t pick against them. If the D line does what I tell them, Indiana wins.

Penn State beats Northwestern… At home. After that loss to UCLA. Sorry Northwestern.

Texas beats Oklahoma… Call me a homer. His uncle made football in Indiana. I hope this is Arch’s coming out party and everyone just shuts the hell up about his play for a week.

Tennessee beats Arkansas… Coach Petrino is in charge. Life can be a funny thing. Gives hope to all of us.

Iowa beats Wisconsin… The Hawkeyes bounce back.

Clemson beats Boston College… The game is at Chestnut Hill. Beautiful place in the fall.

Georgia beats Auburn… Give this one to the Dawgs!

Purdue beats Minnesota… Time for the Boilers to create some turnovers and make a huge special teams play.

USC beats Michigan… A game like this in the Coliseum in October makes that move by those Big Ten westies all worth it. Get these while we can.

I typed all these words listening to the 1975 Blue Jays album by Justin Hayward and John Lodge. English vinyl is much better than American made.

We lost John Lodge yesterday. He died suddenly. He was 82. I wish I could find the picture of the two of us taken in Huntsville in 1994. He was kind. John was a true gentleman English rocker.

Justin Hayward is the only Moody Blue left.

Good news this week? No. GREAT news this week. Let’s end this on a high note!

Grandson Liam got here on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee. That is where my paternal grandfather was born.

That’s the good stuff.

Have a great time watching college football today!

If you are old enough and you paid attention to college football before it became the national industry that it is, you know what this picture means. And you also know that this picture is to college football as to what a dinosaur bone is to paleontology. A coach like Paul “Bear” Bryant is not coming again. For that matter, a coach like Nick Saban is not coming again. Yes, you can get excited about your coach. Jump up and down. Enjoy it for a few years. Enjoy it for one season, if you can.

Need proof? Look at Bama’s game today. ESPN’s College Gameday is in Tuscaloosa. Bama is playing Vanderbilt and this Vandy team is not like playing the Gloria Vanderbilt teams of old. This Vandy team can bring it. The Tide must stop them from brining it. Last year in the fifth game of the season, Alabama, ranked #1, showed up in Nashville and was defeated 40-35 by the ‘Dores. That is not a typo. That is a direct reference to the metamorphosis the college football game has undergone. It is the difference between college football and pro-college football. A Vandy game is a must-win. Go ahead, scratch your head too.

When Coach Bryant got to Alabama, the three previous before he got there the Tide went 4-24-1. Bama was 5-4-1 in Coach Bryant’s first season in 1958. His next 24 teams all went to a bowl game. Coach Bryant’s teams won 6 National Championships. How did he do against Vandy? The first two were ties. The next 23 were 22-1. And you better know that 14-10 loss in Nashville in 1969 is still a sore spot for many an old Tide fan.

I had high expectations for this Alabama team at the beginning of the season. They stubbed their toe against Florida State in the first game of the year. Tide fans were the sweethearts they are after the loss. Whether they were burning Coach Kalen DeBoer in effigy or complaining about the way he had redecorated his football office or calling into to Paul Finebaum sounding like Mid-South wrestlers yelling about a “loser leave town match, brother!” Dutch Mantel is alive and well in many a Tide heart.

Why was I high on the Tide coming into the season? Coach Kalen DeBoer is a good coach. I have plenty of faith in his ability to win games. Will Coach Deboer win at Bama for 23 more years running? Not a chance. Between Bear Bryant and Nick Saban there was a list of the man who replaced the man who replaced the man who replaced the man…. until finally Coach Saban came along. The measuring stick is what you get with the Alabama faithful, and it is a funny thing. Bowl games will only get you so far before you are shown the door. Today the Tide will beat the ‘Dores.

And you didn’t know I could write one of these without gushing over the Indiana Hoosiers.

Week 6 Picks

Last week we had 10 winners and 4 losers for the second week in a row. Gotta do better.

Pitt beats Boston College… I hear a QB change is on for Pitt at home today.

Clemson beats North Carolina… Dabo has to beat Belichick… right?

Illinois beats Purdue… The Illini are still fighting the respect-a-meter after getting 63 put on them by the Hoosiers.

Cincinnati beats Iowa State… The Bearcats are always to counted on for at least one good upset a year in Nippert Stadium.

Georgia beats Kentucky… The Cats offense won’t spend enough time on the field.

Michigan beats Wisconsin… The Wolverines at home against a reeling Bucky.

Notre Dame beats Boise State… The Irish will take care of this.

Penn State beats UCLA… Paycheck notwithstanding, you have to believe the UCLA fanbase is missing the days of PAC-12.

Alabama beats Vanderbilt… The Tide will be the team that scores 40 this time around.

Louisville beats Virginia… The Cards got past Pitt with a great second half. This is a resilient bunch of Cards. They need to a better start today and they should have one.

TCU beats Colorado… At home, the Horned Frogs will get this one.

Ohio State beats Minnesota… I will be the one celebrating if my old friend Goldy can get this one!

Texas A&M beats Mississippi State… The Aggies are not an SEC darling. They never will be. They do have a strong team this year. Too much maroon in one stadium for me.

Cal beats Duke… It gets dark on the east coast mighty early. I just don’t see Duke kicking at 10:30 EDT going well.

Enjoy the games. Take your mind off the trainwrecks for a while.