REALITY FINDS THE HOOSIERS. That was my first post-game headline after the Old Dominion opener. The photo above was taken with twelve and a half minutes until kickoff. The stadium will be full twelve minutes before kickoff for the 2026 opener.

In the first game of the season, there was a sense of the “pucker factor” playing out when the much-anticipated season finally kicked off for the 2025 edition of Indiana University Football. On the first snap of the game, Old Dominion QB Colton Joseph ran 75 yards for six. When IU got the ball in the early going, it seemed we saw more dropped passes in that first half out of the Hoosiers than we saw all of 2024. IU QB Fernando Mendoza was a pedestrian 18 of 31 for 193 yards and 0 touchdowns. Indiana won 27-14. Turning one’s head sideways after a victory in Bloomington was a new phenomenon for me. Things have to get better, I thought. Things did get better in week two.

In game two, the Kennesaw State University Owls made their first trip to Memorial Stadium. As Tim Brando and Devin Gardner called this one on FS1, Indiana put on a show. Indiana 56 Kennesaw State 9. The Hoosiers pass game improved. 21 of 28 for 280 yards and 5 TDs. Big brother Fernando threw 4 of them. Little brother Alberto Mendoza threw one too. The Hoosiers gained 313 yards on the ground in this one. Lee Beebe Jr. led the way with 90 yards on 11 carries. Beebe would go down with a noncontact injury the next week and be lost for the season. Kaelon Black and Roman Hemby have adequately shared the main rushing chores with 2020 yards between the two of them heading into the CFP Championship game. Defensively, the Hoosiers held KSU to 89 yards rushing on 32 carries while creating two turnovers and stymying the Owls to only converting 2 of 13 3rd down conversions.

For all the accolades the Indiana offense has rightly received with the Heisman Trophy winner under center, the IU defense has been just as spectacular only giving up 11.1 points per game through 15 games heading into the National Championship Game against the Miami Hurricanes on Monday night.

After a 73-0 practice game against Indiana State, the #9 ranked Illinois team came calling to Bloomington’s Memorial Stadium for a rare primetime matchup on NBC. Todd Blackledge sounded stupefied a few times during his 2nd half analysis. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He was just saying what the rest of us were thinking.

And so, it was on. Game after game. Win after win. Hoosier fans losing their voices and apologizing the next day for sounding like gravel. I was there. Even when I wasn’t at the game, I was there in voice. When Omar Cooper Jr, came down on his inside foot, somehow, against Penn State, you know the play, I thought I had ruptured a vocal cord.

After a 56-3 win over Purdue, it was on to The Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis.

Having been in attendance the last time Indiana beat Ohio State in 1988, the win over Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game felt as much like an exorcism as it did what it was which meant the Hoosiers were finally Big Ten Champs in my lifetime. I missed the last Rose Bowl in 1968 by two and half months. I wasn’t going to miss this one.

When the confetti flew after the Hoosiers beat Ohio State, there was a sense of elation over Hoosier Football Nation. None of us knew how good that was going to feel. It really happened. Finally.

On to The Rose Bowl. Indiana dismantled Alabama to the point where, had she been alive to see it, Aunt Barbara, a staunch Ole Miss fan, would have said, “Bless their hearts. Alabam-er was terrible. Indi-an-er didn’t even feel sorry for them.” Indiana won 38-3.

The Hoosiers were not finished after Pasadena. They moved on to The Peach Bowl.

The Peach Bowl was much of the same. Indiana won it on the first play of the game when DeAngelo Ponds intercepted Oregon QB Dante Moore’s first pass and returned it for an Indiana score. The route was on. 35-7 at halftime. In six quarters of Playoff Football, Indiana had outscored Alabama and Oregon 73-10. Incredible. Through two CFP games Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza has completed 31 of 36 passes with 8 TDs and 0 INTs. Three more touchdowns than incompletions. Amazing. We’ve never seen the likes. No one has. I know. I know what Joe Burrow did with LSU in 2019. I saw it. I can read. That was impressive too.

This past week the football “Mouth of the South”, our friend Paul Finebaum, called himself a “football snob”. That just didn’t sound right. Me calling Paul Finebaum a football snob is sensible. Paul calling himself that is nonsensical. Much like the statement he made this week, and I paraphrase, that if Indiana wins the National Championship, the Hoosiers will be remembered similarly to the 1984 BYU team that finished #1 after defeating a 6-5 Michigan team in The Holiday Bowl. Now that’s more like it! That’s a football snob talking! We know what he has to say for the SEC Shield. It’ll be ‘fine’.

Back to what is important. The most satisfying piece of writing I have ever put down was a paper I wrote in college about the 1980 Olympic Hockey Team. You know. The Miracle on Ice. I tracked down Coach Herb Brooks in Utica, New York. During this telephone interview with Coach Brooks my writing hand was trembling as I took notes. Even if the Indiana Hoosiers beat the Miami Hurricanes in the National Championship Game by a score of 50-0 on Monday, that win won’t impress me as much as The Miracle on Ice.

At the end of the 2004 movie Miracle portraying the story of The Miracle on Ice, Kurt Russell, playing the part of Herb Brooks, said his (Brooks’) favorite moment from that time was when his team was being awarded their Gold Medals standing on top as The Star-Spangled Banner was played in honor of his team. If you know what he said later in the scene, you know why I bit my lip a bit watching what college football has become these days. She ain’t what she used to be. I don’t want to know what Keith Jackson would say. I have played this out in my head and written about it here. Keith said it already. When he was quizzed about the state of college football at the 2017 Rose Bowl between USC and Penn State by Chris Fowler with Kirk Herbstreit watching on, Keith Jackson said one problem was television. He said, “Oversaturation. “Too much coverage.” Chris and Kirk danced around a bit, and they were glad to be heading into commercial. Keith saw it coming. Keith saw TV dollars doing their part to cause the situation college football finds itself in here and now. Have dollars, quarterback will travel. Ask the Duke Blue Devils.

For me, if the Indiana Hoosiers beat the Miami Hurricanes 50-0 in the National Championship Game on Monday, that victory won’t mean as much as The Rose Bowl. Being that Midwest kid who follows college football and lived for that matchup at the end of the year that played out in The Rose Bowl between The Big Ten and The PAC 10, seeing Indiana play in the Canyon at Arroyo Seco was a life’s dream come true. Do I wish it would have been USC from the old days instead of Alabam-er? Of course. But beating the crap out of the Crimson Tide was as good a substitute as one could ask for.

If you would ask me what my favorite moment of The Rose Bowl was, I would say just looking out seeing the Hoosiers on the field. I didn’t want it to end. When Jarrett and I got back to our hotel in LA, we watched the second half of Georgia-Ole Miss. The Rebs won! When that was over, a replay of The Rose Bowl was next. I sat there and watched every play again.

When I got home, I sat on the couch and watched it again with the ability to rewind or fast forward anything I wanted to. Something caught my attention. Kaelon Black’s 25-yard TD run to make the score 30-3. I know the play well.

When I watched this touchdown run over and over and over again, something even more special revealed itself. You see, Kaelon Black is one of those 13 James Madison Dukes who followed Coach Curt Cignetti to Indiana. We can’t quantify the significance of having these guys in the Indiana locker room and the Indiana weight room and on the Indiana practice field to show the rest of the guys the way. The Curt Cignetti way. Without those 13, including Aiden Fisher and Elijah Sarratt, I’m not here typing this. I don’t make it The Rose Bowl to see the Indiana Hoosiers play instead of the USC-UCLA game that I hope to get back to see again someday (providing it is played in The Rose Bowl Stadium). Without the 13 from James Madison, my dream of seeing the Indiana Hoosiers in The Rose Bowl doesn’t come true. I’m not the only one that gets that. After Kaelon Black’s TD, Coach Cig found #8 on the sideline and shook his hand. Coach took off his headset, stepped back, found his old JMU back and shook his hand. You can see some around them looking on like I was. This was special. This was the essence of why I sit here and wind this up and say again, Go Hoosiers!

We’re almost there. Keep working. Every play a life of its own.

By Danny Johnson

Hard to imagine the word regret coming within seven miles of the words Indiana University Football right now. There was some regret found today for me. Regret. Anger. Betrayal. Longing. No, were weren’t studying Shakespeare. That would be where the freshman English classes are right now. My sophomores have been studying Guy de Maupassant’s short story The Necklace for the last few days. In the story, a lady loses a necklace that was loaned to her. She doesn’t do the smart thing and admit she lost it from the upscale lady she borrowed it from. She decides to replace it. For the next ten years, after the lady and her husband take out exorbitant loans, the couple work like dogs to pay back the money they procured to buy a diamond necklace replacement. The original necklace, we painfully find out, was paste. Faux diamonds. Worth a pittance of what the tired couple paid and toiled over for ten years. Guy de Maupassant was famous for short stories that ended with twists and turns. As I was thinking about asking my students if they had ever lost anything, something I lost a long time ago came back to haunt me once again.

On the smartboard today was a picture from 1925. This was a picture from the first designated Oaken Bucket Football Game between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Purdue Boilermakers. A hundred years later, Indiana University Football is on the precipice of winning the school’s first National Championship. Today I told the students about the treasure I lost in 1981. A treasure that was first presented at the first Oaken Bucket Game on November 21, 1925.

Miss Maude. That is what we called her. She was my nextdoor neighbor. She was the town librarian. She was a historian. She turned me on to Paper Lion by George Plimpton when I was ten. Writing started to just mean more to me at a young age. Miss Maude was my friend. Miss Maude was a student at Indiana University in 1925.

I could have very well been wearing this shirt the day Maude called our house and asked me to walk across Cross Street, our houses were on adjacent corners of Cross and Jackson. Miss Maude said she had something for me. I ran. If Miss Maude was calling, it had to be good. It was.

Sitting at Maude’s kitchen table, I waited and squirmed I am sure. Keeping still was not my forte when I was young. My grandfather often said I reminded him of a “worm in hot ashes”. Somehow I was okay with the worm part. The hot ashes were what offended me. Anyway, here comes Maude from her bedroom back to the kitchen with a case of some sort.

Maude sat down next to me. She opened up the case. “I have a few things I want you to have.” She then proceeded to hand me three different items. These things had been given to her on November 21, 1925 at the first Indiana-Purdue Oaken Bucket Game. She was there.

There was a metal football that could fit in the palm of your hand. It was more oblong and shaped like a rugby ball.

There was a red button about 3 and half inches in diameter with “INDIANA” across it at a slight diagonal from upper left to lower right.

There was a commemorative two-part ornamental metal piece that was made to pin also. This was THE ITEM. The metal had a print of the stadium and writing that indicated the date and the occasion. This was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. I have yet to find its likeness in a search engine. I know it is rare.

In 1979, we moved from 204 Jackson Street in Brownstown to an outpost in the middle of nowhere. My Mayberry was gone. Leaving my friends behind, including Maude, was a hard thing to deal with.

On a fall day in 1981, I gathered the three treasured items that Maude had given me. They were always on my dresser in a plastic Indiana stadium cup that once teemed of Sprite at an IU Football game. I placed these three items in a paper lunch sack. They were to be props for a speech that I was making about the Old Oaken Bucket Game. When the speech was finished and the bell rang, I placed the lunch sack with my treasures in my locker. To this day, students at North Harrison don’t have locks on their lockers. We trust each other. We always have.

When lunch was over that day, I opened my locker to grab my math book for my next class. My lunch sack and the items from the first Oaken Bucket Game in 1925 were gone. This was not a good afternoon for me. These items have been but a memory ever since. Someone knew. Someone knew what I had and how valuable these things were. I never imagined someone stealing them from me. They did.

Each time I watch Purdue come into Bloomington for the Old Oaken Bucket game, like the last one in 2024 that Tim Brando and Devin Gardner called in the snow, I hurt just a little bit.

Seeing the current Indiana Hoosiers playing for the National Championship 100 years later has opened that wound all over again. An Indiana victory over the Miami Hurricanes will certainly help me cope with the pain. Go IU!

We’ll talk about it as long as we have good memories and still know each other’s names. Thirty years on, Gus Stephenson and I still laugh about the day we were in Bloomington, Indiana watching the Southern Miss Golden Eagles as they flew into Memorial Stadium for an afternoon affair with the Indiana Hoosiers on the gridiron. Thanks to a blocked field-goal at the end of the game, Indiana pulled the game out 29-27 in a September game that would be Indiana’s second win of a 2-9 season. Thank God we didn’t play 12 back then.

My dad attended Southern Miss and earned a bachelor’s degree in education. A few years after my parents moved north to Indiana, dad enrolled in a master’s degree program at Indiana University. He completed that course of study as well. Though it was 1995, ten years since my dad was blowing a whistle in my and Gus’ direction to let us know a football play was over or it was time to head to “the hill” to see which North Harrison Cougar football player was going to pass out first, Gus looked at my dad and said, “Coach, who are you going to be for today?” My dad sprang out of his seat, pulled up his Indiana Hoosiers sweatshirt and yelled, “I can’t lose, Gus!” Under his nice red sweatshirt was a nice golden t-shirt that proudly displayed a classic USM. I can’t lose Gus.

That is where I am today, Gus. I can’t lose. Well, I can’t completely lose.

Y’all know where my football allegiance lies. I was born a Hoosier and can find my way to Memorial Stadium walking backwards with a blindfold on. That does not change the fact that after Indiana fired Coach Bill Mallory on Halloween Day in 1996, I fired Indiana. Oh my, was I ever mad. And I hardly ever get mad. Firing Coach Mal did it. Coach Mallory, hired in 1984, made Indiana Football respectable. Before Coach Mallory came to Indiana, the Hoosiers had played in a grand total of TWO bowl games in school history. Coach Mal took the Hoosiers to 6 bowl games in 13 seasons. And this was when a bowl game was a bowl game. The College Football Playoff was a long way from watering down the bowl games that have more than doubled in bowl game number since 1995. Getting to a Bowl game in the 1980s and 90s was a very big deal.

Yep. When Coach Mallory was fired, I fired Indiana. I looked to my Mississippi roots and found a new team to invest my heart in. Learning the words and the proper cadence of “Hotty Toddy!” was a joy. Watching Deuce McAllister run through the middle toward a Heisman Trophy hopeful seaon was fun. When the Rebs came to Vandy I was there. When the Rebs made it to Lexington I was there. Over the years, I have seen the Rebels play in as many towns and more stadiums than I have seen the Hoosiers play in. Jackson, Oxford, Lexington, Nashville, Shreveport, Winston-Salem, Knoxville, and Tuscaloosa are where I have seen Ole Miss play. I’ve attended Indiana games in Bloomington, Champaign, Indianapolis, Bowling Green, Iowa City, Lexington, Shreveport, and Pasadena. 8 to 8.

My parents were both born in Mississippi. I nearly was. My mother had sixteen brothers and sisters. There are more cousins than I can name without some coaching. The number of relatives that “finished at Oxford” (they like to say that, or at least they used to) dwarfs the number of family that graduated from Indiana. Most of that number I fortunately married into. And my dear wife, Carrie, loves football too.

So you know where I am going with this. Yes. I think Ole Miss will defeat Miami tonight. I think Indiana will defeat Oregon for a second time this season tomorrow night. And let me say, while I have no animosity toward Oregon, they haven’t been in The Big Ten since lunch and there is no need to despise them yet, if this Oregon team was wearing Cream and Crimson heading into the playoffs this year they would have been given the treatment Indiana was given last year. No respect. Oregon’s schedule this season has not been very demanding. They shouldn’t have a player on their team hurting anywhere. I know, I say that and maybe I should just keep my mouth shut. But after the way Indiana has been ridden like a sore mule by so many SEC pundits, I said it.

Weeks ago I declared Ole Miss to be the biggest threat to Indiana’s ability to hoist a trophy that says CFP National Champions on it. That they made the plays to come back and defeat Georgia in The Sugar Bowl was not at all an aberration to these eyes. And my inclination that Ole Miss has the goods was long before Lane Kiffin jumped ship and gave these boys even more reserve. Oh Lord, I thought, look out!

My affinity for Ole Miss did have legs before Coach Mallory was fired at IU. In 1988, when Indiana was in the best of times of the Coach Mal days, the first of my mother’s sixteen siblings died in April, April 18th. My Uncle Durwood Hines had a brain tumor. We still miss him. He and his wife, my Aunt Barbara, had no children. In the fall of 1989, Aunt Barbara took me to Memorial Stadium in Jackson to see Ole Miss play Arkansas. We repeated this at the same place with the same teams in 1991. In the 90s and into Eli Manning’s senior year in 2003, Aunt Barbara and I took in games at Oxford, Lexington, and she came up to witness a few Indiana games too. She considered the Indiana Football experience in Bloomington to be “quaint”. Aunt Barbara left us two football seasons ago. What I would not have given to have called her on the phone from The Rose Bowl last week and asked, “How do you like us now?” She would have said, “Y’all have come a long way, Danny. I’m happy for you.” With the seasons Indiana and Ole Miss are having in 2025, Aunt Barbara and I would have been burning up the telephone and thankful we didn’t have long distance bills like we used to.

Indiana University is finding success thanks to two reasons. They put in their thumb and pulled out a plum in head coach Curt Cignetti. In doing so, Indiana has also decided to make football a priority like it never was before and it shows. The lack of institutional interest had long been a sore spot with football people like me. And we went through some coaches that were doozies. I tried to warm up to Cam Cameron. Gerry Dinardo felt it. No help from admin. Tragically we lost Coach Hep. He was turning things around. Kevin Wilson was a disaster. Coach Allen is a guy I really liked. And I hate that it did not work out for him. He walked out of Bloomington with plenty of presidents in his pockets. I don’t feel bad for Tom. Thankfully, Indiana hired some administrators wanting football to succeed. Thankfully too they hired Coach Cig. There is not a better football coach in the land and he coaches the Indiana Hoosiers. Say that three times and let it sink in.

Don’t ask me how many football games I have seen in Bloomington. I wish I knew. I go back to the early 70s there. How many basketball games have I seen at IU? One. Uno. 1-sy. Had Oklahoma beaten Alabama in the first round of the CFP and probably given Indiana a little competition in The Rose Bowl, the Sooners would have been the 80th FBS team I have seen play in person. I’m stuck on 79. Paul Finebaum probably doesn’t believe someone in Indiana like me exists.

Should the Ole Miss Rebels come calling to Miami to take on the Indiana Hoosiers on January 19th, I won’t be there. Attending The Rose Bowl was the top of the mountain for me. I know. I’m getting ahead of myself. There’s still business to take care of for the Rebs and the Hoosiers. The Hoosiers don’t make mistakes. If Indiana continues to play with the same resolve and result they won’t be defeated. One lost fumble in game one and NONE since. 7 first downs given up by penalty ALL SEASON. Turnover ratio +18. 76 touchdowns scored to 13 scored by their opponents. You don’t get this far and then fart do you? Yeah, I know. We have seen it before, right? Have we? I don’t think so. This isn’t Florida. This isn’t Nebraska. This isn’t Alabama. This isn’t Clemson. This is an Indiana team that has been more dominant this season than most anything college football has ever thrown at us. And even with their stellar performances, some will never accept greatness from Indiana of all places.

The Rebels make me nervous. Their quarterback, Trinidad Chambliss, is akin to an Indiana story. He too came from out of nowhere and is leading like few have before him. Should Indiana play Ole Miss for the title game and I think they will, I WILL NOT be wearing an Ole Miss T-Shirt (and I have many) under my Indiana sweatshirt. Still, I will be able to say, even if I have to grit my teeth a little under the circumstance, “I can’t lose!” Not a bad dilemma at all. Go Hoosiers!

We didn’t see this coming. We never thought it would be this bad for the place where “It Just Means More…” More what? More butt-whuppins?

Looking at the teams representing the Southeastern Conference in post-season college football, be it bowl games or playoff games, the one team the SEC needs to thank right now is Ole Miss. The Rebels have 2 of the league’s 4 victories so far in the new year. Bama beat Oklahoma in the playoff too in an SEC v. SEC playoff game. Traditional bowl games? The SEC is 1-5. The total win – loss tally for the SEC in the post season is 4-9. Texas beat Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. Way to go Arch! Glad to see Michigan go down.

If there were two great reasons to attend The Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, those reasons would be having the opportunity to see Indiana fans take over The Rose Bowl Stadium, I have heard the crowd was 80 percent IU fans. More there for this one than we can fit into IU’s Memorial Stadium. The other reason would be to see SEC Network pundit Paul Finebaum made out to be a donkey.

For Paul Finebaum to be made to look like a donkey, Indiana would have to pummel the Alabama Crimson Tide in The Rose Bowl. Mission accomplished. Indiana pummeled Alabama 38-3. The game didn’t seem that close. Indiana outgained Alabama 407 yards to 193.

Don’t worry SEC faithful. Call Paul. Paul will still have an excuse to help you believe this Indiana beatdown was just an apparition. We must not forget Barry Krauss and Jeff Rutledge and Ozzie Newsome. Bama’s life is not in the here and now. Walking down Rosemont Avenue before the clearing that leads to the palace that is The Rose Bowl Stadium, I heard an Alabama faithful yell, “Roll Tide! We got this. We got Coach Bryant! The Bear is looking down on us! Indiana is going down!” I swear I have heard that guy’s voice on the Paul Finebaum Show.

The last game Coach Bryant coached was on December 29, 1982. That game was a victory over Illinois in The Liberty Bowl in Memphis. Bear Bryant is not here to help you anymore, Bama. Nick Saban is not around. You don’t have Devonta, A.J., or Najee to help you anymore.

Just like the Paul Finebaum types who had a field day running down Coach Ray Perkins after he was the poor guy named to replace Bear Bryant -not that Perkins was the most affable guy- Coach Kalen DeBoer has been given the inauspicious distinction of following Nick Saban as the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. You know how this movie goes, even in times of change. Especially in times of change. Tuscaloosa is not exactly the embodiment of change.

Going into The Rose Bowl, Paul Finebaum said Indiana was the team that had more pressure on them than the Alabama Crimson Tide. Had I been dipping snuff at the time, I would have swallowed it. Maybe that is what has to be said on the SEC Network.

In reality, it goes like this: If Indiana gets beat by Alabama, that is the natural order of things. Of course we beat the Hoosiers in football. Indiana plays in The Big Ten. They don’t play in the SEC. We’d beat them with cornstalks if that was the game. We’ve got the talent. Indiana isn’t worthy enough to take the field with the Alabama Crimson Tide. We’ll take the Hoosiers to school with one hand behind our back.

You get the idea. This ideology is just as misguided and elitist and as snobbish as it sounds. Most of the Bama football faithful are football snobs. Ask any Ole Miss fan. They’ll tell you.

No. The pressure was really on the Alabama Crimson Tide heading into The Rose Bowl. What if the unthinkable happens? What if the unspoken happens? What if Indiana kicks Alabama’s tail up and down the field and doesn’t even allow a Bama player the courtesy he rightly deserves and that is to score a Tide touchdown?

The unthinkable happened. The unspoken happened. In the process, the Alabama fans that actually made it to The Rose Bowl were silenced. I never heard a “Roll Tide!” Bama fans were sorry they showed up. They were thinking about how smart their friends were back home in Dallas County or Orange Beach or Hoover or fill in the blank. The Bama silence was worth getting my ticket scanned, as I walked into The Rose Bowl. The final score was Indiana 38 Alabama 3. The Hoosiers held the Crimson Tide to 193 yards of total offense; the fewest Bama has gained in a game since a win over Tulane in 2008. There was no blaming this one on the refs. In the process, lowly Indiana, that basketball school, proved what most of us who are not Alabama fans or affiliated with ESPN which feeds and waters and takes care of the SEC Network, knew all along. Putting a 3 loss Alabama team that couldn’t gain a yard rushing in their SEC Championship Game in the College Football Playoff made about as much sense as putting in an 8-5 Duke team that actually won their conference.

Am I glad Indiana had the opportunity to expose the SEC bias that is trying to offset so many other changes in college football beyond traditional control? Yes. Yes, I am. Not a football fan worth his or her reality thought Alabama had a chance to beat Indiana, providing he or she had actually taken the time to look at Indiana and what they have accomplished this season after the great season they had last year. The Hoosiers are 14-0 this year and 25-2 so far in the Coach Curt Cignetti’s two-year tenure.

The Hoosiers still have some work to do. As the highest ranked CFP team, they are designated as the home team and will wear their crimson jerseys. In Coach Cig’s time, the Hoosiers are 16-0 in crimson and have outscored their opponents 757 to 188. Ask Alabama. They know.

Know this. Neither my rant here nor the Hoosiers taking the Tide to school will have any sort of lasting effect on Paul Finebaum or the Tide fans. I get it. The Tide fans will still know more about football than the rest of us, thanks to Bear Bryant and Nick Saban. And Paul Finebaum, whose professional forte is akin to playing the part of a Mid-South Wrestling manager to his stable of growling callers be they from Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Ohio, or Baton Rouge, will still be sitting there smiling with his callers. Paul will find a way to keep them stirred up and keep them believing the SEC is the standard bearer and purveyor of football truth no matter how many bowl games the SEC teams lose or how pathetic Alabama looked against lowly Indiana when they lost The Rose Bowl 38-3.

There is a postscript here. As much as I enjoy what is happening in Bloomington, I worry about the Hoosiers’ ability to beat Oregon, Indiana’s opponent in the semi-final, twice in one season. I worry even more about the Hoosiers having to face the Ole Miss Rebels in the CFP Championship Game, should they both get there. I root for the Rebels. I’m not an SEC hater, understand. I’m a football realist. Enough of a realist to argue with myself when I start to doubt the Hoosiers. In their crimson jerseys, Indiana is hard to rationally argue about, no matter how lowly and nascent Indiana Hoosier Football may be.

So, the Indiana Hoosiers will be playing in The Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day 2026 at the Rose Bowl Stadium. Be still my beating heart.

In November of 2020, yes, that year. My dear wife, Carrie, and I were spending a quarantined week along Topsail Island looking at the Atlantic Ocean. Feeling the ocean breeze, I was on the phone one sunny afternoon getting about as close to Indiana playing in The Rose Bowl as I figured I ever would. Dave Kornowa was talking to me on the phone, as I jotted down notes and hung on every syllable.

Dave Kornowa kicked the field goal for the Indiana Hoosiers against the USC Trojans on New Year’s Day 1968. USC beat IU 14-3 that day. I would see the light of day for the first time two and a half months later. We talked for nearly two hours about that magical 1967 season. I will always be thankful that Dave took the time to talk to me. I think we both enjoyed it.

Yet here we are all these years later and life has other plans.

Yes, I know. Seeing that capital A is about as enticing as looking at a D for Duke. That seems to be the resounding theme from so many Alabama fans I am hearing from as to what their thoughts are about playing lowly Indiana. Being the traditionalist, I would have preferred a rematch with Oregon in this game. You may get the picture. At least I could pretend it would be a matchup against a Big Ten school and a PAC-12 school.

We’re stuck with Bama. The last time I attended one of their bowl games, the Minnesota Golden Gophers beat them in the Music City Bowl back in December of 2004. Hey, at least Bama and Minnesota were playing in a Bowl Game! Indiana was not. At that point, the last bowl game the Hoosiers played in was the Independence Bowl in 1993. I was in Shreveport for that one too. Not the Hoosiers finest day. Coach Frank Beamer’s run of a ton of Bowl Games for Virginia Tech started that day. What a coach he was.

I was asked today if I am excited about being in Pasadena for The Rose Bowl on January 1st.

No, I won’t be in the press box. This rejection notice did not take long to receive. I had to try, right? But, I will be there.

My answer was that I am still trying to process it. You know, being there. In earnest, The Rose Bowl is my favorite game of the year. As a child of the Midwest, The Rose Bowl is the home of my heroes. Warren Moon in 1978 playing for Washington. All those USC teams with student body right tailbacks. Ricky Bell. Charles White. Marcus Allen. Rick Leach and Rob Lytle playing for Michigan. The great Ohio State teams. Iowa in 1985. This was and is THE GAME. We can get past the fact college football, not helping itself out these days, is still a great game.

So, having been to The Rose Bowl Stadium to see UCLA host USC a couple times, my favorite game outside of The Big Ten and The Egg Bowl, I know what is out there. I know the way. Keith Jackson called it “The mansion at the end of the yellow brick road.”

Keith Jackson Broadcast Center Tribute at the Rose Bowl Stadium

Having spent some time on the field, I know what’s there.

And now I suppose this is truly real. Indiana plays in The Rose Bowl in my lifetime. And I know the way there.

I am not sure how it could be better than this. Beating Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game was the cherry on top of the sundae. Maybe The Rose Bowl will be the whipped cream. Or the rainy cream.

I don’t care if it rains or not. I will be there, and I know the way. I’m still trying to believe it all.

Look, I have already written about the players and the stats and some of the intangibles. Indiana has the best coach in the nation. Who could argue that? This is Indiana. And Coach Cignetti is making a great many top program coaches look bad. At INDIANA. I know. I’ve been hanging around Memorial Stadium at IU for more than 50 years. I’m sure there are some Alabama fans that expect the Indiana Football Team to be delivered to Pauley Pavillion for the game. They know it all. I enjoy their history. I know that Coach Bear Bryant beat Illinois in his last game 43 years ago tonight. I was watching and cheering Coach Bryant on. (I know the post says December 30th… my server for this webpage is in the old country… Bear’s last game was December 29th where I am in Indiana today!)

Lastly, the Ole Miss Rebels are the team that scares me the most. They have a QB who would fit in nicely at Indiana. He’s a gem in the rough. Not a 4 star. A no star. Those are the guys that are driving Indiana, and this is going to be fun.

I’m a stats guy. I always have been. My football coaching father told me there is only one stat folks remember and that is the one on the score board. I get it. In college I gave an informative speech explaining the NFL QB rating system. I think it has been tweaked since then. Ken Anderson’s 1981 QBR of 98.5 was explained on a black board in Crestview Hall. Doing my best John Madden, chalk dust flying, and me telling classmates “This is how it works, boom!”

Sure, another stats guy or gal from Alabama could bring another litany of numbers to dazzle you with. Ones like how Alabama has spent more than 900 hundred weeks in the AP Top 25 poll over the years and Indiana has only spent 95 weeks in the poll with 26 of those 95 coming in the Coach Curt Cignetti era. They would be correct. Good for them. This is not about revisionist history. I’m just saying, on paper, Alabama is in trouble. Thankfully paper is not worth much. Kind of like that line when art critics are arguing.

Critic #1: “How can you call that work unimportant? It’s hanging in the Metropolitan!”

Critic # 2: “Well, so is toilet paper.” My apologies to Pat Conroy and The Prince of Tides.

The following are numbers based on the first 13 games played by Indiana and Alabama. There is a reason Indiana is the number one team in America. My dad would say, “Look at the dadgum score board. Indiana is 13-0.” I get it dad. These stats taken from each school’s website and NCAA stat website.

Scoring: Indiana 41.9 to 10.85 Alabama 31.2 to 17.38

First Downs given up by penalty: Indiana 7 Alabama 19

3rd Down Defense: Indiana .281 Alabama .347

Penalty Yards per game: Indiana 28.46 Alabama 41.92

Turnover Margin: Indiana +17 Alabama +7

Fumbles Lost: Indiana 1 Alabama 7

Tackles for Loss: Indiana 8.6 per game Alabama 5.7 per game

QB Passing Efficiency Rank: Indiana #2 Alabama #39

Field Goal kicking: Indiana 15 of 16 Alabama 13 of 20 (Bama was 2 for 2 against Oklahoma Saturday so now 15 for 22; you know I love all kickers.)

Heisman Trophy Winner: Indiana 1 Alabama 0

That Heisman Trophy is great and all. I’ve never seen a trophy score a touchdown.

Last one and probably the most telling:

Rushing Yardage Comparison:

Indiana 221.6 yds per game Indiana’s opponents 77.6 yds per game

Alabama 109.9 yds per game Alabama’s opponents 120.6 yds per game

My dad is right. I won’t give a rat’s bladder (apologies to Captain Furillo) if Bama has 500 yards passing and -34 yards rushing as long as Indiana scores one more point than Alabama. At the end of the day, I am just an old stats guy. Trouble is I can recite Terry Bradshaw’s stats quicker than I can Patrick Mahomes.

At the end of the day, I can tell you that I fell off the turnip truck 40 years ago. Alabama fans will tell you Indiana hasn’t played anyone. A few Alabama fans, and I have enjoyed looking in on some Bama podcasts today, did take notice that Indiana University is in Bloomington and not Indianapolis when the Hoosiers defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes in The Big Ten Championship Game to run their record to 13-0.

One more stat. This one is from the January 22, 2011, edition of The Birmingham News. The article announcing that Alabama assistant coach Curt Cignetti was leaving the Tide and cutting his $250,000 salary from Alabama in half to become the head coach at Division II Indiana (Pa.). THE STAT? This story was in the middle of page 4C that January 22nd day.

Today I heard Paul Finebaum tell Matt Barrie that the pressure in on Indiana more than it is Alabama, as we head into this New Years Day battle in The Granddaddy of the All. I miss Keith Jackson. How can Paul’s logic even start to stick to the wall? It can’t. Alabama has much more to lose than Indiana does and Paul knows that. He’s an SEC cheerleader and he is a good one. Bama has the legacy. IU is building one. The last time the Indiana Hoosiers played in The Rose Bowl Stadium, Indiana won 42-13. The last time Alabama played in The Rose Bowl, Bama lost 27-20 in OT. With a nod to my dad, those may be stats to remember as well.

There are some things I just don’t expect to see. If I get to the Eiffel Tower one day, it will be a shock to me. There are other examples I could line up. You get the idea. Watching a 12-0 Indiana Hoosier Football Team play a 12-0 Ohio State team for the Big Ten Championship seemed more unpractical than going to France until Saturday. That was when this actually happened for real. I was there. I was really there. Indiana played Ohio State for the Big Ten Championship Saturday night. And they won 13-10. This is something I am still trying to completely process. Indiana had not beaten Ohio State since I was 20. I was there for that one. I’m 57 now. I was there for that one too. I really was there. I have pictures.

Hoosier fans far and wide were taken aback on the first play of the game when Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza was knocked just south of Fort Wayne and landed face first on the field. He got the wind knocked out of him, I thought, I hoped. Have you ever had that happen to you? I have been there. I will be there again before I get to France. This feeling is AWFUL. Thankfully, it goes away. That’s when #15 ran back out on the field a play later. They got this, I thought.

They did have it. They do have “it”. You know what I’m talking about. Whatever “it” is, you know it when you see it. And when you feel it. That is what this Indiana Football season has been about. I have never seen a team so efficient. Hats off to Coach Curt Cignetti.

When the game was over Saturday night, Coach Cig was having a good time. He earned it. This two season Indiana Football turnaround he has engineered is akin to The Miracle on Ice. No one has more respect for that happening than I do. To even try to make a comparison was once unfathomable. Now I believe it. In the two seasons with Coach Cignetti at the stern, Indiana is 24-2. That is not a typo.

I have thrown out the impressive stats. They are mindboggling. But what a great bunch of guys to just root for. They are so easy to root for. Top to bottom. There is nothing not to like. On Saturday, you can expect to hear Fernando Mendoza’s name called out as the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner. Has he thrown out a Heisman Pose on the field this year? Not hardly. Fernando would rather talk about his offensive line. He is a smart man. All the old linemen reading this are shaking their heads in agreement. They know. They love Fernando too.

I know many of you know of my affinity for singing. Well, Saturday night, as the Ohio State placekicker’s 27-yard attempt sailed wide left outside the upright in this picture, a kick that would have tied the game and probably sent us to overtime, I quite know that I strained a vocal cord. There is still a soreness on the left side of my neck. And I can feel something that just doesn’t feel right in there. It will heal. I have no regret. Maybe I’ll be able to hit some of those Joe Cockeresque notes I have always wanted to find as they were intended.

Next up for the Indiana Hoosiers is the home of my heroes. The Rose Bowl. That is how perfect this season is to me. I’m good with playing either Alabama or Oklahoma. Preferably Bama. They got no business in the playoff and most of America knows that. But, yeah, this is perfect. To be playing this game on January 1, a tradition THAT MUST STAY for the sake of a great parade, great folks in Pasadena who get ready for it all year long, and for the love of mankind the memory of Keith Jackson deserves all of this! I took the picture above on a Thursday morning before a USC-UCLA game in 2018.

You know all the talking heads at the FOX pregame show desk picked Ohio State. This won’t stop any time soon. Indiana won’t get the respect they deserve, and the team and coaches all feed off of that for sure. Just more of the perfect symmetry of a season that gave Indiana University a Big Ten Champ at last. The Hoosiers still have some work to do.

Things will look much differently Saturday Night. The picture above was taken in 2023 before the Indiana Hoosiers played the Louisville Cardinals. IU lost 21-14. It was a game Indiana had no business losing.

I was in this mass humanity 37 years ago. That was the last time the Indiana Hoosiers beat the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Keith Jackson was in the house that day. I don’t remember Keith ever being there before or after. TV games were few and far between then. Indiana won the game 41-7 on a beautiful and warm October 8th afternoon. Anthony Thompson ran for 190 yards and four TDs. For me this was THE GAME that I held onto for so long. I never thought anything I would witness at Memorial Stadium would ever top it. Then came this year’s dismantling of #9 ranked Illinois by a score of 63-10. That game topped it.

In full disclosure, I have sat down three times this week trying to write something about the Big Ten Championship Game when the Indiana Hoosiers will be the designated “away” team and the Ohio State Buckeyes will be the “home” team inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. In earnest, it is all a bit much for this old boy. I have written ad nauseum about every aspect of what has been working for Indiana this year. Great offense led by the best QB in the land. Balanced offense led by an offensive line that protects the quarterback or make holes “big enough to drive a truck through” as they say. A gifted receiving corps is there. Running by committee and all the backs running hard and making the most of their carries.

Yep. I think Indiana will win this one and Fernando Mendoza will win the Heisman Trophy. Not because OSU has beaten Indiana 30 straight times and it is Indiana’s time. With a nod to Coach Cig, this team didn’t lose those 30 games.

Tight End Riley Nowakowski will be a difference maker in this game. While the Buckeyes are chasing 3 wides down the field, Nowakowski will be underneath dragging over the middle, and Mendoza will hit him five times in the first half. Two of them will go for touchdowns. #37 looks like the 80s Kellen Winslow with legs that belong to Earl Campbell.

Defensively, what else is there? A plus 17 turnover ratio leads the nation. Like OSU, Indiana’s defense doesn’t give up many points. The D-line is solid and the stunts they run give the other team’s O-Line fits. Linebackers that don’t make mistakes and are ball hawks. The secondary? D’Angelo Ponds. Louis Moore. These guys will be ready for anything the Buckeyes throw at them.

Above from left to right you will find each team’s average score/ number of first downs given up by penalty/ turnover ratio/ yards penalized per game. The Indiana Hoosiers play the game better than any other team plays the game. You can’t make this stuff up. Coach Curt Cignetti has led the greatest turnaround in college sports history.

Come kickoff time, if I make it through that play without hyperventilating, I’ll steal a line from Vern of Stand by Me fame. “This is a really good time.” I never thought we would be here.

At the outset of the season, getting rid of the NOISE was supposed to help. When we get to the time when the whistle blows and it is your eleven against our eleven, perhaps the football world will make a little more sense or at least we can turn our eyes away from so much nonsense for a while. As we roll towards the end of the football season, glory is becoming more costly than expected. Seems football wants to make things more difficult than just football.

Lane Kiffin. Bless your heart. You got folks in Indiana wanting to know what is up with you. Sure, as you mentioned this week, your players may not be affected by this like they used to. They understand the free agency of college football you spoke of so eloquently last season. The players aren’t the ones paying you, Lane. Trust me. This looks and feels bad in Brookhaven, Oxford, Senatobia, Pelahatchie, and even Bloomington, Indiana.

Anybody out there been to Oxford, Baton Rouge, and Gainesville? I have. Take me to Oxford. The Stones said it best, Lane. You can’t always get what you want. If Lane Kiffin doesn’t choose Oxford, and I think he will as he enjoys all the attention and drama, too bad for him and many others. The SEC is the best soap opera going, since Days of Our Lives left NBC. Then in the late afternoon into darkness you have The Paul Finebaum Show. Paul is akin to the old wresting manager Jimmy Hart. He gets the SEC fanbases all riled up and leaves them to their consequences. Translation: They will be back tomorrow. Paul should be up for an Academy Award. He is that good with his large pot and large spoon that just means stir more.

This sign seems appropriate these days, doesn’t it? What we don’t know when we take a picture in 2018 will come back to haunt us.

The first time I walked into the clearing on Rosemont Avenue and saw this place my knees got weak.

I can’t imagine UCLA not playing their home games in The Rose Bowl. With the news that the team intends to move to SoFi Stadium and all of its luxury amenities for folks that can pay up, they in turn alienated the true fan base that doesn’t eat the catered food in a suite. The truest fans are out there reliving their good times and trying not to burn a steak. Too many sad and upset fans out there. This is written by a guy in Southern Indiana. I have the fall of 2028 circled on an imaginary calendar. The year I turn 60 is the year I was going to go back, and watch UCLA host the Indiana Hoosiers in The Rose Bowl Stadium.

Spending time in an empty Rose Bowl on a Thursday with a brand new turf being prepped for the USC game on Saturday was moving experience for a football fan steeped in Midwest tradition that used to land The Big Ten vs. The PAC-10 against each other on January 1st. That was THEE game of the year. Nothing compared.

I kicked two field goals (2-2) over the goalpost to the right of the press box. The end zone with the clock atop the stands. A week earlier, I was given the blessing of the Rose Bowl CEO and the Field Superintendent to bring not only a ball and a tee, but to also bring my left foot cleat and my right footed square-toed kicking shoe. When I walked onto the field with Will Schnell, the field superintendent, I saw that this was a completely new turf being prepared for the USC game. I looked at Will and said, “There is no way I am going to plant a cleat on this field before Saturday.” Will looked at me, nodded his head, and said, “I appreciate that.” He knew I got it. Will is a midwestern boy too. We shared some great memories. I kicked in my Brooks from PAT range. I had wanted to uncork one at 50 years old. I’d been practicing. Though I swore against posting this picture again, here it is.

So, I didn’t make it out to The Rose Bowl Stadium for a game this year. Tim Brando did. He was on the call for FOX SPORTS during the Nebraska-UCLA game earlier this month.

This photo will also be a source of good memory moving forward. Hope you don’t mind that I used this picture without asking, TB. Great picture of you and your crew. You guys are the best.

This was the Indiana-Washington game last year. This is the one I enjoyed the most from 2024. The last Saturday in October is always a thing a natural beauty in Southern Indiana. ESPN Gameday was there with Lee Corso. What a special day. Final score Indiana 31 Washington 17.

Seeing the Washington Huskies in Memorial Stadium as a conference opponent? Yep. True.

Only a kicker would get excited at a ball bag under the goalpost waiting for pregame. This was before this year’s last Saturday in October game. Indiana 56 UCLA 6. Good times.

Since the transfer portal era in college football started, my ability to be emotionally invested in players has mostly gone away from me. For the first time in my life, I am watching football games with what seems like movable parts. Back in the day, when Indiana signed a kid out of St. Louis, MO like QB Trent Green, or DT Nolan Harrison out of Flossmoor, IL we watched closely and we waited patiently and hoped for the best. Never in this equation was the possibility that one of these guys would sit out a bowl game and find more money in the SEC. Some things have changed faster than some of us have changed. Nowadays, when I am asked about specific position players, I can’t answer like I used to. Once upon a time, I knew every stat and mention in the media guide. I don’t trust who will be on the field from week to week anymore. I root and report about who was out there today. I still love the game. At least the game is still out there to transcend us for three and half hours at a time like we remember.

Watching Coach Cig line up with players and their families on “Senior Day” was a nice gesture. The players are still putting in the work on the field and in the weightroom. Senior Day seems like a thing of the past. Some of these guys haven’t been on campus in Bloomington long and are enjoying a great deal of online coursework. Keep scoring touchdowns number 24, whoever you are.

HOT OFF THE WIRE! Dylan Raiola, Nebraska QB, expected to enter transfer portal. See.

On a BRIGHT NOTE!

The stat you won’t hear about anywhere else. This one is telling. First Downs given up by penalty through 11 games of the 2025 season. Indiana has just 4. That is a great deal of mistake free football. Compared to their contemporaries, Indiana has the upper hand when it comes to being a well-disciplined team. That includes their general comportment when one of the players makes an exceptional play. None of the players draw attention to themselves like they are running for public office. They are still having fun!

Finally, a shout out to the Brownstown Central Braves. They will play Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium against Andrean for the Indiana Class 2-A Championship. Good luck to the Braves.

My 5th grade BCHS gym bag made it out to The Rose Bowl with me the day I kicked there. Go Braves!

Last week I picked 11 winners and 3 losers. I did not get them published. Life happens. This is saddest week of the season. The last one. It sure has gone quickly. That means through all the grief, we still love it.

This week’s picks:

Iowa beats Nebraska… In the Two Mules Fighting over a Turnip Bowl.

Ole Miss beats Mississippi State… Even with the Lane Kiffin noise.

Georgia Tech beats Georgia… This will make the CFP more interesting. Watch Tech play mistake free and make the most of a Georgia fumble or oskie!

Indiana beats Purdue… The Hoosiers 12-0 for the first time. Oh, Auntie Em, there’s no place like home.

Texas A & M beat Texas… Rooting for Arch as usual. His uncle made football in Indiana.

Arizona State beats Arizona… Great rivalry game. When Indiana finishes off Purdue, I’ll tune in here and watch and listen in on TB and Deven Gardner.

Clemson beats South Carolina… Tigers find a way to salvage something.

Kentucky beats Louisville… The Cats will be more inspired, and I hate to say that. 7-1 to 7-4 came in an ugly hurry for the Cards.

Pitt beats Miami… Gonna be cold at Pitt now.

Ohio State beats Michigan… This will set up # 1 vs # 2 in The Big Ten Championship Game.

Texas Tech beats West Virginia… As long as the Red Raiders don’t get too cold. Hey, I remember a highly ranked Southern Miss team in the early 80s coming to a COLD Louisville Cardinal Stadium, the old one, and getting whipped.

Oklahoma beats LSU… The Tigers won by a score of 13-10 over Western Kentucky last week.

USC beats UCLA… Hurts me to pick this way.

Alabama beats Auburn… The Iron Bowl. Classic game to watch.

Enjoy this last not so regular Saturday of the season.

Look familiar? Insert Ohio State, Texas A&M, Indiana, and two other SEC schools that are worthy this week or Texas Tech. If you remember these guys, you know your football. November 1979 offered some good football. November 2025 has been okay too. I will be glad when the College Football Playoffs get here. Then and only then will we find out how much hot air coming up from the south is worth.

Indiana played well against Wisconsin in the second half. The Hoosiers outgained the Badgers 229-23 in second half yardage. That was impressive. So was Fernando Mendoza’s 22-24-299-4 TD line. He makes it look easy. Final score: Indiana 31 Swissconsin 7.

This past Saturday it hit me. When Fernado Mendoza took off on a designed QB run to his left I saw it. When Mendoza was evading pass rushers and delivering with his throwing motion, I saw it again. Look, I am no friend of comparing football players. When I saw Fernando Mendoza play Saturday, I saw Heisman Trophy traits from the past in real time. Vinnie Testaverde the 1986 Heisman Trophy winner. The throwing motion. The lean when he runs. Fernando looks a great deal like Vinnie to me. Just a thought. Agreed? No? Maybe? I think so.

Before the Wisconsin game, the Indiana Hoosiers ran out of the home tunnel as a 10-0 team for the first time. That was special. The last home game. That was kind of melancholy. The season, as great as it has been for Indiana, sure has gone by quickly. This is what happens when your team wins all the games played.

Look. The Indiana Hoosiers play the game better than any other team in the country. Thank you, Coach Cignetti. Lee Corso used to talk about “DISCIPLINE!” The 2025 Hoosiers are a study in team discipline. I will offer three key stats that go a long way in deciding how a game will go.

1. How many first downs have you given your opponent due to a penalty on your team?
2. How many penalty yards are you giving up a game?
3. What is your turnover ratio?

Firsts given by penalty Penalty yards/game Turnover ratio

Indiana 4 27.8 +15

Ohio State 14 37.7 +5

Texas A&M 22 66.2 -3

Georgia 20 43.1 -2

Oregon 10 41.9 +5

Ole Miss 24 59.0 -3

Texas Tech 18 59.0 +13

Translation: You’re going to have to beat the Hoosiers. They aren’t hurting themselves comparatively. The Big Ten plays cleaner football. Indiana might go up against Ohio State in The Big Ten Championship Game and get their clock cleaned. If they do, Ohio State will have to bring it. When the Hoosiers played in Columbus last year, Indiana had some lapses that cost them the game. We’ll see what happens if these two meet again. It should be a good one.

At the end of the day, the hope for this Indiana fan is to meet an SEC team in the College Football Playoff that is not Ole Miss. I root for the Rebels. These two played in a bowl game during the Covid season. That was no fun at all. Ole Miss won. Indiana did not play clean football that night. The Rebels beat the Hoosiers 26-20 in a game Indiana never led.

What of my picks for last week that I did not put on due to some time-consuming circumstances? After going 12-2 two weeks ago, I was 9-5 last week. This past week 10 winners and 4 losers. Cincinnati, Alabama, Duke, and Iowa let me down.