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.

In 1993 on this weekend, the Indiana Hoosiers were 7-1 heading into their first tilt with newly minted conference foe Penn State. Yep. Penn State has been in the Big Ten that long. We Are Penn State’s move from Independent to Big Ten Member was an earthquake then. Teams change conferences now without breaking stride.

The Hoosiers were 7-1 that weekend all those years ago. No one considered them to be a challenger for the National Championship. The media voted and crowned the National Champ. We were still hoping that Indiana would make it to another Bowl Game. The week before, #23 ranked Indiana knocked off a 22nd ranked Michigan State team in a packed with snow from the night before Memorial Stadium in Bloomington. The Hoosiers shutout the Spartans that day 10-0. Snowballs pelted the Michigan State sideline for much of the second half. I was sitting on the wrong side of the field that day.

The next week, the Hoosiers were playing in Beaver Stadium. The Hoosiers came in ranked #17. The Nittany Lions were ranked #19. The Hoosiers lost. Penn State 38 Indiana 31. A tough one to take.

Thomas Lewis hauled in 12 John Paci passes for 285 yards. A cold blustery day with intermittent snow was one to remember and forget. The next week the Hoosiers were defeated in The Horseshoe by a #5 ranked Ohio State team in a close one 23-17. One of oh so many close ones the Hoosiers of the Bill Mallory Era just missed. That ’93 team did make it to the Independence Bowl. They were bested by Virginia Tech in Coach Frank Beamer’s first bowl game with the Hokies. There would be many more consecutive bowl games and seasons for Coach Beamer in Blacksburg.

When the Nittany Lions came calling the next year to Indiana’s Memorial Stadium, the Hoosiers ruined Penn State’s season. Undefeated Penn State came in #2 in the country trailing only Nebraska by 2 vote points. In the 4th quarter, with 6:09 remaining after a Kijana Carter 80-yard touchdown run, Penn State led Indiana 35-14. That Penn State team was the best I have ever seen. Kerry Collins, Kijana Carter, Booby Engram, Kyle Brady all in one offensive backfield.

How did that game end? Not good for Penn State. John Paci was ineffective at QB for the Hoosiers. Off the bench came youngster Chris Dittoe in the second quarter. Dittoe finished the game 21-35 279 yards and 4 touchdowns with three of those scores tossed in the 4th quarter. The last one in the final seconds. The eye test was alive and well in 1994. A Penn State win 35-29 in a game they DOMINATED for 50 minutes was too much for them to overcome in the polls. They finished 12-0 after blowing out the Oregon Ducks in The Rose Bowl. Their final rank was #2 behind Nebraska. Were all in the Big Ten now!

So, here we are in 2025. You better believe many old Indiana Football fans will be feeling pretty good when the Indiana Hoosiers of here and now go up to Happy Valley and put one on the Nittany Lions for the first time up there in the middle of Pennsylvania Nowhere. Beautiful place. But man, it is an outpost.

Let’s get to the picks. Last week 12 winners and 2 losers. Finally broke that streak of 10-4 that went on for what seems like years.

Georgia beats Mississippi State… We know they don’t like the 11 AM kicks there. Strange things happen with these early games.

Indiana beats Penn State… Am I worried? You better believe it. Muscle memory.

SMU beats Boston College… Coach O’Brien is having a bad time of it in Chestnut Hill.

Ohio State beats Purdue… At Purdue. Does not matter.

Rutgers beats Maryland… This could be the game of the day.

Iowa beats Oregon… My head says Oregon’s speed will win out. My heart says Go Iowa! I’m a stubborn traditionalist.

Mizzou beats Texas A&M… They get this one in before the cold front makes it to Columbia. If A&M is going to stumble, it will be this week.

Vandy beats Auburn… Funny how Vandy QB Pavia is a superstar when IU’s Kurtis Rourke was on a team getting lucky last year.

Washington beasts Swissconsin… The Huskies are too much for the Badgers. Always glad to see Bucky go down.

Louisville beats Cal… Look out for the Cards. They will be in the CFP mix. RBs playing today need to stay healthy.

Virginia beats Wake Forest… Won’t be close.

Alabama beats LSU… Ya know… this could be “one of those”. I don’t see it. Tide wins rolling.

Notre Dame beats Navy… This should be a good one.

UCLA beats Nebraska… Tim Brando gets to call this one on FOX tonight and I will be with him every play. Go Bruins!

Have fun today. It’ll be brisk in these parts tomorrow. Stay warm.

It has been said that IMITATION IS THE GREATEST FORM OF FLATTERY. Indiana University, consider yourself imitated and quite flattered. You have turned college football as we know it today, for better or worse depending on whom you ask, upside down. North is South and South is farther North than it has ever college football been before and that bunch can’t stand it.

There are guys sitting around Southeastern Conference back tables checking their pockets to see how much it is going to take to hire their next coach. This is not a case of “If Indiana can do it, we can do it!” No, this is a case of “If Indiana is doing it, what the hell is wrong with us?” That is one huge reason Arkansas, LSU, Florida all here in mid-season, and there will be more in this league, are looking for their “Coach”. This is a turbulent time in college football for poor leadership. This is a turbulent time in college football for mediocre leadership.

Indiana University Football has shaken even the best of those folks who have tried to feign objectivity and can no longer do so. Paul Finebaum said this week, “I’d like to see Indiana go through the gauntlet that Alabama has gone through in the last five weeks. They wouldn’t be undefeated.”

Last year in June I wrote a very complimentary feature on Paul Finebaum. I like Paul. Understand that Paul has two flags to wave. One hand waves the SEC banner. The other holds high the ESPN banner. We have come to that. I know Paul has always been a homer. Of course he is. Had he made this assertion about last year’s Indiana Football team, my inclination would have probably been to agree with him. Not this year. Not this Indiana team. There is no doubt that more than half of the teams in the SEC have much more talented and physically gifted rosters than that of Indiana. Herb Brooks said it best. “I’m not looking for the best players; I’m looking for the best team.” To do that, you have to have the best Coach. That is where Indiana is right now. Thanks to having the best Coach, the Indiana Hoosiers play football like we remember it being played. Indiana does not make many mistakes. Indiana does not turn the ball over. Indiana sacks and sacks and the Hoosiers are rarely sacked. Indiana players get ready for the next play; they don’t act like they are running for public office when they make a great play. The secret is no secret. Indiana Football players have been exposed to a coaching philosophy that has instilled a desire to be great that will be very hard to stop. Coach Cig talks about breaking the other team’s will. His boys are going to find a way to not be on the other side of that talking point.

Will the Hoosiers lay an egg today at Maryland and make me sound like a donkey? I don’t think so. I expected Indiana to beat UCLA by 40 or more last week. 56-6 was the final. If the Hoosiers run the table and meet Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game, will the Hoosiers win? I don’t know. That depends on Ohio State. How ready will they be?

Paul Finebaum would not acknowledge it, if it were true. My question, as odd as it is for me to ask. I have long rooted for SEC teams, Ole Miss in particular, and I have witnessed my share of SEC games in raucous stadiums that an Indiana Football fan could only dream of. Look, I like Indiana’s small stadium. However, when I am not in the press box, Indiana is still the most football illiterate crowd in America. The smaller the full stadium the better. I have to put in an earpiece and listen to Don Fischer’s radio call through my phone, and it is a play late, just to keep my football sanity. My question is this. Is the SEC a bit overrated this year? I don’t see a National Championship contender in the bunch. Maybe Alabama. None of the SEC teams jump off the page this year. They will get their highly ranked teams by legacy if nothing else. That is the natural order of things. Just like the natural order of things is for Paul Finebaum to bash Indiana. I want to believe Paul knows football better than that. I believe he does. He has a job to do, and Paul does it well. Thanks in large part to Paul and his daily show on the SEC Network, the SEC leads the college football landscape in one thing for sure: drama. Keep it.

Hey, I finally bested ten last week! Eleven winners and three losers. How about this week?

SMU beats Miami… Coach Lashlee signed an extension this week. Upset city in Big D.

Ohio State beats Penn State… The Buckeyes. Yuck.

Illinois beats Rutgers… If this were in Piscataway, I would pick the Knights. Iffy still.

Texas beats Vanderbilt… Vandy is trying to be to the SEC what Indiana is to The Big Ten. Enjoy it. You’re going to lose your coach soon.

Louisville beats Virginia Tech… Won’t one of these BIG PROGRAMS looking for a coach grab Jeff Brohm?

Georgia beats Florida… The Bulldogs should score 31 in the first half, if they are ready to play.

Indiana beats Maryland… This Indiana defense is like watching a painting heading to The Met be created.

Minnesota beats Michigan State… This may be one I regret.

Notre Dame beats Boston College… We won’t get the BC thriller of 1993 when David Gordon kicked a 41-yard field goal on the last play to beat the Irish.

Ole Miss beats South Carolina… The Rebs D will be tested and they will pass.

Auburn beats Kentucky… Lexington is ready for basketball season. Seems like old times.

Oklahoma beats Tennessee… The moment will break one. UT is due to break.

USC beats Nebraska… Lincoln will be rocking tonight. Lincoln Riley that is.

Cincinnati beats Utah… Brendan Sorsby is the most underrated player in America.

Enjoy the games. Thank you, Indiana Athletic Director Scott Dolson. Had you not been a student-manager for Bobby Knight at Indiana all those years ago, you would not have known why you needed to pick Coach Curt Cignetti after others had turned Coach Cig away.

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.