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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ohio State beats Swissconsin… Wish they could both lose.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy the games today. I will be in Bloomington.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And RGIII has Indiana on top too.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Florida State beats Pitt… Not close.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Iowa beats Wisconsin… The Hawkeyes bounce back.

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

Georgia beats Auburn… Give this one to the Dawgs!

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

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

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

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

Justin Hayward is the only Moody Blue left.

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

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

That’s the good stuff.

Have a great time watching college football today!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 6 Picks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A couple crazy things happened last Saturday night. Indiana University’s Memorial Stadium had a record crowd of 56,088. I’m glad that Memorial Stadium has a strong foundation of Bedford stone. When D’Angelo Ponds blocked and returned Illinois’ first punt for the first Indiana touchdown of the game, I could feel the stone trembling. A wonderful thing it was.

The second crazy thing that happened was this:

By the end of the night, Indiana throttled the #9 ranked Illini 63 to 10. The Hoosiers didn’t throw the ball once in the 4th quarter. This could have been a 70-burger. Coach Cignetti is an old softy. Wrong. He is a great football coach.

A friend of mine texted me these words this week. “The Heisman Trophy favorite plays for us right now. Let that sink in.” Those are nice words. Can I believe it? Yes, I can. Here’s why:

This Indiana O-Line is a special bunch. Never has a quarterback had a Heisman Trophy season without one. You can’t put up numbers if you are not upright. This season, unlike last, the guy at the QB position, Fernando Mendoza, is also a threat to run as well. Defenses have plenty to be concerned about. It all starts with, as Keith Jackson so eloquently put it many years ago, “the big uglies up front”. In the process, Indiana also ran for over 300 yards for a fourth time in four games this season. And this not against Indiana State. This was the University of Illinois.

What of the defense?

This group of eaters sacked Illinois QB Luke Altmyer time and again last Saturday. Seven sacks all told.

I have rooted on the Hoosiers for a long time. Long enough to remember the first four games of this young season have all been at home. I get it. This is not your father’s IU Football. If Indiana goes to Iowa City, I was there the last time they came in as a ranked team, and it was uglier than a bowling shoe, and the Hoosiers win by say 20 or more. This slight grin I am wearing along with a subtle turn of the head will grow exponentially. I sat with some math teachers this week. You get the idea.

Week Five Picks. Last Week: 10 winners and 4 losers.

Louisville beats Pitt… Miller Moss needs a coming out party at Pitt. He also needs to read the field a little better in the pocket to do it.

Notre Dame beats Arkansas… Even though the Hogs are just a few plays away from being undefeated, the Irish will bring a strong run game.

Minnesota beats Rutgers… Goldy will be smiling today. Never mind, he is always smiling.

Illinois beats USC… The Illini will bounce back today and remind the Trojans they are in the Big Ten.

Vandy beats Utah State… Anchors down, anchors away, whatever it is. It is still Vandy.

Ole Miss beats LSU… This is in Oxford. I was there for this matchup a long time ago. The B2 Bomber is to fly over setting the stage for an epic finish.

Ohio State beats Washington… The Buckeyes win. Hard to say. Enough said. Go Huskies!

Mississippi State beats Tennessee… Those cowbells will outdo Rocky Top in Starkville today.

Penn State beats Oregon… In a White Out in Happy Valley. The Hoosiers have both of these teams ahead.

NC State beats Virginia Tech… In Raleigh and the Hokies are reeling.

Alabama over Georgia… Yes. The Tide can’t stay down with this much talent. It will rise and it will roll.

San Jose State over Stanford… Big game for San Jose and the Cardinal goes down.

Kentucky beats South Carolina… Just when you count Mark Stoops out, the shuts you naysayers up for a least a week.

Indiana beats Iowa… Could this be a 5-0 start for the Hoosiers two years in a row? Just another “first” in the line of many that Hoosier fans are basking in. This week former IU coach Cam Cameron said, “I watched that game the other night against Illinois…every single football coach that took the job at Indiana, that’s what they envisioned.” This time it was for real.

It is here. The biggest home game of the season for Indiana Hoosiers. Memorial Stadium will be rocking and rolling tomorrow night.

Week 4 Picks

Arkansas beats Memphis… Coach Pittman needs and will get this one

Louisville beats Bowling Green… Look for the Cards to score 60.

Maryland beats Wisconsin… Looks like things are unravelling in Madison.

Clemson beats Syracuse… The Tigers need to bounce back in a big way. Two losses already.

Texas Tech beats Utah… The Raiders have been playing strong and the Utes have not been tested.

Oregon beats Oregon State… Hopefully this Civil War keeps playing out.

Oklahoma beats Auburn… If this was on the plains I might think otherwise. Never count out Hugh Freeze.

UCF beats North Carolina… The Knights will win this in a close one.

Nebraska beats Michigan… The Huskers are much improved and the Wolverines are not in a good place.

Notre Dame beats Purdue…. We can hope ND joins the Big Ten one day so we can keep this one going, unless you are a Purdue fan.

Ole Miss beats Tulane… Simmons is out a QB but the Rebels will win this at home.

Washington beats Washing State… God bless The Apple Cup.

USC beats Michigan State… Kicks off at 11 PM EDT. There will be some sleepy Spartans at halftime.

Indiana beats Illinois… In the game we have been waiting for, the Hoosiers won’t let this chance leave them behind. Cooper Jr., Williams Jr., and Sarratt compile the best trio of WRs in the country. One of them will be open.

On Saturday night, on NBC Television at 7:30 PM, the Indiana Hoosiers will host the Illinois Fighting Illini. This will be the first time a ranked IU team has taken on a top ten opponent in the history of Memorial Stadium. The stadium opened in 1960. Now, realize that from 1962-1967 there was only an AP Top 10 (and you think that only recently things have been really screwed up). In 1967 the Hoosiers were in the Top 10 the week before the Purdue game. They lost to Minnesota. So, out of the Top Ten Indiana went. Purdue came to Memorial Stadium ranked # 3 in the land. IU won 19-14 and headed to Pasadena. Hold was I then? I wasn’t. I WAS ‘on the way’ and got here in March of 1968.

There are folks in SEC Football Country that can’t believe I exist. A guy from Indiana who has seen 80 FBS teams in person over a football life and didn’t get paid to do it. I am an English teacher. Thanks to this webpage, where I try to show my students that anything is possible, I did sit in the press box for Indiana’s first three nonconference games. I thank IU for that going on four seasons now. Two weeks ago, I was in the Louisville press box for U of L against James Madison. I did an interview with Co-Defensive Coordinator Mark Hagen recently. Mark, playing linebacker at IU in the late 80s and early 90s, probably made more tackles than any Indiana player has.

Nothing like getting your earwax melted by a UT fan in Knoxville.

Yep. This Indiana Football fan has seen 80 FBS teams play from coast to coast. How many college basketball games have I seen? One… and that was in Indiana’s Assembly Hall after my son came home from a meeting he attended two years ago and claimed an envelope with two tickets and a parking pass that everyone had PASSED on. Yes, it was a nonconference game against Wright State. That is not the point. The point is that after football season is over, I need to give my eyes a rest. They have been glued to football.

Folks like Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams and Paul Finebaum can’t conceive my existence. They think the SEC invented football and the rest of us need to bow to the Football Mecca, be it Tuscaloosa or Athens or Baton Rouge or Birmingham. I give a tip of the cap to all of those places.

My dad was a high school football coach. He and my mother were born in Mississippi. My Mississippi roots run deeper than any magnolia tree you have ever seen. I have many relatives who “finished” at Ole Miss. I get it. I have been to Oxford. I have seen the Rebels play in Winston-Salem, Oxford, Lexington, Nashville (Vandy and Music City Bowl), Jackson, Knoxville, and Tuscaloosa. The 2019 Ole Miss- Bama game in Tuscaloosa pretty much summed up my disbelief of SEC Football Fandom. I thought I knew. I didn’t know. In that game, Tua Tagovailoa threw a school record 6 touchdown passes. In the postgame ruing at our tailgate, a guy said, “I know he threw 6 touchdown passes, but Tua left some balls out there.” I thought I was going to faint. I wanted to grab the guy and tell him I have waited for November watching the Indiana Hoosiers in my lifetime to throw 6 touchdowns on the season. Some of them don’t get it. Some of them never will, even though they think they know it all.

I get that notion that college football in the south is your way of life against ours. It is like that up here in Big Ten country too. Maybe some in the south see it as that last vestige of “we’ll show those Yankees”. Old habits die hard. A part of me doesn’t blame them. If Ohio State was playing Georgia, I’d get on all fours and start barking myself. Any day Ohio State loses is great day.

But on this coming Saturday, Indiana has a chance and good chance of climbing a little bit higher on that mountain of college football that may or may not be atop Stone Mountain. SEC pundits will still find a way to put Indiana down. That is what they do. They love their punching bags.

Again, I get it. I do. In the 1970s, when there was limit on how many times a school could be on televised games, the Alabama Crimson Tide was featured on ABC, the only game in town, 30 times. Indiana’s only televised game on ABC in the 70s was a 69-17 loss in Bloomington to Nebraska. I was there. I.M. Hipp is still running. I was there in 1976 when IU played #1 Michigan one week and lost 35-0 only to face #8 Ohio State the next week and lose 47-7. I was there in 2000 when Indiana had a 12-point lead against North Carolina State in the 4th quarter with less than five minutes remaining. Indiana lost 41-38. Some freshman named Phillip Rivers, an Alabama boy, threw for 401 yards and 5 TDs to lead the comeback. I was there in 1994 to watch an Indiana team lose to #2 Penn State 35-29. In the process Indiana, who came back with 16 points in the 4th quarter, ruined Penn State’s National Championship hopes. Look it up. I was there in 1988 when a Bill Mallory led Indiana team played on ABC five times in the regular season and Anthony Thompson was the best football player in the land. Those were some good times. It was a simpler time. We could talk like this all night. I have a million stories.

But this Saturday is special. I know Indiana’s Football Coach, Curt Cignetti, talks about one game at a time. I think that is a great deal of talk. Indiana’s nonconference schedule has been ridiculed. I have given it a hard time. The logic may be that while playing Indiana State, the focus in the back room was always on Illinois. I can only believe this is the case and has been for weeks.

This Saturday is Indiana’s time to shine. Those rays of light may not make it under the door of the inner sanctum of the SEC Network or ESPN and their SEC bias for that matter. Still, lurking in the shadows will be Indiana Football and these folks will hate every minute of it. If I am wrong, I’ll be wrong. There has been plenty of that to see in the SEC this year as they have handed out and taken back a Heisman Trophy in three short weeks. And I know those SEC television folks will be rooting for Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer, a Starkville boy, when he takes the field against those imposters from Bloomington.

I get it. I do. I have seen every side of it. And this is Indiana’s time.

The Indiana Hoosiers put up 45 points in the first half against the Indiana State Sycamores last night. There were 66 points at the end of the third quarter. At games end the score was 73-0 and it didn’t really seem that close in the largest shutout victory for the Hoosiers since 1901. Indiana’s offense racked up 680 yards to Indiana State’s 77. IU had 33 first downs. ISU had 5. You’re glad for the practice and you hope everyone comes out healthy. Let us just hope the understanding that the next opponent up will be capable of running over you is alive and well.

26 Indiana Hoosiers were in on a tackle. There were 16 TFLs. Thanks to center Pat Coogan hustling his butt off when Kaelon Black fumbled in the red zone, Indiana never turned the ball over once. Coogan recovered it and his effort was game ball material. ISU had no turnovers.

Offensively, Fernando Mendoza completed 19 of 20 passes for 270 yards and 5 touchdowns. He didn’t take a snap in the second half. Omar Cooper Jr. caught 10 passes for 207 yards and 4 TDs. One of those was thrown to him in the second half by Alberto Mendoza. You have to wonder when was the last time two brothers playing for the same team threw TD passes in consecutive weeks? Alberto was 6 of 9 for 104 yards and 2 TDs. Redshirt senior Grant Wilson completed his only pass for 5 yards. It was good to see the well-traveled redshirt senior get on the field.

Attendance at last night’s game was much better than I anticipated. 46,219 was the official attendance. I don’t know how many pushed their way through the turnstiles, well, I guess you can’t say that anymore, but it was a good crowd. The Big Ten in all of its television wisdom kicked this one off at 6:30 on the Friday night Bloomington North was playing Bloomington South. Such is college football these days.

Don’t worry. Even with a 73-0 score, Coach Cignetti had a few ‘hands on the hips and look to the sky’ moments. This one, during a timeout, when he was obviously not happy. One mental breakdown against Illinois next week could be six points for the Illini and Coach Cig knows that.

The next three home games are sold out. Illinois next week then Michigan State and UCLA come calling during the last two Saturdays in October. Swissconsin will probably be sold out in November.

I was delighted to spend some hours turning back the clock, spinning yarns, laughing, talking about the present, and the future with these guys. Adam Disque, Andrew Evertts, and I worked together at Medora Schools some time ago. That we have stayed in touch and try to get together for a game every year has been a blessing. These guys are great.

I’m looking forward to stepping away from the press box next week and putting on a crimson jersey and cheering on the Hoosiers! A ranked matchup is rare in our Memorial Stadium. 1987, when IU was ranked #15 and Michigan was #20, was the last time we had anything to compare to the upcoming game with top ten ranked Illinois. With a nod to Keith Jackson, “It should be a good one.”

WEEK THREE PICKS

Michigan beats Central Michigan… The Wolverines have an interim coach while Coach Moore serves a suspension. That’s Michigan.

Georgia Tech beats Clemson… Some crazy things can happen in Boddy Dodd Stadium not far from a chili dog and a frosted orange at the Greasy V. I think this is going to be one of those days.

Oregon beats Northwestern… This is on Fox Big Noon Kickoff? You’re kidding me. Bones have to be thrown.

Alabama beats Swissconsin… Bama will score and score often. They better.

Georgia beats Tennessee… This one is on ‘one cheek hill’ in Knoxville. Crazy things can happen at Neyland too. Not today.

USC beats Purdue… Am I the only one still getting used to this being a Big Ten matchup? If the Boilers have enough sense to show up in gold helmets, that would be enough to take a peek with Tommy Trojan and his outfit on.

Miami beats USF… The heart wants what the heart wants. The heart won’t win this one.

Ole Miss beats Arkansas… The Rebs have too many offensive weapons. I just wish they’d burn their ‘dunk goal’.

Illinois beats Western Michigan… See you next week.

LSU beats Florida… A night game in Death Valley as the Lord intended. My apologies to Lewis Grizzard. When I was a kid, I remember listening to LSU night games on WWL 870.

Notre Dame beats Texas A & M… This is a great matchup, and I tip my hat to A & M for scheduling this game.

Kentucky beats Eastern Michigan… The Cats will need to win by 50 to get folks off Coach Stoops’ back.

Boston College beats Standford… BC should knock the Cardinal all over the field.

Minnesota beats Cal… They are rowing the boat in Minneapolis. The Mississippi is kind of small up there though.

Enjoy the games this weekend. Take care of each other.