This was the fastest offseason in college football history. When you have the ongoing soap operas that are college athletics these days, the days run together in a hurry. Is he in the portal? Is he out of the portal? Will he make an NFL roster? Will he be cut and then go back to college for year 5? Did the conference just say that is a no-no? Are we really giving these players five years to play five years? Did a judge just rule otherwise? Where in the heck does it end? We didn’t start the fire.

In the summer of 2024, I was listening to The Paul Finebaum Show. A caller was complaining about the state of college football and said it was starting to look like pro football. Paul turned his head a quarter turn to the left, smirked a bit, and said, “I hate to be the first one to tell you, but this is pro football.” Then he went to commercial. Things haven’t been the same.

I have said it before I will say it again. When the ref gives the kicker the sign to kick off the game, it’s on. Your eleven against their eleven on each and every down for four quarters. There won’t be any lawyers in the huddle. The dimensions of a football field are still the same, no matter how wild and crazy things are off the field. These things are what make our gamedays that much more special now. When the parking lots turn into tailgate meccas. When the grills are cooking burgers that smell wonderful. When there is a line for the port-a-pots. When music is playing in all directions amid voices talking sense or nonsense. When satellite dishes show up next to tables filled with chips and dips and cookies and pie. We watch GameDay and Big Noon Kickoff as we await a big noon kickoff or a 3:30 kickoff or a 7:00 kickoff. The stadium fills up and life, for a few more hours, looks like an old friend that will take us away from the unorthodox state of play off the field that makes many of us hold our noses and swallow hard and still find something in us to relish every moment of the playing season.

Last year was incredible. Did you see the Indiana Hoosiers going 16-0 and redefining college football as we thought we knew it? No, you didn’t. Could it happen again this year? No, it won’t. Don’t get me wrong. The Hoosiers have as good a shot as anyone at making noise in CFP this year. Still, you can never go back again. There’s only one first kiss. If you were an Indiana Hoosier Football fan, you know what I mean. If you are an Alabama Crimson Tide fan, you are still in denial. If you’re listening to Paul Finebaum every day, you are still in denial. Why do you think the Rose Bowl was filled with 80% Indiana Hoosier fans? There were more fans there than Indiana can put in its stadium at home on Saturday. I saw it. I was there.

The Tide fans at The Rose Bowl couldn’t show out because they didn’t show up. It was Indiana. Aside from Tulane and JMU, Indiana was the last team Tide fans wanted to think about playing in the playoff last year. Had they put Ohio State out there, Tide fans would have showed up. That would have been a “real” opponent. Deny. Deny. Bryant-Deny.

Whatever the malady, the SEC fans need to come to grips. Things have changed. Tide fans should understand this, after going through Mike Shula, Mike DuBose, Dennis Franchione, and even Ray Perkins. No one wants to be the man to follow “the man”. That is why I tip my hat to Kalen DeBoer. He took that challenge. And don’t write him off yet. Things have changed, more so than any other era we can point to. In the meantime, Indiana has a coach that seems more Nick Sabinesque than any other coach prowling any of the 16 SEC sidelines. That has to hurt. That too will bring on a degree of denial. Fortunately, for SEC fans, we are living in a time of automatic excuses that can be hurled around. “They don’t play anybody.” “They had to buy their roster.” “Their conference schedule is weak.” Just “call Paul” and tell him about it. I think Paul would agree that right now the SEC leads the nation in “Talking Season” and the Big Ten leads the land in “Walking Season”.

Putting down the SEC is not my nature. This is awkward. There’s no way I write most of what I have written here had I not been in Pasadena to witness the most surreal football moment of my life. Playing Bama is one thing. Whipping them like a JV team is another. SEC Football is excellent to watch and follow. I hope Ole Miss wins every game. My family is rooted deep in Mississippi. I’ve seen the Rebels play in more stadiums that I have seen the Hoosiers play in. Things change. Seeing Arkansas in the shape they are in is sad to watch. There’s only so much room at the top and having conferences with 16 or 18 teams only makes it worse for so many teams that were once in much better shape. Ask the fans in Nebraska. Talk to some Husker fans my age and older and you’ll certainly hear talk about some great Orange Bowl appearances that had nothing to do with The Big Ten. There’s an identity crisis in Lincoln and it’s a shame.

PREVIEW

In years past, I have looked at every team from every major conference. Last year, I did not do this. This year I will highlight the teams I think will make the most noise in each major conference and attempt to tell you why I believe so. When I say CONTENDER, I mean conference and playoff.

The ACC Contenders:

Miami: They aren’t going anywhere. The date circled for all of us is November 7th @ Notre Dame. It’ll be cold. The first date circled for Hurricane faithful is October 3rd @ Clemson followed by Florida State on October 17th. I don’t care who you are moving from the QB spot at Duke to the QB spot at Miami is a HUGE leap. Darian Mensah has a task and half ahead. He’s shown he has the goods.

Louisville: This will be one of “those” Jeff Brohm seasons. What tells me he finally has “that” quarterback this year? Miami and Clemson are not on the schedule until they meet Miami in the ACC Championship game. I said earlier that I hope Ole Miss wins all their games. I do. I’m a Reb fan. Look for the Cards to give the Rebs plenty. Jeff Brohm has a track record of pulling off some big ones. And he has a great run game too. This feels like one of those. That, or Trinidad Chambliss makes the Cards defense look bad.

SMU: You better believe it. College Football is alive and well again in Big D.

Clemson: How can you deny Coach Swinney a mention at the table?

The Big 12 Contenders:

BYU: A loss in the Big 12 Championship game last year had to smart. Then they had to turn around, and watch Texas Tech get shut out 23-0 against Oregon in the Orange Bowl. The Cougars have no less than seven starters returning on a returning defense that didn’t give up more than 29 points in their first 12 games that yielded an 11-1 regular season. QB Bachmeier is back. So is LJ Martin at running back. LJ ran for over 1300 yards last season. Don’t sleep on the Cougars. I am sure they are looking forward to their shot against Notre Dame in Provo on October 17th. That will be an important game for both of those programs.

Houston: Conner Wiegman. Heisman material. 25 TDs in the air last year and 11 TDs on the ground last year. Coming off a Texas Bowl Trophy addition after defeating LSU, these Cougars will be a force to deal with. The schedule is kind. Look for them to take care of Texas Tech in a Friday game on September 18th. Most of a very steady D will be back. So are the Houston Cougars.

The Independent Contender:

Notre Dame: I hear it every single day leading up to the season. This team plays a suspect schedule. Compared to an SEC or Big Ten schedule, perhaps. For all the folks that make note of a suspect schedule, many of them are the same ones who have the Irish playing in the CFP Championship on January 25, 2027. They’ll be good. Will they be that good?

The SEC Contenders:

Georgia: If they run the table in the SEC, it will be because they are that good. If they lose two conference games, we’ll all hear about how great the conference is from top to bottom. There will something to each of those theories. UGA has to visit Bama and Ole Miss. Those will be good ones. They also host Oklahoma. Gunner Stockton behind center won’t hurt their cause.

Texas: Oh yes, Texas. You remember them. The darlings of preseason last year. They didn’t make the CFP. The Horns have several on both sides of the ball returning. Arch Manning. That just sounds good. The play needs to improve, and I look for it to. If they beat Ohio State in Austin on September 12th, we’ll know something. The Red River Rivalry should be a good one. Both Mississippi schools come calling the last two weeks of October. Two weeks later, there is a little trip to Baton Rouge to be settled. That should be a good one. If Texas wins 10, they make the playoff this year.

Ole Miss: The Rebs have to get past Louisville. First game of the season and played in Nashville. The Rebs look to have at least 5 starters on both sides of the ball returning. Will Echoles anchoring the D-line and Suntarine Perkins behind him at linebacker will help a stout defense. Keywan Lacy is returning at running back and the best QB in the conference, Trinidad Chambliss, is back for more. Reb fans will get exactly that. The LSU game on September 19th is well placed. Get that one out of the way.

Oklahoma: Don’t sleep on John Mateer, especially if he has a running game. Bolstering the run game was a priority in Norman in the off season. A trip to the Big House in early September should help. Look for the Sooners to dismantle the Wolverines.

The Big Ten Contenders:

Ohio State: The Buckeyes deserve to be near the top of the heap. Julian Sayin has probably put in more reps this year than he has any time before. Losing the Big Ten Championship Game to Indiana was another dark day for Columbus. Can you stop Sayin and Jeremiah Smith along with a veteran o-line? No. You’re not going to stop them. You only try to slow them down, get the ball on your side when you can and run as much clock as you can. The Buckeyes are one of those. The Buckeyes D will have to reload they lost a great deal to the NFL. They reloaded. October 17th in Bloomington will be the game of the year in The Big Ten.

Penn State: Call me crazy. Bring that Iowa State bunch headed up by the quarterback Rocco Becht and Head Coach Matt Campbell to Happy Valley with some happy folks supporting them and I promise you’ll see good things happen for the Nittany Lions. Indiana AD Scott Dolson and Coach Curt Cignetti showed the mold. Penn State hopes they borrowed a part of it. USC at home, at Michigan, and at Washington are the toughest games on the schedule for this bunch. No Oregon, Ohio State, or Indiana until the post season.

Oregon: I am not going to give the Ducks as much love as so many others around the land have. I still believe coaching means something. If you don’t, you haven’t been paying attention. The Ducks lost two games last year – both to Indiana. One in Eugene and one in a playoff massacre in Atlanta. Both of the Ducks’ coordinators moved on to other things. That’s hard to replace. I don’t care how great you think Dante Moore is. And yes, he has some serious weapons back on the receiving end. Most of their stout defense returns. They will make the CFP.

Indiana: Folks who don’t know usually never know. Last season Indiana averaged 212 yards rushing a game and 239 yards passing a game. Fernando Mendoza threw for 300 yards or more in only one game. The last Heisman winner to say that was Troy Smith at Ohio State twenty years ago. Indiana’s new QB, Josh Hoover, comes from a TCU team that last year averaged 131 yards rushing and 290 yards passing. Those 13 interceptions folks are talking about that Hoover threw at TCU last year? They came in 413 attempts. Most of us would take that percentage. Indiana won’t ask Josh Hoover to pull every game out. The IU defense (too many names to mention- Hardy, Jones, Tucker, Landino, Ferrell et al) is stacked. Look for their D to be stronger this year. That’s good news for a veteran o-line, a room full of great receivers headed up by Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh, and a three-headed running attack from Lee Bebee, Jr., Khobie Martin, and Turbo Richard.

As a college football fan and writer of such, I have never been more ready for a football season to kickoff. This country needs it!

As an Indiana Football fan who spent decades in Memorial Stadium dreaming about what it could feel like to come run out on this field as last year’s National Champ, or better yet a participant in last year’s Rose Bowl (my gold standard), and now I know. I’d be good just hanging on to that for a few more months. Next week Big Noon Kickoff comes to Bloomington. I’ll be ready.

Best of luck to you and your team. That is easier to say and understand now.

Just like that. Poof. Magic happened. Indiana’s Memorial Stadium, a place I once referred to twenty-five years ago as the ‘Safest Place in America’, is now a goldmine. Recently I have heard some talking heads on TV and the interwebbers put this place down. Shame on them. I have said it before. Saying it again. I show up at a stadium to watch the game. I am not there to party. I am not there as a social caller. This place is the “friendly confines” of college football. If you are there to WATCH a game, there is no other stadium I have been to that is better with perhaps the exception of Wake Forest.

Coach Cig and other powers at be in Bloomington are making noise about expanding the place. I ($) get it. One day the entire west stands, the side with the press box, will be top of wall to top of wall with luxury boxes on both sides of the press box. Also, there will be a new press box. A new press box, I can attest, will not be a bad idea. An upper deck on the east side? Maybe. That’ll be decided after the numbers are run on just how lucrative those future luxury boxes will be. Either way, my apologies to Bob Dylan, the times they are a-changin.

More Indiana Memorial Stadium goldmine evidence is the “get in” price on one secondary market, Ticketmaster for the October 17th tilt between Indiana and the visiting Ohio State Buckeyes. Two tickets through TM start at $1110 as I put these words down. Most are MUCH more than that. Though it saddens me, looking at all the resale offerings, there will probably be more Ohio State Buckeye fans in Bloomington this year than any other visitors that comes to town. Times being what they are, I don’t begrudge anyone who would sell this game to finance next year’s seats. Me? I can’t do it. Games like these are the ones a guy like me has dreamed about for fifty years.

This was the opening kickoff of the 2017 Rutgers game. I realize it was Rutgers. Still. This was bad. Bad bad. Not unlike the bad bad of having this year’s game against Howard figured in with season tickets. Indiana should pay the fans to watch a practice game against Howard. Still, the place will be packed and that is a very good thing.

Being there (Memorial Stadium) to watch the Hoosiers will be at a premium this year. All games are completely sold out except the, wait for it, Howard game. I don’t know Howard. Is Howard a college or university or a community college. No offense, Howard. I was shocked to find they were the Howard Bisons. I was hoping for the Howard Cosells. Regardless, when the Hoosiers run out of the tunnel at noon on the first Saturday of the season, there will be thunder heard as some players from last year’s National Championship Team will return with a new edition filled with a great deal of promise. Folks like me are still getting used to all of this. That may never happen.

In the irony department, I received an email from Michigan State University trying to entice me to come to East Lansing on November 14th to watch Sparty take on the Washington Huskies. Tickets to this one can be had for 20 bucks. I just chuckled again.

You won’t be able to park in Bloomington for 20 bucks that day.

Go get’em Fernando.

Last week I watched Fernando Mendoza make his debut with the Las Vegas Raiders. Muscle memory had me reaching for the “O” as in Oakland. A man can dream.

I thought Fernando played well. The speed of the NFL is something you manage, or you don’t as an NFL quarterback. I will be shocked if he is not under center starting for the Raiders in late October. I hope not. I’ll never root against Kirk Cousins. He’s earned that.

Looking back on Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks from the last 30 years, the list of didn’t do so well in the NFL to did well in the NFL is much longer. Danny Wuerffel, Chris Weinke, Matt Leinart, Troy Smith, Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, RG III, Johnny Manziel; they had their struggles. The last ten years of Heisman winners have fared much better. Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow have done well. We’ll have to wait and see about Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams, and Bryce Young. They certainly have not dropped the ball yet.

Next week: The 2026 College Football Preview.

The NCAA Football Coaches Preseason Poll came out this week. The Top Ten went like this (with their rank last year in the same preseason poll):

1. Ohio State (2)
2. Oregon (7)
3. Georgia (4)
4. Texas (1)
5. Notre Dame (5)
6. Indiana (19)
7. Miami (10)
8. Texas A&M (21)
9. Oklahoma (NR)
10. Ole Miss (15)

What do you think about that?

The only two teams up there that did not make the CFP last year were Notre Dame and Texas.

For me to see Indiana and Ole Miss in a preseason Top 10 for the first time in my life is still hard to process. But I don’t mind the process.

Notice there is a Big Ten team at number 1. This is the first time a Big Ten team has been name #1 in this poll since 2015. That team, too, was Ohio State.

This was the Indiana game against Ohio State in 2015. Indiana got beat by the #1 Buckeyes 34-27.

Notice too that a team that beat Oregon twice and Ohio State once last year is four and five places behind them in this preseason poll. What do think about that? Does Indiana really deserve a #6 ranking?

Am I the only one not disappointed that Alabama and LSU are not in the top ten? Bama lost 4 games last year. They are ranked #11. More bended knee and bowing to a by gone era will get you a #11 ranking. I can hear Bear Bryant now. “Any team that got whipped by a Big Ten school, and Indiana makes it worse, doesn’t deserve to haul water heading into the next season.”

LSU lost 6 games last year. They, with newly hired media darling Lane Kiffin, are ranked #13 in this preseason coaches poll. The only other two schools in this poll with 6 losses last year are Penn State at # 17 and Clemson at # 23. What do you think about that?

You know, the last thing I want to do is give an old coach the “business”. However, I am over Coach Nick Saban, with his office still on campus, showing up on ESPN Gameday with his “we” mentality when it comes to talking about the SEC and the Tide. It was fashionable for Coach Lee Corso to talk nice about the Hoosiers. They were the losingest team in history before Coach Curt Cignetti showed up to rewrite history. I know. I know. ESPN is in cahoots with the SEC where it just means more and all that malarkey. What do you think about that?

I fully understand why the Indiana Hoosiers are #6 in this poll after going 16-0 last season. Things take time. Coaches don’t want to accept what happened in Bloomington last year. It’s against the natural order of things. When the AP preseason poll comes out, expect a little more Hoosier love. I predict the Hoosiers will be either # 3 OR # 4 in that poll. The media will give Indiana a little more credit.

The Indiana Hoosiers just got a defensive bolster, thanks to the judge that said you got five years to play five years. Poor Stephen Daley, the DT who hurt himself celebrating after the Big Ten Championship Game, is back and will be on the field for the Hoosiers. He had 19 tackles for loss last year. Kellan Wyatt, an edge guy on defense, got hurt during the Michigan State game last year. He too is back. Think about what these guys will give after not being able to participate in the playoff run the Hoosiers had last year. They all want more. This Hoosier story is still be written. What do you think about that?

Finally, I don’t understand how the coaches can deny a place in this poll for the Louisville Cardinals.

Coach Jeff Brohm has done nothing but win consistently. WKU, Purdue, Louisville. His record is 94-56. Louisville’s offense is loaded. Just wait and see. How important is that 94-56 record? Well, it’s a winning percentage that qualifies him for the College Football Hall of Fame. Numbers his old coach, Howard Schnellenberger, does not possess. No, I am not saying the Cards will make it to the College Football Playoff. Only 12 can do that. Watch out this season. Remember in 2018 when Brohm’s unranked Purdue team beat #2 Ohio State 49-20? Look, I root for the Ole Miss Rebels. When these two teams meet Labor Day Weekend in Nashville, one can only surmise that money got them to this location, Ole Miss better be ready. This a game that a Jeff Brohm coached team has a great shot at. I look for the scoreboard to suffer power failure when this one is played. And know this, the Cards will reach into the bag of tricks and unleash a few plays that will make one wonder where in the heck that came from? What do you think about that?

We’re almost there, kids. I can’t wait.

Before I got on the elliptical today, I looked for the 1986 Independence Bowl on YouTube. I was there. I found it!

This was the first bowl game I attended. I was 18. My grandparents lived in Shreveport. I had just finished a leg-swinging fall at Louisiana Tech. To see the Ole Miss Rebels come to Shreveport for the Independence Bowl was BONUS city! This child of the Midwest has parents who were both born in Mississippi. My dad was an Army brat. He lived all over. My mother rarely got out of Scott County, Mississippi until it was time for Nurses Training in Jackson. I have long had an affinity for the Ole Miss Rebels, thanks in large to a cousin of mine. I have seen the Rebs play in more stadiums, nine, than any other team I have ever seen. I’ve seen 80 FBS teams play from coast to coast. When I think about that I just stop and say thanks.

But on this night in 1986, the Ole Miss Rebels restored a part of my soul. Just seeing them run out of tunnel did that. So much angst was released. Look, my grandfather, there in Shreveport, was battling cancer. In the summer of 1986, I dropped him off and picked him up after a cobalt treatment that was progressive in its day. This guy I had always seen as a piece of steel, a WWII vet, was doubled over in the car as I drove him home. I have never felt more hopeless before or since.

Back to the game. A game I needed all those years ago.

Kids, you have no clue as to how excited I was to watch this game today almost 40 years later.

To see Rebel Kicker Bill Smith with a kicking shoe tied up just like the one I had was enough to bring a tear to my eye.

I’m surprised more and more at the symmetry of the games in my life that have been important to me. Yes, I saw hundreds of games in Bloomington, Indiana before Coach Cig got there. Some of those were Michigan-Butt ugly. Let’s just say the 15-0 record in Bloomington under Coach Cignetti is certainly appreciated.

The 1986 I-Bowl?

The Rebels won that I-Bowl 20-17. Sophomore QB Mark Young completed 31 of 50 for 343 yards for Ole Miss.

Watching this game meant a great deal to me. My dad played many of his high school games on the field I was looking at that night in 1986. His high school, St. John’s in Shreveport, didn’t have a stadium. They played at “The Fairgrounds”, as it was called back then.

Just another installment in the life of the midwestfootballwriter.com.

Yes, I am blessed.

Her daughter, Laura, didn’t know how to contact me. So today, through a friend of mine and Carrie’s, I got word that Paula Lincoln died this past Saturday. Our last email correspondence in December spoke of her having congestive heart failure. She said, “It’s not as bad as it sounds.” Of course, she said that. This past March I received my annual birthday card from her. She never failed there. I didn’t send her one every year. She would have been 85 this fall.

Paula Lincoln was a great lady. A gifted math teacher, she was one of those who could look at calculus and not break into a sweat. I always appreciated those people. She taught for decades at North Harrison High School. She enjoyed teaching at North. She could do her job there. She was good at it.

My first official introduction with Mrs. Lincoln was when I was in the 9th grade. Our English teacher, Mrs. Kain, had a sub that day. After a message over the intercom inviting choir members to the gym, Mick Rutherford and I decided to join the choir that day. We got halfway down the hall. Paula looked at us and growled, “Get where you belong!” It sounded a great deal worse than that.

Over time, we got to know her better and appreciated her. She taught us how to play bridge. She worked high level math problems with my pals Mick and Kelly Samons. I just watched. She knew I was a writer. I was not a gifted math student. I had Paula for college algebra at IUS. She was tough on me. And she gave me more math confidence than I ever expected to find. When I signed up to take the National Teacher’s Exam, my math worried me. So much so, I registered for a second test before I got my results from the first one that I took in Terre Haute. I did fine on both of them, thanks to her.

Thankfully, we never lost touch. And for many years, we kept up with each other closer than we had the last fifteen or so. That’s life. We knew that. When we did catch up it was like we picked up where we left off. That’s great friendship.

My favorite birthday card from Paula was this one:

She knew my proclivity for kicking the football. I still have this card close.

When I graduated from college more than thirty years ago, she was there. She gave me a series of books. They too have always been close. She added a note to each one of them.

Paula was Catholic. We enjoyed religious speaks!

I enjoyed it all.

My dear wife, Carrie, took this picture in 2017. It was my 49th birthday. I didn’t expect to see anyone in this picture that day. Carrie got me. Thankfully, she got me. From left to right: Walt Lincoln, Paula Lincoln, me, Kelly Samons, Nancy Samons, and Jerry Brown.

It was an honor to be Paula’s friend. That is the greatest tribute and the greatest thanksgiving. I will miss her immensely.

The Indiana Hoosiers made their biggest splash in football recruiting history this past Friday when a wider receiver from Lawrence North High School not far from downtown Indy said he plans to spend “three or four years” in Bloomington. Monshun Sales made his announcement on ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show not long after the clock struck noon. He apparently wants to be a Hoosier.

This is still a big deal, even in today’s weirdo college football landscape. The kid chose the Hoosiers over Alabama, Texas, Ohio State, and LSU. That had to hurt some folks all over again.

Admittedly, the receiver position is one that has made my head turn sideways for some time, thanks to the shenanigans of some of football history’s recent players who have been gifted at the position. Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson, Odell Beckam, and we could go on. We’ve seen some good receivers suck a great deal of promise out of more than one football huddle.

Will this happen to Indiana with this new kid from Lawrence North? Probably not. Look, he’s got to get to Indiana first. He has another season in high school and who knows what is going to change between here and fall camp 2027 on the college campus he finally lands on. Do I think it will be Indiana? Yes, yes, I do. Will it be the end of the world if Sales never makes it to Bloomington? Not at all. Indiana had a stable of great wideouts on the 2025 team that won the CFP Championship. One of them, Charlie Becker, is back on the team for the 2026 season. Two of them, Omar Cooper, Jr. and Elijah Sarratt were NFL draft choices. Translation: Indiana’s Coach Cignetti will put the best team he can assemble on the field. That is his MO. Everybody is wanting to do it. Coach Cig has done it.

You know the line from the movie Miracle when actor Kurt Russell portrayed Coach Herb Brooks who was putting together his roster of players for the 1980 Olympic Hockey Team. “I’m not looking for the best players. I’m looking for the best team.” That made such an impression on me. I’ll say it every time I can. While in college, I wrote a paper about the 1980 Olympic Hockey Team and interviewed Coach Brooks in doing so. It took forty-five years, but we finally have been able to see this dynamic work out in real time for what it is and may never be seen again. What Coach Cignetti did with Indiana was Miracle Part II.

So, when 2027 does actually roll around, Munshon Sales watch will be on again. I hope he makes it to Indiana eventually. If not, there will certainly be a good reason.

The best receiver I have ever seen with my two eyes is a guy named Isaac Curtis. We can thank Coach Don “Air” Coryell for everything we saw out of Isaac Curtis the All-Pro wide receiver. At Santa Ana High School, Curtis played running back and was a track star. He took his athletic prowess in both sports to Cal-Berkley still in track and was still running and returning on the gridiron. Curtis transferred to San Diego State in 1972; that is where the then head coach of the Aztecs, Coach Don Coryell, told Isaac Curtis to line up wide and “go long (and fast)”. Isaac Curtis was drafted by the Bengals in the first round of the 1973 NFL Draft. Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson found his deep threat in a hurry. Nine TD passes to Curtis in 14 games as a rookie. 10 TD passes to Curtis in 14 games in 1974. Looooong TD passes. 77 yards. 77 yards. 54 yards. 85 yards. Isaac’s first 160 receptions went for 3167 yards his first four years in the league.

As I type these words, I can see across the Ohio River where old Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati stood. I was fortunate enough to see Isaac Curtis catch a few of those balls from Ken Anderson back in the 1970s. I never enjoyed watching football more than I did when I was nine. Kenny to Isaac still plays out in my dreams.

One day in 1976 at Bengals Training Camp at Wilmington College, I saw Isaac Curtis reach down and catch a ball with one right hand that no man in any era, place, or time had any business holding onto at all. I have seen more football than I deserve. This shoestring one-handed catch of a ball that was what we used to call a “bullet” hanging only a scant few inches above the ground was amazing. Isaac Curtis. The best receiver I have ever seen play the game of football.

Look, I don’t care who gets the credit as long as we do the right thing.

Looking at the calendar, the thing says we are in the 21st Century. We’re getting close to Buck Rogers here. It is time we acted like it and rebranded the special teams moniker with something it deserves: URGENT TEAMS. The game deserves it. Guys playing will make more sense of it when they are in the huddle and the BIG play on a punt or a kick needs to be made NOW…right now because it is an urgent situation.

I am the punter in 1985. We were playing Corydon Central that night.

Below: Thirty years later on the same field.

When there is a head full of angst, a bag of balls and an empty field can be a cathartic experience. I wish my leg still had the same pop in it.

Back to our point. I’ll just say it. It is 2026 and it is about time we changed the moniker “special teams” as it applies to that phase of the game that involves kicking, punting, returning, blocking kicks and punts, et al.

I say it every year. Birthdays are special. Graduation is special. Weddings are special.

There is NOTHING SPECIAL about being a punter in a fourth and twelve situation when your team has the ball on their own half yard line and you are checking your feet one last time before the snap to make sure you are standing inside the endline and not about to cost your team a safety. If you have been there, you just relived part of it and a nervous tension just fell upon you, if for only a few fleeting moments. It’s a real thing.

Your team just held the other team to a punting situation and you are down 6 points with 3:13 to go in the game. A punt block will help you out. If your returner gets loose, it could save the ballgame for you. All the while, before this play happens, there is no coach on the sideline hopping up and down spreading their arms out like a they are wearing a tutu saying, “Oh, this is sooooo SPECIAL!” Hell no. Coach has a wide base. Hands on his knees. Watching each and every part of this play literally play out. Coach is feeling anything but special.

None of these things are special. These things are URGENT. Show of hands. Remember what it feels like when your team is lining up for a game-winning field goal with three seconds to go. Hit it you win. Miss it you lose. That’s not special. That moment brings with it an urgency like no other scene you will experience on a football field. It can be a beautiful thing. It can haunt you for the rest of your life. That, my friends, is URGENT.

I wrote about a these things last fall and I am going to revisit one small part of this story now:

When the 1992 high school football season came around, I was on the sidelines again. This time I was a Corydon Central Panther. I distinctly remember playing the North Harrison Cougars that year. It was 0-0 at halftime on a beautiful autumn night. I was the Urgent teams coach and had a ball showing youngsters how to swing their legs to the fullest. When the second half got under way, Billy Powell intercepted a pass from his linebacker spot and returned it for a TD. Our sideline erupted. During that week of practice, though it was not about me, players came up to me to stick a finger in my chest and tell me they were going to win this one for me. I told them to just go win it. Of course, I appreciated the gesture. When Billy hit the end zone, our sideline went berserk. Guys were on the field rolling around like Curly of the Three Stooges. I was celebrating. Our whole team was on the field soaking up the moment. When revelry went on longer than the ref thought it should, he threw a flag. 15 more yards! Hooooo-ray! That means a 35 yard extra point and that will be an even nicer exclamation point. I was good with it. I was great with it. Reminded me of the night in 1985 when I was kicking PATs with a square-toed shoe that I had to change into while I was playing center. One night this endeavor was taking a while. The ref came over to me. “Hustle up 56, you’re short on time.” I looked over at him and said, “Just go ahead and throw it.” He did and moved us five yards back. I suppose he could have moved us 15 yards back had he wanted. Was the kick good? Yes. It hit the track. I looked at the ref and gave him a thumbs up. He just shook his head and chuckled.

Now, that back and forth between me and the ref was special and yes, the only plea for urgency on that play seemed to be at the behest of the ref himself. The 17-year-old version of me had yet to learn that we need to rebrand “special teams” into “URGENT TEAMS”. The 24 year-old version of me as coach brought such a confidence in our high school leg swingers and holders and snappers and blockers because they understood the urgency. That’s why we called it Urgent Teams and worked it as hard as they did. That is today’s lesson. Urgent teams from now on. Pick it up and run with and call it your own. It won’t be the first time. We can debate the origin of The Run and Shoot for days, but that’s another story.

And to the Kirk Herbstreit’s and the Tim Brando’s and the Brad Nessler’s of the world, please don’t use the term “chip shot” when you are calling a game and there is a short field goal coming. There is a snap. There is a hold. There is an urgency to keep 11 guys with a different colored shirt on their side of the field. Then there is a kick. Nothing routine about any of this. A great deal has to go as planned. It is an URGENT TEAMS play.

Show of hands of those of us sick and tired of all of the recruiting wars in College Football these days? I get it. Part of it.

So today and a few days afterward, I am going Back to the Future. I’m going to do what we used to do as we were waiting on the season to begin. We looked at the year’s roster and hoped a kid from Crown Point, or Coldwater, or Davenport, or Danville, or Upper Darby, or Santa Monica, or Grand Rapids, or Menomonee Falls might work out well for the team. He and a couple others from places like that. The old-fashioned newcomers who might be able to fill a spot next to a guy who’s been blocking for three years. They might get on the field to catch a few balls from the quarterback who’s been in the same huddle with most of the same guys wearing the same uniform for going on three years in a row. I know. I know. I’m going deep in the weeds now. Probably left some of you behind by the fence. But I know some folks out there pine to read something like this again.

Anytime my world gets crazy

All I have to do to calm it

Is just think of you.

From Janet Jackson’s song When I Think of You.

Not unlike most you, I have a point of reference for teams I look at, for conferences I pay attention to. For me, most of that time is taken in by looking at and soaking up The Big Ten and The Southeast Conference. The Big Ten, 18 teams full, took on the power brokers of the PAC-12. The SEC took on power brokers of The Big 12. Hence all this super-conference talk.

Over the years I have seen all The Big Ten teams play in one stadium or another. The only SEC teams I have not intimately looked in on are Florida, Texas A & M, Oklahoma, and Mississippi State. I feel quite blessed to have seen so much college football in the 57 falls I have been here.

Today we reflect on the teams of The Big Ten, and each team will get the ‘When I Think of You’ treatment.

Rutgers: I don’t think of the Scarlet Knights much. Piscataway. I have driven by the Piscataway exit. Didn’t feel compelled to stop. The traffic was awful, of course. November 9, 2006, does come to Rutgers Football mind. The lonely road I live on in rural Southern Indiana is about 40 minutes from downtown Louisville. There is a billboard of a diploma with my name on it somewhere here in the house. When you get a master’s degree from U of L, they don’t hand you a diploma. They hand you an advertisement they obviously hope you will proudly display so others can see that their name is much larger than yours. A diploma like this was handed to me a long time ago.

On a fateful November 2006 night, the #3 ranked 8-0 Louisville Cardinals, coached by Bobby Petrino, took on an 8-0 and 15th ranked Rutgers team in what turned out to be a 28-25 and the Rutgers home crowd took over the field after the upset win that would be the only blemish on Louisville’s record that year. For Rutgers, it was their first win over a ranked opponent in 18 years. Coach Greg Schiano, currently on his second stint there, was the head coach of the Knights that night.

Maryland: When I think of the Terps, I don’t think of the times I have seen them. The game in1984 Frank Reich won playing QB for Maryland in relief is the one I fall back on. Trailing 31-0 at halftime, Coach Bobby Ross sat starter Stan Gelbaugh in the 2nd half in a game played in The Orange Bowl Stadium. Reich led the Terps to a 42-40 comeback win that someone is surely talking about in a College Park diner over a burger as I type these words from Southern Indiana. Think that was bad for the Hurricanes? Two weeks later, in another home game, Doug Flutie threw the TD pass to Gerard Phelan on the last play of the game and won himself The Heisman Trophy as the Eagles of Boston College upset Miami 47-45.

Oregon: When I think of Oregon, I think about the 2024 Big Ten Championship Game.

#1 Oregon vs. # 3 Penn State. The last time these two had played was in the 1995 Rose Bowl when the Nittany Lions beat the Ducks 38-20. Not on this night. In a game with more than a little offensive power showing itself, Oregon won 45-37. It was a good one. Of course, I was rooting for Penn State.

Washington: The Huskies. The Pacific Northwest has always fascinated me. Looking at the weather in the newspaper when I was 14 made me wonder what overcast and 67 degrees could feel like so many days in a row. When the weather around here mimics those qualities, I shake my head wondering if this might be it. I know otherwise. The air quality there is better than that here in the Ohio Valley.

Football wise? When I was nine years-old, the Washington Huskies played the Michigan Wolverines in the 1978 Rose Bowl and upset the boys from Ann Arbor 27-20. Seeing a team besides USC or UCLA playing the team from The Big Ten in this game was something I certainly paid attention to. Don’t ever discount what it meant back then to believe going into the college football season that either UCLA or (probably) USC was going to play either Ohio State or Michigan in The Rose Bowl and we loved it anyway.

Warren Moon, playing quarterback for Washington, was the game’s MVP. Thankfully, I have relived this game recently on YouTube.

USC: Student Body Right. I can still see Charles White, Ricky Bell, Anthony Davis, and Marcus Allen. Those are the four Trojan tailbacks that run right and left in my memory. Sure, we can throw in Reggie Bush. He was a talent too. Anthony Munoz playing left tackle was a good watch. Can you imagine how relieved the opposing defensive end or defensive tackle must have felt when they were playing against USC and they were lined on the side opposite of #78? It was the difference between having a chance and not having a chance. Anthony was that good in the late 70s.

Years later, I ran into Anthony and his Cincinnati Bengals teammate Max Montoya in the chow hall during training camp at Wilmington College. He was walking away from the table with Max. My dad and I were walking towards them. Anthony threw a left arm in front of Max to hold him up and signaled to us with his right hand to hold up as well. He proceeded to compliment the cook with some gastric thunder anyone would be proud of. Then, with a smile and a nod, he let us pass. There was never any getting around Anthony Munoz.

UCLA:

My soft spot for UCLA is that of gratitude. I didn’t get Coach Chip Kelly’s permission to kick on a brand new, still being lined turf on the Thursday before USC-UCLA. That word came from the then-chief of The Rose Bowl Stadium. His name is Darryl Dunn. Darryl called me a week before to give me the okay. In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t have longer to think about it. I kicked in a pair of Brooks out of respect for the new turf, though I had permission to plant a cleat. Had I missed any of my kicks, I wouldn’t bring this up. This was at age 50. Maybe I’ll try again at age 60.

Imagine my delight, visiting The Rose Bowl to see the Indiana Hoosiers take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in the last Rose Bowl Game. As I was walking on the concourse, I found Darryl Dunn’s name and was pleasantly reminded all over again:

Being 58 years of age and a child of the Midwest, nothing football is more important than The Rose Bowl. Some of us are just wired that way. Seeing USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon in The Big Ten is still an adjustment. If you know the tradition of The Rose Bowl, you can probably imagine my sentimental wistfulness come January 1st. That’s not going to change. I’ll still see Rick Neuheisel, Don Rogers, Tom Ramsey, and Kenny Easley playing for UCLA and the PAC-10.

Nebraska:

A Christmas card from Coach Tom Osborne is at the top of the Nebraska memory list. So was watching center Dave Rimington block so well for the likes of Roger Craig, Mike Rozier, and Turner Gill in the early 80s that in 2000 he would be the namesake of the trophy, The Dave Rimington Trophy, given to the outstanding center in college football. If you are of a certain vintage, you grabbed the Sunday sports section on cool fall mornings just to look and see how many yards the Nebraska offense put up against Kansas and feel an incredible envy of Nebraska fans as you wonder what it would be like to see your favorite team run for 600 yards in a game. That’s the way it was.

For me, I saw it first hand when Nebraska played Indiana in an early season tilt in 1978. 69-17 was the score. Do I have to tell you who won? How many yards? 616. Indiana scored with 3 seconds left to tighten it up. How bad was it really? Coach Osborne was K-I-N-D nice that day. Nebraska split 65 rushing carries among 11 different backs. Somebody’s grandson in Omaha is telling his friend about the day gramps got into a game in Bloomington.

Penn State: When I think about Penn State, I think about the 1994 team. For my money, that was the best football team I have ever seen in person. They were solid as rocks. Not unlike the latest National Champion to be crowned, this Penn State team did not create trouble for themselves. Solid bunch. I am still a little perplexed as how you can be the number #1 team in the land with a 6-0 record (having beaten 5th ranked Michigan the week before), then beat a ranked Ohio State team 63-14 and wake up the next morning to find that you are now ranked #2. That is what happened to Penn State and that is where it ended for the Penn State Nittany Lions after a 38-20 victory over Oregon in The Rose Bowl. Show of hands if you remember KiJana Carter’s 83-yard TD run on Penn State’s first offensive play of the game. Yes, that’s the one. This team needed a playoff back then. 1994 Penn State vs. 1994 Nebraska will forever be one of the greatest games that did not play out.

Northwestern: To tell you the truth, there hasn’t been much time to think about Northwestern. I appreciate their SAT scores. The 1995 team that went to The Rose Bowl under Coach Gary Barnett is still firmly etched in my mind. Linebacker Pat Fitzgerald was inspiring on that team. Later, as the Wildcat coach, Fitzgerald won games there. When you root for Indiana as long as I have, seeing something like that the 1995 NWestern team gives one hope. If you happen to live another 30 years, you might actually find yourself in Pasadena on J-1. Believe me, it can happen.

Wisconsin: So, let me be careful here. The last two times Bucky has visited Bloomington the Hoosiers have come out on top. That is the best thing I can say. My objectivity does have a limit.

What a beautiful day it was last season for Wisconsin to show up in Bloomington.

Michigan State:

I am ashamed to say I did not throw a single snowball in the direction of the Michigan State bench on October 30, 1993. I was sitting on the west side of Memorial Stadium. The visitor’s bench is on the east side. I can report I have never seen so much snow in Bloomington. It had already fallen and getting around the seats and aisles of the stadium was a time of peril. I wonder how many lawsuits are still being paid after that management debacle. I was 25. I thought it was fun. But what a mess of place. # 23 Indiana defeated # 22 Michigan State 10-0. The shutout meant the Hoosiers moved to 7-1 overall on the season and 4-1 in conference play. The Hoosiers would then lose to Penn State, Ohio State, and Virginia Tech in the Independence Bowl. A regular season ending win over Purdue meant Indiana would finish 8-4 and feel like underachievers.

Let’s not forget that in 1987 Michigan State defeated Indiana in a game that went a long way in deciding who was going to represent The Big Ten in The Rose Bowl. After the game, Indiana coach Bill Mallory went to the Michigan State locker room and told them to go to Pasadena and bring back a victory. Sparty did just that over USC 20-17. Michigan State head coach George Perles and Coach Mallory were pure class.

We’d be accused of fumbling if we didn’t mention “The Game of the Century”. If you know your college football history, the 1966 game between Michigan State and Notre Dame in East Lansing is referenced as such. I have a hard time calling a 10-10 tie The Game of the Century. ND came in ranked #1 and Sparty was ranked #2. Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian decided to run the clock out with over a minute left, given his starting quarterback, Terry Hanratty, was injured earlier in the game. Tough ending for sure.

Minnesota: I’ll let you in on a little secret. I saw Goldy play in three Music City Bowls in four years. One against Arkansas in 2002, against Alabama in 2004, and against Virginia in 2005. They won two of those. Who beat them? Virginia 34-31. That was a great game. I cheered on the Gophers in each of them. The Minnesota kicker, Dan Nystrom, in the game against Arkansas, was named the game’s MVP. He booted 5 field goals in a 29-14 win over the #25 ranked Hogs.

For a while going to this game was just a Holiday tradition. We’d drive down to Nashville to watch the game, and we’d drive back home the same night. That was a long time ago.

Purdue: In the middle of a cold sideways rain in Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, my friend Gus Stephenson and I looked on alongside a modest crowd for an Old Oaken Bucket Game. Nothing will convince me that the decision by Indiana to fire Cam Cameron was not made before this game played in 2001. We all knew it was coming to an end. After the game was over and the Hoosiers beat the Boilermakers 13-7, the south end goal post came down. I heard it go “PoP!” when it came down. This was 2001 and it was not the last game of the season, as the Purdue game traditionally is. That season games all over the country were postponed after 9/11. On December 1st, Indiana played and defeated Kentucky. Cameron was 4-1 in his last five games. We all knew the end was in sight long before the season ended.

The Cradle of Quarterbacks. How can you go down the Purdue trail and not mention the great quarterbacks? The ones I think of immediately are Bob Griese, Mike Phipps, Gary Danielson, Mark Hermann, Jim Evertt, and Drew Brees. Those are some great signal callers. I hate to see Gary Danielson step away from the broadcast booth where he has been a fixture on CBS at 3:30 on Saturdays with a big game to call. Charles Davis will join Brad Nessler this year and I wish them well. They’ll do great together.

Illinois: When I think about Illinois Football, my feet start to get cold. In 1989 in Champaign, it WAS COLD!

My old buddy Hurricane Harrell and I drove over to Champaign in a car with no heat and we had even less money. Of course, neither of us wore a pair of gloves. We stopped at a Wal-Mart, which was novel then. Socks were cheaper than gloves. I wore a pair of socks driving a ’66 Mustang with no heat. I’d do it all over again, except for one thing. Indiana got beat soundly. Jeff George put on a show at QB for Illinois. Jeff threw 5 touchdown passes. Indiana’s Anthony Thompson ran for over 100 yards as usual. AT also score his 65th and last touchdown of his Indiana career on this cold day. Final score: 41-28 in favor of Illinois.

And then there was 2025. Oh my. As good as the 2024 Indiana Football season was, there were still skeptics about the team’s ability, endurance, resolve, chances, and so on. 11-2 didn’t prove much to the self-imposed football intellectual establishment out there. They were and will always be Indiana, right? That changed for some of these experts last September 20th. The Hoosiers beat the visiting #9 Illini 63-10; Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza watched the 4th quarter from the sidelines after completing 21 of 23 and five touchdowns. I wrote about it when it happened. This was the game, for me, that allowed the 1988 Indiana beating of Ohio State 41-7 to rest and became the game many Hoosier fans no longer had to wait on. It happened, finally.

Iowa: The Hawkeye Wave. At the end of the first quarter, more than 70,000 football fans are all on the same team. Team Wave. Though my only trip to Iowa City to watch a football game turned out horrid on the field, turning around in Kinnick Stadium to look up and wave at the kids and their families looking down from UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital is still an emotional moment as I put these words together. So caught up in the moment that day, I didn’t even think about taking a picture of this scene. This was a moment when we were all in the game. There’s nothing like it. Nothing remotely like it.

As a young boy, I fell in love with the passing game watching Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson throw deep balls to Isaac Curtis. After Ike had blown past the cornerback, he’d catch the ball and gently thrown it over his shoulder in the end zone. Throw it again, Kenny!

My wildest watching the pigskin fly dream came true on October 29, 1988. Against the Indiana Hoosiers in Memorial Stadium, Iowa quarterback Chuck Hartlieb complete 44 of 60 passes for 558 yards. The game took forever to play. With a 3:30 kickoff in Bloomington, the newly installed lights about the stadium came in handy. Iowa players Nick Bell, Devin Harbets, and Marv Cook each caught 10 or more balls. I can go on and on about this one. Perfect crisp fall day. Indiana won 45-34. Anthony Thompson carried the ball 47 times and score and scored and scored.

Michigan: “I want a Michigan man coaching Michigan!” I remember Coach Bo Schembechler as one of the larger-than-life figures in a by gone Big Ten era. Either his team or the team Woody Hayes coached would be playing in The Rose Bowl. That is the genesis of my Big Ten experience.

I think the first time I saw a Michigan team in person was in 1976. There are guys on that team still asking themselves how they beat the crap out of The Big Ten that year, including a 22-0 victory over Michigan, and still got beat by two points at Purdue. This was the national championship team that got away. This Michigan team DID play in The Rose Bowl. When I saw this team play, it looked like the backsides of the Michigan lineman were twice as wide as the Indiana defensive linemen and those big Wolverine hogs could move! Rick Leach at quarterback. Mike Kenn on the o-line. Dwight Hicks in the defensive backfield. 21 of these Wolverines spent some time in the NFL. I see these guys and the 1994 Penn State team in my dreams. They were amazing.

If you talk about Michigan and you don’t mention that last game of the season that kicks off at noon, you’re just spiteful. That is must- see action. Thank God for the VCR and now the DVR. Every conference has its marquee game. Michigan vs. Ohio State is a single game that elevates The Big Ten inestimably.

Ohio State: When I think of Ohio State football I think about being at my Granny’s house off of Linwood Avenue in Shreveport. It was my dad’s 36th birthday. I was 10. Ohio State was playing Clemson in The Gator Bowl. We watched every bowl game back then. There were only 15 bowl games in 1978. That year the Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Orange Bowl were all played on January 1st as the Lord intended.

This Gator Bowl between Ohio State and Clemson had a moment that made me sit up on the couch a little straighter and try to process what we had just seen. A short pass by Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter was picked off by Clemson nose guard Charlie Bauman. Bauman picked up a few yards before he was taken down near the Ohio State bench. Coach Woody Hayes took exception to Bauman’s fine play, and his temper got the best of him. Coach Hayes grabbed the Clemson player and gave him what for … or at least tried to. Coach Hayes, in his 28th season and most of them glorious, sealed his coaching fate in front of me, my dad, my granny, and Keith Jackson by hitting Charlie Bauman. A moment I am sure both men regretted terribly.

My next thought about the Ohio State Buckeyes looks not to the past. This time we are looking at the upcoming October 17th game between the Buckeyes and the Indiana Hoosiers.

The last time we saw these two teams play we took in what the SEC would call the de facto National Championship had it been a game between SEC teams ranked #1 and #2. That was my sense watching that night, especially when the gloves came off and both defenses were throwing haymakers. Nothing would come close moving forward in the playoffs to what the Hoosiers had to endure to come away victorious against the Ohio State Buckeyes that night.

When the Hoosiers either kick or receive to open the game vs. the Buckeyes in October this fall, Memorial Stadium in Bloomington will be a place like we have never seen before (again).

Indiana: When I think of Indiana, I think of a football watching life that finally looked off in the distance from the top of the mountain. I always wondered what it looked like. It looked Rosey. It looked Peachy. It looked Final, finally.

Last year’s Indiana football experience included saying hello to one of my heroes after The Rose Bowl. The one and only Keith Jackson.

The day I walked out on the field at the Rose Bowl Stadium, I walked by and stared at the place in the endzone where Vince Young scored the winning touchdown for Texas in the National Championship game against USC. I could hear it. “He’s got the corner!”

Any writing endeavor like this would be incomplete without tipping the cap to Coach Cignetti. What he has done is proof of the power of the person. He’s that good. And I am delighted he is living in Bloomington these days.

People laugh when I tell them I have seen 80 of the current FBS teams play in person, having travelled far and wide, and then tell them I have attended all of one Indiana University basketball games. Yes, there are football people in Indiana. Not as many as I wish there were. Attending a game in Memorial Stadium can still be painful, if you listen to some of the paltry football acumen you will be exposed to around you. The dumber the louder, usually. Painful. Painful I tell you. When I hear talk of stadium expansion at IU, I cringe a little. That’s why I try to get into the press box as often as I can. Being in the press box is much better for my writing life.

“Won’t you take me back to school. I need to learn the golden rule. Won’t you lay it on the line. I need to hear it just one more time.”

The opening lyrics of the song “The Voice” by The Moody Blues written by Justin Hayward. The rocks are from Walden Pond.

A few days ago, as I was walking on my Southern Indiana country roads (three miles and one car to be seen), I decided to look for a podcast to listen to as I walked along. This is not the norm. The normal is classic rock turned up to 11. My ears are telling me more and more to back off. I never do.

But on this day, I tuned into to a podcast hosted by some guys I had never heard of from Waco, Texas. While I listened to them and their guest, I was taken to school. Smacked in the face with my recent writing that has been so Indiana one-sided heavy. And why not? I mean. Y’all saw what happened last year. Then the guest started talking about calling high school football games on radio as a teenager. He spoke of the objectivity that was needed for the task. Suddenly I was recalling my own time calling high school football games on radio. If the other team made a great play, my partner Gus Stephenson, and I gave that team and that player all the love we could. Great play is great play, no matter the jersey color. In fact, my objectivity was once problematic.

We were in Salem, Indiana that night calling the game between the North Harrison Cougars (our regular broadcast team) and homestanding Salem Lions. The week before, the head coach’s mom in Bedford (96.9 WKLO is a blowtorch with a huge signal) thought I said her son’s team was not ready for the game. Now, I probably said, “The defense was not ready for that play.” And they probably weren’t. The head coach was a good boy. He listened to mom like he should. Mom had it wrong. But that didn’t stop the coach from using this as cannon fodder before the Salem game that night. He told the team an old Cougar, whose dad was once the head coach at North, was bad mouthing them. He told them to go out and give Salem hell and reportedly threw a radio down and smashed it up for theatre and said a few other choice words.

At halftime, with the team down three scores, an old teammate of mine who was coaching for North from the top of the press box, told me what happened in the pregame and asked me about what I had said the previous week. I told him to look at the scoreboard and think about shoring up the defensive left instead of asking me about anything I had to say. After the game, North Harrison’s athletic director sought me. I asked him to name me one person ‘from’ North Harrison with a complaint about how I had taken care of business on the air for a number of years. He shook his head, silently. This guy played for my dad too before I did. He knew better.

Thinking about these halcyon days reminded me of what I have been writing lately. And I can do better. I don’t want to sound like a broken Cream and Crimson record. On top of that, this fall I am teaching North Harrison High School’s first “Principles of Broadcasting” class. Objectivity certainly need apply here too.

I need not let the recent success of Indiana Football cloud my previous football life. Like when I turned on Indiana when they fired Coach Bill Mallory. Like when I turned on Indiana when they fired Coach Bill Lynch and hired Kevin Wilson. That was extreme. That football season my dear wife, Carrie, and I had season tickets for the Marshall Thundering Herd and have been back to Huntington more than twenty times since to root on the Herd.

I need not sound like a Hoosier Football novice. We have plenty of those. I need to remember I have seen the Ole Miss Rebels play in more stadiums, nine, that I have the Indiana Hoosiers, seven. And along the way have seen 80 of the current FBS teams play in person.

Taking my dad to see USC play UCLA in The Rose Bowl was something he never thought he would ever see.

Passing the football around with my wife on a Thursday before USC-UCLA in The Rose Bowl was incredible too.

And yes, seeing the Hoosiers play in The Rose Bowl was nice too. Very nice.

But so was talking football with Coach Lee Hedges – a Louisiana legend- for a glorious hour and a half in 1986 in the coach’s office at Captain Shreve off Kings Highway in Shreveport. His former player at Louisiana Tech, Alden Reeves, was the head coach there at the time and these guys were kind to me, as I was swinging my leg daily that summer inside the stadium that is now named after Coach Hedges.

You wouldn’t know it now. There was once a bean field on the other side of the fence beyond the track at this stadium in 1986. In that beanfield, I had a Rawlings R-5 go there to die. Proud to have kicked it over the fence, I looked and looked for that ball. Never found it. I looked at my ball bag and thought… and then there were five.

I have been blessed to see games in Knoxville, Tuscaloosa, South Bend, Oxford, of course, and twenty other cities and towns across the map.

I can attest that visiting The Cradle of Coaches at Miami, Oh is pretty cool thing.

Talk about College Football History.

I could go on and on about people and places and memories that no one man deserves to have bestowed upon him. And when it comes to my writing life moving forward, I want to have the determination of my eight-year-old self behind me. That kid wearing the Condredge Holloway jersey with the Cincinnati Bengals helmet and the Raiders socks and pants that came from an even further by-gone era who had no idea what was ahead of him. He meant business.

I would be remiss if I did not thank David Smoak, Craig Smoak, and Tim Brando. They are the ones who took me to school and I appreciate it.

I’ll trust Coach Cignetti. As much as I don’t like the process, I will trust Coach Cig. The traditionalist that I am wanted Alberto Mendoza to take the Indiana QB mantle from his big brother. You know, like we used to. A guy can dream, or at least wistfully look back now and again. Needless to say, I now have a reason to keep up with the “Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech” this season. Go Alberto Go! Glad we don’t play y’all.

Back to the here and now, as we say in the counseling business. I trust Coach Cig. Why wouldn’t I? Did you see last season and the season before that in Bloomington? Productivity over potential. Well, Indiana Football is about to lean into some serious productivity when Josh Hoover takes the field as the starting quarterback of the 2026 Indiana Hoosiers.

Josh Hoover originally signed with Indiana University coming out of high school. Nick Sheridan was the OC of the Hoosiers in 2021 and these two were on the same page. Indiana was coming of a disaster of a season in 2021. In a matter of hours in December that year, Michael Penix, Jr left Indiana via the transfer portal, Coach Nick Sheridan was fired and replaced with Walt Bell, and Josh Hoover announced that he flipped from Indiana to TCU when Sonny Dykes was named the head coach there. Dykes had recruited Hoover as the head coach of SMU. And please know that Josh Hoover played high school in Heath, Texas. Hoover had teammates on his high school team that signed to play college football with the likes of Minnesota, Auburn, Eastern Illinois, Stephen F. Austin, Baylor, Navy, and South Carolina. There was some talent there. It’s Texas.

Here’s where the productivity shows up. Josh Hoover comes to Indiana with 9629 passing yards and 71 touchdowns with him. Yes, there are 33 interceptions coming too. Well, not really. I can look at TCU and squarely say those 33 interceptions were thrown in YOUR system. You didn’t have Coach Mike Shanahan calling plays for you. Indiana does have Coach Shanahan. And Coach Shanahan took Kurtis Rourke and elevated him on a bad leg in 2024. He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers. Coach Shanahan took Fernando Mendoza and elevated him in 2025. We all know what happened there. That was fun. Now it is Josh Hoover’s time and Josh is going to be delighted he finally found his way to Bloomington. Better late than never.

The look on Coach Cig’s face is indicative of my feelings toward some folks in Birmingham, Alabama. Like so many others, I look forward to the college football season; I look forward to reading the season preview magazines. Athlon, Lindy’s, Phil Steele, The Sporting News, I enjoy them all. We can always depend on our friends from Birmingham, Alabama to not let us down. They don’t like the Indiana Hoosiers. After Indiana dismantled the Alabama Crimson Tide in The Rose Bowl on January 1st, it was more than the folks at Lindy’s in Birmingham, Alabama could take. In layman’s terms when Indiana beat Alabama 38-3 in The Rose Bowl, the folks at Lindy’s swallowed their snuff.

Last year, when the Hoosiers came off a season when they made the College Football Playoff and had a 11-2 record, that did not impress the folks at Lindy’s.

They said last year’s Indiana team would be the 31st most impressive team in the land. They also picked Indiana to be the 9th best team in the Big Ten last year. So, you can imagine how chapped their backside was after Indiana beat their beloved Alabama Crimson Tide 38-3 in The Rose Bowl.

This year, Lindy’s gave Indiana a little due in the preview magazine.

This year’s cover is on the right. Lindy’s picked Indiana #5 in this year’s preview issue. Of course, they still have their ongoing love affair with the Texas Longhorns. They picked Texas 1st last year and 2nd this year.

You notice my Lindy’s preview issue this year features USC and UCLA. I like those guys. Well, this is where Lindy’s tried to exact their revenge on Indiana University and their 38-3 shellacking of the Alabama Crimson Tide in The Rose Bowl.

There are 16 covers to choose from, if you are ordering your Lindy’s Sports College Football National 2026 Preview from Birmingham, Alabama.

Ask yourself this, with all these cover options, when was the last time Lindy’s offered up a cover that DID NOT include the previous National Champion? That only happens when you are Indiana and you beat Alabama 38-3 in The Rose Bowl and your magazine is from Birmingham, Alabama. You a Rutgers fan? Got a cover for you! Wisconsin fans? The folks in Birmingham wouldn’t leave you out! In fact, there are ELEVEN Big Ten Teams featured on one of these 16 unique covers. The National Champs are not found. That is what happens to the Indiana Hoosiers when they beat down the Alabama Crimson Tide 38-3 in The Rose Bowl.

I dedicate this photo to our friends at Lindy’s. I took this photo at…well, you know.