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Multiple reports - D’Angelo Ponds confirms his plan is to declare for the NFL Draft. He’s accepted a Senior Bowl invite.

Personally I’m going to kind of miss the post-spring ball portal. There were always some gems to be had in that group.

A fare-the-well from Alberto. Not gonna lie -- I'm gonna miss that kid. Guess I'm a little naive, because I thought he was gonna be our next QB1. Hoover -- you'd better be the real deal.

As he should! Here's to DeAngelo Ponds, the best pound for pound football player in the history of IU, and maybe the best pound for pound football player in the history of college football.

Nick Saban’s takes have been dogs!t this entire season. And if the greatest, smartest, and most accomplished college football mind can’t tell his @$$ from his face when assessing IUFB under Cignetti, then there aren’t any pundits whose opinions are worth two cents (sans College Football with Sam, BuffedinPrime, and maybe Joel Klatt). I’ve already forgotten who won the championship 8 years ago. This team/season will be talked about for decades, maybe longer, because this was bigger than the game (to use a cliche). We just pantsed a billion dollar industry with a ballsier performance than Babe Ruth calling his own shot. They can hate us all they want, make up whatever excuses they want, etc. The fact remains that there isn’t a single coach in this sport’s history who could’ve done what Cignetti did. All these programs that have poured hundreds of millions into their teams, sold out 100k stadiums for decades, and then here comes little old Indiana winning a championship before many of them, and one that was purely settled on the field. We didn’t get a narrative bump to make the playoffs. We didn’t duck anyone on our path. We didn’t have any luck on our side or benefit from an opponent’s injury to a star player. We didn’t cheat. There were no questionable calls that went our way. We weren’t a bubble team that got hot at the end. And the real kicker is we did it with 0-3 star recruits, all while playing a longer season and more arduous schedule than any champion in history. This isn’t supposed to happen, but it also wasn’t a fluke. I think most casual CFB fans were behind us on this one. But the ones that weren’t, and probably for the reasons you stated, they can make all of the excuses they want to. Nothing like this will ever happen again in CFB, even if Cig wins another one here.

One more huge viewership number for the season.

The new Crimson Cast podcast from today. At the 20 min mark, Galen goes on about a 5 min speech that is just tremendous about this team and season. Highly recommend checking out at least those 5 minutes.

Props to the Swanky Wolverine!

Here’s our season

The shade thrown here is excellent

Adewale still can't believe it. TBH -- neither can I. But I'm damn happy we did it!

Here is Fernando spending hours having genuine interactions with fans. What a person.

Lol. I love our nerdy QB.

Haven’t seen this one before:

Watch Fisch in the booth for the final play. He kept his composure but looks like he was close to breaking a couple of time but kept it together.

My nephew just sent me this- at the Kroger on College Mall Road:

Off to check out Karvala at the Quincy Showcase in beautiful(heavy, heavy sarcasm) Quincy, Il. Plays tonight agains Iowa United(Arafan Diane) and tomorrow night against Wasatch Academy(Junior County). Should match up a fair bit with County. That’ll be fun. Downside of these freaking winter showcase events: We’re supposed to have a bunch of snow, something in the 6-10” range, where I live starting Saturday morning and through the day. So I have to punt on the Saturday games, which is a really good 6 game slate. Not that hanging out in a hotel in Quincy for a couple of extra days wouldn’t be super sweet. Side note: Iowa United is coached by Indiana mega-legend Keith Smart. If I see him for a free moment will probably be forced to ask how it feels to now be sharing the pedestal for the greatest moment in IU sports history with Fernando Mendoza.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not what’s happening here. Peter isn’t getting paid because he’s an incompetent dunce and Paul is getting paid because he f*****g rips. Peter and Paul get to share in Paul’s spoils if Peter gets his head out of his ass. That’s about as much metaphoring as I can fit in one text box.

DeVries gets a mulligan this year. However if he doesn't make the tournament next year he will likely have a very short tenure in Bloomington

Interesting list. IMO, it's hard to argue LSU as No. 1. That team was really, really good. To go from where we were to have the No. 2 team on this list. ... I'm OK with that.

Osterman - Omar Cooper says his NFL decision should come soon: “I’ve still got to talk with my parents and my agent, and I still have a lot of praying to do about it. An announcement will be coming really soon.”

That chart above has us top 10. I don’t know if it’s right. Nobody really does but it seems in line with most estimates all offseason. General consensus seems to have IU safely somewhere from 5th-20th in roster spend. In a sport where only a 100ish teams matter in any real sense and 68 make the tourney, that should be plenty to get at least above average results. Not to take anything away from the man himself, but it seems to me one of Cigs comparative advantages is having a staff he knows, taught, and is loyal to him. Haines, especially, seems like a Cig protégé and loyalist. With IU paying top dollar for staff and not putting any restrictions (ie keep IU guys like Hulls or Calbert) it’s odd that there was trouble fielding a staff.

Next Tues 1/27 on B1G network entire conference schedule released. OSU @ IU 10/17 has been confirmed so far.

You weren’t kidding! Everyone; take @tyappleg‘s advice and listen to Galen starting at the 20 minute mark. You will be so glad you did.

This one hit me where I live. Over and over. Love this group of fellow Hoosiers https://www.facebook.com/reel/911185658535366

Full game with Fischer. Enjoy

Cig is 1 of 1. Stevens isn't coming lol. May isn't coming. Pearl isn't coming. Etc. No good coach is going to let a hungry fanbase dissuade them from taking a good job. Everyone will have their own preferences and priorities for a job. We wasted time with Archie and Woodson. DDV should get 3 years (probably will get at least 4) to put a compelling product on the floor and if he doesn't he should go. IU basketball is really not in the national spotlight and hasn't been since Zeller basically IMO. All the talk about this program being on life support is just dramatics from us hardcore fans. We're not relevant in the national conversation and haven't been for some time. The IUBB we all picture in our heads is dead. There's no urgency to save it because it's dead and buried. A new iteration needs to eventually take its place. If DDV doesn't work out, we'll just be back to looking for a young up and comer. That was the Archie hire. The Woody hire, I guess, was trying to juice the fanbase (more likely a favor to a buddy). The DDV hire is the same up and comer type of hire Archie was. That's probably the pond IU has to fish in for basketball coaches. Maybe that changes eventually if DDV can deliver. If he can't, the AD needs to figure out where they're going wrong. Like maybe get someone with 10+ years experience as a HC next time. Or maybe DDV will figure it out, if the fans can find it in their hearts to forgive the stinker of a season this is. In the meantime fans should feel free to tune out from basketball until it's worth watching and celebrate our wildly successful football program.

If I was a stud and they paid massive severance, hell yeah. This whole no coach would want the job is BS. They get paid big $$$. I'll take a couple of million to coach one year and if you don't like it, I take several million to walk away. What's not to like? :)

Working on something unrelated and stumbled upon this tweet. This is insanely cool.

You’ve been posting this point since CDD was hired. I dismissed it, I thought it was normal for the staff to take a few weeks to hire. However, now I’m wondering if you were right. The staff wasn’t in place soon enough. And maybe we hired one or two of the wrong guys, we know who that would be… It’ll be interesting if we make any staff changes after this season.

There are too many things for people to do these days for fans to grind through watching a mediocre IU team filled with players who fans feel no connection with. I was excited before the season because IU plays at Rutgers and I’d be able to catch a game in person. Now, though, I’m just going to pocket the few hundred bucks and have it on in the background while I watch Netflix or something. Does that make me a “fair weather” fan? Maybe, I don’t know. Every relationship is two-sided, even the fan/team one. If the team doesn’t give the fans something worth watching (I.e., IU basketball for the better part of this century), fans will lose interest.

Other than "You guys have got to stop" (on a message board we never stop lol) this is a great post.

Man, my coffee still tastes better this morning, LOL.

IU No. 15 jerseys were trending several years back when Kellen Lewis was a stud freshman and most thought he was gonna be a star. I got one back then -- with no name on the back -- and it's still in pretty good shape. I'd worn it a couple times on Saturdays this season just for fun. Folks think it's a Mendoza jersey, and what they don't know won't kill them. Please don't tell anyone it's actually a Kellen Lewis jersey. LOL.

Probably trying to figure out how much extra to charge lol

When do we retire that lovable nerds jersey?

Siap

We did it. We broke him. I might delete the autocorrect now.

I cry like a toddler every time I see THE Mendoza dive and his parent's reaction in the stands. Without a doubt one of the greatest stories in the history of sports. No exaggeration. That just fills my Hoosier heart.

He was paid to coach on a 6 year contract, which is why no matter how much some fans would be in favor of it, there's literally zero chance he is gone after this year barring serious transgressions. Guess we could just sign coaches to 1 year contracts with an option to renew until we find "the guy" - in the name of keeping fans engaged - and see how that works out for us. Lol.

We have to make sure that the stadium is full of our fans and not OSU fans. They will always be good. We have to continue to close the talent gap and continue with mistake free, high level execution football.

Never be ashamed to wear a Kellen Lewis jersey. That guy absolutely rocked. On the field.

Evidently the media is all in on us being here to stay now. My ultra surreal dream just continues on…

With info I could find, here’s approximately what might be roster spend for KP top 30 teams: Rank School AdjEM Est Cost ($M) 1 Michigan +36.09 10.0 2 Arizona +34.03 13.0 3 Duke +33.20 15.0 4 Houston +31.36 8.0 5 Iowa State +31.08 6.0 6 Gonzaga +31.01 5.0 7 Purdue +30.91 7.0 8 Illinois +30.52 7.5 9 Michigan State +30.14 7.0 10 Florida +29.92 8.0 11 Connecticut +28.79 8.0 12 Nebraska +27.03 5.5 13 Virginia +26.99 6.0 14 BYU +26.67 12.0 15 Louisville +26.23 10.0 16 Vanderbilt +26.14 6.5 17 Alabama +25.35 7.0 18 Kansas +25.33 9.0 19 Texas Tech +25.27 10.0 20 Iowa +24.45 5.0 21 Arkansas +24.29 10.0 22 St. John’s +24.09 10.0 23 Tennessee +23.59 8.0 24 Kentucky +21.75 22.0 25 Georgia +21.47 6.0 26 Villanova +21.27 7.5 27 NC State +21.07 6.5 28 Clemson +21.01 6.5 29 Saint Louis +20.46 4.5 30 Auburn +20.41 8.0 37 Indiana +18.40 10.0 And from The Athletic, here’s estimated average roster cost by conference: If we think IU’s was around 10-12, then it’s not the largest budget by any means but solidly above average across all conferences, noting the SEC figure is heavily skewed by UK.

It literally made me jump out of my seat and scream. Have to agree with you. The way he stood in there after the missed targeting call when Thomas hit him so hard... how he ran through Bissainthe who had the controversial hit on him at Cal last year... so many ways in which that play was amazing. Not least of which being papa Mendoza, who stayed seated with his wife basically all year, couldn't help but stand to watch that play. And what a play it was. Fernando always talks about how he would die on the field for his team. I believe that. He showed us all year. I hope the Raiders (or wherever he lands) get some solid OL to protect that extremely smart noggin of his. Look forward to watching that young man flourish on and off the field.