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If anyone is concerned......Indiana's game plan was as vanilla and straight forward as it gets. They need to improve tackling. That is the only concern I have. They don't need to, and likely won't put much on film before Nebraska and maybe not even then. The team will play a completely different brand of football in mid October than we saw Saturday. There is NO reason to show anything before Nebraska. Example : Wilson had the only QB keep on that read option. Hoover had it....15 times. Handed it off every time he had Becker 1 on 1 with no safety help (stepped up in the box) over and over again. He hit it once. I am positive watching the game he was TOLD to hand the ball off and NOT keep it. He was told NOT to take advantage of single outside coverage. That's why the run game suffered and Hoover could have easily had 8 TD's or more had he taken what was there. He didn't need to and sure didn't need to show the entire arsenal. Apart from tackling, I am not worried in the least.

Indiana 70, Howard 0. At the end of the 3rd quarter, with the score 63-0, Howard’s coach asks that the 4th quarter be reduced to 10:00. Cig responds, “bull$h!t, we’re playing a 15:01 4th quarter because that’s what we do in the Big Ten!”

Their obsession with us goes a little above and beyond. I have relatives who went to PU and frankly, are obnoxious about the rivalry. And it was always all PU fans except for my mom and me -- both IU grads. So we were always outnumbered something like 7 or 8 to 2. At a holiday gathering several years ago -- just a few days after the Wat shot (no pun intended) beat No. 1 Kentucky -- my distant cousin (at that time, a PU student) and I had this conversation. Cousin: "Well -- let's hear it. Aren't you gonna brag?" Me: "About what?" Cousin: "Well -- you just beat the No. 1 team in the country." Me: "Yeah -- it was a great win. Very exciting. But it had absolutely nothing to do with Purdue -- or you. Why would I brag to a Purdue fan about that?" Cousin: Silence Later on that day, during the now-defunct Crossroads Classic -- PU lost to Butler before we played Notre Dame. My cousin's girlfriend (now wife), who also went to Purdue, stands up and says: "C'mon everybody, let's do the Tom Crean clap." Then she proceeds to march around the room, clapping like CTC used to while pacing the sidelines. Most of us, including the PU fans, sat in stunned silence -- especially since it was the first time many of us had met her. Me: "So, lemme see if I've got this straight. You just lost your game, so you're making fun of Tom Crean and IU? That doesn't compute." Cousin's fiancee: Silence My mom (God rest her soul) actually asked the young lady essentially the same question: Why obsess about IU, when you just lost to Butler? The girl, stung by the loss (and probably the comments from my mom and me), then went outside and cried. Those fans are just weird.

Power out at Florida State ... 7:30 p.m. start between 'Noles and SMU now pushed to 9:15. They expect to play, but without full power: No scoreboard, no clock, no PA, no wireless communication between coach and QB. Geeze -- just postpone the damn thing. Meanwhile, authorities are looking for this man ...

Silver (COHO) Salmon fishing over labor day in Valdez, Alaska.

I tell you, Wilson is a very, very high-end backup quarterback. He’s a great athlete, he had one very good season as a starter at ODU, he’s going to be a coach someday, and he was fantastic in the spring game. https://www.espn.com/college-football/player/stats/_/id/4695867/grant-wilson

I was able to access the full interviews and he was clearly impressed with his visit and the plan our staff has for him at IU. He also mentioned how it's been the entire staff he's had contact with during his recruitment and not just his primary recruiter and the head coach. Eric Bossi put out a short blurb indicating he thinks Wabbington won't take any more visits after his Arizona visit at the end of this month that it's an Indiana/Arizona battle. Unfortunately, Arizona has the home field advantage in this recruitment.

Can’t access the full interview, but if you’re just gonna go off a couple of sentences those are pretty good ones.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49869481/sec-files-amendment-authority-expel-lsu-conference In other news, the SEC amended their complaint against LSU, and they have a meeting scheduled on Thursday with University Presidents on the fate of LSU in the conference.

Up one spot in AP rankings. Jumped past the Ducks -- they fell from No. 2 to No. 6.

As several others have pointed out, NT was stacking the box to stop the run. IU could have exploited their backfield by throwing all day long but I'm guessing Cig wanted to continue pounding the ground game to give the RB's a workout. Once they closed the gap to 11 (3rd quarter), IU released the passing game and it was goodnight NT.

2026 Week 1 takeaways. Minnesota might be a one loss team going into 812 on Halloween. UCLA might be a one loss team going into Minnesota 11/7. Michigan might not win 6 games. Penn State's schedule is very favorable for them. SC does not have a favorable schedule. Oregon is an unknown. O$U is a darn good football team. IUFB has to clean up a lot on the defense, in particular the run game. Overall the Big Ten didn't look that good and week 2 will tell us a lot more. O$U at Texas Oklahoma at Michigan ISU at Iowa Miss St at Minnesota Duke at Illinois

Purdue fans...bless their hearts. Actually had one tell me today that he doesn't care if Purdue ever wins a national title, he's content with having the all time series lead over us, and it means even more now that they can say they lead the series over a national champion. Most athletic departments are trying to win championships and be better than the rest. Purdue only exists to try and be better than us.

We've opened as a 55.5 favorite. Fisch on the call Live Stats

I don't think it's just Moore. Oregon's scheme is pretty basic. They generally just hand the ball off and let their backs find a seam or throw to the flat/slants and let their players talent take over. It works 90% of the time...until they play teams of equal talent or far superior coaching/preparation (hello IU.) That is why the have to have elite talent to win and why they always come up short in the big game, they are easy to prepare for. Stein at pUKe is gonna find it tougher sledding for his PeeWee league level sophisticated offense, without Oregon's 32 5-Star difference makers. Thoughts?

Moved up 1 place.

I suppose we could see Wilson play a Alberto like role last year. Come in and spell Hoover in the 2nd half when we're up by multiple TDs and the game has been put away.

Statement from Edge. Hopefully the young man accepts the help he needs.

Utter genius. IYKYK

Well, ok then.

Vanilla runs to boot. Vanilla offense in general. Not trying to give OSU any tape. Where as they should have to put some stuff on display next week and likely on the road at Iowa

My wife and I have had season tix for decades and have seen alot of good, bad and ugly. More bad and ugly until Cignetti arrived. ...I decided to go back and read the comments right after the 1st game against Old Dominion last year. We were griping about the RB's, play calling on both sides of the ball and believe it or not Mendoza. lol - Later on in the comments, people were saying "it's just our first game", "both coaches were keeping it very vanilla", and most notably,....."I think they were better than we thought". - I look back at Saturday's game, like may others on here, the defense looked the most different or questionable. Though Cignetti was definitely disappointed in the defense and he is not one for excuses, but he did mention the 152 degree turf could possibly have been a factor. I know both teams had to play under the same conditions, but I don't ever remember a game I attended that was as hot as it was Saturday! - I would also say that Coach Haines kept things so simple that it almost looked "sugar free-vanilla"! lol I know, even at that,.....there was missed assignments and poor tackling, all things that can be improved upon. I'm not worried about what Coach Haines will/can do with this year's defense! -Finally, like last year,...."maybe this year's N. Texas team is going to win more games than people anticipated....". Just my 2 cents. lol

https://www.on3.com/teams/indiana-hoosiers/news/2027-indiana-commit-chase-branham-continues-to-move-up-in-updated-rivals-rankings/ Up to 25 on Rivals. Now well within range of McDAA status with a good year at LaLu.

While I understand Zeke's point it can be argued that that's the case for every single successful coach in any sport. The reality is Cig and Knight are starkly different coaching styles with a commonality of being successful.

Cig coaches against complacency and RMK coached towards perfection which creates a lot of similarities, especially when they might get interviewed after a good half or a game. Both don’t dole out cookies and tend to find a few things to get pissed about that most of us miss cuz we are celebrating the wins.

The O/U is 64.5 so with the line, the predicted score would be 60-5. If we give up a safety to Howard, Cig may burn the stadium down.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49871207/western-michigan-public-safety-department-joking-crime-log

And Michigan fell out of the listings. Rightly so. However, the coaches poll, UM is still ranked 24.

So there is exactly one rookie Hoosier who will be a week one NFL starter, the Chiefs starting left tackle, Khalil Benson.

EVERYONE knows they didn't win.

No predictions. I just know Oregon went undefeated in 2024 with a similar start against Boise State who ended up in the CFP that year. It's really hard to gage because a team the first two or three weeks is way different than a week 4 team. I just wonder if IUFB exposed some sort of Dante Moore kryptonite last year.

Very much so. Outside of that 10 min stretch in mid 2nd half, our backline and midfield absolutely dominated Denver. Mroz looks good and we look like we could be contenders. Louisville is the only competitive team we have played so far, so I will be intrigued how we look in conference. 4 of the top 10 teams currently are Big Ten, with 2 more in the top 25. The gauntlet will be exciting.

SMU plays a legitimately good FCS team Saturday or this would have been postponed an hour ago. FSU is off next week.

Bounced back after the loss to Tennessee.

1 less competitor. Reports are that Wabbington has told Louisville he's no longer considering them. He was scheduled to visit L'ville this coming weekend. Arizona still the perceived school to beat.

Schwarbs hit his 3️⃣8️⃣2️⃣nd career MLB Home Run!! This ties him with: Frank Howard Ryan Howard Jim Rice (HOF) He is tied for 76th place on the all-time MLB Home Run list and is 8th among Active players.

Good advice imo. The concessions are quite good now, my only gripe is they were way short on water refill stations. Will be less of an issue though as that game was uniquely hot. Also, if you aren’t tailgating and able to walk 30 min to the stadium, the Henderson Parking Garage is free and there is plenty of downtown parking for $1/hr. Both can be accessed with very little traffic from the 3rd street exit. If you want low stress, it’s just that easy.

Still have a ways to go on game logistics and as a PSA to anyone going to a game this season (even Howard): plan on arriving an hour or more before you’re currently planning. Traffic patterns in and out are pretty much fine on the bypass if you’re early, especially if you know your way around town, but we arrived to our lot 2 hours before kickoff to find an oversold, clusterf**k of a patch of grass with 1 (one) employee working the barrier on Fee Lane and none in the lot itself. If you’re still on the road 90 minutes or less before kick you’re probably going to miss some of the game. Stadium was surprisingly well-stocked with water and you can tell they’ve added bathrooms and POS at the stands with the essentials. You can buy a beer within 2-3 minutes just about anywhere, which is a huge improvement. Bathroom situation is still a zoo. If you want to be in your seat 30 minutes prior to kick, you need to be approaching the stadium on foot an hour before kick. We’re getting there, but it’s not a machine yet.

Notable statistic: Prior to Western Michigan, college football teams were 110,352 - 0 when leading after the end of regulation, dating back to 1869.

Probably already had a Dante Moore for Heisman segment filmed

Here’s to a great 2026! And today is the last day where the greatest “Last Five Games” image in program history exists.

What do you think he'll say.

Benson did a really good job against Bain who is going to be a really good NFL edge rusher. Noticeable shift after we lost him in the 2nd quarter and if he goes all 60 minutes, I'm not sure it stays close. Smith had more trouble with Mesidor than Benson had with Bain. Also, of all the masterpieces he has created these 2 years, I think this was Haines' (and Gracie Bear's) Magnum Opus. This Miami offense is in hell.

What a dumbass. Of course five seconds of critical thinking would be enough to know that makes no sense. For the record our team avg age was a little over 20 and starters were around 22. Youngest NFL team is around 25.5. The real stat is our team cost about half Miami’s. This rarely gets mentioned. Probably because it makes the incredible even more incredible.

I thought this was AI, except it’s not. This is the judge who declared the 2 football players eligible at LSU posing with the LSU WR coach. Not even bothering to freaking hide it. Jesus Christ

Jordon Hudson has lost control of the program.

Question for Hoosier Nation... If IU fans can pack Assembly Hall, fill Memorial Stadium, and travel across the country to support the Hoosiers... Can we also become one of the top schools in the Abbott Big Ten Challenge? Starting next week, every blood donation can help IU compete against other Big Ten schools while helping save lives. Who's in? Support IU Donate blood Register your donation Contact Sarah Campbell if you need any help or have questions - sarah.campbell4@redcross.org