NashvilleHoosier

I've secretly been hoping that you'd come tell me that I'm wrong and I probably just need to go eat a banana and sit outside for a while. :-) I remain skeptical, but the tournament resume guru's level-headedness is helping. Thank you!

True that no quad 3 or 4 losses is good but quad 3 and 4 wins are meaningless as well. And w/ our schedule, 21 wins could mean 15 or so quad 3 and 4 wins. Which might mean a combined something like 6-11 or 6-12 in quads 1 and 2. I don't think that gets it done.

With how weak our non-conference resume will be, I really don't think .500 in the conference will do it. We have to hope that St. John's has a great season just to have one single decent non-conference win. So if we look at our 10 most winnable conference games, likely none of them are really resume builders. Maybe 1 or 2 of those wins could turn into quad 1 wins by the end of the year. On the flip side if we end up at .500 but managed to pull out 3-4 quad 1 wins that likely means we had some bad losses along the way. I think even at 11-9 in conference we are sweating it out. I'm personally having a hard time seeing more than 9 conference wins. I really hope I'm wrong.

Agreed. So basically it's pretty simple...DL, offensive playmakers, and OL. And well maybe a QB. Probably LB too. Secondary seems alright but some depth there wouldn't hurt. I wouldn't be mad at a TE. Is there a trainer and strength coach portal. We need to hit that hard. Water boys/girls maybe. So yeah, pretty simple.

The two biggest surprises to me on this board this week was how many people seemed to think we would and should win this game, and how many people think this is a tournament team. I unfortunately thought to myself...wow I can't believe we'll probably blow a 22 point lead. It's hard for me to see more than 18-19 wins as well and that won't include enough quality wins to get in. Maybe the last 4 years combined with this football season just completely ruined me.

"I can't believe message board chatter is happening on a message board even though I know it's part of being on a message board" is my favorite kind of message-boarding.

Hopefully this now means we are on the lookout for a QB in the portal.

If we need to look beyond the record and numbers and focus on the roster/talent he had to work with at Maryland and FSU, and assume he didn't have enough to work with to be considerably successful at those schools, I'm even less encouraged with him coming to IU.

This covers my thoughts.

I don’t want to single one person out for TOs b/c there were plenty bad ones to go around, but Race’s stood out the most to me. Just some really lazy passes and waiting for a double team to come too much. His final stat line looked solid but he seemed pretty terrible to me for the first 30 minutes. And thinking back at his 2 missed bunnies that I thought wouldn’t matter at all….oh my.

I really get a kick out of the Vols fanbase. The general feeling that they should unquestionably be competing for national titles every year (which, hey, I'm not really hating on that b/c, well, IU basketball) the calamitous coaching searches over the past decade, never ending up with anyone they actually want, being pretty up in arms that they ended up with someone like Heupel (of course thinking they deserve much better), then realizing they should totally buy in to Heupel half way through one season, only for his alma mater to open up and simultaneously melt down thinking he will pull a Kiffin while also trying to convince themselves that UT is a way better job and he'd never leave for OU. Love it.

Ah, I had no idea. I imagine they knew they needed to bring in a few pieces to get over the hump.

Are you just trying to get me to pump you up today? B/c again I.....totally agree! It was disturbing to see the incremental drop off of the O-line performance the past 2 seasons. I really hope your notion is correct that Allen would let the new OC have some serious input there. Hell if I was interviewing for the OC job, I'd make it a requirement for me to be able to can Hiller or I wouldn't even be interested in the job.

Agreed. I think your last sentence is the most important piece. A solid OC could have done plenty with the talent we had this year. So bringing in someone with a track record to show kids we are recruiting will go a long way. I also agree that we don't need full turnover of starters. Bringing in 4-6 impact guys and fill in some depth beyond that, provided we make the right OC hire, could most definitely be the difference between another pile of doo-doo season or a bowl appearance. Especially if one of those impact players is a QB. :-)

The opportunity to find a quick fix is certainly better in the transfer portal era. But if a kid has one year left (I know there are plenty of transfers who have multiple years of eligibility left), looking at IU football after last season vs. after this season is quite different. We had a lot to sell after last season. How many kids won't even give IU football a look now? So the opportunity for a quick fix seem significantly more difficult now. Plus I recall reading that Allen's philosophy on the portal was that he wasn't going to take anyone that didn't have some sort of previous relationship with a current player or coach, in order to protect the culture. Maybe I mis-interpreted something, but if that is true, he needs to sneak that policy into Sheridan's bags before he exits the building.

This is interesting....who transferred in and where did they transfer from? I can only assume one of them is the WR going to Air Force? I'm from the same area and I've been nothing short of impressed with what the GS football program has been able to do recently, knowing what it was like back when I was around, though admittedly I've only ever followed closely enough to know if they were actually good or not. I watched the whole game on Friday and came away pretty impressed with Allen, but it's the first high school football game I've watched in over 20 years so I don't have any relevant basis for comparison. So I think I may have just mostly been impressed with Gibson Southern winning a state championship in football, and coming back from down 26-7 to a team from Indy to do it. I still can't believe that's real.

Who calls the plays at Western Kentucky?

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME WITH THAT LAST MEANINGLESS 3!! At least it’s a push and not a back door cover…

Purdue -15 and the over 50.5 was easy money. I hope you all cashed in as well!

I noticed something really cool in these highlights. The O-line kept doing this thing where they opened up a big gap and the RB ran through it. It’s not something I’m familiar with. Really neat.

You’re kidding, right? I’d take getting obliterated in the playoff every year in a heartbeat. At least they are there and have a chance.

Also very true.

I think there is one big reason Georgia fans are giving him a pass. I’d even say it’s the #1 ranked reason in the nation. :-)

I don’t even care that he got a T there. I’m glad X shoved him back.

I can't believe how many predictions have us completely busting out on offense this week and scoring in double figures. Minnesota - 73 IU - 1 Chucky Camps hits a FG as time expires but we're deducted 1 point for believing we'd ever be good at football and then another point for.....well, once again, ever believing we'd be good at football. #LEO