NashvilleHoosier

What gives me hope is thinking about guys like James Blackmon, Colin Hartman, and Maurice Creek. Not a direct comparison, but guys who had multiple ACL injuries (or other major injuries) and came back to play at least one full healthy season for the most part. If Penix can do that, anywhere near the same level, I think he's the unquestionable QB1. If he cannot, it's pretty incredible to be in this embarrassment of riches phase of QBs at IU.

I definitely think we are screwed now. If FL keeps it decently close with Bama they won’t drop below us. Coastal will jump is by beating a ranked team. USC probably jumps us with a win. And one thing I didn’t realize is if both ND and Clemson are in the playoff, the orange bowl takes the next highest ACC team in UNC. If we are below #11 next week, I think we are out. Go ND! LA Lafayette! Bama by a million! Tulsa! Michigan! (what makes this worse is the reason UNC would get in seems to suggest if the Rose bowl was not a playoff game this year, we’d be in line for Pasadena right now) :-(

Wow is tonight's ranking important now that we are at a huge risk of being out of sight out of minded. I still think we land at #11, with a high likelihood that Florida and the Big 12 championship game loser falls behind us after this week. I now think its more important than ever that one of Cincy or Coastal lose, and boy I hope Michigan has had some rejuvenating weeks off....hah! If Cincy wins they stay, if Coastal wins I think they jump us (assume they take the#9 spot) and if Iowa wins, especially if they win big, I think they jump us for the #10 spot. If USC wins they likely jump to #9 and Coastal and Iowa move down 1 spot each, putting us in position for the #12 spot. But at that point the committee is looking at us, Iowa St/Oklahoma loser, and maybe UNC though I still think that's a stretch. Since the Big Ten would already have 2 teams, I think they take the Iowa St./Oklahoma loser and we end up at #13. The flip side here is not knowing who from our team was affected by COVID and would have had to sit out, maybe this works in our favor. Of course Purdue was dealing with the same issues but if we had several key players out, the outcome of that game is very much in question. Not playing, and knowing at least one team ahead of us, likely 2 will be taking their 3 loss could end up benefitting us.

If that's the case I'd say the basketball game is much more likely. If the league scheduled this game on Friday knowing it would be Tuesday at the earliest before each team could start back up practicing, it seems even more likely that everyone knew it wasn't happening.

When did we officially shut down football activities? Last Monday? Which would mean today would be the first day we could start back up again?

Great point. Yet, I remain confident in saying we travelled well for the Gator Bowl last year (or....this year?). TV didn't show it, and Tennessee certainly had more fans, but it was a good showing on our part all things considered. Regardless of where we land - Fiesta, Outback, Citrus - it's really a bummer we won't have the opportunity to prove how well we would travel to support the best team we've had in decades.

With team activities still paused, scheduling this game on Friday is very suspicious, not giving the 2 shut down programs as many days as possible. I wonder if everyone already knows this game isn’t happening...

Right. There is not much reason to think we would take a step back next season. I don’t think Michigan St is very close to being good and Michigan is just a mess. I can see PSU getting it turned back around though. OSU won’t have Fields. Sure they’ll reload, but we will be right in the mix again next season. If we pay up, this is a very hard time to leave. And recruiting will be very interesting going forward.

Here’s another reason we need to pay up. They could offer CTA a $1M/year raise and still save $2M/year, maybe more considering staff pay. If he’s there long term, even with raises, it could justify the current buyout. Though I don’t think CTA leaves just to be underpaid somewhere else.

The culture alone may keep him here. That may count more than him being from Indiana. He loves his team and would need to start over getting people to buy in to it elsewhere. Another thing that may keep him around at least a bit longer...Thomas. I bet he would have a really hard time leaving if Thomas is still on the team here. Now, if we find out Thomas is hanging it up due to injuries, I’ll worry more (I have no evidence at all that this would happen). One more reason...lots of production returning next season, so the chance to make another run with fans in the stands and far more normal circumstances. Now, I hope everyone realizes how important it is to fill the stadium next season!!

This was my first thought when I saw that news. I was really hoping there wouldn't be many appealing jobs open up. This one definitely worries me. No idea if its a fit or not. And I continue to hope that big time programs will see CTA's record the first 2 years was sub .500 and think it will take him too long to build up their program, thus leaning toward someone they think can make an immediate turn around.

Man, even after a decent day for us yesterday, I really don't like how this is lining up. Playing Purdue gives us no chance for a resume win to close things out. And not playing 2 weeks in a row (who knows?) will hurt us, though it doesn't hurt others. I think we land at #11 in the CFP rankings this week. I really can't see UNC jumping us and the good news is they cannot improve their chances anymore. I think our worries are now Iowa beating Michigan, which they'll somehow get credit for, and winning 7 in a row will irrationally count for something too. Coastal now has a chance to beat a ranked team to remain undefeated. Other than those 2 teams, I don't think anyone that actually matters (I continue to believe that USC's ranking does not matter....they're likely undefeated and ranked ahead of us, or ranked behind us and taken before us b/c of their conference title game win). Of course this assumes NW doesn't beat OSU. Things that would be fantastic for us: Michigan beats Iowa (hah!), Coastal and Cincy both lose in their title games so the committee can most definitely only take one (only one of them losing his helpful, but both of them losing keeps both of them behind us in rankings), Bama blows out Florida, Iowa State wins the Big 12 or Oklahoma wins 59-3. Things that definitely don't hurt us: USC losing, keeping all Pac 12 teams behind us. ND beats Clemson (it would move OSU up to #3, and if the committee thinks OSU is strong enough to be the #3 team, part of their reasoning will be the win over us, along with NW. By that logic....yeah, I know, logic is very hard for them....we cannot be outside of the top 12 teams in the country), Wisconsin, PSU, Rutgers and Maryland all win which would give 4 of our wins another win, while 4 of Iowa's wins would take a loss. I'm reaching on that mattering, but again it can't hurt. Things that hurt us: Not playing or losing to Purdue of course. Coastal and Cincy winning big. Florida winning, NW winning, Iowa winning big, Oklahoma wins a very very close game late, USC wins and jumps us combined with enough other junk happening to push us to #13, the name on the front of our jerseys, and the length of my posts on this topic. Again, my apologies.

Alright, trimmed it down a bit (hah!), so here's the whole damn thing. A couple people have mentioned Troy being Coastal's opponent. I don't expect they lose that one, but they will play LA-Lafayette in their conference title game. That said, my apologies for the length: Best case scenario for us: Miami and Georgia to lose this weekend. If that happens, and nothing else crazy happens (NW beating OSU) I cannot imagine being left out of the NY6 bowls. It may not even be worth playing Iowa (or whoever we get). Even more best case is if both Cincy and Coastal lose in their conference championship games. That way they can only take one of them. If Georgia and Miami win out, they likely stay ahead of us. One of USC/Colorado/Washington will get the Pac-12 champion spot. One of Iowa State/Oklahoma will stay ahead of us. Though we likely should just hope Iowa St wins. A 3 loss Oklahoma definitely falls behind us. If Oklahoma wins but it's very close, I can see the committee keeping Iowa St. ahead of us. If Cincy and Coastal both win out, they’ll both have another win over a ranked team (Tulsa and LA-Lafayette, respectively) and I absolutely think the committee will bump the darling story of Coastal ahead of us, unless we play and beat Iowa. There are 9 spots in the NY6 virtually locked up. Bama, Clemson, ND, OSU, A&M, Florida, Iowa St./Oklahoma winner, Cincy or Coastal, and the Pac-12 champ. That leaves 3 spots to be claimed by any of: Georgia, Miami, Indiana, NW, Iowa St if they lose very closely in the Big 12 title game, the lower ranked of Coastal and Cincy if they win out. If NW beats OSU, they will jump ahead of us regardless of who we play and beat and I really don’t think 3 B1G teams get in the NY6. Unlikely, but not completely out of the question. Here’s why I think we need to hope for a game with Iowa, hope the game is actually played and obviously we need to win. If we end up not playing b/c of COVID, or we get Purdue and beat them, the needle doesn’t move for us at all. There is a bit of a catch 22 with Iowa playing Wisky this weekend. Obviously the committee didn’t value our win at Wisky much. If Iowa beats them, they’ll value it even less, but gives us a chance to beat an even stronger Iowa team. If Wisky wins, unfortunately beating Iowa wouldn’t be as valuable but maybe elevating our Wisky win a bit. The only scenarios I can see a 7-1 Indiana get left out of the NY6 bowls: NW beats OSU, Cincy and Coastal win out handily, Miami and Georgia win out, Oklahoma beats Iowa St. by 1 on a last minute drive. If that happens, I think the final standings look like this: Bama - Clemson - A&M - ND - FL - Cincy - OSU - GA - Miami - Oklahoma - NW - Iowa St - USC - Coastal - IU Assuming OSU beats NW, shuffle the top to have OSU in the playoff, and drop NW out. If everything else happens, I still think we get left out. Now, if Oklahoma wins by 2 touchdowns, I think Iowa St. definitely drops below us (they likely drop below us even with the close loss, but I’m playing devil’s advocate there). But we would still have to hope the committee chose us over the darling story of undefeated Coastal at that point. But if we play and lose to Iowa, all this is moot, and we probably end up in the Music City bowl. Which, of course is this guy’s absolute dream scenario…..except for this year. Of course it would be the most Indiana football thing to happen for the first time we make the Music City bowl, it would actually be a disappointment and in a year that I may not even be able to go.

I started to look into scenarios for NY6 bowls today. I ended up typing things into a google doc just to keep my thoughts somewhere. Thought I’d post it, then realized it’s nearly 2 full pages. The TL/DR version: we’d be incredibly grateful if Miami and Georgia lost this weekend. We should hope to draw Iowa next week AND that the game happens and of course that we win. Coastal losing would help and Iowa St winning the Big 12 championship would make things less complicated.

Now things change a bit since the Bucket game is off. I for one hope we still get Iowa next week. Beating Purdue next week won't move the needle anymore for us and would give too much opportunity for other teams to jump or stay ahead of us in the final rankings. We need Iowa, or a lot of other help, to stay in the mix for a New Year's 6 bowl now. And yes, I'm quoting my own post, thus having an internet conversation with myself.

Earmuffs and blinders on!! They were either going to change the rules of change the schedules so OSU got a 6th game this weekend. It sucks and I think its bulls%&t. I'm choosing to tell myself that we unfortunately lost our chance to beat OSU and OSU would not have lost any of the games that were cancelled. I'd take a chance at the Big Ten title every single day of the week, no matter how it came our way. But I'm also choosing to tell myself, and this is even more true, that it doesn't change anything about how special this season has been and can continue to be. We need to stay absolutely laser focused on Purdue. If the game is played, use the motivation to make a statement. Then remain absolutely laser focused on Iowa or whoever we get that next week. If we do, and we pull out two more wins, the committee simply cannot keep us out of a New Year's six bowl. One of Iowa State or Oklahoma would drop below us with a 3rd loss in their title game. Miami has a very tough game this weekend. Georgia has a bit of a tough game this weekend but even if they win out I cannot see the committee picking a fourth SEC team over a 2nd Big Ten team. Winning 2 more games only moves us up. Sure USC could win out and maybe jump us. But win 2 more and I can't see us being ranked less than #10 or so in the final rankings, virtually guaranteeing a bowl game that no one dreamed of happening any time soon. Earmuffs and blinders on!!!

These videos have been incredible. I absolutely eat this up. Plenty of non IU affiliated national media pick up on these too. They are a perfect backdrop to how this season is playing out and do an incredible job of highlighting the culture. I look forward to them every week. What a recruiting tool (along w/ Holly Rowe’s postgame interview video). Quite frankly, it may work against us in the end. Any AD who has his eye on Allen will salivate watching these.

I used to tell people all the time that I'm fully aware of where we stand in the world of college football. A stepping stone program. That we needed probably a decade or more of sustained success before a coach wanted to stick around for a while. Living here in Nashville, I remember laughing at Vandy fans who thought they could keep Franklin. Now I'm in that same boat, mostly b/c I simply just can't believe the how incredible the culture of the program is right now. One thing that might work in our favor is if other programs look at this being year #4 for Allen, where he didn't even make a bowl game in years 1 and 2. Places like Texas may not be smart enough to make a long term hire (not necessarily saying Coach Allen couldn't make an immediate impact). Regardless, we have to pay the man. Pay the man his money. EDIT: This is not a know it all statement. When I say I used to tell people all the time, I don't mean IU fans. I mean, I've lived in SEC country for 14 years now. I used to tell anybody who would listen to me saying that IU football could actually be good some day.

I assume you aren't saying the current staff isn't proper, but instead saying they current staff isn't getting paid properly. Coach Allen seems to love it here. We definitely need to pay up. This may be a unique year where not as many schools can afford to fire their coach but there are still going to be PLENTY of suitors. And to your point, paying the staff is equally as important. Wommack is what, 33? As many programs that will have their eye on Allen, probably 5 times as many will be looking at Wommack as a DC. I'll be shocked if we can keep everyone. Money talks and I'm not confident we'll do a ton of talking. I'm still enjoying the f$%&ing hell out of this season though.

This was probably the most discouraging loss of Archie's tenure for me. I was willing to overlook some things in the first 3 years b/c I still felt there was overall progress from year to year. I'm still not willing to bail after one game alone, but it was extremely concerning to see an overall effort like this already. Trayce looks terrible, slow, and weak, and we haven't shown a single ounce of improved shooting, even in a really solid win yesterday. Hopefully there was some serious soul searching in the locker room b/c we have only one choice at this point which is to come out with a spirited response, and win, tomorrow. Going 2-1 in this tourney will be fine. Another clunker tomorrow and things could spiral.

Totally. I hope this sparks an annual holiday tournament there. If fans were allowed and times were normal, I'd absolutely be in Asheville for a tournament IU was playing in during the fall. It's a really cool place.

OK is Trayce sick? He hasn't looked ready to play at all today (to me). Seems slow, is missing bunnies...

Well if you didn’t want to be that guy, congrats. Because you didn’t tell anybody anything. And if your doc buddy was able to make a conclusive diagnosis based on tv replay...yeah I won’t finish that. Yeah he’s been injury prone. But what I saw was a full speed defender fall and clip penix in the heel while he was also at full speed, or close to it. Didn’t take any doctoring to know that could be bad. Achilles? Ankle tweak? Who knows. But your post is dripping with everything that can just simply kick rocks.

Or, if there were no plans of a scrimmage or anything live, they could have simply just said on Wednesday at 7pm we're releasing a behind the scenes season preview video (and done it across all social media channels). But telling people to tune in to a specific place at a specific time to a Virtual Hoosier Hysteria implies something way different than what we got.

I'm still so confused. Mostly that it wasn't known ahead of time that this was only going to be a 17 minute pre-recorded video, and nothing at all that you would typically see at a Hoosier Hysteria. Or was that known? So disappointed, but whatever, let's just play.