MartintheMopMan

We've all consumed a lot of IUFB content about this team over the last year. Any really stick out? Player and coach interviews (from this year or before), highlights, stories, podcasts, or any other media welcomed! I just want a central thread to look at to find this stuff (and also for you to feed me great content because I'm a content monster). I'll start us off with some pre-success Fernando: If you haven't seen our adorable boy when he was an adorable boy yet, what are you even doing? I watched this Pac-12 (RIP) day in the life video of his a few times during playoffs because I always knew one of the underrated strengths about our team is how unshakable and dedicated Fernando is. Watching the Coach's Filmroom of the game last night my daughter and I talked about how you could see a difference between Fernando post-sack (and post-roughly-targeting-the-passer) and Beck post-sack. Fernando extracts the football lesson from the play then erases the rest while even just one sack gets inside of Beck's head the rest of the game. The mental portion that distinguishes a sack as worse than a run-for-loss just isn't there for Menzy. Anyway, you can feel that about him here: Now that I've stolen the easy ones, whatchugot?

And I think we can expect that Cig, of all people, is not going to stop someone from chasing their dreams of moving up in the coaching world. I would imagine him to be straightforward about what he thinks he can do for you to help you achieve those goals and the advantages of continuing to work with him and to respect the decision if you ultimately leave.

Still a local boy! And he plays basketball, of course. 31 points in the 2025 Brawl for the Ball Tournament Championship game. Not bad for someone balancing their body type between basketball player and O-lineman. Offers from Grand Valley State, Hillsdale, Bulter, Western and Eastern Illinois, U of Indy. Here is his hudl senior season highlight reel: https://www.hudl.com/video/3/18043629/6944ad1e8f48406fd6ad8811 (He's 69 (nice))

Keniford Pomegranate's numbers for the game:

But also, the answer is "when he was at Cal" based on the shirt.

I was curious about this too so I reverse image searched it and holy shirtballs everyone, I have terrible news:

Can't wait until we have the CCCC version of this quote, "There is no such thing as Santa Claus. You cannot wait for life to give you something for free. Keep your nose to the grindstone and create your own magic."

I always thought Santa and Indiana had a suspiciously similar color scheme.

Can you believe my wife vetoed my purchasing any memorabilia with good odds of smelling like sweat?

Yeah. No coincidence that Cig was there, of course. I mean, we all noticed the basketball team suddenly started improving once Cig no longer had to actively coach football. Everyone suddenly seems more disciplined with more hustle too. HMMMMMMMMMMMM I WONDER

The last 1.5 weeks have been very traumatic for little brother. . . DonaldGloverGood.gif

Isn't Rudy set 20 years before the release date?

Yeah, Pizzo was on Hoosier Hysterics and said it was too soon because we all just lived through the real events and everyone would focus on comparing the accuracy of a movie to the real thing instead of letting the filmmaker translate the story into art. He also told this story which I'm going to share here because I love it and I have been looking for it for weeks:

If Cig has taught us anything, neither is their recruiting ranking. But, my point is less about tracking how good he is at football and more about tracking how good he is outside of football. As in, if someone plays a coveted position and is impressive enough to scouts to garner a 4-star rating, but only getting offers from bottom-barrel P4 schools, then it suggests there is a problem the coaches/recruiter have seen that scouts haven't. I don't even mean that the other offers need to be coming from places like tOSU, but a real Big Ten team like Illinois or Iowa is a positive signal. For outsiders, following recruiting is like reading tea leaves through the fog. I'm just trying to piece together any little bits I can find. It's just not possible to have enough context to really judge how a player will turn out. Hell, watching the player on a particular team is barely enough context, I mean, look at Brenden Sorsby.

Any Young man CCCC wants, I want too.

He wishes. You didn't hear it from me but just before he decided to "retire" Alan Waes Cheatem got a DUI and lost his license.

??? I think you mean "Fisch and Suhr will call every Indiana game from the bluetooth speaker next to my TV"

Wow that offer list is not what I'd expect for any 4* O-lineman. I can't decide if it looks like every recruiting battle Indiana was historically involved in and I should feel cautious about the guy or if it's normal and I just never actually followed football recruiting for anyone 4* and above because why would it ever be relevant to us?

Sounds like Mensah to Miami though it's honestly a pretty terribly written statement.

Holy **** look at the difference in his body. Stephen Daley (Indiana) would beat the absolute **** out of Stephen Daley (Kent State) even one-legged. (A little bit of that is him flexing in the second picture like before and after shots in infomercials, but not all)

It really depends on your trust in Cig. Fernando is a loss, for sure, he was a tough Heisman-quality QB. But I recall some similar questions last year where we knew Fernando was an upgrade from Rourke in skill and historical production, but were less sure how he would work out behind the scenes and his fit in the system. And that there were concerns about him after ODU. But, everything gelled and became pretty amazing. I don't know enough about Hoover to say if he comes from the same mold or not because I've been pretty focused on the outgoing team. I'll watch some interviews and tape and see how much I can see of what Cig sees. But, I know he is already better than Fernando in some areas. A little development and the right attitude and he could slot right in. Fernando was not some otherworldly talent, but his weaknesses could be covered by his strengths, scheme, fit with other players, intelligence, and discipline. If Cig thinks Hoover can develop in the same way, then I trust him. Moore and Fischer leave huge voids, but so did Wyatt, Daley, and Bonds during the season. But Cig trusted the guys he had on the roster to fill those voids and they did. Fischer has a unique role, but Cig knows that and knows he has to fill that space. Has he ever given me a reason to think he won't fill the space with someone nearly as good or even better? I understand being skeptical, I'm a very skeptical person, but Cig has constantly been shown to have a plan and to be able to execute it. If he's not worried, I'm not worried.

Absolutely, the sentimental value is through the roof. I would do the same in a heartbeat. The access to the team and Cig, bragging rights, and a million little perks we don't even think of. Like, insane memorabilia too. You think they'd say no if Cuban('s assistant) asked for something like Mendoza's Dive helmet (with personalized signature, of course) or jersey? He could get all sorts of stuff that would just be cycled back into the system otherwise and give it to clients/associates/partners. And that's just the first thing my limited mind can think of. Hell, if I had even a fraction of his wealth, I can't even tell you how much I would give the team to have a candid promise-never-to-repeat-it conversation with Cig.

Yeah, we've gotten so desensitized to billionaires, we don't even notice that their wealth constantly increases faster than they can spend it down. $39m is 3.9% of $1b or the equivalent of $3900 for someone worth $100k. Less than a nosebleed ticket to the championship. Also, I disagree, there is potential financial return, it's just indirect. How much more often have you heard about Cuban lately than you usually do? Guys like him turn publicity into dollars.

Indeed. Shouting "Holy ****, there is no way that was a ******* catch!" if I remember correctly. Watching and scrolling through games this year, one thing I've noticed is how aware the WRs all are of their feet and position on the field. As soon as the ball hits the hands, the feet start looking for the ground. Great coaching. I'll miss him, but it was the right decision on his part. After the Catch, it is hard to see him with even more buzz next year (though being WR1 in our repeat would probably do it).

The Coogan play I immediately think of too is his fumble recovery in the Peach Bowl. What an absolute stud, what superb hustle, what ball awareness. It's a moment that fills me with excitement about the program CCCC has built here. Pat Coogan could have stayed back by the line of scrimmage and no one would have criticized it, he'd done his job, his guy (who wasn't even his guy really) was chasing Mendoza but rapidly being left behind. But he follows the ball and his quarterback and runs 20 yards along behind him (a good way behind him). Then the ball comes out and shoots sideways, everyone scrambling, and he just sails in to wrap it up, get up, signal the 1st, give some finger guns, and it's time for the next play. On the traditional telecast view, he flys in from nowhere like some of those Good Troy rebounds, but the skycast you can follow him better. Pure hustle, pure culture. An incredible play that won't stick in people's minds because it wasn't very significant in the overall course of the game, but that's the life of an o-lineman. Watch it .25 speed too. And the replay that follows during the next play gives a slightly different view of him coming in. Edit: accidentally rewound and watched Fernando's run a couple plays earlier and Evans is the player running behind Fernando because Coogan is in a very active block when the run starts, and even then Coogan comes up about a second behind Evans.