Pagoda

I get why some do. I don’t. College teams are transitory and it is what it is. I’m thrilled it happened and I get to rewatch it for years. Next year’s team and likely teams beyond that will have chances to do special things too that would be extremely enjoyable for us fans. For those who experienced ‘76, I’m sure they still had a great time in ‘81 and ‘87! And to be clear, I don’t need a natty to enjoy this IUFB program. I can’t wait for the spring game. A lot of exciting new players to see.

Staying the course can make sense. For example, early on in his tenure Painter made the tourney six straight seasons, then he changed his recruiting strategy, resulting in two bad seasons with tourney misses. But, he corrected his recruiting errors and has since went on a pretty good decade long run. If PU fired him in 2014 I highly doubt their next 10 years would have been as good. I don't know everything happening behind the scenes, but if Teri is up for it, given her overall track record and the uptick in recruiting there seems to be a reasonable case to stay the course. A firing would be a big reset that brings a lot of risk too -- no guarantees the new coach is better and flipping the roster is tough.

21 months ago they were in the CBB Championship game and everyone picked IUFB to finish around the bottom two in the conference for the upcoming 2024 season. IUBB just finished like #100 in the NET. They were flying high. We were on the ropes. Then as we know they got what has to be an all-time blindside punch. Like a Holmes/Tyson/Foreman clean shot right to the chin. Or liver. It cracks me up every time I think about it. 16-0 CFB natty hahahahha.

One more… Fernando got the Manning Award.

Ha, I like this drama among other teams. Honestly though, I can’t even think what any coach could do that would be much of a serious rules violation anymore.

#Champs :-)

My unscientific read on the fanbase is most would have a more negative view on our tourney odds than the actual current odds. I was a little surprised on the optimism in the betting markets, though it was nice to see. Tbd…

FWIW per the betting markets right now IU is -290 to make it and +215 to miss. I’m not going to try to adjust for the juice, but this implies we have about a 75% chance to make it right now. A long way to go, but those aren’t the worst odds at the moment.

OL preferred walk-on from Marian. SB Tribune Article on Prescott

I was wrong. We're done with the portal for now. Nothing happening on visits and classes have started, making enrollment not really doable at this point. Some people think after spring ball there could be a few additions. There is no portal then as we know, but there are probably a few weird grad transfers and that sort of thing available. We'll see.

I don't get too attached to any of these guys until they sign. Fortunately, it appears the B1G uses pretty good contracts so when they sign it seems to stick. Also, tweeting about an offer doesn't bother me much, a lot of players do it. But I agree it comes off pretty awkward and I don't blame fans for feeling a bit annoyed. Speaking of signing, I don't get why the rules can't change so players can sign their rev share/NIL deals anytime. Why have a signing day this day in age? Sign the damn contract anytime and we can drop all this commit 100%/decommit/commit 1,000%/etc. nonsense. The commitment should be signing the contract. Whatever, Cig & Co. know how to manage all this. I'm glad I don't have to, it looks like a nightmare of a time.

Put me in the I don't think Matt is going anywhere camp. I'd guess he coaches another 15 years. He's one of those sort of guys. He's very good I've got to admit. His track record except a couple years (a recruiting philosophy mistake he corrected) has been pretty darn good. I just want to see them not be a title threat. I'm curious how things will go as they fully get into the NIL era. It feels like it's been delayed due to Edey, who was the ultimate crutch -- a 2x NPOY that PU was paying maybe 1/3 of what he was worth. And also this year they really passed the hat to go all-in on their seniors and keep everyone and get Cluff. They're probably spending as much or more than we are on our roster this year. Hopefully next year they actually slow down. They lose their top four scorers and PU's NIL isn't great, and they'll have to figure out how to spend between reloading MBB and trying to fix their FB problems. That said, as long as Matt is there, I expect them to be pretty good. There is no denying he is a very good coach.

Another delightful little thing:

This is how I look waiting for the price increases.

I did do a little social media check. They're down bad. And they were VERY aware we honored our national champion football team before the game. I guess that's not surprising given how obsessed they are with IU.

Correct. While head to head vs. Purdoo isn't a primary metric to be evaluated on in my opinion, when you're that bad (especially at home) it certainly became an issue.

Kinda funny that under our current and previous coaches, and with PU having their best stretch ever, we are 5-4 against them. I'm not gonna hang my hat on our head to head record and pretend everything is great, but that is amusing.

A notably good pic (from @dukedynamite) Once again, proof that if this program can show sustained signs of life there will be plenty of support.

That’s a bad eight day stretch for PU. IUFB natty, PUBB 0-3 including a loss to us. lol

IUBB right around the top?

Makes sense. I want this documentary so bad. With all the storylines I think it has got to be like four or five one hour parts. There is so much to cover.

I’m glad whatever Boilee Purdoo fans travel down for the game get to enjoy this.

Reading that statement:

We've got 3 or 4 schollies left, I can't quite tell what the exact number is. I'd expect those get filled over the next few weeks. OL and DL depth I'd guess? Edit: also TE?

Yea, it's crazy. They're spending like a very solid mid-pack P2 team and they're in the basement in the two revenue sports.