Pagoda

If Fernando even entertained staying, I suspect Cig would tell him I’d love to have you here another year but ya gotta go and seize this opportunity.

Once this four game series with UK is done (Rupp, Lucas Oil, Rupp, AH), I would love this to be at Lucas Oil ever year with the 50/50 red/blue split at midcourt. This should be one of the best non-con games every year and the Red River Rivalry of CBB. IIRC the Yum Center isn’t able to host this game like Freedom Hall used to, so if that’s true I’d just do Lucas Oil every year. If Yum Center can we could alternate down there again like the old days. Do it Scott. Edit: I had three games series but it’s four games series, thanks @TheWatShot.

Ha. And I agree, this may be a so-so hire for them. I’m looking at the betting odds for the UM job. About 25 candidates listed. Cig isn’t one, not even on the board right now.

Right. DeBoer is hyper competitive and he's got a good team and recruits coming in and his whole system setup at a top-5 program. I doubt he's overwhelmed by the message board posters and media down there such that's he's gonna run away to UM and all the uncertainty up there. I'm sure Kalen's agent doesn't mind his name being out there, I'd guess that plus UM targeting him is what creates this story. But like you I don't think Kalen will be interested. Also UM has never pulled a big program coach before -- Rich Rod and Hoke were not, and Jim was puttering out in the NFL. Sherrone was obviously an internal hire. UM is a very good job, but something is a little off up there, sans Jim's very good three years (which they got caught cheating which cost like $30M), they've generally been disappointing given their resources for like 20 years.

Casual Gay Marie!

Is it this one?

Yea, this is grim. For some levity, Saban had the best advice on this topic.

B1G Network Cinematic Highlights Amazing production and footage. Highly recommend checking it out. SIAP, BTN uploaded this two hours ago.

Woah!!! I thought it was a matter of time with him (he stinks) but I figured sometime next season…

Two things: 1) Cig had a presser today, so I was wrong about the above date being the next one. I was looking at what some IU media said was the next presser, but whatever, it wasn't right. Sorry about dat. 2) Unfortunately, Cig just confirmed in his press conference this afternoon that Stephen Daley did suffer an injury following Saturdays game and he will be out for the rest of the season. Anyways, I think we all saw this coming so now we can begin to accept it. Hopefully Stephen makes a full recovery asap.

We haven't played these SOBs in nearly 10 years. I love this rivalry. I really don't like them. I really want IUBB to channel their inner IUFB and figure out a way to win this. UK is good, but something is off with them this year (injuries and culture/chemistry), so teams that show up can beat them. But it will be very tough and our guys will need to find a new level to win this game.

CDD is a little bit of a metrics manipulator! Two comments: 1) This is a good thing. 2) To be clear, this only one factor and it doesn’t make him a good or bad coach.

Interestingly, ND’s media rights deal (NBC and ACC) is less than what the B1G and SEC schools get. If they get to the playoffs and win some games they can close the gap to some extent since they don’t have to share as much revenue, but as we’ve seen that’s not a given! ND does pretty well overall though.

“@$$ meets bench. Bench retains @$$. @$$ transmits signal to brain, brain transmits signal to body. Body gets @$$ off bench and plays better.”

lol — Coach O is charismatic... “Back then [pre NIL], we used to walk through the back door with cash… now we just gotta walk through the front door with cash.” https://x.com/thebuckeyenut/status/1998491114714828924?s=46

This has been a weird situation, but something is up (player was hacked?) and the staff doesn’t consider him offered or committed. Very strange!

We need something positive today, so here are some statistics. Per Old Fart's post, 18.3M tuned in for the B1G Championship Game. That's the most ever for this game. And per FOX it also exceeded whatever the Bama-UGA rating was for the SECCG. Updating my estimated numbers for total viewership for the whole season (I just add up all the ratings): 2023: ~11M (pre-Cig) 2024: ~33M 2025: ~46M... so far... The increase in exposure for IUFB and IU in general continues to be amazing.

Not to be dramatic but it seems like a must win after the last two games. If we lose at home as 16 pt favorite to PSU that means we have several serious problems.

Can I donate my patellar tendon?

Ha, what a surprise Dakich tweeted about the rumor. This is a great example of why he's trash. Is it the end of the world he tweeted that something bad was coming for IUFB? No. But right now IUFB is dealing with a difficult situation and they would like to handle it on their own timeline and announce whatever it may be when they're ready. All of the real media that covers IUFB knows it and they keep quiet. Rumors were very slowly leaking, but Dan's tweet makes it a dam bursting. Now the program (staff and players) have to deal with a flood of questions and attention on this matter. Just so Dan could get a little bit of engagement and a few views. If Dan cared one iota about IU he would just let this one be and stay quiet. But Dan only cares about Dan.

Maybe I didn’t word that as clearly as I could have. I think making the tourney should be expected for the resources we put into this program. I get the last two games have unfortunately created serious questions (red flags) regarding the tourney this year. I don’t know if we make it this year. If we don’t, that’s a failed season and very worrisome for the CDD era. I just have to hope CDD figures it out because he’ll probably get at least three years.

For sure. I find myself imaging what our recruiting pitch is right now because it must be amazing to cite all the team and individual achievements.

Interesting. IMO, folks have a tough time factoring in the program they're coaching. I think Nick is the best CFB coach ever, but at Alabama he was stacking mega talent as local car dealers paid players under the table. There were huge advantages to coaching at Bama (and LSU). Odds are if Nick coached at IU he would have zero national titles. It is so much harder here, especially pre-NIL. It's a fun debate and I don't care what people think. Personally, I will admit Cig is only in year two of a P4 gig, so it's not unreasonable to say we need to see what he does over the next 5-10 years here before drawing comparisons to the best ever. I don't really want to talk about this for fear of a jinx, but if he actually won a natty here it would probably be the most impressive achievement in CFB history. Regardless, it's awesome this is even a conversation.

Nice chart, thanks. I also suspect Derek Owings is worth every penny, I'm glad we gave him that raise last year to keep him from going to USC. Derek's system plus Cig's approach with shorter practices seems to work well (fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc.). That's vital for us given our roster isn't as deep as some of the big programs we're competing against nowadays...

That would be great. It's an extremely logical fit as we all know. And I really dislike them (probably #3 most disliked behind PU and OSU for me), so playing them would be fun. Sadly, I suspect there is very little chance they join the B1G anytime soon.