IUFB Offseason Updates

[Hovadipo]

25 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Not terrible.  Tougher than this year but not too too bad.  @Penn State and @Oregon are 2 of the toughest possible games a team can have.  @Iowa could be a tough one.  Illinois was really good this year, nice to have them at home.  Same with Wisconsin, @Wisconsin would be tough.  

Could see best case of 2 losses up to maybe 4.  @Maryland won't be easy either.  

Oregon will reload, that's our "@ Ohio State" of 2025. Penn State? Man...they may reload but there's some holes in that roster coming next year. The scariest part about that game is if it becomes the whiteout. The only other option they have would be Oregon coming to town in September.

[JSHoosier]

29 minutes ago, Demo said:

Wait, is that ISU I see? The ISU that the Ryan Walters-led Purdue juggernaut beat by a million? Oh boy. Cig needs to have a little mercy there.

[Brass Cannon]

 

39 minutes ago, Demo said:

Wait, is that ISU I see? The ISU that the Ryan Walters-led Purdue juggernaut beat by a million? Oh boy. Cig needs to have a little mercy there.

 

[Hovadipo]

Just scanned all the conference schedules. We have one of the more difficult ones (and I still don't hate it), but Wisconsin...WOOF.

@Bama @Michigan Iowa OSU @Oregon @Indiana Illinois

[go iu bb]

3 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

Just scanned all the conference schedules. We have one of the more difficult ones (and I still don't hate it), but Wisconsin...WOOF.

@Bama @Michigan Iowa OSU @Oregon @Indiana Illinois

Not bowling this year and it looks like they won't next year, either. Getting rid of the conference divisions was terrible for them while it's looking good for IU. Too bad, so sad.

[Artie86]

30 minutes ago, JSHoosier said:

….yes, sensei! 

[steubenhoosier]

Challenging conference schedule. Surprised we get UCLA again and not USC.

Very disappointed in the non conference schedule. More fodder for the critics if it comes to that 

[Hoosierfan1901]

25 minutes ago, steubenhoosier said:

Challenging conference schedule. Surprised we get UCLA again and not USC.

Very disappointed in the non conference schedule. More fodder for the critics if it comes to that 

2026 and 2027 are not the best either, although UConn is slowly becoming a frisky team. Should have kept the Louisville series, that would have been a fun game this season.

[TTT]

High School:  Recruiting 5 star recruits…there’s just not that many of them. 2025 observation per ESPN recruiting classes (examples)

5 stars:  (Examples) Oregon = 3, Ohio State = 2, Michigan = 2, Bama = 2.  Over a 4 year period = 8 to 12 on any elite program.  
Then, , add to that each of the recent elite programs have a bunch of high to lower level 4 star recruits added to their roster every year.  Then,  elite programs add less than 10 mid to high level 3 stars each year.

IU 5 stars: = 0, 4 stars = 2 lower level 80 and 81, 3 stars = most of each recruiting class mid to higher level 3 stars.  (IU and the transfer portal success..…most teams try to use it as needed).

(North Carolina State 4 stars = 5 and a range of 3 stars and a 2 star and several 0 stars recruits).

[CSP]

8 hours ago, steubenhoosier said:

Challenging conference schedule. Surprised we get UCLA again and not USC.

Very disappointed in the non conference schedule. More fodder for the critics if it comes to that 

Were you disappointed 5 years ago when we made the schedule? 

[steubenhoosier]

47 minutes ago, Certified Sunshine Pumper said:

Were you disappointed 5 years ago when we made the schedule? 

Schedules can be changed. We dropped Louisville and replaced them with lesser competition. Can be done to improve competition as well 

[CSP]

4 minutes ago, steubenhoosier said:

Schedules can be changed. We dropped Louisville and replaced them with lesser competition. Can be done to improve competition as well 

It rarely happens and it basically never happens with more than one game. 

[go iu bb]

12 hours ago, steubenhoosier said:

Challenging conference schedule. Surprised we get UCLA again and not USC.

Very disappointed in the non conference schedule. More fodder for the critics if it comes to that 

They play 9 B1G games. It just happened that this year the 2 teams from last year's national championship game weren't as good. They still finished 7-5, 6-6 so they were decent. Most years you won't have that. Even with that, IU's SOS ended up close to that of ND and SMU, 2 other teams that got at-large bids to the CFP.

I've long said that if they win all 3 non-con games they just need to win 3 B1G games to go to a bowl so making the non-con games easy wins is important.

Cignetti has done an amazing job in year 1 but those schedules were already made. Even if they weren't, I wouldn't have a problem with it. He now needs to make the program a consistent winner. I believe he can do that, but a couple more years of easy non-con wins will help with that.

To put it briefly, getting the most wins possible is better than playing tough non-conference opponents. The SOS will work itself out since IU plays in the B1G.

[go iu bb]

2 hours ago, steubenhoosier said:

Schedules can be changed. We dropped Louisville and replaced them with lesser competition. Can be done to improve competition as well 

But why should they? IU's weak non-conference schedule this year didn't cost them a CFP bid.

[CSP]

4 minutes ago, go iu bb said:

But why should they? IU's weak non-conference schedule this year didn't cost them a CFP bid.

BINGO!!

And Old Dominion is absolutely better than anyone we played this year. 

[DChoosier]

13 hours ago, steubenhoosier said:

Challenging conference schedule. Surprised we get UCLA again and not USC.

Very disappointed in the non conference schedule. More fodder for the critics if it comes to that 

“On paper” I’m not too worried about strength of schedule comments next year.
This year the first playoff reveal was on Nov 5th. At that point next year we will have played Illinois, at Iowa and at Oregon (and also UCLA which improved throughout the year) which should put our SOS in a better place than this year. 
I just hope we are in the conversation. If people are blowing us sh!te at least that means we are in the running.

[CSP]

Just now, DChoosier said:

“On paper” I’m not too worried about strength of schedule comments next year.
This year the first playoff reveal was on Nov 5th. At that point next year we will have played Illinois, at Iowa and at Oregon (and also UCLA which improved throughout the year) which should put our SOS in a better place than this year. 
I just hope we are in the conversation. If people are blowing us sh!te at least that means we are in the running.

And if we go 11-1, again, next regular season.... we'll be in the CFP, again. 

[Lebowski]

7 minutes ago, Certified Sunshine Pumper said:

And if we go 11-1, again, next regular season.... we'll be in the CFP, again. 

I think it's safe to say this is the expectation and standard for IUFB. 

[steubenhoosier]

Regardless, I think we should at least be playing 1 P4 opponent out of conference each year. No right to criticize the SEC schools if we don’t, even if they play one less conference game.

As well, as the stature of the program continues to grow I think it will be imperative for season ticket sales to not start every season with three substandard opponents 

[go iu bb]

22 minutes ago, steubenhoosier said:

Regardless, I think we should at least be playing 1 P4 opponent out of conference each year. No right to criticize the SEC schools if we don’t, even if they play one less conference game.

As well, as the stature of the program continues to grow I think it will be imperative for season ticket sales to not start every season with three substandard opponents 

Do any SEC schools play more than 1 P4 school in the non-conference? I know Bama didn't. If not, IU plays 9 games against P4 schools as did Alabama. So you think IU should play more games against P4 schools than SEC schools do? Unless IU plays more P4 games we can't criticize the SEC for playing only 8 conference games? That makes no sense.

It takes time to build a program. Even going into next year, IU will still get less respect than an 11-1 record and a CFP birth should get. That's because it will be believed this year was a fluke. It'll take several seasons in a row of being good to start to get real respect. Getting wins against weak schools helps to pad the win/loss record. If they can win 2/3 or more of their games in conference the respect will come.