IUFB vs Old Dominion - Saturday, 08.30.25 @ 2:30 on FS1

[Lebowski 3,924]

35 minutes ago, Josh said:

A couple disclaimers here.  I've never watched Fernando Mendoza play before yesterday.  His accuracy was horrid yesterday.  Was that an outlier?  If it was, fantastic!  If it's who he is, oof.

Last year was Kurtis Rourke.  Hot take...Rourke might be the best qb I've ever seen play for IU.  It's not a fair comparison to say Mendoza will turn things around because Rourke did last year.

Words mean nothing.  At this point in my career I have a lot of people reporting to me.  Some are great, some fail.  The ones who fail always come to debrief talking a great strategy, they know they've had it rough and they know that they need to improve.  Of those, maybe 20% improve.  The rest are just turds.  

I don't know which one Mendoza is yet.  But yes, i am worried.  Cheering for him, but worried.

The Nandolarian’s day looks a lot better with a 60 yard TD to Omar Cooper. Remember, Cooper dropped a well placed ball by The Nandolarian.  

 

Line could have been:

 

- 19/31 for 253 yards (8.16 y/a), 1 TD 

- 6 rushes for 33 yards (5.5 ypc), 1 TD

 

Lots to work on for sure but also not as bad as people who didn’t watch the game are making it sound.

[Josh 13,326]

Copper definitely should have caught that pass.  That doesn't make up for the inaccuracies of the rest of the game though.

I did watch the game.  Maybe you misread what I said?

I'm not out on him and I'm not set in my opinion of him moving forward.  All I'm saying is he surprised me with his play

[Hoosier987 2,878]

At least Mendoza recognized he had a poor performance for his standard. Assuming we Fix the horrendous red zone play calling, a lot will ride on Mendoza regarding how successful our season is…We have experience, a good O line, our defense (despite 2 missed assignments) should be stout and we appear to have a very good backfield - minus the fumble, I thought all 3 backs looked good. That leads everything to qb play. Mendoza is the key here…and I think he knows this. Hopefully, it’s a 1 game sub standard play and flushed it out of his system. Eager for next week…to see how his accuracy, footwork and decision making are…even if it’s against a weaker opponent. More reps should help. 

[Hovadipo 62,379]

39 minutes ago, Josh said:

Words mean nothing.  At this point in my career I have a lot of people reporting to me.  Some are great, some fail.  The ones who fail always come to debrief talking a great strategy, they know they've had it rough and they know that they need to improve.  Of those, maybe 20% improve.  The rest are just turds.  

I don't know which one Mendoza is yet.  But yes, i am worried.  Cheering for him, but worried.

Fernando is better at what he does than 99% of the human population. I’m not sure if your underlings, even the 20%, can make that claim. It’s a comparison that doesn’t really apply to a guy doing postgame media. He said the right things, it’s not that deep.

Agree about Rourke, I don’t think the take is all that hot (maybe with an ARE exception, but…very different players obviously). The comparison isn’t between the players - I said yesterday that Rourke and Mendoza are very different stylistically; it’s going to take some getting used to - it’s that Rourke had a lot of work to do after week one last season too. He did it and because 1) I’ve watched a lot of Mendoza and 2) I believe in Cig, Shanahan, and Whitmer I think Mendoza will clean it up these next couple weeks too. We shall see. 

On the other hand, I also don’t believe that Mendoza needs to be as good as Rourke for us to be really good again. I think he has the tools to be, but don’t think he has to be. He needs to be better than yesterday, but I don’t think anyone is arguing that. The RB room is elite, better than last year imo. The WRs block their tails off. Two rock solid TEs, maybe three. The line will hold if (big if) it stays healthy. The defense is going to be a major strength again. 

[Brass Cannon 25,770]

In my experience the vast majority of folks that actually accept they need to do better do better.  
 

But let’s please also just understand that there are so many pieces behind a QB that can cause them to be less than stellar for a game 

[AH1971 3,436]

5 hours ago, RaceToTheTop said:

AH, you there?

Ya, a 67.5 passing grade isn’t good. What’s your point?

[realTomCrean 2,793]

Is Benson the anticipated starting LT? Was under the impression this off season he was a backup 

[Lebowski 3,924]

4 hours ago, Josh said:

Copper definitely should have caught that pass.  That doesn't make up for the inaccuracies of the rest of the game though.

I did watch the game.  Maybe you misread what I said?

I'm not out on him and I'm not set in my opinion of him moving forward.  All I'm saying is he surprised me with his play

Was his 60 yard dropped bomb accurate or inaccurate or "horrid" as you put it? The Nandolarian hit nine different targets in the game and several dropped passes. Does a qb with horrid accuracy typically complete passes to nine different targets? 

Was he inaccurate on some passes? Yes. Was his accuracy horrid? Not by standards, but that's just me.  For me, having horrid accuracy means you're not placing a catchable ball.  If the ball is catchable and if it actually touches a receiver's hand(s) than that drop is not a QB problem.  There were several drops yesterday, one of them making it a completely different conversation about The Nandolarian's passing stats and overall performance.  

[Josh 13,326]

30 minutes ago, Lebowski said:

Was his 60 yard dropped bomb accurate or inaccurate or "horrid" as you put it? The Nandolarian hit nine different targets in the game and several dropped passes. Does a qb with horrid accuracy typically complete passes to nine different targets? 

Was he inaccurate on some passes? Yes. Was his accuracy horrid? Not by standards, but that's just me.  For me, having horrid accuracy means you're not placing a catchable ball.  If the ball is catchable and if it actually touches a receiver's hand(s) than that drop is not a QB problem.  There were several drops yesterday, one of them making it a completely different conversation about The Nandolarian's passing stats and overall performance.  

You're triggered by the word horrid.  I see that.  Would "poor" do better by you? Or are you putting it all on the receivers instead of the qb?  Was his accuracy good in your eyes?

[Lebowski 3,924]

10 hours ago, Josh said:

You're triggered by the word horrid.  I see that.  Would "poor" do better by you? Or are you putting it all on the receivers instead of the qb?  Was his accuracy good in your eyes?

Not triggered at all. I just understand what the word means and IU's QB accuracy was far from horrid or poor this past Saturday.  He hit nine freaking targets! Did he have bad balls? Yes. Did he throw like a Sunday QB? No. 

His accuracy was better than the average Saturday QBs playing their 1st game of the season.  And his completion percentage gets dinged for dropped balls, which happened several times.  

I'm not putting any blame on anyone. We won! This team is in better shape then last year's team after the first game of the season. And there's lots to work on and straighten out. On to the next game.  

[Brass Cannon 25,770]

27 minutes ago, Lebowski said:

Not triggered at all. I just understand what the word means and IU's QB accuracy was far from horrid or poor this past Saturday.  He hit nine freaking targets! Did he have bad balls? Yes. Did he throw like a Sunday QB? No. 

His accuracy was better than the average Saturday QBs playing their 1st game of the season.  And his completion percentage gets dinged for dropped balls, which happened several times.  

I'm not putting any blame on anyone. We won! This team is in better shape than last year's team after the first game of the season. And there's lots to work on and straighten out. On to the next game.  

An incomplete pass is the result of any number of factors.  
 

I’ve always felt football needed a sabermetrics revolution.

 For example a QB throws a beautiful pass and the WR misses the catch and the ball goes up in the air for the defense to snag out of the air. Should that be an INT on the QB?  I’d also argue that if a guy has to break multiple tackles to get the TD maybe the QB shouldn’t get credit.  

[Lebowski 3,924]

5 minutes ago, Brass Cannon said:

An incomplete pass is the result of any number of factors.  
 

I’ve always felt football needed a sabermetrics revolution.

 For example a QB throws a beautiful pass and the WR misses the catch and the ball goes up in the air for the defense to snag out of the air. Should that be an INT on the QB?  I’d also argue that if a guy has to break multiple tackles to get the TD maybe the QB shouldn’t get credit.  

That's interesting man, that's interesting.  Going deep into the weeds right there.  I like it. 

[Rico 3,732]

3 hours ago, Brass Cannon said:

An incomplete pass is the result of any number of factors.  
 

I’ve always felt football needed a sabermetrics revolution.

 For example a QB throws a beautiful pass and the WR misses the catch and the ball goes up in the air for the defense to snag out of the air. Should that be an INT on the QB?  I’d also argue that if a guy has to break multiple tackles to get the TD maybe the QB shouldn’t get credit.  

Nah.  I get way too many of the metrics in baseball and basketball.  But I absolutely get what you are saying.

[RaceToTheTop 31,657]

20 hours ago, realTomCrean said:

Is Benson the anticipated starting LT? Was under the impression this off season he was a backup 

He beat out the OSU player for the job.

[maharkn 2,002]

The Happy Feet are likely a by product of getting the tar beat out of him at Cal last season...I think I read where he was one if not the most sacked QB last season. He threw it up for grabs several times, those will be interceptions in B1G Ten play! Depth chart has Grant Wilson a redshirt senior as backup #1....I know nothing about this guy, is he any good?

Old dominion starting qb last year until he got hurt. More of a runner I believe


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[southsidehoosier 5,251]

 

[Lebowski 3,924]

Here are ball placement charts of QBs of this week for comparison.  Arch Manning had worse accuracy than The Nandolarian. 

 

[go iu bb 10,063]

4 hours ago, Lebowski said:

Here are ball placement charts of QBs of this week for comparison.  Arch Manning had worse accuracy than The Nandolarian. 

 

Thanks for posting that, it's interesting. He did have Mendoza in another post (bottom left).

[ebridges24 2,783]

On 8/31/2025 at 5:49 PM, Hovadipo said:

Fernando is better at what he does than 99% of the human population. I’m not sure if your underlings, even the 20%, can make that claim. It’s a comparison that doesn’t really apply to a guy doing postgame media. He said the right things, it’s not that deep.

Agree about Rourke, I don’t think the take is all that hot (maybe with an ARE exception, but…very different players obviously). The comparison isn’t between the players - I said yesterday that Rourke and Mendoza are very different stylistically; it’s going to take some getting used to - it’s that Rourke had a lot of work to do after week one last season too. He did it and because 1) I’ve watched a lot of Mendoza and 2) I believe in Cig, Shanahan, and Whitmer I think Mendoza will clean it up these next couple weeks too. We shall see. 

On the other hand, I also don’t believe that Mendoza needs to be as good as Rourke for us to be really good again. I think he has the tools to be, but don’t think he has to be. He needs to be better than yesterday, but I don’t think anyone is arguing that. The RB room is elite, better than last year imo. The WRs block their tails off. Two rock solid TEs, maybe three. The line will hold if (big if) it stays healthy. The defense is going to be a major strength again. 

Mendoza, i doubt will be as accurate as Rourke, but he'll throw and complete passes Rourke could never throw. And, I'll bet Mendoza already has more yards rushing than Rourke had all last season.