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

[IUFootballHappyHappyJoyJoy]

And, to be honest, I'd rank the Sun Belt above Conference USA in terms of competition.  As bad as Old Dominion is, they seem to try to want to win, whereas Florida International doesn't care if they go 1-11 or 7-5.

[Hoosierfan2017]

It was a terrible game for IU in so many ways, but at the end of the day IU won and escaped without any injuries, so on to the next one. 

[Lebowski]

14 hours ago, DChoosier said:

It’s ridiculous to jump to conclusions about the upcoming season simply based on one game in which a number of new pieces are being integrated into the system.

That being said, if asked if the team exceeded expectations, met expectations or was below expectations it isn’t nutty to say for this ONE game the team was below expectations .  
 

It was almost Allenesque to see us give up 75 and 78 yard runs to a QB that we knew liked to run, watch one of our best receivers drop a TD pass that hit him in the hands, see a FG clunk of the crossbar, watch a QB miss receivers and throw into double coverage, observe what seemed like 15-16 plays within 4 yards of the goal line without a TD etc etc.

That being said…I totally trust Cig and think/hope that the 2 upcoming scrimmages will give us time to get prepared for Illinois. 
Keeping my “panic button” in my pocket until seeing what happens vs the Illini.

I understand your point and concerns but this ain't your Tom Allen football team. Those days are long gone and the rear view mirror has been completely torn off!! This is a Curt Cignetti football team. We'll be fine. 

https://twitter.com/JordanJamie/status/1961959786083221515?t=IPf8WCR61elgIu_zAPFywg&s=19

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

29 minutes ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

It was a terrible game for IU in so many ways, but at the end of the day IU won and escaped without any injuries, so on to the next one. 

Actually, there were reports Bonds went down and was later seen on the sideline with his knee in a brace.  Never saw any further reports on how serious it may or may not be.

[DChoosier]

40 minutes ago, Lebowski said:

I understand your point and concerns but this ain't your Tom Allen football team. Those days are long gone and the rear view mirror has been completely torn off!! This is a Curt Cignetti football team. We'll be fine. 

https://twitter.com/JordanJamie/status/1961959786083221515?t=IPf8WCR61elgIu_zAPFywg&s=19

 

Yep,

The plays I referenced were “Allen type” blunders but as I stated…..”I totally trust Cig”

[Rico]

1 hour ago, IUFootballHappyHappyJoyJoy said:

And, to be honest, I'd rank the Sun Belt above Conference USA in terms of competition.  As bad as Old Dominion is, they seem to try to want to win, whereas Florida International doesn't care if they go 1-11 or 7-5.

Massey had ODU #90 before the game.  They dropped to #93 afterwards.  Toledo is #94 and Army #95.

[Hovadipo]

58 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Actually, there were reports Bonds went down and was later seen on the sideline with his knee in a brace.  Never saw any further reports on how serious it may or may not be.

That’s some safety depth we don’t have. Between him being out and whatever is going on with Baldwin, that’s a thin group. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

3 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

That’s some safety depth we don’t have. Between him being out and whatever is going on with Baldwin, that’s a thin group. 

And Moore's tenure with the team is very much unknown.

[Pagoda]

4 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

And Moore's tenure with the team is very much unknown.

And yesterday he led the team in tackles and had a INT.  We really need him to win his case.

[Hovadipo]

3 hours ago, Pagoda said:

And yesterday he led the team in tackles and had a INT.  We really need him to win his case.

I don’t know how the legal process works for this, but I wonder if Moore’s team can just keep finding ways to extend this thing to January to where the decision won’t matter anymore outside of the precedent. 

[Hovadipo]

PFF isn’t the end-all-be-all and, in fact, I’m not a huge fan of it but:

1: This fits my narrative

2: It’s a piece of data instead of me just basing my stance on vibes and past production

[str8baller]

17 hours ago, TTT said:

 

It seemed as though coaching strategy was to win a certain way (Knight used that tactic/strategy at times against lesser opponents)…that looked ugly.  

 

This. Coaches aren’t going to bring out the good stuff in the redzone against OD in a game they controlled throughout. You’d like to see them execute the regular things a little better, but that’s the beauty of scheduling weaker teams early. 

[RaceToTheTop]

15 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

PFF isn’t the end-all-be-all and, in fact, I’m not a huge fan of it but:

1: This fits my narrative

2: It’s a piece of data instead of me just basing my stance on vibes and past production

AH, you there?

[Josh]

18 hours ago, Hovadipo said:

He didn’t suddenly forget how to play QB and he has a group of coaches behind him that know what they’re doing. We’ll be fine. 

I really don’t think people remember how uncertain things felt post-FIU last year. That game was similarly fugly against a horrendous opponent. Two more weeks to sort things out. 

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.

[TTT]

39 minutes ago, str8baller said:

This. Coaches aren’t going to bring out the good stuff in the redzone against OD in a game they controlled throughout. You’d like to see them execute the regular things a little better, but that’s the beauty of scheduling weaker teams early. 

That is point I was making….(except beauty of weak preseason schedule) and OD is the best preseason opponent….preseason gets more horrendous the next couple weeks and execution will pretty much be improvement going through the plays/motions.  Besides OD….especially ISU a team scrimmage might be a better option to improve execution.

Executing against ISU is a lot different than executing against Illinois.  However, I expect IU to be a totally different team vs Illinois in an IU good way…..that’s the difference between the present IU football program compared to yesteryear.

[TTT]

4 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.

IU will be a different team than last year.  Maybe, this year getting the passing game going enough short and long….to rely on a what could be a feature running game….This year’s QB will not pass and hit the over the shoulder like last year’s QB did….Don’t expect him to but he and the whole passing game including getting everyone involved will be much much better. (Plus red zone pass and run).

[Lebowski]

5 hours ago, DChoosier said:

Yep,

The plays I referenced were “Allen type” blunders but as I stated…..”I totally trust Cig”

I gotcha. I'm just trying to set you at ease. We got a real football coach. Like a really solid proven winner.  He also covered the busted plays on D (probably the most "Allen type" plays if we're all being honest with ourselves) . I don't think anyone would be this critical and/or concerned if the game ended up in a shutout. I could be wrong though.

[TTT]

Expect IU to play extra clean game (physically) vs Indiana State since probably about everything physically there is such a huge disparity keeping ISU players safe from injury (and no injuries from either team).

[Lebowski]

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]

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