2025 IUFB Season

[Hovadipo]

On 10/27/2025 at 10:58 AM, realTomCrean said:

How does a B1G tie-breaker work under these scenarios, given Ohio State loses to Michigan:

1. Iowa wins out (beats Oregon, USC)

Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State would have 1 loss

IU being the sole loss.

2. Oregon wins out (Beats Iowa, USC)

Michigan, Oregon, Ohio State would have 1 loss

IU being the sole loss.

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Michigan's sole loss is USC in all of these scenarios. So, if USC wins out it would be Ohio State, USC, and Michigan with 1 loss (USC haven beat Mich). 

I don’t know how valid this is, just remember you asking the question and it feels right. 

[realTomCrean]

23 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

I don’t know how valid this is, just remember you asking the question and it feels right. 

Thanks! Come on Michigan!!

[DChoosier]

The media assumption that it’s a no-brainer that we are going to win at PSU makes me nervous.  They have a ton of 4/5 stars, were a top 3 team (must be some talent), 100k fans and who knows how they will regroup after Franklin’s departure?  I think we will win but……

[IndyHoosier1997]

12 minutes ago, DChoosier said:

The media assumption that it’s a no-brainer that we are going to win at PSU makes me nervous.  They have a ton of 4/5 stars, were a top 3 team (must be some talent), 100k fans and who knows how they will regroup after Franklin’s departure?  I think we will win but……

I think what helps me is Penn State is going to most likely at minimum be on a couple game losing streak post Franklin with @OSU this week, and then already losing @Iowa. 
 

not gonna be an easy game either way, but helps that it’s not like they fired Franklin and then got hot.  

[Stuhoo]

3 hours ago, IndyHoosier1997 said:

I think what helps me is Penn State is going to most likely at minimum be on a couple game losing streak post Franklin with @OSU this week, and then already losing @Iowa. 
 

not gonna be an easy game either way, but helps that it’s not like they fired Franklin and then got hot.  

I'm also more optimistic knowing that PSU's current QB Grunkenmeyer is an immobile RS freshman who has thrown 39 career passes, with two interceptions and a TD. 

• And that's if he survives this week against OSU. Because his backup is Jaxon Smolik, a RS sophomore who has yet to throw a pass in a game. And Jaxon Smolik is questionable going forward with an arm injury.

• And therefore, PSU is likely an injury away from their QB being either:
  •  Bekkam Kritza, a true freshman 3* who has been hurt since training camp and may or may not be cleared to practice for the first time this week, or
  • Jack Lambert, an unranked RS sophomore walk-on that has never taken a snap.

Now, current PSU QB RS freshman Ethan Grunkemeyer is a talented (though non-running) young player. But if he is a flat-out disaster or goes down either during the OSU game or against us? They are really, really screwed to an extent seldom seen at the major college level.

[Brass Cannon]

What would be hilarious if somehow Penn State wins and then we go on to smack Penn State 

[Hovadipo]

14 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Jack Lambert, an unranked RS sophomore walk-on that has never taken a snap.

On name alone though that kid is liable to kick someone's teeth in. Let's keep him off the field.

[Stuhoo]

7 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

On name alone though that kid is liable to kick someone's teeth in. Let's keep him off the field.

Bonus points to the (relatively) young fella for knowing who Jack Lambert the mean as hell HOF linebacker is. 

But this is the Jack Lambert that is the current first-in-line PSU primary backup QB:

[rcbowla]

3 hours ago, Lebowski said:

I haven't noticed anything like that at all. I hear him give praise to all of his coaching staff. In the post game UCLA presser he gave a nice complement to Shanahan about being able to call plays at the right time. The most recent praise about Haines was because Coach Cig was specifically asked about Haines. 

Right but go watch it again. There was a "yeah but" kind of thing to it. He did compliment him but it seems different. There was another time when a reporter was asking about Shanahan and Cig went as far as to say something along the lines of this is still my offense. He semi said it in jest but it felt odd. 

[Lebowski]

34 minutes ago, rcbowla said:

Right but go watch it again. There was a "yeah but" kind of thing to it. He did compliment him but it seems different. There was another time when a reporter was asking about Shanahan and Cig went as far as to say something along the lines of this is still my offense. He semi said it in jest but it felt odd. 

Gotcha. I'll take a look. 

[iu2win]

In a recent interview I recall Cig saying something along the lines of: "The last few calls I've questioned have gone for big gains".  Having said that, the fact Cig admits questioning the calls is somewhat telling I suppose.

[Pagoda]

Here is a midweek, rah-rah, positive, quasi-propaganda post:

- IU-UCLA was a ho-hum match-up in the world of CFB and still drew 3M viewers and was the T-5th most watched CFB game last weekend

- I did an AI query, so it's probably not perfect, but it seems directionally correct to me when I do the rough math:

• Our total viewership across all FB games was ~11M in 2023
• It increased to ~35M in 2024
• 2025 is still TBD, but we're more likely than not going to blow past 35M this season

- The 2024 increase in viewership and exposure ("earned media") has been estimated to be worth $15-20M+ depending who you ask.  As noted above, 2025 should be a decent to significant increase over 2024 depending how things go (knock on wood).

Anyways, for anyone for who finds this stuff interesting, that's what the TV viewership increases have been and the value of that is in the eyes of media/marketing people.  You can see how being good at football has quite the snowball effect.

 

[skhoosier2]

21 hours ago, DChoosier said:

The media assumption that it’s a no-brainer that we are going to win at PSU makes me nervous.  They have a ton of 4/5 stars, were a top 3 team (must be some talent), 100k fans and who knows how they will regroup after Franklin’s departure?  I think we will win but……

Same here...that will be an incredibly tough game in that hostile environment.  They will be looking for a win to lift up their program for recruiting and give them a signature win for a season that held so much promise.  I also think we win but it may be a bit of a bumpy game and not as wide of a margin as most think it will be.  I'd feel better if the qb was just coming in for his first game and not his third.

[Pagoda]

1 hour ago, skhoosier2 said:

Same here...that will be an incredibly tough game in that hostile environment.  They will be looking for a win to lift up their program for recruiting and give them a signature win for a season that held so much promise.  I also think we win but it may be a bit of a bumpy game and not as wide of a margin as most think it will be.  I'd feel better if the qb was just coming in for his first game and not his third.

Dittos.  We've got a target on our back and something to lose.  Our opponent has the home crowd and nothing to lose.  If we come out mediocre and they play well I could see an Iowa-like game situation.

Any conference win on the road I'm never going to be upset about.  That goes for a down PSU squad and also the teams at the bottom of the conference -- these are still serious P4 programs amped up to try and upset a top ranked team.

[cthomas]

If we are still undefeated, PSU will be playing the no1 and no2 teams back to back. Maybe OSU will take some of the fight out of them.

[Brass Cannon]

48 minutes ago, cthomas said:

If we are still undefeated, PSU will be playing the no1 and no2 teams back to back. Maybe OSU will take some of the fight out of them.

Maybe they upset OSU and they are facing consecutive #1s. 
 

Not going to happen but would be swell

[JSHoosier]

https://iuhoosiers.com/news/2025/10/29/football-from-tough-coaching-to-beast-ius-o-line-rocks

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

[Stuhoo]

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

Okay then!

This is a very high 4*; number 162 overall recruit:    https://247sports.com/player/messiah-mickens-46133503/

And that post almost looks like a commitment, not an visit or interest.

 

[maharkn]

15 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Okay then!

This is a very high 4*; number 162 overall recruit:    https://247sports.com/player/messiah-mickens-46133503/

And that post almost looks like a commitment, not an visit or interest.

 

Interesting being he was at Oklahoma yesterday.