Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Murray State beats Greenville 173-95, but that isn’t the weirdest thing about this game

Murray State and Greenville scored 268 combined points in a single 40-minute college basketball game yesterday.

Murray State beat Greenville 173-95.  That score was so grotesque, I thought it was an error by ESPNs graphics people.  Nope, it really happened, and the score wasn’t the weirdest thing about the game.

Here are statistical anomalies that could only exist in a game with such extreme scoring:

  • All 14 Murray State Racers played between 12-18 minutes.  I love this because it shows that the coach got his walk-ons in early and often.  Coaches will often wait until a minute or two are left in a blowout to cycle in the team’s hardest workers.
  • Greenville shot 74 three-pointers!  That’s almost two per minute, which is astounding.  Former Houston Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni drools over nights like this.  In the game in which his Houston Rockets broke the all-time record for made three-pointers in an NBA game (27), they heaved up 57 attempts – 17 fewer than Greenville!  As you might have guessed, the Panthers hit only 20 threes – good for 27%.
  • All 14 Racers scored at least seven points and all attempted at least five shots.  Love it when teams spread the wealth.
  • Murray State out rebounded Greenville 79-31.  The leading rebounder for the Racers had 10.  Greenville’s leader tallied five.  Eight players for Murray State had at least five!
  • The Racers converted 77 field goals.  That’s almost two made buckets per minute.
  • Greenville had 15 fewer field goals total than Murray State has assists!
  • No Greenville player fouled out.  Be honest, if you were on the business end of an 88-point whooping, wouldn’t you foul out to spare yourself the indignity of continuing by fouling out?  If not fouling out for that reason, wouldn’t you get angry enough to make Murray State pay for their pace with a bruise here and there?

These are weird times, and wacky looking box scores will be everywhere throughout this season as rosters are impacted by COVID, but this one will certainly stand up as the most bizarre.

Indiana Basketball – Five reminders and reasons for hope for Hoosiers fans as season begins

Indiana welcomes Tennessee Tech to a mostly empty Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall tonight at 8 p.m. (BTN) as college basketball returns to our lives for the first time in more than eight months.  Because it has been a long time in a weird year, you might need a refresher course in Indiana’s Basketball program.

Here are five things to remember about the Hoosiers:

Devonte Green and De’Ron Davis graduated, and are gone.  Davis’s career was a disappointment, marred by injuries.  He never reached his potential.  Green was a polarizing figure who was either loved or hated based upon the result of his most recent shot.  No one in the proud history of IU Basketball has elicited more shouts of “NO! NO! NO! YES!” than Green.

Justin Smith and Damezi Anderson transferred, and are gone too.  Anderson never fit as the three-point threat he was recruited to be, and decided to roll to Loyola of Chicago.  Smith bounced to Arkansas after leading the Hoosiers in minutes last season.  Smith was a solid defender and elite athlete, but a poor shooter who made the Hoosiers too easy to guard.  He always seemed to be too smart for the room at IU.

This is Archie’s fourth year.  While it’s unfair to grade a coach based upon his first few seasons as a culture is established and recruited to, year four is when the flowers should bloom and be enjoyed.  If a coach doesn’t have it rolling in the fourth year, what were once believed flowers can be assumed to be weeds.

Incoming freshmen rarely outperform expectations.  Indiana’s freshman class is ranked #15 in the country, but Khristian Lander is the only one of the four ranked comfortably in the top 100 (Lander #21, Jordan Geronimo #97, Anthony Leal #144, and Trey Galloway #146).  Lander left Evansville Reitz a year early to come to IU, so physically he is a senior in high school.  As talented as he is, Lander might be a year away from being able to compete against 22-year-old men.

Trayce Jackson-Davis is back as IU’s unquestioned best player!  Good teams need a clear leader, and that appears to be Jackson-Davis.  Solitary one-and-done guys wind up extracting more from a program than they contribute, and so getting a five-star kid who stays for a second year is a big deal for the Hoosiers.  Jackson-Davis was Indiana’s best player last year, and with Green and Smith gone, there is no one on IU’s roster that will be threatened by that.  No offense to Al Durham, Rob Phinisee, Joey Brunk, and Jerome Hunter, but none of those players are under the delusion they need to outperform Jackson-Davis to enhance their draftability.

 

Indiana Basketball – IU basketball needs to stack wins beginning tomorrow, or fan allegiance will shift to football

Archie Miller might give his team two thumbs up, but IU fans might get stingy with praise if his Hoosiers don’t stack wins like the good old days.

Indiana Football and Indiana Basketball are engaged in a rare tug of war for the hearts and minds of Hoosiers everywhere, and Archie Miller’s team is losing to Tom Allen.  If you needed any confirmation that 2020 is one of the strangest years ever, that should suffice.

Indiana Basketball gets rolling tomorrow night against Tennessee Tech at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall – COVID willing – but IU alums are spending more time and effort re-hashing the loss to Ohio State than discussing prospects for the basketball program in Miller’s fourth season.

This is the year the switch is supposed to flip and IU assumes its rightful spot atop the Big 10 and inside the ropes of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.  Sure, the Hoosiers would likely have made it to the Big Dance last March if not for the COVID shutdown, but without a winning record in the Big 10.

The Hoosiers should be better this season, returning Trayce Jackson-Davis, Rob Phinisee, and Joey Brunk among others, and adding Khristian Lander, Anthony Leal, and Trey Galloway.  Those who departed the program – Devonte Green and De’Ron Davis – were inconsistent contributors.  Despite the perceived upgrade in talent and maturity, I’m not thinking much about Indiana Basketball, and that is a problem.

It’s clear that recruits aren’t thinking much about IU either.  After a nice run to attract the state’s best within Indiana’s borders, Miller lost the battle for nationally ranked forwards Caleb Furst and Trey Kaufman.  To make matters worse, both committed to Purdue.  Yesterday, Mason Miller decided Creighton was a better fit than Indiana.  That leaves Logan Duncomb as the current lone commit for the class of 2021.

Where high school students choose to attend college is none of my business, so Miller, Furst, and Kaufman choosing to play and study elsewhere is not a critical loss in my world.  If someone wants to come to IU – great.  If they choose another program/school – I wish them happiness.  But their decisions shows contempt for what Archie has built.

Combine those losses with Bruiser Flint opting to bounce from Bloomington to Lexington, of all places, and it’s even a little tougher to embrace the concept that IU Basketball is still in growth mode.  If this is as good as it gets for hoops and the football team keeps winning, sellouts may become more routine at Memorial Stadium than Assembly Hall.

It feels as though Indiana Basketball has been on a treadmill for the better part of 20 years, and we’ve finally run through the soles of our shoes.  I can’t speak to the mindset of those who have never experienced the kind of success that used to occur with regularity (NCAA Titles in 1976, 1981, and 1987, and 11 conference championships in 24 years), but maintaining enthusiasm can only be harder for those younger than 33 who have never been alive for a meaningful banner hanging.

Not to rub salt in the wounds of Hoosiers, but here are some benchmarks that define the entrenched ordinariness of what was once a proud program with proudly arrogant fans:

  • Last time IU was ranked in the top 20 – December 26, 2016
  • Last time IU posted a winning Big 10 record – 2016
  • Last time IU had a top 10 recruiting class – (#10) 2018
  • Last time IU played in the NCAA Tournament – March 25, 2016
  • Last time IU played in a Final Four – 2002
  • Last time IU won a National Championship – 1987

When I talk to people outside the ideological sphere shared by Indiana fans, I am told two things – re-building the Indiana culture post Tom Crean is going to take a lot of time, and expectations need to be adjusted away from what Indiana was (elite) toward what Indiana is (middle of the Big 10 pack).  I get the patience thing.  There was no culture of basketball under Crean – just some groups with talent and others without it.

I draw the line at adjusting expectations.  Contending for National Championships while winning Big 10 titles WAS, IS, and SHOULD ALWAYS BE the expectation.  There is no reason Indiana should not be a superior program to Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois, but here we are on the cusp of another season, and those programs ranked in the top 10 while Indiana is fifth among those “also receiving votes.”

It’s not in my DNA to be ambivalent about Indiana Basketball, but if this season isn’t a stark improvement over the last four years, my daily IU obsession could shift from basketball to football.

I’ll watch the Hoosiers tomorrow night and every night they play, but this will be a season of serious and (mostly) sober evaluation.  In the absence of a great recruiting class and with potential pro’s Trayce Jackson-Davis and Khristian Lander, this might be the best chance for what used to be routine success in Bloomington.

Style of play changes.  Coaches change.  Even Assembly Hall changes.  The passion for IU Basketball among fans hasn’t changed – yet.

Time for Colts fans to admit defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus blitzes just the right amount!

For fans who love to blitz, this was a pretty good game back in the day. As for real football, it seems Matt Eberflus is right a lot for a guy we get hoarse yelling at.

Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus takes more undeserved blows than Galveston and New Orleans during hurricane season.

The Colts defense is ranked comfortably among the NFL’s top five.  Colts owner Jim Irsay called Eberflus’s crew “the best Colts defense since 1995.”  They are the primary reason for the AFC South leading 7-3 record.

But fans are furious Eberflus doesn’t call more blitzes.  I would feel a lot smarter if I wasn’t one of them.

As games unfold, we see Eberflus become more aggressive, or at least that’s our perception.  The adjustments create chaotic imbalance and make productive offenses uncomfortable.  We see it, we like it, and we want more of it.  “BLITZ!” we yell.

That happened yesterday against the Green Bay Packers scoreless through all but the last three-seconds of the second half.  The first half was a hard-to-watch points-fest for Aaron Rodgers and the Pack, but the second half belonged to Darius Leonard, Julian Blackmon, Bobby Okereke, DeForest Buckner, and Eberflus.

I used to play a game called NFL Strategy where transparent plastic defensive play cards were laid over the top of offensive plays.  A little ball that bounced between springs (this was in the 1970s) determined the outcome of the play.  If memory serves, there were 16 different defensive cards.  Just two were blitz packages.  I chose either “Maximum Blitz” or “Sam Will Blitz” every play, and so did everyone I played against.

Fans love blitzes.  Crazy things happen when defenses blitz – sometimes good, other times terrible – but always fun to watch.  We love seeing our eight guy being blocked by their five.  If my math is correct, that leaves three Colts unblocked.  It also leaves two of their receivers uncovered, but let’s not allow details like that spoil our fun.

Eberflus has helped build a defense that ranks in the NFL’s top five in virtually every meaningful metric while blitzing on only 19.9% of defensive snaps going into yesterday’s game, according to FiveThirtyEight.com.  Yet we chastise Eberflus for being some kind of idiot because he is reluctant to turn loose his dogs more often.  The Colts are 7-3 primarily because his defense can get pressure with the four defensive linemen.

I sit in the press box and quietly mutter about the conservative calls and the resulting failures early in games, and you know what – I’m right!  Sure enough, the Colts have allowed opponents to score an average of 13 first half points, while the second half number is cut almost in half to 7.8.  But instead of lauding Eberflus for making great adjustments, we put him on blast for initial game plans which set up the successes in the second half.

Did I mention the Colts are 7-3 and have a top five defense in every way?

At what point do we thank Eberflus and go on our way?  Is winning not good enough?  Do we believe that leading a defense that would be dominant in the first half and leaky in the second is superior to this?

The Colts starting secondary features a rookie safety who was selected in the third round and was injured for training camp, a second-year fourth rounder at the other safety, a second-year second rounder at corner, another corner that the Vikings allowed to walk away, and Kenny Moore – an undrafted free agent who was signed in 2017 after the Patriots waived him.  That secondary has won games against Aaron Rodgers, Ryan Tannehill, Matthew Stafford, and Kirk Cousins.

Does Eberflus get credit for that?  Oh no, because we are too busy screaming “BLITZ, you moron!”

None of his linebackers were first round picks (Leonard – 2nd, Okereke – 3rd, Walker – 5th).  The defensive line is filled with middle round guys, undrafted free agents, and DeForest Buckner – a legit thoroughbred who was drafted seventh overall by the 49ers in 2016.

Do we salute Eberflus’s ability to coach these guys up, hold them accountable for taking plays off and missing tackles, and then putting them in a position to succeed week after week?  Nope!  “BLITZ, you #@*&%$@ idiot!”

I’m not saying that Eberflus is some kind of misunderstood genius, but the numbers – all the numbers – say that when we yell “BLITZ!” at Lucas Oil Stadium, on 107.5 The Fan, or on Twitter, it’s just possible that Eberflus knows more about what he’s doing than we do.

You do what you want, but even though I acknowledge Eberflus’s football acumen trumps mine, I’ll keep yelling “BLITZ!” because it’s a lot more fun than “Cover two!” or “Base!”

Indiana Football – Can the Hoosiers slay Bucky the Goliath tomorrow?

Tom Allen has raised his hands in the locker room after all four games this year. Tomorrow, Indiana fans hope for a fifth!  Tomorrow, he will tell his team, “I love you guys.”  And then they will play like Hoosiers.

“And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen.”

Can #9 Indiana beat #3 Ohio State tomorrow in the biggest game for the Hoosiers program in more than a quarter century?

What could be more Hoosiers 2020 than that?

A growing legion of IU fans are asking themselves if IU can go all Hickory High on Ohio State tomorrow as they count the hours to kickoff.  Not long ago, Hoosiers awaited kickoff against the Buckeyes like a death row inmate anticipated the warden unlocking the cell door to begin the walk to the electric chair.  Not anymore.  Not after Indiana beat Penn State, Rutgers, Michigan, and Michigan State to set up this crazy showdown.

Now, Hoosiers want to know if tomorrow’s game could mirror an Angelo Pizzo script.

There are plenty of reasons to believe Ohio State will win.  Any fool could tell you IU has no chance.  Coming up with a list of reasons takes little effort and no imagination.  Here are just a few – you don’t have the time to read the exhaustive list:

  • IU hasn’t won a game against Ohio State since 1988.
  • Justin Fields is an elite level quarterback
  • Hoosiers are 20.5-point underdogs, and 20+ point dogs do not win very often.
  • Ohio State has won games at the highest percentage in college football history.
  • IU has lost more games than any team in college football history (nine more than Northwestern).
  • Ohio State has 14 five-star recruits on its roster.
  • Indiana has NEVER landed a single five-star, and only 12 four-stars in program history.
  • Ohio State had a COVID bye last week because Maryland had to shut down due to positive tests.

Here is the only reason Indiana can win tomorrow:

  • Winners only need to outscore (not outplay) an opponent for 60 minutes.

That’s it.

Indiana doesn’t need to play better football for 60 minutes, just outscore Ohio State.  A pick six  by Tiawan Mullen or punt return to the house by Reese Taylor – or both – could completely change the calculus of the game.

If Indiana finds a way to win, no one is going to actually grade the Indiana program ahead of Ohio State, but that doesn’t mean Indiana can’t cobble together enough positive plays to carry the day.  This won’t be a best-of-seven series – just a one-game contest – and for one game Indiana can win.

Michael Penix is unlikely to have the kind of NFL career Fields is looking forward to, but that doesn’t mean that on a cloudy Columbus afternoon he can’t hand Fields a loss.

ESPN calculates the chances of Indiana beating Ohio State at 10%, and gamblers aren’t bullish in assessing the possibility of a an Indiana upset either.  Right now, you would need to wager $1,300 on an Ohio State win to net $100.  But football isn’t played by a computer, sports book, or gamblers.  There will be human beings in pads led by other human beings playing a game with a funny shaped ball tomorrow afternoon at the Horseshoe.

It’s not likely Indiana will win, but it wasn’t likely they would run the table to this point.  This has been a weird year where the unlikely has become routine, and what would be more unlikely that Indiana thwacking Ohio State to take control of the Big 10 East tomorrow?

I doubt Allen is going to hoist kicker Charles Campbell on his shoulders with a tape measure to show his team that the goal post at the Horseshoe is 10-feet off the ground just like it is at Memorial Stadium, but if the game follows what would be Pizzo’s script and the game comes down to a decision to try a 55-yard field goal to win or throw a Hail Mary, Campbell needs to look Allen in the eye and say, “I’ll make it.”

And then he needs to do it.

Indiana Pacers fans woke up to find Cassius Stanley under their tree this morning

Another draft night, and no Pacers Woj-bombs. But Cassius Stanley might just win a slam dunk championship!

NBA Draft night is like Christmas to fans.  Some teams provide fans with beautiful presents festooned in fancy colorful suits, and others swap gifts with other teams like they are at a white elephant party.  Still others have routinely forget the spirit of giving.

Add Cassius Stanley to Goga Bitadze, Aaron Holiday, Alize Johnson, T.J. Leaf, Ike Anibogu, and Georges Niang on the list of lumps of coal the Indiana Pacers have provided fans since Myles Turner and Joe Young made us feel like Ralphie opening his Red Ryder B-B gun in A Christmas Story.

The Pacers dealt Caris LaVert to the Brooklyn Nets on draft night in 2016 for Thad Young, but that counts as the only dramatic moment in the last five drafts, and Thad was more like a food processor as a present.

Clearly, Pacers president Kevin Pritchard feels no compulsion to see the eyes of his fans light up on draft night, nor any compulsion to help ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski add to his enormous pile of Twitter followers.

Fans and media get excited on draft night, and Pritchard always disappoints.  He understands that only rubes believe a team that wins draft night will then win games, and most Pacers fans are not rubes.  “Experts” might have you believe a championship was won last night.  It almost certainly was not.  In the last seven drafts, only two top picks have been selected to play in an all-star game, and none have won a championship.  In the last eight seasons, three teams have “earned” the honor of drafting #1 twice (Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Minnesota).

So we can excuse Pritchard for occasionally trading a pick for a live body with a proven track record.  His Pacers keep finding a way to win 50-ish games before bowing out in the first round of the playoffs.  That’s what Thad Young and Malcolm Brogdon have been capable of, and there is nothing wrong with that.  Are they worth what LaVert has become and R.J. Hampton will be?  Young was a great dude and competent player, and Hampton’s future is unknown compared to Brogdon.

The Pacers are what their record says they are – a good team filled with good people who work hard to win at a level just beyond their talent.  It’s not sexy, but it keeps hopeful butts in seats.

With second round picks, Pritchard tries to find a guy with whom the Pacers might hit the jackpot.  These are Powerball type players who might crash the rotation with a series of great breaks – or, much more likely, they will crash and burn out of the league.  So far, Pritchard has been 0-fer with his second round picks.

Maybe Stanley with be different.  He is a freak athlete from Mike Krzyzewski’s Duke program with a better vertical jump than Zion Williamson – at least it was when Duke measured him.  He can shoot it a little bit, and while not long (78 inches tall/79 inches long) Stanley can defend the perimeter because he is lightning quick.

He averaged 12.4 points per game last year, but dropped 20 or more on Georgetown, Miami, Louisville, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech.  What does that mean?  Well, it could mean he shows up for big games – or, maybe he fades in less important games.  Hard to say, and that might be why he fell to #54.

While Stanley is a one-and-done, he’s 21-year-old.  That could mean he has an uncommon maturity for his class.  Or, maybe he grew late and his NBA agent father held him back because he wasn’t being recruited at the Duke level with the high school class he chronologically belonged to.  Who knows?

What we do know is that no one is going to find Pritchard guilty of managerial malfeasance if Stanley craps out.  General managers passed 53 times last night when they had a chance to grab Stanley.  He is unlikely to be more than a widget level player, and the Pacers may never win or lose a game because of him.  Stanley may win a slam dunk championship at Bankers Life Fieldhouse during the all-star break, but he’s less likely to help the Pacers win their first NBA title.

That’s what another highly anticipated draft night brought the Pacers and their fans.  Another Christmas came and went without joy.

Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein leaving without regrets or drama

Theo Epstein came into Wrigley Field with the smile of an executive with a chance to do something special in 2011 and he’ll leave Friday with the smile of an executive who has done it.

Cubs president Theo Epstein is leaving the team on Friday, and there is a lot of chatter about what nefariousness occurred to cause this change at the top of the franchise’s front office.

The answer appears to be that Epstein is leaving because the time has come.  It’s simple as that.

Sometimes the most least complicated answer is accurate, despite our desire for a juicy soap opera narrative.  It would be great if Theo burst into the office of owner Tom Ricketts and demanded enough cash to sign all of the guys scheduled to hit free agency at the end of the 2021 season (Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, and Kyle Schwarber).  Ricketts tells him to “Get the hell out of here! And make an appointment next time you want a second of my time!”

That would have been juicy, especially if Epstein then leaned across Ricketts desk, gave him a slap across the top of the head, and said, “Listen, Ugarte, you raise your voice to me again, I’ll squeeze you like the rich pimple you are!”  [Ugarte was the name of Pette Lorre’s character in Casablanca, the all-time great film written by Theo’s grandfather and great uncle.]

Of course, none of that happened.  Epstein came to accept that once a leader sets in place a succession plan, the succession occurs.  That plan involved Jed Hoyer, Epstein’s lieutenant, taking the reins a year from now, when Epstein’s contract was to die a natural death.  It slid up to this Friday because in baseball, you are either all in or all out.  Halfway doesn’t cut it.

So Epstein leaves the Cubs without drama, and Hoyer needs to make some big decisions in a hurry.  Will he talk Ricketts into one more ride with Bryant, Baez, and Schwarber, or will he try to deal the Cubs into another group of potential generational talents capable of contending for another world championship?

Maybe Epstein didn’t want to separate the nucleus that brought the Northside of Chicago it’s first ever World Series crown (remember, the Cubs played at the West Side Grounds until 1916, when they moved into what is now Wrigley Field.

Whatever comes next for Epstein, his legacy as one of the greatest sports executives in Chicago Sports history is secure.  Other than George Halas, there is no one close in terms of impact upon his team or the city.

Hoyer has big shoes to fill in how he performs while president.  Hopefully, he can approach the bar set for operational excellence, and then easily clears it for drama in how he leaves.

 

Entire March Madness could be – and should be – coming to Indianapolis!

March Madness, Indy-ed!

A perfect storm of COVID spread, enthusiasm for college basketball, and a plethora of facilities will give the City of Indianapolis an NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament to remember forever, if the NCAA pulls the trigger on plans to hold all rounds of the NCAA Tournament where only the Final Four was originally scheduled.

Logistics for this number of games in a 21 day span can be complicated, but coming to Indy will make it very simple for schools, TV networks, and the NCAA to hold its event as safely as possible.  Indy will need four gyms, and we have them.  Lucas Oil Stadium, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indiana Farmer Coliseum, and Hinkle Fieldhouse should work nicely as host sites for four first round games each on Thursday and Friday.

There were enough hotel rooms for the 2012 Super Bowl, so I’m guessing tournament games with limited fans won’t provide a demand for rooms that cannot be met.  Restaurants are craving business, and this might provide 14 days of big business.

Indianapolis is the perfect city to host an event like this.  Even with the four venues that will be used, no one needs to drive or Uber more than six miles to a game – or set of four games.  Hotels are all downtown.  The airport is an easy 15 minute drive.  This city was literally designed to host Final Fours, or a series of NCAA basketball events in the same 19 days.

I would feel bad for the cities that planned for a subregional or regional, but these are weird times and I just don’t feel like pitying others because Indianapolis finally caught a break.

The NCAA Tournament is a magical event that brings an influx of energetic people with fat wallets into a city eager to watch their school’s program roll the dice toward a Final Four and National Championship.  That all games might be played here seems like such a great idea, it should be adopted without hesitation – and permanently.

Indiana Basketball – Let’s not even talk about it until the beautiful football dream ends one way of the other!

If you are looking for a reason an IU vs. Ohio State game is between two top 10 teams for the first time, and basketball is out of sight and out of mind – Tiawan Mullen is a great place to start.

Here we are nine days away from the start of college basketball season, and I’m still giving serious thought to the possibilities offered by Indiana University’s football team.

I keep thinking, “This must be what it’s like to be a Notre Dame graduate.”  You know, the Indiana program with legendary names like The Gipper, Rockne, Leahy, Hornung, Parseghian, Montana, Holtz, and Brown.  In Bloomington, we struggle to come up with a roster of football immortals.  Taliaferro, Gonzo, Wilbur, Mineo, Waiters, and Dittoe just don’t roll off the tongue as easily as those Notre Dame icons.

Basketball has historically been the game that generated heat during the fall and winter – not football.  McCracken, Bellamy, Knight, Isiah, Alford, and Cheaney – now those are names that get some attention among Indiana boosters.

But something happened in this weird year of 2020.  IU Football suddenly got good – or at least a lot better than their first four opponents – and now alums, boosters, and students are wondering exactly how good the Hoosiers playing with the oblong ball might be.

This Saturday, Tom Allen and his Hoosiers will either get a lesson in humility or shock the college football world when they measure themselves against the best program in the Big 10.  Indiana is 4-0 after beating Penn State, Rutgers, Michigan, and Michigan State – teams with a combined 3-13 record.  No one is sure exactly how good the teams Indiana has beaten are, but everyone knows how good Ohio State is.

The Buckeyes are #3 in America for a reason, and quarterback Justin Fields is a Heisman candidate for a reason too.  Indiana has Tiawan Mullen and Reese Taylor as stud cornerbacks, and Ty Fryfogle is the reigning Big 10 Offensive Player of the Week, but history tells us they will have trouble competing successfully in the Horseshoe.

If you want a clear picture of the historical difference between the Indiana and Ohio State programs, check the image below from Winsipedia:

If you are an Ohio State fan, that graphic is a source of pride.  If you’re from Indiana, it speaks loudly to why waiting for basketball season keeps you busy before Thanksgiving.  IU fans should trust me without examining it too closely.  It shows unpleasant things.

That could all change this weekend.  The last time Indiana beat Ohio State in 1988. That was John Cooper’s first year as Ohio State’s coach, and marked the first time IU got over on Ohio State in consecutive years since 1905.  I don’t remember it well, having discarded it as a likely hallucination.

Whatever happens this Saturday, the ride with Tom Allen and his Hoosiers has been a lot of fun.  It’s made the wait for basketball much more tolerable, and if they win it will make the hoops opener against Tennessee Tech next Wednesday less relevant than any opener in program history.

Let’s not even talk about the odds of IU winning Saturday though.  No need to make it real until it has to be.  Right now, this game between undefeated teams exists as a beautiful dream that ends with Ty Fryfogle and Micah McFadden carrying a delirious Allen off the field after he head bumps helmeted offensive line monolith Celeb Jones in another ill-advised celebration.

That impossible dream should be kept intact without reality interceding until 12 p.m. Saturday when it can no longer be avoided.

If somehow, LEO and Florida speed can put together 60 perfect minutes, we will start talking about Maryland.  If not, Trayce Jackson-Davis and All Durham will earn our full focus.

As thrilling as these four weeks have been, this is still Indiana, you know.

Indiana shuts out Sparty to stay undefeated! Fans need to get better expecting success

Tom Allen is getting pretty good at being a gracious winner with opposing coaches – much better than I am at expecting his team to win.

“What are you doing?  Kick the field goal!  Make it a four-score game!” – me to the TV as Indiana went for it on fourth and two from the Michigan State five yard-line, ahead 24-0 with 4:25 left in the third quarter.

Something is wrong with me!  Shutting out Michigan State in East Lansing is yet another thing the Hoosiers have not done since 1969, and I’m yelling about math.  Indiana finished the job without that field goal and another chip shot they passed up in the fourth quarter, beating the Spartans 24-0.

Indiana’s record is now 4-0 in the Big 10 for the first time since 1987, when ironically Michigan State beat the Hoosiers 27-3 in East Lansing.  IU fans probably remember better Lorenzo White‘s stats from that day than Michigan State boosters.  His 56 carries for 292 yards ended the Hoosiers chances of going to the Rose Bowl, but I digress.

A neighbor walked past the house at 11:45 this morning.  He opened our talk with a hearty “Go IU!”  It wasn’t more than a minute into our talk that he voiced what every Indiana fan has felt since Michael Penix stretched for the pylon in the second overtime against Penn State.  “I don’t know how to feel or what to think,” he said.

Exactly.

Every Saturday, I fear the worst and then feel silly after the first couple of drives.  Indiana has pivoted from laughing stock hoping to pull an occasional upset to a bonafide badass Big 10 team with speed, depth, and the right amount of swagger.

Like most Indiana fans, I thought 3-5 was a reasonable guess at their final record for this shortened season.  IU has been a program that traditionally fattened its win total with games against lesser non-conference teams as it hoped to slip into a bowl with a 6-6 record.  The double overtime win against Penn State, an expected thrashing of Rutgers, a hilarious beatdown of the fighting Harbaugh’s of Michigan, and now a shutout of Sparty have exceeded that win total with four contests left.

The second half of the season begins with the Hoosiers paired against #3 Ohio State in Columbus, and of course IU fans are wary of getting too enthusiastic about the prospects of bumping their record to 5-0.  On the line will be a potential trip the Indianapolis for the Big 10 Championship and a possible top 5 ranking.

Those heights are dizzying for fans of the all-time losingest Power Five football program.  I went to IU in the 1980s, and it has never occurred to me that they could contend for a National Championship.  I don’t mean that I rejected the idea.  It’s that, like being the first man to walk on one of Jupiter’s moons, the possibility has never existed in my brain as a conscious thought.

I was content being from a university where “we never lose a party.”  Tailgating with every intention of going into Memorial Stadium but having too much fun with friends to leave the beer and laughs led to a lot of wonderful Saturdays and no regrets.  What were we going to miss – bearing witness to a miserable beatdown or crushing collapse?

COVID has taken that choice from us, but I’m certain that I would now be unusually conflicted as kickoff approached.  For the first time since 1967, the party on the inside might be better than the party on the outside.  That reality might seem odd at every other Power Five university, but this is Indiana.

I keep waiting for the traditional harsh reality of Indiana Football’s mediocrity to return, as though the Hoosiers posted four wins through equal shares of good luck and COVID-related chaos, instead of improved talent and increased discipline.  I’ve anticipated it during each of these four wins, only to be thrilled that it didn’t.

This Saturday, the opponent won’t be some group of slaps from a down-and-out formerly respected program.  Indiana will play the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.  Indiana and Ohio State will both be ranked in the top 10 for the first time in the history of their series which dates back to 1901 – which pre-dates polls by 33 years!

For a little context, IU has been ranked in the top 10 for consecutive weeks twice – in 1945 and 1967.  The Buckeyes have not been ranked outside the top 10 for consecutive weeks in six years.

It’s hard to imagine Indiana beating Ohio State, but it was hard to imagine a 4-0 start too.  I’m not very good at this whole imagining thing yet.  I’ll work on it this week because I’m not sure when I might get another chance.  See?  Like I said – not very good at this.

LEO!