temptation

But, but, but underlined words are hard on my eyes!

And “my opinion” is 2-0 (soon to be 4-0) against yours in recent memory. 😉

Yes, but your claim that they are on pace to catch the big three AFTER A HALF OF A RECRUITING CYCLE is laughable.

And if you look at the individual game spreads, they are favored in 7 of the 12. Sept. 4 – at Iowa (Indiana +5.5) Sept. 11 – Idaho (Indiana -32.5) Sept. 18 – Cincinnati (Indiana +1.5) Sept. 25 – at WKU (Indiana -21.5) Oct. 2 – at Penn State (Indiana +6.5) Oct. 16 – Michigan State (Indiana -16.5) Oct. 23 – Ohio State (Indiana +11) Oct. 30 – at Maryland (Indiana -6.5) Nov. 6 – at Michigan (Indiana +3.5) Nov. 13 – Rutgers (Indiana -16.5) Nov. 20 – Minnesota (Indiana -6.5) Nov. 27 – at Purdue (Indiana -6.5) I say they split Minnesota and Maryland. Not sure they have proven enough to get that much love on the road plus the Michigan State and Rutgers spreads seem high to me.

Nothing else needs to be said. Your excitement for the program is valid but everyone else’s point that on the field results matter a hell of a lot more than recruiting rankings is also valid. Notre Dame is a solid tier 2 program that does things the right way. End of thread.

Yep. Know your place. Hate to break it to IU fans but 2020 was an anomaly and not the new norm. Were they in the Big Ten West, I might have a different outlook but the mountain is simply too high to climb in the Big Ten East.

Here’s how I see things: Gimmes: Idaho, Western Kentucky Leaning Win: Michigan State, Maryland, Rutgers, Purdue Leaning Loss: Cincinnati, Minnesota Likely Loss: Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa Willing to bet Vegas agrees with perhaps Maryland, Minnesota flipped.

Two previous statements from Temp: 1. While they may give some fans a warm and fuzzy feeling, bowl wins are an overrated metric in today’s era of college football. 2. Put me down in permanent marker for under 7 wins for the Hoosiers.

No reversible jacket for this guy.

Don’t confuse excitement with reality. Until the gap closes ON THE FiELD, no one nationally will view ND as a legitimate threat. Being fair to the Irish, this is also true for 126 other football programs.

But I know plenty who aren’t.

Couldn’t agree more. Transparent as hell. Sounds like a “what you see is what you get” kind of guy and someone kids love to play for. Also love them adding Carmel in a home/home. Elkhart just gained a fan.

“I agree with all this. I think that the HCC has had a team pretty close about every other year, but hasn't broken through. We became the first HCC team to make the 6A State Championship last year. Center Grove killed us, but we played them as close as anyone else and went toe to toe the second half. Honestly all of 6A seems to be chasing Center Grove and Carmel every year, while Ben Davis and Warren Central have also put together an incredible team recently. New Pal and Cathedral have been capable of beating the MIC and they aren't in either conference. The other MIC schools and HCC schools can do it. I think once it happens once for the HCC it will happen regularly. We have to have the team and the confidence to break through that first time. I'm hoping its the Rocks in 2021.“ 2-0...

This dude...

I may be in the minority here but the pageantry and tradition of college football is what keeps me tuned in. The sport has a lot of flaws but walking around your favorite college campus (particularly if it’s in the Midwest) on a fall Saturday morning in anticipation of a big contest is a feeling like no other. The names on the back of the jerseys are secondary to me honestly. I’ll watch regardless and pay little attention to what those players end up doing on Sundays.

“Defense wins meaningless bowl games.”

Welcome to 8-4...the average points per game of the CFP champion since the inception of the playoff is just over 40 per game. I was being conservative with 35 I guess.

I always keep receipts. 2019: Noblesville/Homestead (FB) 1-0 2020: Carmel/Homestead (BB) 2-0 2021: IU under 6.5 2025: ND is on par and competing regularly with Bama You might wanna consider making this a best of 9 series.

I agree on this one and “defense wins championships” is the most outdated sports idiom still making the rounds. You need to score 35+ to win in most modern day football contests at the college level and need a competent defense that can get occasional stops and hold teams to 3 in the red zone.

Bowl games are not a good metric in my opinion, especially non playoff/NY6 bowl games. They've become exhibitions in which many teams are disinterested. Northwestern has punched above their weight most years under Fitz and I’m honestly amazed he hasn’t left for a better gig.

LOL, you answered your own question earlier. When you are in a division with LSU/Bama losing those two annually puts you out of contention for “top 5” in most cases. I will add one caveat to my Wisconsin statement. Being in the Big Ten West has also helped them in terms of being in the conversation at the end of the season.

They no longer have 2-3 Big XII gimmes on the schedule annually. The SEC is big boy football...they are 6th in the SEC which is still top 15 in America. Surprised that Wisconsin continues to do more with less than any other program in America. I keep awaiting their demise and it simply never happens.

“HCC- The separation between the MIC & HCC is really close. Programs, commitment, talent & vision of the 2 conferences are close. MIC teams have slightly more depth…programs who build it the right way don’t use one tool to evaluate growth & success. The 2 conferences will continue to get closer & closer.“ Check mate.

Yep, this is gonna get messy.

Proposal aside, one thing that cannot be debated is that teams 25-32 in 6A have ZERO shot at a state championship under the current format. ZERO.