Footballking16

14 minutes ago, DT said:

Good callout on the players out of action for Miss.     IU should be at full strength which should mitigate the talent disparity.  Should be a close high scoring game.   

I got IU 42-31

1 hour ago, Boilernation said:

Anyone else have a feeling that Ole Miss is going to win by double digits? I don't think IU can keep Kiffin's offense under 28 and IU's offense hasnn't looked great in the post Penix era. The storyline will be that IU didn't belong in the NY6 conversation from those who probably don't even realize they lost a player of Penix's magnitude. 

Anything can happen as we've seen in these bowls. But Ole Miss top 2 WR and top 2 backs have either opted out or are injured. Not sure I would categorize offense as struggling post-Penix. Penix actually looked TERRIBLE in his last start against Maryland before getting injured. I thought Tuttle did a fine job in his first career start. Say what you want about Wisconsin, but statistically they have one of the best defenses in the country this year. Tuttle did well managing the game. Didn't force anything and threw 2 TD's and no INT's. Lone blemish was a fumble trying to extend a play in which he already had the first down. Yardage was modest but let's not forget Miles Marshall dropped a 65 yard touchdown to go up 21-6 without a defender within 15 yards of him. 3 TD's 0 INT and 200 yards on the road in your first career start probably erases some of those doubts. 

16 minutes ago, Irishman said:

It really is too bad though that he is just a mediocre coach. Orgeron is the type of character that is great to have around. 

Never understood the need to move on from Les Miles. Miles won 10+ games 7 times (in 11 full years) and his worst season was 8-5. That's all playing in the hardest division in college football. Was 3-7 against Saban with 2 of those losses coming in OT. Recruiting and talent influx will never be a problem for Orgeron given their monopoly on in-state recruiting but I don't see his coaching abilities ever allowing him to be a consistent 10+ game winner like his predecessor. 

National championship or not, Ed Orgeron isn’t a very good coach. Lucked into Joe Burrow, who was meh as a junior, and parlayed it into a special year. Players coach and a helluva recruiting but very mediocre when it comes to X’s and O’s.

12 minutes ago, DT said:

But COVID did indeed hit UW harder than any other BT program.  It will take them some time to reciover and get back to full strength.  Others , inluding Illinois, will capitalize on the opportunity.

Purdue looks ill prepared to cash in on the opportunity.

Neither does Nebraska

Iowa appears to be the program with the most upside in the west.  

Illinois is 4-5 years away from developing a semblance of the Offensive line that Wisconsin has now and that's assuming Bielema starts now. Freshman and Sophomores don't come in and dominant the line. Three years before Illinois wins the West sounds like Purdue fans when Brohm went 7-6 in his inaugural year.  

22 minutes ago, DT said:

The Wisconsin program is down, at a decade low.

I'm sure COVID ravishing that program didn't help. Wisconsin replaced 4/5 starters on the OL and one of the better B10 RB's in conference history. Stopping and starting practice likely didn't help the Badgers development. Wisconsin still had a very stout defense. Big Ten West still runs through Madison next year and until further notice.

19 minutes ago, southend said:

If IU wins , they won’t climb in any of the polls. If they lose, drop out of the top 20. 
this isn’t like losing to Auburn or Florida or LSU. 
Indiana should pass on this menial bowl invite

A huge disservice to its fans, players, and coaches not playing this game. Tom Allen is not the one to back down from anything. 

14 minutes ago, temptation said:

So, I should bet the over?

Probably not a terrible bet.

18 minutes ago, temptation said:

Can we judge Ole Miss’ defense on a level equal to IU’s?  Based on the teams mentioned above, is that fair? 
They are by no means elite, but speak softly when you throw them under the bus.  They are playing against future NFL offensive skill players week in and week out, whereas IU took advantage of a soft Big 10.
 

And, no, it’s not the Hoosiers’ fault the Big Ten was down but you can’t have it both ways.  Is it Ole Miss’ fault they play in the SEC West?  
 

IU fans:  From happy to make a bowl game to holier than thou, too good for a New Year’s Day Bowl game in less than a year...

There’s a reason it’s a 7 point spread folks.  It’s not that far fetched to say Ole Miss would have finished third in the Big Ten East this year, is it?

No doubt they play good offenses in the SEC, but they also gave up 41 to Kentucky, 33 to Arkansas, and 42 to South Carolina. None of those teams I would venture to say have better offenses than IU, Penix or no Penix.

17 minutes ago, southend said:

Back to topic, Indiana is playing a no win game here. Mississippi is a good team. They put up 21 on alabama and Arkansas. Theyput up 28 against auburn, 35 on Florida and 48 on LSU. All losses but still.  And any where from 40 to 60 points in their wins. 
A win by Indiana and everyone will say that they should have beat a team with a losing record. A loss , that could well happen ,and then IU drops out of the top 20 at least. 

Terrible call on IU’s part to accept ,a non top 6 bowl game.  

 

Haven't won a bowl game in 30 years. IU isn't going to get any respect until they start winning bowl games. Tampa is arguably IU's biggest recruiting hotbed and with 20 some players on IU's roster from the Tampa area this is a no-brainer. 

21 minutes ago, temptation said:

I’ve never seen seven games of success go to a fanbase’s head so quickly.

IU deserves better than this game and you know it. They were royally screwed.

21 minutes ago, temptation said:

The Hoosiers have beaten no one significance in terms of 2020.

So beating Ole Miss shouldn't come as a surprise then. Is it IU's fault Penn St, Michigan, Michigan State, and Wisconsin weren't significant this year? No. Ole Miss isn't of any significance either.

21 minutes ago, temptation said:

They probably deserve better but, trust me, Ole Miss’s offense will put up their fair share of points.

Ole Miss has a good offense, but their defense is equally as bad. Look for IU to control the tempo and keep Ole Miss offense off the field. 

21 minutes ago, temptation said:

Easily the second best offense IU has seen all year.

Maybe so, but like I said above, this is likely the worst defense IU will see all year. Lane Kiffin is an overt failure in these type of games and a pissed off IU has something to prove against a team who likely doesn't want to be there. 

18 minutes ago, BTF said:

The Big Ten was lousy this year, no question about it. Was Penn State that bad when IU played them or did their victory send them into a tailspin? What about Wisconsin? The Badgers are a pretty good football team in my opinion. IU managed to beat them even without Penix. And without Penix, I'm expecting a victory over Ole Miss. I think IU's defense is for real. How good is the SEC this year?...........I guess we'll find out in the bowl games.

Either way, IU was ranked #7 by the AP and #11 by the committee. They were more deserving of a NY6 game than Iowa State was. It surprises me that the committee didn't feel the same. They certainly deserved to play a ranked team with a winning record. 

The committee seems hell bent on pitting Power Conferences against one another in the bowls. I thought it was a disservice to put Coastal against Liberty. Give those teams a chance against a Power 5. Now we'll never know if those two teams are legit or not. 

If there's any team to have a gripe other than Indiana, it's Coastal Carolina and honestly they have a bigger axe to grind. Coastal went undefeated and beat Louisiana, the same team who handed Iowa State a 17 point home loss. Absolute travesty that Iowa State with 3 losses is in a NY6 bowl. There's literally ZERO justification for it. 

Stop it

5 hours ago, DT said:

Im sure the Ole Miss kids would rather play UNC, OU, USC or Oregon. 

And probably the reason why they’ll lose by 2-3 TD’s. Anyone else remember the beat down Minnesota gave Auburn in the same bowl game last year because their “kids would rather play UNC, OU, USC, or Oregon”?

1 hour ago, DT said:

Not really.  Mississippi is the #29 team on the talent composite with 16 4 star players.  IU is #53 with five 4 star players.  UMISS might actually be the one that is insulted.

https://247sports.com/Season/2020-Football/CollegeTeamTalentComposite/

Why in the hell would Ole Miss be slighted? They’re 4-5 and don’t deserve to be in a bowl game to begin with. And since when is  the bowl selection process based on composite recruiting rankings??? Your fascination with high school rankings are well...fascinating. Games are played on the field and results do and SHOULD be the only thing that matters. If games were decided on recruiting rankings IU would have finished 1-6 this year, not 6-1.

Just a travesty all around. Shouldn’t be this upset because I knew three weeks ago this would happen when the committee didn’t move IU an inch after beating ranked Wisconsin on the road....with a backup QB, but this is wrong on so many levels. Shame on the CFB committee and even bigger shame on the B10. The B10’s idiotic decision to delay the start of the season was compounded even further by their even dumber decision to enact a 21 day sit period for all positive cases. The only logical reason why I can see IU getting the shaft on a NY6 bowl is due to the fact they only played 7 games. There’s absolutely ZERO reason why Georgia or Iowa State deserve to be ranked ahead of IU other than the fact they played more games than Indiana. Because God knows their resumes aren’t better.

 IU will be more than motivated to play this game and I expect them to beat the living piss out of Ole Miss.

Just now, temptation said:

Have they released those matchups?  Do you have inside info?

Embracing and expecting it.

10 minutes ago, temptation said:

Eh, Iowa State got their “bad losses” out of the way early.  
 

I am convinced that Florida did not plummet simply to maintain interest in the SEC title game.

This isn’t still about Indiana is it?

Indiana, Coastal Carolina, teams that were snubbed NY6 Bowls to teams with 3 losses. 

4 hours ago, temptation said:

And in college football WHEN you lose supersedes all.  

Unless you’re Iowa State or Florida....

On 12/17/2020 at 5:03 PM, DT said:

The Buckeyes basically fell asleep after quickly scoring to go up 35-7 in Q3.  Cavernous Ohio Stadium was empty and dead quiet.  Hoosiers took advantage of the lull and made it interesting.  I was on the boat and second guessing my decision to bail on the game while following on my trusty Blackberry, but it was over and we all know it.

Bottom line, OSUs seconds beat IUs firsts 90% of the time.

We still have a 35 year winless streak against Brutus, big play offense or not.  .  It is what it is.  IU is not a roadblock to OSU, it is an impediment.  Will continue to be so until we finally beat the Bucks and string together 3 out of 5 to show some consistency.  

 

 

I could just as easily make the case that IU’s 35-7 deficit was as much self-inflicted as it was Ohio State.

On 4th and 2 early in the 2nd quarter, IU dropped a crossing route inside OSU territory that would have set up 1st and 10 inside the red zone. Ohio State then went on to score to take a 2 TD lead.

Trailing 21-7 late in the second half, IU’s receiver catches a pass in stride inside OSU’s 10 yard line, runs into the referee and fumbles. Instead of the score being 21-14 at half, OSU goes down the field to extend the lead to 28-7.

I don’t buy for one notion that OSU let off the gas. IU figured it out how to get to Fields and bothered him all afternoon. IU realized they could bully OSU’s DB’s up and down the field.

9 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

Or an asterisk. There should also be an asterisk on the BIG10 trophy...................grrrrrrr.

At peace with the B10's decision. Ohio State did beat us head to head and they deserve to represent the East. Only thing that irks me is that had the roles been reversed and it was IU sitting at 5-0 and Ohio State 6-1 you know there's not a chance in hell there's even a discussion about amending the rules. 

Maybe we can put a "C" on there?

17 minutes ago, temptation said:

Nope, but refer to my earlier point.  This thing is a popularity contest.  Does anyone at Georgia or Miami know that Indiana HAS a football team?

If its a popularity contest, why is a 2 loss Iowa State ranked 7th? If that was the case, they wouldn't be ranked in the top 20, let alone 7th.

If its a popularity contest, an undefeated Cincinnati team would be ranked somewhere around 15th just like every other G5 in years past.

If its a popularity contest, they somehow would have found a way to put a 4-0 USC team, starving for needed national attention, in the top 8.

10 minutes ago, temptation said:

I mean it was a good win and you are not going to want to hear this, but have the Hoosiers actually beaten anyone GOOD?

Has Georgia beaten anyone GOOD? Miami? 

10 minutes ago, temptation said:

Does anything beyond FOUR really matter?  5-10th is all the same.

It'll be Bama (regardless of what happens in the SEC title game).

It'll be the winner of Clemson/Notre Dame.

It'll be Ohio State.

It'll be either Florida (if they upset Bama in the SEC title game) or Texas A&M (if Bama beats Florida).

 

Yawn...

For a program like Indiana? Absolutely. A top 10 ranking gets IU a NY6 Bowl and would be monumental for the program going forward. I'm not arguing nor think IU deserves to be in discussion for the actual 4 team playoff, but they are getting absolutely shafted right now. Beating Wisconsin on the road and not moving up a spot is ridiculous.