NT

Spent some time over on Nebraska’s board. That fan base is pretty funny.

You can basically put them in two categories when it comes to how they feel about their Huskers:

1. They will be lucky to win another game

2. They can beat Ohio State, win out and make the playoffs

I think that fan base suffers from PTSD.

Sweet.

And had IU ranked ahead of Bama , 7 games in, on their Bingo card?

So my wife and I went to Bedford and voted early. Democrats and Republicans both in the room. Had to show valid drivers license to vote. It was checked against your registration. Why do democrats fight against Voter ID?

With early voting I don’t get the need for millions of mail in voters.

Thinking it's Cherry but I have never seen a depth chart for this team.

Not great news but Nebraska was not likely to overcome a 21-point deficit so I'm holding out hope that this is somewhat precautionary. We will see how the offense looks with TJ at the helm. This gets him some experience in case he has to take over for a week or two. Hopefully it's just a contusion that will get better in a few days but you could tell it was really hurting him by the way he was holding his hand coming off the field.

Coach Cig has two new challenges this week and both are really big. The obvious one is not having Rourke available. I kept hearing Joel Klatt say that Rourke’s strength was his ability to process quickly based on what the defense was doing. Jackson is athletic and has a strong arm (touch?), but can he process quickly/correctly? Second, Coach Cigs says frequently the team needs to guard against complacency; after a dominant win in front of a national audience last week, will the team build on this or will some complacency set in? I think UW will be a tougher opponent than Nebraska.

What an incredible and improbable season. As a 60 year IU fan at times it just doesn’t seem real. Thank you Coach Cig!

Moving on up!

Would have liked a couple spots higher, but keep bringing the bulletin board fodder.

Talking heads, voters, continue to underestimate this team. It’ll be fun!

Anybody see yourself, about 35 secs in? Notice how he even has a red phone. And based on the time of day I imagine he was following the score of the Nebraska game.

Damn, we be everwyhere...

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To keep Shanahan I am afraid

I’m half expecting a mention from Joe Buck tonight about Saturday’s beatdown.
It would be awesome if he showed up Saturday for Gameday,he sounds like he’s all in on Cig.

Must be coincidence... For some reason it's always someone who in one way or another fell (pun intended) out of Vlad's good graces...

Only one game and perhaps the Ahia game would have been a better one to judge, but I wasn't all that impressed in their last game.

I thought their pass game was as good as ours as well as their pass defense.

Their running game looked nowhere near where ours is and their run defense was easily manipulated by Purdue spreading the field and going one on one.

Good team vs a bad team but #2? If so, we are awfully close to that.

Early betting line, but I bet if Rourke was healthy that line would be double digit. I still can’t see Cig’s squad playing a game at home with just a one score margin, even with our backup QB.

Yesterday's beat down of Nebraska, which had been considered to be competitive with IU able to cause us some problems, was unexpected by all but a few people. IU starts out the season with a strong defensive game but only an okay on offense. IU hit its stride on both sides of the ball with 77-3 win, a win against Charlotte scoring in the forties then traveled to Los Angeles to take on UCLA. Once again, we see IU take care of business and finish the game in a way to eliminate all doubt about not winning again. Next was Maryland that whipped IU last season but couldn't measure up to IU this year. On to NW and the defense that was going to put IU down. IU's offense was clicking and no defense was going to stop them. A bye week that had pundits wondering if IU was for real despite their 6-0 start. Nebraska week and once again IU was facing a defense too good to beat, IU promptly went out and put 56 points on them and scored five rushing TDs on a group that hadn't given up one score in six games.

Oh what a feeling having a football team that takes on anyone knowing IU will win.

This sucks. Several big games on peacock this year.

I will be heading to a tailgate that is in the east/orange lot. I will not be parking in said lot.

Any suggestions on where I should park and walk from (with wife and 2 kids)?

Do I just need to suck it up and park in the tailgate lot somewhere?

The latest on a lot of big names:

I'm sure not many people have read her book "Enough", but it was probably the best "insider" account of the Trump White House that I have read. In fact, it was so disgusting and gross in terms of what was going on prior to and after the election that I finally had to put it down. Just to frame this correctly, she broke up with her long term boyfriend because he was a conservative Republican but didn't like Trump. She was on the team that was going to go down to Mar a Lago (Sp?) after the election...and she was all Trump after the election. Then everything unwound, and her account of it is fascinating. I know the MAGAs aren't going to read it, but she was all MAGA all the time before she witnessed what she did and laid out in her book.

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When times get bad, I look back.

Back to my personal greatest IU football day ever.

Back to the year after the Poulan Weed Eater Bowl

Back to the week after The Ol' Ball Coach put a Bielema on Kentucky in Gainesville

Back to the day Zebra and I headed over to Lexington to help support the Hoosiers.

And back to the day we rolled Kentucky like a Bourbon Barrel going downhill.


Alex Smith - wherever you are - I still owe you a cold one brother. Look me up.






DEFENSELESS CATS DRILLED 59-29

BY JOHN CLAY - HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

Sunday, September 18, 1994

They ran around, they ran over, they ran through. And then they ran around, they ran over, they ran through. And then, just for good measure, the Indiana Hoosiers ran around, they ran over, and they ran through. And through. And through.

And when it was done, the IU ground machine had rolled up a stunning 564 yards to steamroll a defenseless Kentucky 59-29 last night at Commonwealth Stadium.

"I've never been more embarrassed or more angry," UK Coach Bill Curry said. "I don't think I can pick between the two."

"Couldn't" was a Cat catchword on a night when the home team couldn't catch, couldn't tackle and couldn't slow down a trio of Hoosier tailbacks, led by Alex Smith, a redshirt freshman who plowed through UK's swiss cheese of a defense for 221 yards and two touchdowns -- one a 63-yard run -- on just 19 carries

Backup Jermaine Chaney, a third-teamer, added 167 yards on 17 carries, including a 50-yard dash for a score. Brett Law, the second-teamer, added 97 yards on 13 carries, including one for a touchdown. Even quarterback John Paci picked up 48 yards and and ran for three scores as IU improved to 3-0.

They ran around, they ran over, they ran through. In fact, the Hoosiers' 650 yards of total offense was the most ever allowed by UK, surpassing the 649 that Warren McVea and Houston poured on the Cats in 1966. The 564 rushing yards were the most ever by Indiana and the most allowed by UK, topping the 426 yards Curry's Cats gave up to Mississippi State in 1991.

"To have someone run up and down the football field like that makes it look like you've never practiced the fundamentals," said Curry, whose disheveled squad is 1-2. "Indiana has a fine football team, but that had nothing to do with tonight."

And we thought was Florida was bad.

Indeed, stacked atop last week's 73-7 drubbing at Florida Field by Steve Spurrier's top-ranked Gators, the combined 132 points were the most ever allowed in back-to-back games by UK. The previous mark was 89, set in the final two games of 1990, Curry's debut campaign.

"We can't figure out what's going on," said linebacker Donte Key. "I don't have an explanation."

"We just can't believe this is happening," said linebacker David Snardon.

The defensive debacle far overshadowed an offensive performance that saw UK quarterback Antonio O'Ferral throw for a career-high 244 yards and three touchdowns, and tailback Moe Williams gain 72 yards on 16 carries. That was far too little and way too late.

The Hoosiers made it so, running around, running over and running through. In three games, UK has allowed 360 rushing yards a game. And where Louisville and Florida relied on draws and delays off a passing game, Indiana just ran straight at the collapsible Cats. "There was no trickery," said Curry.

Just old-fashioned Bill Mallory-style smash-mouth football, run to near perfection. "We had to get right at them, and we did that offensively," Mallory said. "We controlled the line."

Make that dominated the line. Indiana had the football six times in the first half; it scored touchdowns on the first five drives, then missed a 54- yard field goal on the final play of the half.

Drive No. 1: Tate Harbottle, a senior defensive end, blocked a Nicky Nickels punt, giving IU the ball at the UK 22. Smith, running like Emmitt, ripped off 13 yards up the middle, then 9 more to the end zone. IU led 7-0.

Drive No. 2: Taking over on their 43, Smith ticked off runs of 12 and 17 yards. Paci did the honors, sneaking over from the 1. IU 14-0.

Drive No. 3: After Brian Sivinski kicked a 48-yard field goal, the Hoosiers went 77 yards. Paci had an 18-yard scramble and a 22-yard completion to tight end Ben Klusmeyer. Paci hit the sophomore for the touchdown from 5 yards out. IU 21-3.

Drive No. 4: After UK scored to cut the lead to 21-10, Indiana marched 72 yards in nine plays. Smith had runs of 15 and 34 yards. The 34-yarder took it to the 1-yard line. Two snaps later, Paci sneaked in for the score. IU 28-10.

Drive No. 5: The Hoosiers moved 89 yards in 11 plays. Without Smith. Without Paci (Chris Dittoe was the quarterback). Without opposition. After a no-gainer on the first play, the Hoosiers had runs of 25, 12, 9, 8, 8, 15 and 8. Law scored from 2 yards out. IU 35-10.

Kentucky actually showed some life early in the second half, driving 48 yards in two plays, with O'Ferral hitting Clyde Rudolph for a 23-yard scoring pass. The Cats even followed that by making the Hoosiers punt for the first time all night.

But the home team's offense couldn't get a first down. And one play later, IU's Smith ripped off his beauty of a 63-yard touchdown run, pushing the rout to 42-17. And it didn't get any better.

"I'd get blocked, turn my head and he was gone," said defensive end Chris Ward. "I was confused. I didn't know what was going on."

He was not alone.

"This isn't the lowest point," Snardon said, "but I'm not interested in getting any lower."

Rewriting the book

Offensive milestones by the Indiana offense in last night's game:

An IU school-record 564 yards rushing on 70 carries (old record: 474 vs. Northwestern in 1988).

Record 564 rushing yards by UK opponent (old record: 426 by Mississippi State in 1991).

59 points, the most ever scored by a Bill Mallory-coached IU team.

221 yards rushing by freshman tailback Alex Smith broke Big Ten record (old record: 207 by IU's Anthony Thompson versus Wisconsin in 1986) and broke record by UK opponent (old record: Harvey Williams, LSU, 213 in 1990).

IU's 35 first downs, most by UK opponent (old record: Florida, 32, in 1990).

School-record eight PATs by IU's Bill Manolopoulos.


Good times really over?
Hell naw.

Beat Wisconsin.