He's heard a strong rumor that the B10 has rescinded that penalty for his targeting call vs UCLA.. Can't remember when a ruling like this favored IU!

My grades for BT teams relative to expectations to date.....

1. Indiana...A

2. USC... A. Everyone thought the D would be better, but what a job by the former UCLA DC. I expected the O to be what it is.

3. Illinois...B+. I have to give props to Illinois for that Kansas win, although I thought it somewhat of a fluke. I think Kansas beats them 8 out of 10 even when played at Illinois. But Altmeyer is a really good QB and BB has them playing hard, although the talent level isn't real high. I would expect the grade to drop here as the year goes on. In particular, I think Nebraska beats them by 14 at Neb this WE.

4. MSU...B+. I don't think MSU will be good, but they don't look like a bottom 3-4 BT team. The Maryland win on the road was a good one, and they had the shutout yesterday against PV. The 1st game v. FAU wasn't impressive, however.

5. Nebraska...B. I think the Colorado win is an overrated one, but they have not disappointed. They look solid.

6. OSU...B. As advertised. Is the QB good enough against top-flight competition?

7. Rutgers...B. They've taken care of business against 2 weak teams. Again, solid. The ex-MN QB is not good, but is an improvement over last year.

8. PSU...B-. The WV game was a good one, but the BG win was alarming, both on O and on D.

89 Maryland...C+. They blew the MSU game at home, but came back with a solid road win at Virginia. Billy Edwards at QB is better than expected. They have some talent. Coaching??

10. Minnesota...C+. Bad loss to UNC at home, but something of a fluke. Ex- NH QB is about as good as expected. Two shutouts v. bad teams by a combined 75-0. The defense is feisty, and they have their TB back. Row the Boat can coach. I expect their grade to go up.

11. Oregon...C. Very nice win v. Oregon St on the road after two disappointing efforts. Gabriel is as advertised in this O. But doesn't look like pre-season expectations will be met.

12. NW...C. Really about as expected. Duke game could have gone either way. They play hard, but have no stars, even small ones.

13. Washington...C-.. As expected, an immense talent drain from last year. They beat Washington St at least 6/10 at home tho. Just a lot of penalties. Coaching seems pretty mediocre to me....not bad, but not all that.

14. Michigan...D-. Just amazing that they start a walk-on QB, especially one with no talent. And the back-up is apparently worse. So far they've been undisciplined on both sides of the ball. They have no really good WRs. They may lose 5-6 games.

15. Iowa...D-. Should have beat ISU, obviously. Yesterday was also a bad effort. KF won't give up on CM, and the fans are going nuts about it. He is one stubborn SOB. As bad as the O is, it's better than last year. The OL is better and K. Williams is a stud TB. Biggest problem is the D, although looking stout 90% of the time, is giving up some back-breaking long passes.

16. UCLA...F. Foster looks completely lost. Hawaii game was also bad.

17. Purdue...F. I've probably watch some or all of 1000 college football games in my life. I've never seen a worse effort than Purdue against ND in that 1st half in what was advertised as a big game.

NT, other than saying we look so much better than last year.

After three weeks, here's where IU ranks (nationally) in some defensive categories:

• Rushing Defense: 3rd (53.7 ypg)
• Total Defense: 3rd (180.3 ypg)
• Scoring Defense: (Tie) 12th (7.67 ppg)
• 3rd down conversion pct. defense: 17th
• Passing yards allowed: 17th (126.7 ypg)

Red zone D is the only number that jumped out as not good, as IU opponents have scored in all their red zone attempts. It's a deceiving stat, though, because there have been only five attempts and three of the five scores were on field goals.

Don't have time to do offense now but a quick glance suggests some of those stats are eye-popping as well. And here (below) is a quick take on how the Big Ten's Offensive Player of the Week is doing. You won't have to go far down these lists (QBR and Passing Efficiency) to find him.

Rourke was sharp as a razor.
Receivers caught great.
OL protected him great.
OL gave our RBs room to be very active and efficient

We played GREAT

Beat Charlotte

Let's keep the commentary on the convention and speeches this week here. Let's also try and keep it civil and out of the gutter. I'll be watching MSNBC so will know the lefty perspective and will keep you all informed.

Here's a decent article on what we will be seeing tonight with Joe's swan song.

We know it sucks, at least in 2nd halves. You knew it when you took the job. Everybody knows it - it's hard to hide.

You are paid a shit-ton of money, and IU paid a shit-ton of money so you could keep the same staff. NIL money exceeded your expectations, and I imagine the JMU transfers got a big chunk of the available NIL funds.

IU has provided state-of-the-art facilities - something no other coach, other than maybe Allen - has had.

The pieces are there. All you have to do is win. That's your job. But what have you done to help attendance? Have you held student rallies, like Lee Corso used to do, at Frats and dorms? Are you visible around campus, greeting students and shaking hands? Maybe you are - if so, I haven't heard anything about it. But you know what doesn't work? Whining about a known problem in post-game press conferences.

Stop listening to people like Buck Suhr and Don Fisher, who have never paid for an IU football ticket in their lives (maybe Suhr at some point, but I doubt it) and sit in air conditioned press boxes who whine about attendance. Stop listening to the media, who also get free passes and sit in air conditioned press boxes, whine about attendance.

I know you're busy during the season, but get close to, and identify with, the fans. Did you go on any kind of media tour of the state, visiting high schools and glad-handing alumni groups? If so, good for you. If not, start doing it.

I say this, believing you are the answer to so many of our football prayers. You've done and said the right things. You are on the right track. But this obsession with attendance is a side distraction to your real job of winning. You do that and the attendance problem will be fixed. Please don't judge IU on a blazing hot/humid holiday weekend. The weather will improve and, with wins, fans will stick around.

Unfortunately, you're not gonna like the attendance this Saturday. EDIT: Oops, Friday night.

Love and kisses,
DANC

I am sure more than rhe one vote we received last week. I am gonna have to get plugged in again on who our competition is for votes, as we hopefully move up in them.

I am thinking 25 votes this week since we were a Saturday late game on NBC.

Writing this while flying back from the game.

Our seats were at the 35 behind the IU bench. IU fans were numerous (to me it looked like several thousand, really a great turnout!), loud and engaged from the opening kick. Someone on the board had mentioned something new for UCLA this season, with students (“The Den”) lined up behind the visitors’ bench to create an intimidation factor. There was no intimidation factor. They stand at least 50 feet behind the bench, there’s a hedge in between, and whatever noise they were making was easily drowned out by the loud IU fans singing the fight song, celebrating first downs and otherwise cheering.

UCLA fans are mostly friendly and chill. The Rose Bowl staff was extremely courteous and helpful, and our group got a smile and a “welcome to the Rose Bowl” as we entered.

Concessions are numerous and varied and are located in an open-air setting in the oval surrounding the seating area, not in some narrow, dank concourse.

The stadium is in a beautiful natural setting with large trees rising above the east stands and the San Gabriel Mountains visible from many sections. Really spectacular sky as the sun was setting, despite quite a bit of haze yesterday.

We walked the 1.8 miles back to our hotel after the game. Half an hour later we headed out for dinner and some other stops including a very crowded Kings Row. Pasadena has a great vibe, is a rarity in LA County in that it is very walkable, and the streets were filled with happy Hoosier fans. Hated to leave but much more good football to look forward to this season!

Go Hoosiers!

For IU targets also considering Kansas... this outta help the Hoosiers jump ahead.

https://amp.kansascity.com/sports/c...e235306247.html#click=https://t.co/fDMxSVzSM0

Moving up Purdue visit to this next weekend.

Sounding like he’s close to committing somewhere.

Where was he this weekend? I’m not following recruiting as closely this cycle.

Don't just look for the best coach, but also one that can bring 13 good players with him

In particular, I'm looking for when we'll find out when the IU/Maryland game is gonna kick off.

I'm trying to plan something to get the Auxiliary RV lot rockin before or after the game, depending on times.

Moves PU visit up to this weekend. Stay tuned

I'm really struggling with the pick/score this week.

IU 28
UCLA 20

Go Hoosiers!

It's a distant away-game and obviously most IU football fans can't make it, but I'm sure there are some guys here who are heading out west this weekend. Who's going, and where are your seats?

35 to nada at home to ND

From the miserable colts season incoming. This team stinks.

After walloping teams with empty stadiums and depleted COVID rosters, we were saddled with CTA for 3 miserable years. If 2020 hadn’t happened we would have cut ties sooner and CCC may have still been way off the radar for a P5 school. Thank you COVID for giving IUFB fans hope

AA flight out of Indy to LA today at 4:25. Large number of Hoosiers decked out, representing on the plane! Go Hoosiers!

8/31 FIU - W

9/7 Western Illinois - said “should crush” - did crush.

9/14 @UCLA - struggled against Hawaii - looked more beatable - bye didn’t change that - IMO our performance 9/7 improved our chances

9/21 Charlotte - lost to JMU 30-7 at home - looked more beatable - lost at UNC 38-20 - still beatable.

9/28 Maryland - thumped UConn 50-7 - looked less beatable - lost by a FG at :01 at home to MSU - ran it poorly - back to beatable.

10/5 @NW - struggled to a 13-7 win over Miami (OH) - looked more beatable - lost at home to Duke in OT in hard fought game - beatable.

10/19 Nebraska - beat UTEP 40-7 - looked less beatable - looked good at home against Colorado - notch tougher

10/26 Washington - beat Weber State 35-7 - looked very beatable - beat Eastern Michigan 30-9 - still beatable

11/2 @MSU - struggled to beat FAU 16-10 - looked more beatable - won at Maryland by FG at :01 - still beatable

11/9 Michigan - beat Fresno 30-10 - not the Michigan Harbaugh had - looked more beatable - Texas thumped them in Big House - down a notch

11/23 @OSU - beat Akron 52-6 - thumped Western Michigan - still a nope

11/30 Purdue - Put 49 on a bad Indiana State - still looks beatable - bye - no change

that doesn't take anything away from how competent our program looks and how thoroughly we won a conference road game.

I was waiting for this 'test' before getting my hopes up, but this win, paired with Maryland looking 'meh' thus far, has me juiced about a potential battle of 6-0 teams on October 19th. At minimum, the Maryland game should have some juice to it for our fans and we should have a nice crowd (that stays the whole game). Let's just hope that's not a noon kickoff.

Special teams is still a mystery, IMO. Not sure we'll know much about that aspect of the team until Maryland and beyond.