The Defining Moment Has Arrived

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

Beat Ohio State and all haters have to shut up.

They have the No. 1 defense in conference conference games. We’re 4.

We have the No. 1 offense in conference games. They are 3.

They’ve played a tougher schedule.

So what? It’s about to get tougher.

We play our best game - we win.

 

[cd_hoosiers]

We're getting zero chance for a W from anyone but our people. That damn chip on the shoulder must be getting heavy.

 

[td75]

This is the biggest game in Indiana football history. The potential to not only play in the conference championship game, but to win the conference outright, coupled with the obvious path to a national championship, it's ridiculously historic!

Cignetti having a full two weeks to prepare is going to be huge. I'm sure he will throw the kitchen sink at Ryan Day and rightly so...Indiana is playing with house money because they really don't have to beat Ohio State but they need to keep it competitive.

A close loss to Ohio State and the playoffs should still be very doable with a shot at beating a SEC team off the bat!! Talk about high cotton, love it!!

 

[vesuvius13]

IU can beat OSU but it will take our best effort. IU seems to play better with a chip on their shoulder.

 

[TominDallas]

IU can beat OSU but it will take our best effort. IU seems to play better with a chip on their shoulder.

Agreed. We have been playing a bit sloppy recently. I am sure some of it is Rourke being out a week and then rounding back into form, plus the competition steadily getting better. But I think we have mentally not had the intensity that we had since games 4 and 5. I think this bye week will do the team some real good, in alot of ways.

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

Agreed. We have been playing a bit sloppy recently. I am sure some of it is Rourke being out a week and then rounding back into form, plus the competition steadily getting better. But I think we have mentally not had the intensity that we had since games 4 and 5. I think this bye week will do the team some real good, in alot of ways.

Harder to stay sharp than to get sharp.

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

This is the biggest game in Indiana football history. The potential to not only play in the conference championship game, but to win the conference outright, coupled with the obvious path to a national championship, it's ridiculously historic!

Cignetti having a full two weeks to prepare is going to be huge. I'm sure he will throw the kitchen sink at Ryan Day and rightly so...Indiana is playing with house money because they really don't have to beat Ohio State but they need to keep it competitive.

A close loss to Ohio State and the playoffs should still be very doable with a shot at beating a SEC team off the bat!! Talk about high cotton, love it!!

For me, I wan’t to beat Ahia State and play for the Big Ten championship more than I want to play well in the first 12 team tournament.

Validate our spot. Prove we have changed the league. If we do that first, even a CFP loss would not ding our progress. If we lost to Ahia State and won. 2 more games in the tourney, we’d still lose some respect.

 

[TominDallas]

Harder to stay sharp than to get sharp.

So true...

 

[Grateful Redbeard]

For me, I wan’t to beat Ahia State and play for the Big Ten championship more than I want to play well in the first 12 team tournament.

Validate our spot. Prove we have changed the league. If we do that first, even a CFP loss would not ding our progress. If we lost to Ahia State and won. 2 more games in the tourney, we’d still lose some respect.

I want a W in Columbus and a shot at Oregon in the BT championship game badly as well. That said, a loss in Columbus and then winning 2 CFP games would be incredible! There's no way that we'd lose any respect if we made it to the CFP semis. Think about the 2 scalps that we'd have taken along the way. There's no way we're playing Boise, so they'd both be against big time heavyweights.

 

[rediufan]

Yes we can beat O$U, but the problem is that the powers to be do not IU in the Championship game. IMO if IU is winning late in the game the flags will start flying in order to stop any momentum that we might have. I think we still make the CFP though.

 

[midwolfe]

This is the biggest game in Indiana football history. The potential to not only play in the conference championship game, but to win the conference outright, coupled with the obvious path to a national championship, it's ridiculously historic!

Cignetti having a full two weeks to prepare is going to be huge. I'm sure he will throw the kitchen sink at Ryan Day and rightly so...Indiana is playing with house money because they really don't have to beat Ohio State but they need to keep it competitive.

A close loss to Ohio State and the playoffs should still be very doable with a shot at beating a SEC team off the bat!! Talk about high cotton, love it!!

get out front, stay out front! this team plays awesome when they have a lead.

 

[CC Mac]

I think their game Saturday with Northwestern at Wrigley Field might be interesting
I don’t expect them to beat them but playing at Wrigley might add some intrigue to the game.
Maybe OSU is looking ahead to next week?
The longer NW can stay in the game,the better for us.

 

[td75]

get out front, stay out front! this team plays awesome when they have a lead.

That is very true!!

 

[RegionHoosiers]

The 2nd half of the MI game got me concerned. Nothing on offense and if UM had open receivers the QB couldn't hit. It just looked like IU had a disadvantage in athleticism. I hope I'm wrong and I hope all the doubters put a massive chip on this team's shoulders.

 

[IUNorth]

The 2nd half of the MI game got me concerned. Nothing on offense and if UM had open receivers the QB couldn't hit. It just looked like IU had a disadvantage in athleticism. I hope I'm wrong and I hope all the doubters put a massive chip on this team's shoulders.

For sure...our struggles in the second half with their DL is concerning.

On the flip side of that though, we had a couple key drops, and a offensive PI call that rarely ever gets called... As much as that game flipped, we STILL could very easily could have hung 30+ on them, and won comfortably.

And Rourke's struggles were out of character from what we've seen from him all year. The Michigan QB's have largely stunk all year. Not really a huge surprise that IU's very good defense made them struggle too.

 

[RegionHoosiers]

For sure...our struggles in the second half with their DL is concerning.

On the flip side of that though, we had a couple key drops, and a offensive PI call that rarely ever gets called... As much as that game flipped, we STILL could very easily could have hung 30+ on them, and won comfortably.

And Rourke's struggles were out of character from what we've seen from him all year. The Michigan QB's have largely stunk all year. Not really a huge surprise that IU's very good defense made them struggle too.

I do think the offensive PI call, on a receiver that wasn't even getting the ball, and that likely cost IU 7 points, would have dramatically changed the game. This offense when playing with a lead kind of reminds me of some of the Manning years with the Colts - they just keep piling it on.

 

[TomEric4756]

For me, I wan’t to beat Ahia State and play for the Big Ten championship more than I want to play well in the first 12 team tournament.

Validate our spot. Prove we have changed the league. If we do that first, even a CFP loss would not ding our progress. If we lost to Ahia State and won. 2 more games in the tourney, we’d still lose some respect.

Yes, BiG Championship over Michigan, Ohio State, and now Them Ducks is not a participation trophy by any means.

 

[OpenWheels]

I want a W in Columbus and a shot at Oregon in the BT championship game badly as well. That said, a loss in Columbus and then winning 2 CFP games would be incredible! There's no way that we'd lose any respect if we made it to the CFP semis. Think about the 2 scalps that we'd have taken along the way. There's no way we're playing Boise, so they'd both be against big time heavyweights.

Absolutely. A loss AT Ohio State, then two tourney wins? I'd take that in a heartbeat, we'd have proven to be very, very good and would have stuck it in the eye of the SEC. We'd be one of the best four teams in the country proven on the field. Imagine our fan support in a semifinal!

But I'd sure like to beat Ohio State and Purdue. And play in that title game!
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