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2021-2022 Season


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Just a general comment I guess. Last couple of weeks whether on the course, cookouts ,etc....I've been really surprised at number of IU fans thinking 7-5/8-4 this year. Maybe I need to hang out with a more optimistic crew I guess. I get the schedule is tough but to me 7 locks....50/50 on Michigan, Penn St, Iowa, and Cincy.....with 1 likely loss which I'm no way conceding that one yet.

I guess I look at 8 is the basement and ceiling is 10 if things go well in the 50/50 games. I've got us at 9-3 with Ohio St and 2 of 3 Big 10 50/50 games being our other losses. 

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3 hours ago, Seeking6 said:

Just a general comment I guess. Last couple of weeks whether on the course, cookouts ,etc....I've been really surprised at number of IU fans thinking 7-5/8-4 this year. Maybe I need to hang out with a more optimistic crew I guess. I get the schedule is tough but to me 7 locks....50/50 on Michigan, Penn St, Iowa, and Cincy.....with 1 likely loss which I'm no way conceding that one yet.

I guess I look at 8 is the basement and ceiling is 10 if things go well in the 50/50 games. I've got us at 9-3 with Ohio St and 2 of 3 Big 10 50/50 games being our other losses. 

I can see us going 7-5 or 8-4 easily.  Iowa, UC, OSU and PSU can easily he losses and we haven't won at  for years.

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5 hours ago, Seeking6 said:

Just a general comment I guess. Last couple of weeks whether on the course, cookouts ,etc....I've been really surprised at number of IU fans thinking 7-5/8-4 this year. Maybe I need to hang out with a more optimistic crew I guess. I get the schedule is tough but to me 7 locks....50/50 on Michigan, Penn St, Iowa, and Cincy.....with 1 likely loss which I'm no way conceding that one yet.

I guess I look at 8 is the basement and ceiling is 10 if things go well in the 50/50 games. I've got us at 9-3 with Ohio St and 2 of 3 Big 10 50/50 games being our other losses. 

In my opinion the only team clearly better then the Hoosiers on their schedule is the Buckeyes, and to be honest they have some question marks. Now that being said the best team doesn't always win so like you i think 8 wins is the basement and 10-2 the ceiling. I actually see an upset of the Buckeyes happening in Bloomington this season.

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ESPN College Football Power Rankings - Season Kickoff (Aug 3, 2021)

A surprisingly high amount of love given to IU from this crew (which included former OSU stud Joey Galloway).  Here are the timestamps for the three primary discussions on Indiana if you don't feel like sitting through the entire 45 minutes:

10:16  Top 5 Returning QBs - Penix was one of a handful of names mentioned in "others"

19:21  Top 25 - #17 Indiana

21:15   More IU commentary (discussion was a lot more in depth than most of the other teams in Top 25)

Big 10 schools in the Top 25

#20 Penn State, #18 Iowa, #17 Indiana, #16 Wisconsin, #5 Ohio State

Other Notables

#11 Cincinnati, #9 Notre Dame, #7 Iowa State

 

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3 minutes ago, Hoosierfan1901 said:

I was a little surprised about this ranking, thought they were going to be a little bit higher 

Completely agree.  In fact, I think just about all of the ranked B10 teams seemed 1-2 spots lower than I expected (Penn State maybe 3-4 spots).  The knock on OSU is youth and new QB???  Take a look at a majority of the other top ranked schools and you could say the same thing about them.  New QBs - #1 Alabama, #3 Clemson, #5 Ohio State, and #6 Texas A&M.  OSU is no different than these schools in terms of reloading with an elite recruiting class year after year.

My Top 5 +1 and Big 10 reshuffling would be:

1 - Alabama (until it's shown their reload isn't superior to everyone else year-after-year I can't discount them)

2 - Georgia (return pretty much everybody)

3 - Ohio State (very similar to Clemson except OSU has a defense)

4 - Texas A&M (least QB reliant power program in the country, host Alabama and Auburn this year)

5 - Clemson (very similar to OSU except they don't have a defense)

6 - Oklahoma (weak schedule, host both Iowa State and Texas)

14 (up from 16) - Wisconsin (a much better team than their 4-3 COVID ravaged 2020 showing)

15 (up from 20) - Penn State (2020 pre-season #8 before everything unraveled, another deep and loaded team in '21)

16 (up from 17) - Indiana (tough schedule, added more talent than lost, survive Iowa+Cincinnati and this is too low

19 (down from 18) - Iowa (not a slight - couldn't bump Miami any further)

25 (unranked) - Northwestern (sorry Louisiana)

Other BIG 10 teams with potential to crack Top 25 - Minnesota and Michigan

Reality Check

SEC:  At the end of the season it would be extremely tough for 3 SEC teams to remain in the Top 4.  I seriously considered ranking Georgia ahead of Alabama.  If the new Aggie QB pans out, this might be the year they beat Alabama.  LSU seems a bit high at #14.

BIG 12:  Oklahoma is going to start the season 3-4 spots higher than #6 and has a reasonable chance of running the table.  They're going to stay in the Top 3 until they lose.  Doesn't mean I have to give them credit for hype and a weak schedule.  Iowa State might be a much bigger threat to OU than some realize.

ACC:  Clemson's ranking speaks a lot to past performance... with Trevor Lawrence at QB.  They might be too high at #3 or #5 and it would not be a surprise if North Carolina wins the ACC and ends up in the Top 5.  Miami might have the talent to dethrone Clemson but they open with Alabama and don't play Clemson in the regular season.

PAC 12:  Oregon and USC will be ranked reasonably high to start the season, keeping them in CFP striking range.  Oregon hosts Ohio State and USC travels to Notre Dame.  If the PAC 12 schools lose these games the conference will be buried and likely locked out of the playoffs.  If they win is it enough to regain the amount of respect needed to re-enter the playoff landscape?

BIG 10:  Despite the rankings, smallest talent gap between Ohio State and everyone else in recent years.  The relatively low starting position for the rest of the BIG 10 might be problematic for post season positioning.  There is no clear cut #2 team in the conference to start the season.  A 1 loss season by anyone not named Ohio State will not be enough to make the playoffs.

Group of 5:  Three Group of 5 teams made the ESPN Pre-Season Top 25.  I'd categorize two as good teams being rewarded for strong 2020 seasons.  However, Cincinnati is on a different level and with road games against Notre Dame and Indiana they'll have a chance to prove it.  The sad thing is an undefeated season including two statement wins still might not be enough to matter for post season opportunity.

 

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I think the thing holding back Wisconsin, PSU, and Iowa is QB play. Mertz, Clifford, and Petras all had prolonged periods last year where they really struggled. If any of those 3 play above expectations, those teams could really be good.

I'm still surprised with PSU though. They have enough talent elsewhere that I'd ranked them higher than #20.

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4 hours ago, btownqb said:

Just a note. Those are his cleats from IU. So we didn't take back his gear... pretty cool. Tom Allen liked the post Cooper retweeted. Pretty cool to still support those guys. 

You get to keep your gear after the season. Dinardo, Hep, Lynch...just part of the player packs...

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Sampson James enters portal. Guess I didn't see that one coming....but tells me the depth is big back there and no one is guaranteed tons of touches....or Carr and Baldwin really look good.

Wish the kid luck. Isn't this the 2nd time he's been in portal?

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5 minutes ago, Seeking6 said:

Sampson James enters portal. Guess I didn't see that one coming....but tells me the depth is big back there and no one is guaranteed tons of touches....or Carr and Baldwin really look good.

Wish the kid luck. Isn't this the 2nd time he's been in portal?

Smh. Moving on. 

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3 minutes ago, Seeking6 said:

Sampson James enters portal. Guess I didn't see that one coming....but tells me the depth is big back there and no one is guaranteed tons of touches....or Carr and Baldwin really look good.

Wish the kid luck. Isn't this the 2nd time he's been in portal?

Not surprised to see this. He really hasn't shown much outside of the one Purdue game. He's still young, so he'll still have time to show it elsewhere. I would guess Baldwin and Carr were both ahead of him on the depth chart.

The first time he entered the portal was right after Ballou and Rhea left for Bama. I think he was really close with Ballou.

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7 minutes ago, Leathernecks said:

Not surprised to see this. He really hasn't shown much outside of the one Purdue game. He's still young, so he'll still have time to show it elsewhere. I would guess Baldwin and Carr were both ahead of him on the depth chart.

The first time he entered the portal was right after Ballou and Rhea left for Bama. I think he was really close with Ballou.

Kind of what I was thinking. One thing I think we might have to start dealing with (good problem) is the higher up the food chain you recruit the more players might opt out if they feel like their touches aren't guaranteed. Especially at skill positions who notoriously have a little more me in them than we. 

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1 hour ago, Seeking6 said:

Kind of what I was thinking. One thing I think we might have to start dealing with (good problem) is the higher up the food chain you recruit the more players might opt out if they feel like their touches aren't guaranteed. Especially at skill positions who notoriously have a little more me in them than we. 

Yes, it will really be a testament to the status of the program when other teams are getting high profile transfers "from Indiana".

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3 minutes ago, MoyeCowbell said:

Yes, it will really be a testament to the status of the program when other teams are getting high profile transfers "from Indiana".

Yep....and I welcome that problem with open arms. Do wish James the best though. Can't wait for this season to get started. 4 more Saturdays.

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3 hours ago, Seeking6 said:

Sampson James enters portal. Guess I didn't see that one coming....but tells me the depth is big back there and no one is guaranteed tons of touches....or Carr and Baldwin really look good.

Wish the kid luck. Isn't this the 2nd time he's been in portal?

Wow. Kid doesn't want to earn it. Thought he'd develop into a stud rb for us. 

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6 hours ago, btownqb said:

These weren't the cleats wer wore last year... I understand how the player packs work. I still have some of mine from college. 

We had multiple cleats, game and non-game when I was there....didn't matter we got to keep them. 

Where did you play college?

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1 minute ago, B_A said:

We had multiple cleats, game and non-game when I was there....didn't matter we got to keep them. 

Where did you play college?

Franklin. 

I'm saying I'm pretty sure I saw those were THIS years cleats. So... I'm pretty sure they went out of their way to allow him to have them. No skin off IU's back, but it is still a nice gesture. I don't ever remember seeing us wear those cream cleats. Maybe I'm wrong. 

I know Dasan wore them on one of his 11 visits lol 

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10 minutes ago, btownqb said:

Franklin. 

I'm saying I'm pretty sure I saw those were THIS years cleats. So... I'm pretty sure they went out of their way to allow him to have them. No skin off IU's back, but it is still a nice gesture. I don't ever remember seeing us wear those cream cleats. Maybe I'm wrong. 

I know Dasan wore them on one of his 11 visits lol 

I'm following you now, I didn't notice the difference in them. You are right, that's big if he got a 2021 pack while not on the team. Impressive.

What years were you at Franklin? 

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