January 10, 2026 • 6 mins
Indiana alum Olivia Ray used to do sports on Channel 5. She's now with ABC57 in South Bend. No one knows more about Hoosiers football, so she joined us on ESPN1530.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's the second college football Playoffs semi final game. It's
the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. The Indiana Hoosiers are taking
on Oregon, a battle of Big ten teams. IU is
sixty minutes away from playing for a national championship in football.
I don't think that's a sentence I ever thought that
I would say. I'm not sure it's a sentence that
Olivia Ray ever thought she would say. And she loves
(00:21):
Indiana University more than maybe anybody. You saw Olivia for
years doing sports on Channel five here in town. Now
she is covering Indiana and they're run to the national
championship for ABC fifty seven in South Bend, and I
needed somebody to talk Hoosiers football with. Nobody is more qualified,
nobody knows more about the program than Olivia. So before
(00:43):
she goes on TV, kind enough to give me a
few minutes. Olivia, it's awesome to have you. How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Great to hear your voice again, Moe. I am so
excited to talk Indiana football. You know, I've made it
my entire personality for the past ten years. So I'm
glad that no one can call me a bandwagon for
at this point.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I am all in.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, I mean you legitimately more than than anybody I know,
and i've I have you know, I have followed you
for years. You're you're kind of like the person who
followed the band before it hit big, and that's that's
what you are as it relates to the Hoosiers.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, it's actually how I stopped grew up.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
My start in sportscasting is I was a video manager
on Kevin Wilson's IU football team when they went back
to back bowl games Pinstripe Bowl, Foster Farms Bowl, and
they were too cheap to pay someone to travel to
talk in front of the camera, so they put a
student on there.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
And that is how I became a sportscaster.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
So it has gone way back, and my husband played
and coached for them, and we even actually got married
at Memorial Stadium two summers ago, right before this thing
really got rolling. So if you want to give anyone
any credit, you can give coach SIGs and then I'll
take the rest of it if you don't mind.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Wow, very good. Okay, Yeah, now now we know where
the credit should go. What was it like? We'll talk
about tonight. But you were there in Pasadena for the
Rose Bowl, and you know, as a Cincinnati fan, right
as a UC fan, I remember when they made the
Orange Bowl and walking out there and I saw Cincinnati
in the end zone and it's like, man, I never
thought i'd see this. Uh what was it like? Covering
(02:14):
and being around that program in that setting with those stakes,
and then seeing them dominate the ultimate of blue bloods
in Alabama.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
It was unreal.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I actually went out there with my dad and my son.
He's seven months old. My dad has been on a
plane once before, and I convinced him to climb back
on to go out to Pasadena because he said, if
he ever got the chance to see you playing the
Rose Ball before he dies.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
He was going to take it. And he did not
lie to me. It was unreal.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
We were in the north end zone, and I mean
just to watch them wallop Alabama and then get to
be down there on the field to watch this team
act like they belonged, which was really cool, and their
celebrations of the Rose Bowl like they were not surprised
about what they did to all in any way, shit
or form.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Kurtzinetti, we see the press conferences, Google me. He's an
interesting guy as to the extent that you've gotten a
chance to get to know him and how he runs
the program. Give me what we don't see. Why is
this work to the degree it has since he took
over in Bloomington.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
This is probably one of my favorite stories from the
Rose Bowls.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So we were at an IU football alumni event the
night before the game out there in Pasadena. About three
hundred former players, coaches, all of the above showed up
to this bar to hang out. And a couple of
the current coaches who were in the former regime when
my husband coached back Kevin Wilson first year of Tom Allen,
they're still on the staff, and they were talking about
(03:44):
the differences in like how the team approached the bowl game,
and that would be that they were monitoring the hallways.
The players were not allowed to leave their rooms essentially
in downtown LA where they were staying, and which was
not the case when.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
We were in New York for New Year's Eve.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Everyone was out walking around Times Square and everything. And
he said, Coach Signati basically said, and he didn't put
the tape on the door, you know, to make sure
it wasn't broken, like kids do at summer camps.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
But he said, if if he finds.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Out you're out of your room past nine pm, it's
not going to be in your best interests. So they
were policing that place, and the guys take it seriously.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
They said, Sig respects their time.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
So if they're not supposed to be at the stadium,
they're still getting treatment in this or that because he
doesn't overbook them with practices and therapy and all of that.
So it's a well oiled machine and it's got off
the ground in two years, which is crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Favorite tonight against Oregon played them before in Atlanta. Tonight
sixty minutes away from playing for a national championship. If
they win tonight, what have they done to beat the Ducks.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
They have pressure again on Dante Moore. The difference though
from the first time they saw them in week seven
is that Dante Moor is getting the ball out almost
a half second faster than in week seven when they
barely got buy him. They did sack him six times
at all kinds of pressure on him. Put him in
a pressure cooker, if you will. But this defensive line
(05:20):
is a lot different. I use lost Kellen Wyatt, They've
lost Stephen Daily, so they're gonna have a lot of
different personnel up there on the front seven, a lot
of different mixtures that they're gonna have to try and
find a way to get pressure on him and confuse
him like they did the difference. Though Dante Moors had
a lot more football under his belt, he was still
a newbie back then in Week seven.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
It's an amazing story, you know, I said when they
beat earlier in the season, went to Oregon in one,
I said, like indyan A football, being good is just fun, right.
They were good last year, played in the playoff. It
felt like one off. I'm sort of living vicariously through
(06:01):
IU fans because I think it's so cool when a
Newbee crashes the party, and so I hope the guid
you guys are playing a week from Monday enjoy it
as a fan. I know you're doing your job professionally,
but it's got to be one of the coolest things
you've ever had a chance to cover. I can't thank
you enough for doing this, and maybe we'll bother you
on the night of the title game. Thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
I love it. Thanks mo talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Most definitely
It's the second college football Playoffs semi final game. It's
the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. The Indiana Hoosiers are taking
on Oregon, a battle of Big ten teams. IU is
sixty minutes away from playing for a national championship in football.
I don't think that's a sentence I ever thought that
I would say. I'm not sure it's a sentence that
Olivia Ray ever thought she would say. And she loves
(00:21):
Indiana University more than maybe anybody. You saw Olivia for
years doing sports on Channel five here in town. Now
she is covering Indiana and they're run to the national
championship for ABC fifty seven in South Bend, and I
needed somebody to talk Hoosiers football with. Nobody is more qualified,
nobody knows more about the program than Olivia. So before
(00:43):
she goes on TV, kind enough to give me a
few minutes. Olivia, it's awesome to have you. How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Great to hear your voice again, Moe. I am so
excited to talk Indiana football. You know, I've made it
my entire personality for the past ten years. So I'm
glad that no one can call me a bandwagon for
at this point.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I am all in.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, I mean you legitimately more than than anybody I know,
and i've I have you know, I have followed you
for years. You're you're kind of like the person who
followed the band before it hit big, and that's that's
what you are as it relates to the Hoosiers.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, it's actually how I stopped grew up.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
My start in sportscasting is I was a video manager
on Kevin Wilson's IU football team when they went back
to back bowl games Pinstripe Bowl, Foster Farms Bowl, and
they were too cheap to pay someone to travel to
talk in front of the camera, so they put a
student on there.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
And that is how I became a sportscaster.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
So it has gone way back, and my husband played
and coached for them, and we even actually got married
at Memorial Stadium two summers ago, right before this thing
really got rolling. So if you want to give anyone
any credit, you can give coach SIGs and then I'll
take the rest of it if you don't mind.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Wow, very good. Okay, Yeah, now now we know where
the credit should go. What was it like? We'll talk
about tonight. But you were there in Pasadena for the
Rose Bowl, and you know, as a Cincinnati fan, right
as a UC fan, I remember when they made the
Orange Bowl and walking out there and I saw Cincinnati
in the end zone and it's like, man, I never
thought i'd see this. Uh what was it like? Covering
(02:14):
and being around that program in that setting with those stakes,
and then seeing them dominate the ultimate of blue bloods
in Alabama.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
It was unreal.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I actually went out there with my dad and my son.
He's seven months old. My dad has been on a
plane once before, and I convinced him to climb back
on to go out to Pasadena because he said, if
he ever got the chance to see you playing the
Rose Ball before he dies.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
He was going to take it. And he did not
lie to me. It was unreal.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
We were in the north end zone, and I mean
just to watch them wallop Alabama and then get to
be down there on the field to watch this team
act like they belonged, which was really cool, and their
celebrations of the Rose Bowl like they were not surprised
about what they did to all in any way, shit
or form.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Kurtzinetti, we see the press conferences, Google me. He's an
interesting guy as to the extent that you've gotten a
chance to get to know him and how he runs
the program. Give me what we don't see. Why is
this work to the degree it has since he took
over in Bloomington.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
This is probably one of my favorite stories from the
Rose Bowls.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So we were at an IU football alumni event the
night before the game out there in Pasadena. About three
hundred former players, coaches, all of the above showed up
to this bar to hang out. And a couple of
the current coaches who were in the former regime when
my husband coached back Kevin Wilson first year of Tom Allen,
they're still on the staff, and they were talking about
(03:44):
the differences in like how the team approached the bowl game,
and that would be that they were monitoring the hallways.
The players were not allowed to leave their rooms essentially
in downtown LA where they were staying, and which was
not the case when.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
We were in New York for New Year's Eve.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Everyone was out walking around Times Square and everything. And
he said, Coach Signati basically said, and he didn't put
the tape on the door, you know, to make sure
it wasn't broken, like kids do at summer camps.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
But he said, if if he finds.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Out you're out of your room past nine pm, it's
not going to be in your best interests. So they
were policing that place, and the guys take it seriously.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
They said, Sig respects their time.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
So if they're not supposed to be at the stadium,
they're still getting treatment in this or that because he
doesn't overbook them with practices and therapy and all of that.
So it's a well oiled machine and it's got off
the ground in two years, which is crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Favorite tonight against Oregon played them before in Atlanta. Tonight
sixty minutes away from playing for a national championship. If
they win tonight, what have they done to beat the Ducks.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
They have pressure again on Dante Moore. The difference though
from the first time they saw them in week seven
is that Dante Moor is getting the ball out almost
a half second faster than in week seven when they
barely got buy him. They did sack him six times
at all kinds of pressure on him. Put him in
a pressure cooker, if you will. But this defensive line
(05:20):
is a lot different. I use lost Kellen Wyatt, They've
lost Stephen Daily, so they're gonna have a lot of
different personnel up there on the front seven, a lot
of different mixtures that they're gonna have to try and
find a way to get pressure on him and confuse
him like they did the difference. Though Dante Moors had
a lot more football under his belt, he was still
a newbie back then in Week seven.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
It's an amazing story, you know, I said when they
beat earlier in the season, went to Oregon in one,
I said, like indyan A football, being good is just fun, right.
They were good last year, played in the playoff. It
felt like one off. I'm sort of living vicariously through
(06:01):
IU fans because I think it's so cool when a
Newbee crashes the party, and so I hope the guid
you guys are playing a week from Monday enjoy it
as a fan. I know you're doing your job professionally,
but it's got to be one of the coolest things
you've ever had a chance to cover. I can't thank
you enough for doing this, and maybe we'll bother you
on the night of the title game. Thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
I love it. Thanks mo talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Most definitely
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