September 23, 2024 • 45 mins
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Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers took care of business in the first couple games, dominating FIU and smashing Western Illinois. Now, Big Ten season kicks off, with IU favored on the road at UCLA at the Rose Bowl.
Should expectations change for the 2024 Hoosiers after how they looked in the first two games? Is the ceiling higher? What has stood about Cignetti thus far? We also predict IU/UCLA and look at other B1G games this week.
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Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers took care of business in the first couple games, dominating FIU and smashing Western Illinois. Now, Big Ten season kicks off, with IU favored on the road at UCLA at the Rose Bowl.
Should expectations change for the 2024 Hoosiers after how they looked in the first two games? Is the ceiling higher? What has stood about Cignetti thus far? We also predict IU/UCLA and look at other B1G games this week.
WEBSITE: https://www.indianahq.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thehoosiersound
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehoosiersound/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indiana.hq/
• iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1282226985?mt=2&ls=1
• Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zcHJlYWtlci5jb20vc2hvdy8yNjc3NTkyL2VwaXNvZGVzL2ZlZWQ
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0lk71fzLgbLP76iPNA14cP
• iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/the-hoosier-sound-28550408/?cmp=web_share
• TuneIn Radio: http://tun.in/pi2cE
• Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hoosier-sound
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
YU fans. So far, so good. The Hoosiers have played
a couple of games so far against non conference opponents
that they should have beaten, but not only did they win,
your Hoosiers, your football squad has looked pretty mighty impressive
in defeats over f I U and Western Illinois victories
(00:31):
or that's right.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
In victories.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
In the way they defeated those teams. Indiana won great.
But we're talking about a team that in week two
set program records for yardage and for points in a game.
So how much does this matter? Can we really get
(00:53):
excited about this team going into the Big ten opener
against uc LA. Matt and I are going to dive
into what we've seen so far, look forward to the
game against the Bruins, talk about how high the ceiling
is for this team, and so much more. Here on
episode three to three to three of The Hoosier Sound,
where we are the official podcast of Indiana HQ, recording
(01:14):
this edition of The Hoosier Sound on Wednesday, September eleventh,
twenty twenty four, Where I am your host, Nathan Christian.
Here with me is my normal co host, Matt Lucan's Matt,
this is like a natural point of transition and natural
critical point. Indiana took care of business first two games
against software opposition. We all knew Week three against UCLA
(01:37):
was going to be the first big test for this team.
But IUFB is two and zero. What are your main
takeaways from the first two victories over FIU and Western Illinois.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
The first victory, I'll go back to FIU to start.
I expected the defense to look a lot worse than
they did against FIU, especially as you're putting a lot
of new pieces in new decordinator. They're really solid. And
then you know, you know, to add you know, cherry
on top of the cake. If if you look at
(02:10):
how FYU performed in their last game against Central Michigan,
you know, those signs are there that you know, we
did really kick some ass on defense against FYU. And
then of course you held Western Illinois team to three points,
which honestly, they they probably shouldn't even have given up
those three points if we're being completely honest, Like they
(02:31):
just let up a stupid drive at the end of
the half for a field goal. Like other than that,
they really just didn't even let them breathe. For the
most part, I think what Western had like maybe like
less than ten first downs in the game.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Well, first of all, Indiana the first twenty one first downs.
I vividly remember that, and then you know, I think, yeah,
they ended up with something like one hundred and ten
yards one hundred and twenty total yards in the game.
I mean, just complete domination.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, yeah, so you can't whatever one drive is whatever,
But they probably shouldn't even let that up. They were
that much more superior than Western Illinois offensively. I thought
they looked a little bit shaky against FIU, especially in
the second half, because again, you know, they actually killed
it the first half. They had what twenty eight points, yeah,
(03:25):
twenty four points, yeah, twenty four points in the first half.
Not much more you can ask for from them. In
the second half, they took the foot off the gas,
and then coach Sigg talks about wanting to execute and
having standards, and they come out the next game, and
you know, if this was a Tom Allen team and
Tom Allen team, he would have talked about setting expectations
and studying standards and they would have done the same
(03:48):
thing the next game. They probably would have taken the
foot off the gas in the second half. You know,
they probably would have put up forty something on Western
and and nobody would be none the wiser. No, not
a Kurt Signetti coached Indiana Hoosier's team. They took the
(04:10):
message of hey, let's let's actually go out there and
play like we're playing against the big boys and actually
try because this is those these are the moments where
you're supposed to do that. And they set a school
record for scoring in a game. So the offense, to me,
(04:31):
has been a fantastic especially if you if you factor
in the fact that we're down what two offensive linemen
in the rotation there, you're down Donno McCauley has caught
Our best receiver from last year has caught one pass
for nine yards through two games, and we just set
the school record for scoring. The offense is fine. I
(04:55):
was confused going to the season. Who are starting running
back is going to be I'm still confused, but but
but I'm like happily confused because it's gone from it's
gone from who's gonna, you know, put their head and
who's gonna stick their head out and actually, you know,
from the rest of the pack and kind of you know,
(05:17):
show that they're superior to the rest of the running back.
So now I'm looking at the running back room and
like I can see roles for like four of these guys.
You know, we have we have two guys in our
running back room that are averaging damn near ten yards
of carry. I think Elijah Green's at like eleven something
and just Elson is just a shy under ten.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Like that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Can't I can't even do that in NCAA football on
like all American I can't do that if I tried.
And I have a heismand winning trophy running back in
year like five in Bloomington, and I still I still
can't do that. On the video games, They're putting up
video numbers for two games. Last thing I'll say about
the team, Uh, the biggest surprise on the whole team,
(06:04):
on the whole team has been the play of Omark Cooper.
I I he has gone from last year. He had
some some you know, some flashes. You know, I don't
really blame him for not, you know, showing more last year,
especially given the fact that I thought he was I
think he was injured or he was fighting injuries last
year at some point. And then you add in the
(06:26):
fact that our quarterback play was just so abhorrent that
he really didn't get a chance to show it off.
And now you have, you know, Curtis Rourke throwing to him,
and he's putting on a show. I think he was
like the third highest rated wide receiver by PFF this week.
(06:46):
Rat was not surrat was not very far behind. Like
these guys are putting up some gaudy numbers and it's
I mean, it's been nice, but now now it's you've
gone against power five team this week. So now it's
a put up or shut up moment where it's like, Okay,
if you can do this against Western Illinois and and
(07:08):
and you know, get the school record for scoring, great,
but go to the Rose Bowl and beat the crap
out of UCLA and you'll start getting some of that
attention at this program I think deserves.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah. Absolutely. As I was listening to you there, you
know you're talking about surprises. For me, the big surprise
has been not only the productivity of the running game,
but just how wide open the lanes are created by
the offensive line. I mean, this is where I don't
say this too often, but you know, I really do
(07:40):
think you or you or I could get three or
four yards of carry with this offensive line, you know,
you know I would. I would only get a couple
of snaps to be fair, you know, Coach Sig probably
wouldn't put me in for too long, especially given the
running backed up that Indiana has at the moment. But
I'm fairly confident with with Mike Kaddock and Carter Smith
(08:02):
and the others paving the way in front of me,
I could probably snag three or four yards before contact,
and then I'd be injured and cry my way back home,
you know, and then talk. I didn't think about the
fact that, yeah, Indiana has not played a Power five team,
obviously correct, but that's not exactly been a walk in
(08:24):
the park for a lot of other Big Ten teams
so far. Never my Notre Dame right rip fighting Irish
back on Saturday. But you think about some of the
results so far this year. Wisconsin, a team that everyone's
pretty high on, was really struggling with Western Michigan early,
really through the third quarter in their Week one matchup.
(08:46):
Michigan State looked completely awful against Florida Atlantic. But you
know what, the Spartans deserve credit for bouncing back in
week two and winning at Maryland. You think about Iowa,
a team that yeah, okay, I'm sorry, not Iowa, Northwestern
team that really struggled Miami Ohio, and a lot of
folks that say, hey, maybe Miami Ohio is a solid
MAC team, but Northwestern really struggled against those guys. And
(09:09):
then Oregon, Yeah, okay, Boise State solid, but that game
against Idaho, it was really hard to watch from the
duck standpoint before they sort of got some breathing room
there at the very very end against an Idaho team
that Hoosier fans are very familiar with. So it's not
like playing FCS teams. Playing group of five teams is
(09:32):
some sort of forty to fifty to sixty point guarantee
as far as margin of victory. Yet Indiana's gone out
and put up a whopping plus ninety eight point differential
on the board through the first two games, taking care
of business, looking good doing it. Offense, defense, special teams
all hanging in there. I love see Nico radicch which
(09:54):
make eleven out of eleven extra points in the game
against Preston, Illinois. You know he's gonna be useful at
some point coming up, especially I mean potentially as soon
as this game Saturday Night, where that field goal game
kicking game will make a pretty big difference. Overall, though,
as I think about the Indiana's first two games, it's
(10:15):
just such a breath of fresh air seeing how well
prepared this team is for both opponents. I mean, I watched,
I watched Kurt Signetti and Mike Shanahan and Bryant Haynes
and Tinos and Serri and the whole team looks so prepared.
They look so ready to go on both sides of
the ball. I'm so happy we don't have to wait
(10:37):
until November to figure out who our best players are.
Isn't it great?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
You know, it's great. I was trying to think back
to the last time I felt like we had an elite,
like elitely coached de Booren, Wommick, the Boor and Womack.
Yeah that I would give it that, But I'm not
(11:04):
even to count that because now they're coaches at Alabama.
That's like, that's that's that's that's like the greatest story
of all time thirty for thirty. Really, seriously, I don't
know how both those guys were ever ever ever at
AU but let's throw them aside to previous to that.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
I mean, look, I can only speak to my lifetime,
right and like I've take close attention since eighth nine,
and there's nothing I can fairly say. There's nothing outside
of the Boro watter.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Than I I would say. I would say maybe the
the the Kevin Wilson offensive line play. Yeah, they're under
Kevin Wilson. Seth Latrell. You had Darren Hiller one Volume one, Yeah, yeah,
(11:59):
Volume one, Darren Heller. Yeah, But that that first period
under Wilson, I think that's the last time we've really
had elitely coached units. And now now I look up
and down this roster from the back room with Tino
Censeri with the wide receivers to the offensive lines of
(12:20):
the D line, Oh yeah, improved so much.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
And we're going to talk about that in the U
c l A preview. You have no fear, but you know,
especially on a team that lost McCully to injury in
the first quarter. I believe of the f I U
game and and and all this, Like I'm fairly certain
right now that Indiana's depth chart is one hundred percent correct.
(12:46):
Curtis Rok is the best QB. But you know what
Tavin jacks Tavin Jackson didn't whine or moan or complain,
came in still there, came in as the second string
QB against Western Illinois and looked absolutely amazing. The throws
are on. The throws were accurate, obviously small sample, but
the deep shot to Omar Cooper, the one where Jackson
(13:08):
rolled out to his left and found a receiver downfield
throwing on the run, was wonderful to see. He looked
they brought in a mobile aspect to his game. He
kept the ball on a on a on a poll
of the of the play there and then he scored
h later on the later on the drive and the
and the poll by Jackson even confused. I think it
was ada A Johnny, the offensive lineman. He thought the
(13:29):
running back kept the ball and now I actually as
quarterback tam and Jackson did as he went into the
end zone. I love the fact that Indiana uses the
tight ends in the passing game, specifically Zach Horton who
comes over from JMU. But we've seen James Bomba catch
a couple of passes. Nice depth in the receiver room
as well. I love Miles Price. I've said it for years, Indiana,
(13:50):
for some reason, after Wap Philier left, decided we weren't
going to have another proper slot player dominating the middle
of the field, even though wap Philier was one of
the best receivers in school history. Even though no one,
no one wants to admit that, you know, Indiana has
turned out a bunch of great outside boundary receivers over
the years. Watt Filier was special over the middle of
(14:12):
the field, and Miles Price is somebody that you're actually
able to use in that capacity, and Indiana's used him really,
really well so far. But just from a preparation standpoint.
Now they're gonna be games down the road where preparation
means a little bit less and your in game adjustments
will matter a little bit more. Kurtzignety's got to show
a little bit more from the in game adjustment standpoint,
(14:33):
but he hasn't had to show anything through two games,
because Indiana has had one hundred percent likelihood to win
each game that they've played so far. After the first
couple of drives, right, you go in against FIU obviously
the second half with a little bit whatever, but they
dominated so much in the first half that the game
(14:54):
result was never in doubt, so you could play it
close to your vest, you could take you could take
the foot off the pedal a little bit. Perhaps you
don't want to show too much of your playbook for
UCLA coming up on Saturday, Maryland Northwestern coming up in
a few weeks. So all in all, I look at
this team and it's incredible to watch games from the
(15:15):
opening drive with a clear idea of what the game
plan is from Indiana and watch this team go out
and execute it. In the first quarter of both of
these games, they've come out throwing the football, spreading the
ball around, and then using some of that loose defense
(15:36):
to attack in the ground game. I have loved watching
this team look so prepared, so focused, so clear minded
going into each of these two games. And again, unlike
a lot of other Big Ten teams so far, the
result has never been in doubt for Indiana's first two matchups,
so you definitely have a lot to look forward to.
(15:58):
And this is exactly why Indiana has been favored against UCLA,
has gotten the opportunity to be favored against the UCLA
going into this Week three matchup. Now, I know there's
been a lot of exciting stuff to talk about, Matt.
There have been a lot of good things. There are
a lot of impressive stuff so far. Any issues that
have popped up as far as what you've seen through
the first two games, you talked about the injuries to
(16:20):
Nick Kidwell, of course that happened in the preseason, Donovan
McCully happened in the first quarter of the FIU game.
Any issues that you've seen even you know or has
it all been fairly minor and stuff that you can
look past.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I think it's been very very minor stuff. I will
say as far as the defense goes, the secondary has
looked exploitable at times, but I'm I'm not sure if
that's just from inexperience or if it's if it's actually
(16:57):
like a real issue. And I mean, I don't know
how you can complain about the secondary when they've given
up ten They've given up ten points total through two games,
so there's a lot of nit going on. I will
say that there have been some big plays down the
middle through the secondary, and I know our dbs will
(17:20):
have more chemistry and get better as the season goes on.
So well, and some of the defensive play calling right
like assuredly.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
You know, you.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Find out what works for your unit and then you
kind of play to your strengths. And I feel like
that's something that this coaching staff does really well, which
is that they through two games, have figured out, okay,
what does this team do well, and instead of trying
to try new things where they try to see if
(17:56):
they can fix some of the weaknesses, they've just gone
for strength and strength, like strength for strength, like they
just figure out what works and go, Okay, this is
what's how we're going to win Football Schames this year.
That's fine, let's try to perfect it. Instead of last
year's staff would have found out what we're good at
and then tried new things to see if you could,
(18:20):
you know, bolster up some of the weaknesses. Where you know,
if you play winning football, you play winning football how
you play winning football. And I think Signetti and his staff,
but especially Signetti, learned this from Saban. Like Saban teams
always had weaknesses always, whether it was Saban's inability to
recruit a kicker or or it was you know, they
(18:45):
can throw down a field very well. You know Jealan
Milroe last year, right who who who could do a
lot of different things at the ball, but but certainly
was not a great passer. So they would just play offense,
or play defense, or play whatever position group they had
to the best of their ability. With the strengths that
they had.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
They dictated the terms of the game exactly and they
didn't let the opponent do that.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
And I've seen the same thing. Of course, it's two cupcakes.
They don't get me wrong, I just might take could
be completely wrong by the end of uh, you know,
Saturday night. But I've through two weeks. Through two weeks,
I have seen a coach Signetti team that has done
things the way I saw. You know, a Nick Saban
(19:35):
winning program do that. You can insert any high purchase
smart winning program. Does any of the high level programs
when they are winning, like a Jim Harbaugh led team,
they play to their strengths and they dictate the game.
They play the game how they want it to be played.
And if you can beat them, you know, good luck. Right.
(19:55):
So I I really, really, I can't stress this enough.
I am so optimistic that I would actually I'm I'm
giving you a question right now. Through two games. I know,
I know it's two games. We've we're outscoring teams like,
what one hundred plus one hundred and eleven to ten, ye, right,
(20:18):
or something like that through two games, hundred eight to ten,
one hundred and eight sorry, one hundred eight to ten
through two games. What is your final revised record regular
season for this team? Because now we've seen how shit
Michigan is, right, We've seen how bad Maryland is, We've
(20:41):
seen how bad Northwestern is, We've seen how bad a
lot of these other Big ten teams are, and how
good Indiana has looked through two games.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Six and oh six and oh is Like, if Indiana
loses before their bye week, I'm I'm do they play
Nebraska for their bi week?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
No?
Speaker 1 (21:03):
So the next four games are at u c l
A home, Charlotte home, Maryland at Northwestern does have to
be fo Wednesday. If Indiana loses one of those games there,
it's got to be because there's an injury that we
don't expect, or a couple of injuries we don't expect.
Or you had some really flukey turnover luck that went
(21:26):
against your way. You know, you fumble the ball three
times and they were all recovered by the opponent. There
was a batted ball that you know, Maryland or Northwestern
picked off and you know stuff like.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
That, the team that returns you know, a touchdown, you know,
doesn't turn touchdown, drops the ball.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
And then they don't give him the touchdowns the touchdown
and the atrocious referee decisions, because like I just I
would be really disheartened. And again, I'm not thinking Indiana's
got to win by third, but just from a win
loss standpoint, you know, you like, beat UCLA by one
(22:07):
or thirty, I don't care, but.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
I'm really not sure.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
I've looked. I've looked at this matchup every which way
so far, and I think the only reason Indiana's not
a bigger favorite is just because of the history of
the programs.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
That say, I I've watched UCLA tape. Of course it
was one game, and they did play in Hawaii, right,
so yeah, fair enough. They were probably really distracted, you know,
going surfing and stuff, as I would do a team
that being said, Hawaii is not supposed to be good,
(22:44):
Like they're supposed to be really really really really really
bad and you only win by three points. And I
watched State, so I was like, I just got to
see what what's happened here? I'm not And then I
was curious. So then I went watched fi u's last game.
I found I some found the highlights somewhere and I
(23:06):
watched that. Are we sure that U s LA is
better than FIU? Because I'm not sure. I'm I'm I'm
really not sure. I think you usually might be one
of the worst Power of five teams.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Have ever I've ever laid there a ten point home
favorite against if that game happens and they look bad
and really bad, and again, like you know, you could
have had a situation like Oregon Idaho where Oregon, yeah,
they only won by ten, but Oregon actually dominated every
statistical category in that game. It's just they messed up
(23:43):
a couple of third and fourth downs and you know,
it just sort of fumbled and bumbled that way. But
I I just have looked at this matchup every which
way and and so you know, to me, six and oh,
I'm trying like six and oh has like has to happen.
And if it doesn't, there has to be a really
(24:05):
really good reason as to why that didn't that it
didn't end up that way. So after six and oh,
you know, Nebraska, Nebraska's looked really good, Like I'll give
them a lot of credit. I actually think Nebraska is
a legit dark horse to make the Big ten championship game.
You know, if if Penn State or something, or Ohio
(24:25):
State stumbles, Oregon, you know, takes a couple of l's
because they're really sniffing with danger there. You know, Nebraska
to me looks like a dangerous team. I think you
split one of the I think he split the two
home games after the bye week, so you're seven and one.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
I think he's split Washington and Nebraska.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah, I think you're seven and one after Washington and Nebraska.
I think you're eight and two after that at Michigan
State home Michigan. I think you're eight and three after
at Ohio State, and I think you're nine. I think
nine and three.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I I I hate to be this guy, but I
I think it's I think it's tenant too. No.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I I you're you're not you're you're you're which? Uh So,
which which one of those four games between Nebraska and
Michigan do we lose? I?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
I I agree that it's one one of Washington or
Nebraska home. I I think they'll both be really close.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So you're Michigan now.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Oh I think Michigan is like three and nine beads.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Look look I have I have Nithan, I have Michigan fans.
You know, of course I've done stuff with ant but
you know, in the past and and still do stuff
with Ant. I have. I have Michigan fans telling me
how good Jack total is.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yeah, this is how far are they fallen.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
They're trying to tell me who I watched. You know,
we watched Jack Bubble play quarterback. And they're trying to
explain to me that Jack Tuttle was the next coming
to Jesus Christ. I'm like, guys, guys, you you you
you you'd almost be better running triple option. Like put
(26:19):
in Orgy and run triple option the rest of the year.
There's no reason to throw the ball on the field anymore.
Davis Warren is terrible, Orgie's worse, and Jack Tuttle is
a walking corpse.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
So like, man, yeah, I mean this is good thing,
you know? Is that bad? And I talked about this
also to I think I mentioned on this podcast before.
On our podcast, if talked about this to a few others,
Like last year in the Big Ten, you had three
legendary players and teams You had that Michigan football team.
You had the Perdue men's basketball team with Zach Edy.
(26:52):
You need the Iowa women's basketball team with Caitlin Clark.
And I don't care how great the program is, how
great the culture is, but those three legendary level teams
that will be remembered forever lost so much and I
just have I'm just not sure how great any of
these three teams are going to be this season. Now. Look,
(27:14):
Michigan lost to Texas, right, Texas is a legit national
championship contender.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
I'm curious three points at all?
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Well what I'm curious to see now? And we will
potentially talk about Michigan a little bit later in our
Big Ten Picks of the week. But you know, this
Michigan team, now, they get USC at home, they get
Minnesota at home, they go to Washington, they go to Illinois.
So like a lot of these games, it's like, what
level of toughness do you have? Not that you've been
(27:43):
dealt a lot of adversity? Right Like that's where you're
You're excited to watch some of these teams grow and
develop because they're eighteen to twenty two years old. And
this is why college football is such a great product.
It's what makes it a little bit different than the NFL.
And so that's where I'm looking at this Michigan team, going, hey,
you know, what can you do? Michigan State looked awful
in Week one, but what do they do? They picked
(28:04):
themselves up. Week two, went to Maryland and one on
the other Maryland smashed Yukon. Everyone's like, well, this is
a top twenty five potential team. Then they come back,
stay at home, loose to Michigan State and not Maryland
is like, you know, all in chaos. So college football
is the chaos sport. But Matt and I have both
(28:24):
talked about this Indiana team now as nine and three,
ten and two.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
I swear to God, I swear I could see nine
and three too. But I think the ceiling is the
ten and two, and I think they can they can
beat it. I think Nebraska is actually I think Nebraska
is beatable, which I didn't really think, going well, I.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Mean in Nebraska, it's like it's like, how much credit
do you deserve for beat in Colorado?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Zero Carla was a terrible football team, But you were
pretty sure, So I don't know, I'm pretty sure You
could take four any four defensive linemen from the Sun
Belt put them on Nebraska and they would have gotten
as many pressures on on on Shitter Sanders.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
As as Nebraska. I'm not saying the defense lines bad.
I'm just saying that's how bad Colorado's defensive line is.
They are offensive line. They are atrocious. They are They
might as well be, you know, guarding Shadoor with with
the with Mattador like the little flag, Yeah, the flag.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Nebraska. Nebraska does come off of bye before they face us,
so both teams will be coming off bye week before
that game in mid October will cross.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Bye week my week. Everybody's got up by bye week.
Everybody's got up by week, and UCLA has got a
buy a week before us.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
What's this.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
They're got to prepare for us? That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
We'll talk about this who's your team more in just
a second and start previewing East LA. But first it's
time for who won the week this past week? And
I use sports a lot of candidates to choose from,
But how about women's soccer freshmen Laila A Serta, who
won her first couple of Big Ten awards. She won
Big Ten Freshmen of the Week as well as Offensive
(30:17):
Player of the Week in the conference, which is now
eighteen teams. By the way, Serda scored five goals in
her first two games. She also had a couple of
a couple of assists. Indiana put fourteen goals last week
on the on the pitch in women's soccer. They beat
Lawrence nine mil and then knocked off Fivensville five mil
(30:40):
over the course of that week. So shout out to
shout out to Laila a Serta Georgia native, So so
good for her for taking women's Offensive Player of the
Week in the Big Ten as well as as well
as Freshman of the Week in that in the conference.
So it's absolutely wonderful to see. They're men's soccer off
(31:03):
to a bit of a rough start to say the least,
but that's how things go sometimes. Folks. If you like
what if you like what you're hearing, if you enjoy
our show, leave us a review, tell a friend, share
our links. Your support really helps us grow this podcast
and reach more passionate EYEU fans such as yourself. A reminder,
if you'd like to follow us on social media, head
(31:25):
over to Twitter Facebook, YouTube at India HQ or at
the Hoosier Sound give us the like, retweet our stuff
that really helps us grow this podcast. Matt, this Hoo's
your team. We're talking about nine to ten wins potentially
over the course of the season. But the first step
(31:46):
two what would be a historic year of Indiana football
is winning at the Rose Bowl On Saturday night, the
Hoosiers take on the one to oh UCLA Bruins in
a battle of first year head coaches. Signetti goes up
against Deshaun Foster. Indiana as of this morning, is a
(32:07):
three and a half point favorite on the road. As
we pointed out back on Sunday over at Indiana HQ,
Indiana is a big ten road favorite for the first
time in seventeen games, first time going back to twenty
twenty when the Hoosiers took on Michigan State. The over
(32:28):
under for this one is forty six and a half,
and so you do some meth. The numbers project this
one out as a twenty five twenty two roughly Indiana
win over the UCLA Bruins. This will be a seven
points the seven thirty Eastern kickoff on NBC. This is
the first ever head to head matchup between Indiana and
(32:50):
UCLA going back to the long, long time historic origins
of both of these universities. Matt UCLA knocked off Hawaii
sixteen to thirteen in Week one. It was a bit
of a rough go uh it's U c l A offense.
I'm not sure how far they've come along since they're
bye week after that Week one win against Hawaii. It
looks like a team that is led by their defense.
(33:12):
What are your first couple takeaways as far as this
U c l A team, How can Indiana take advantage
of this Bruins team who is a home underdog going
into this matchup in the Rose Bowl?
Speaker 2 (33:23):
They have a I actually, I just they suck. I'm sorry.
I I want me to find some pots about them.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
They're genuinely out my coffee there.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I'm sorry, They're just BA.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
I have watched them.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
This is gonna be clipped for all time when you
this is gonna be clicked for all time if if
we lose, Yes, it's true, yeah, okay, if I had to.
They have a decent wide receiver unit, true, decent, decent,
and their defense did give Hawaii nightmares. But it's Hawaii,
(34:06):
so I'm really really not sure where they stand.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
And then they had a week off, so and.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Maybe they fixed a lot of that stuff. Probably not,
but maybe there you go. That's what you feel like.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Is this going to be an Indiana home game?
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I'm telling you it's going. I've been telling people all
summer that it's like, oh, you start your big ten play,
you better watch out. And I'm like, you better watch
out for what a home game?
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Like, I'm saying, it's it's a Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles.
It's a Saturday, the natives and the natives are you?
Are you prioritizing ECLA football? On?
Speaker 2 (34:51):
God on God. I know probably about twenty people personally
that are going to this football game, all of them
not are separately connect like they they don't know each other.
So this is not like I just a group of
twenty people going. No, I know like twenty people. I
see what you're saying, going, none of whom know each
other that I just know them so and they're all
(35:13):
ay you fans. So you know, some of them live
in California. I've got people flying out there in Chicago
to go. I've got people flying out from Arizona to go.
I've got people flying out from Florida to go to
the game, Like I know a bunch of people that
are going to this game. Are we are we not
sure that this is going to be sixty five seventy
percent red in the crowd.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
I'm not sure. I think that's I think that's very
much in play. It is going to be an absolutely
gorgeous day in Los Angeles. Looking ahead to Saturday, of
course you'll get that Golden Hour as well with the
game starting at four thirty Pacific time, and then you know,
as you're near seven o'clock there into the fourth quarter,
you're gonna get your sons that at the Rose Bowl
(35:56):
as we see historically on New Year's Day when we
watched the Rose Bowl on TV, that's kind of that's
kind of the time that the game is at every year,
and you're getting that once now with the Indiana Hoosiers
personally selfishly happy this game wasn't like a ten Eastern
kickoff just for that reason, it's going to be it
(36:16):
made for TV event to say the least. Yeah, you,
cela Is, I think I would power rank them eighteenth
out of eighteen right now in the Big ten. I
just would. And you know, I understand Iowa lost to Iowa,
lost to Iowa State. You know, Michigan ugly loss home
Texas Northwestern rough home loss to Duke. Still, as I
(36:42):
look at this, I think UCLA is eighteen out of
eighteen as far as this conference is concerned. They do
have some decent players. Defensively, Matt talked about their wide
receiver as far as Logan Loya and j Michael Sturdivan
in the room that they had there. But defensively, you know,
I look at Jay Toya, I look at Keanu Williams.
I look at kJ Wallace as a nickel coming out
(37:05):
of the slot here he had a sack against Hawaii.
They have some good players on defense. Indiana's offense will
be tested, I think a lot more than the defensive group.
I did notice that UCLA threw the ball sixty drop
called drop backs sixty eight percent of the time against
Hawaii according to game on Paper. So you know, it
(37:26):
looks like this UCLA team is going to like to
throw the football. I just don't know how smart that is.
When Ethan Garber's their quarterback, completed fifty percent of his
passes against Hawaii through two interceptions. Their running game just
didn't manufacture anything either though outside of Garber's so Eric
(37:48):
b Enemy, the former Chiefs offensive coordinator who won multiple
Super Bowls with Kansas City, He's got some work to
do as far as as far as this offensive group
is concerned. Not only lost Chip Kelly to Ohio State
in the offseason, they lost defensive coordinator Danton Lynn to
USC in City in conference. And Danton Lynn has largely
(38:12):
been responsible for usc looking like kind of a juggernaut
through two games, especially in that win over LSU and
the season opener. So you know, as I look at this,
you know Indiana's offense will be put to the test.
Hawaii struggled quite a bit to move the ball up
and down the field. Hawaii had no running game against UCLA.
(38:33):
So Indiana team that has run the ball very effectively
through two games, hopefully they can put up more than
the fifty one rushing yards that Hawaii did in the
season opener against the Bruins. Matt as you look at
this Indiana side of things, you know, who are the
one or two players for IU that you're looking to
step up If Indiana is going to record their third
(38:54):
win of the season. You know, as you look at
the different matchups here, who are the one or two
Hoosiers that you think could really take advantage of the Ruins.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Oh, I mean it's got to start with first. I
know it's not a player, but it's got to start
with the offensive line. The offensive line has to show
the same push that has over the two Cupcake opponents,
which I mean you see like I'm just gonna get clipped.
I mean, I might as well be put up on
the video board at the Rose at this point. But
I mean this is our third straight Cupcake opponents, So like,
(39:24):
you know, you know, like like like like what what
what else do you want? I mean, there's there's three
point favorites. Man, we're three point favorites. We should be thirty. Anyways,
I don't care. I don't I don't care. I have
the utmost confidence in my guys, and so the offensive
line should really make you say, I look like the
(39:47):
group of five team that they probably should be. Anyways,
continuing on, I mean, can I can I combine uh, Justice,
Ellison and Tyson and Green into one group?
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Running backs Caleb Black as well of course Kayla Black,
just just and Kobe Martin. He throws all of them
together into one group, the running backs, if the offensive
line plays well, and the running backs and to make
the decisions. Keep the ball, don't turn it over, no fumbles,
no protect protect possession. If they can do that, I
think we'll be smooth sailing. I don't even give you
(40:21):
a the third one, I don't I don't care. I
think we should just run the ball down their throats. Honestly, tbh,
don't care, don't care.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
I actually think it's interesting you did mention the trenches
because as I look at this, this is the first
time in a long time, at least when the opponent
isn't Dumpster Rutgers from like five years ago, where Indiana
does have a clear advantage on both of the lines.
(40:49):
You know, you're talking about Indiana's old line versus UCLA's
front four, as well as the opposite Indiana's defensive line
run stuffers, pass rushers again the UCLA's protection. This is
a pretty lopsided mismatch, especially when it comes to Indiana's defense.
You know, could I see UCLA's D line maybe pushing
(41:12):
a little bit over the course of the game. Sure,
winning occasional snaps here and they're sure. But as far
as Indiana's d line, Indiana's pass rush, and that doesn't
even include the fact that Brian Haynes has aggressive tendencies,
it is likely going to throw some unique blitzes at
Ethan Garber's or whatever quarterback UCLA has out.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
There who interception to our secondary.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Yeah, that's this is one of the rare times where
Indiana just Indiana has a coaching advantage. Indiana has the
trench advantage, Indiana has the quarterback advantage. And so when
I look at this, it's like, how have Indiana teams
won games previously? Because that's the blueprint UCLA is going
(42:02):
to have to use here, right, Indiana before this season.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Had to win against each other because we loved each other.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
That's why Indiana has had to win games with a
disadvantage in the trenches a lot of times, a disadvantage
at quarterback a lot of times, a disadvantage in the
head coaching matchup when you go up against Ryan Days
a lot of times.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
A lot of times means that there was sometimes where
we weren't at.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
A disc twenty nineteen, twenty twenty. I'm not going to
we were still at that I'm not going to ignore those. No,
we were still. Look all I'm gonna say is, you know,
and I'm including not just the head coach. I'm putting
the OC, the DC, you know, the whole, the whole group,
the whole fine, you know Indianama's head.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Having Alabama's head coach does help.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Hey, Look, Indiana previously has had to rely on takeaways,
explosive plays on offense, maybe a trick play or two,
a special a special performance in the kicking game and
the punting game. You see, LA UCLA does have does
have the raining Special Teams Player of the Week in
(43:15):
the Big Ten or a couple of weeks ago after
the win over Hawaii a team, but Dani had three
field goals against Hawaii when UCLA won that game. And
so if you get into one of those games where
there is some strange explosive plays, some strange trick plays.
(43:36):
U see LA's kicker is pummeling kicks in from fifty
yards out at the Rose Bowl and beautiful weather. Now
now we're starting to get into some into some fragile,
flaky territory. But it's just so surprising to me as
I look at the trenches, how much of an advantage
Indiana has, And as I look at that, you know,
(43:58):
I'm very much looking forward to Indiana running the ball.
You mentioned the four headed beast that Indiana has as
far as the running back committee is concerned. But I'm
very curious to see Omar Cooper in this Week three matchup.
How much can you how much stock can you put
into that Week two performance against Western Illinois? Because I
(44:22):
look back last year and every time Omar Cooper caught
the football, I'm like, that guy's got to be on
the field more. That guy's got to be on the
field more. That guy's got to be on the field more.
I want to have him on the field over Dickie's Carter,
over E J. Williams. I want to have Omar Cooper
on the field ninety percent of the time. This year,
the roster makes that difficult. Right now, Donovan mccully's injured.
(44:43):
We don't know if he's going to be able to go.
If Omar Cooper, Donovan McCully and Elijah Surat are all available,
who's the odd man out?
Speaker 2 (44:52):
And if it's play all of them, look.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
You know you know it'll be then you know, do
you take up Miles Price, who's so effective the middle
of the field. Or do you play four receivers and
take off the tight end or do you put the
tight end down the field and go without a running back?
I mean, you know, there are a lot of crazy
possibilities here for Mike Shanahan as he runs this offense,
but specifically with Omar Cooper. If Donovan mccully's not one
hundred percent, can you take that Week two game turn
(45:21):
it into a big Week three performance. And if you
can do that, what does Kurt Signetti and Mike Shanahan do.
Is he go into that Charlotte game? Is he go
into the Maryland game? Hawaii did have one hundred yard
receiver
YU fans. So far, so good. The Hoosiers have played
a couple of games so far against non conference opponents
that they should have beaten, but not only did they win,
your Hoosiers, your football squad has looked pretty mighty impressive
in defeats over f I U and Western Illinois victories
(00:31):
or that's right.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
In victories.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
In the way they defeated those teams. Indiana won great.
But we're talking about a team that in week two
set program records for yardage and for points in a game.
So how much does this matter? Can we really get
(00:53):
excited about this team going into the Big ten opener
against uc LA. Matt and I are going to dive
into what we've seen so far, look forward to the
game against the Bruins, talk about how high the ceiling
is for this team, and so much more. Here on
episode three to three to three of The Hoosier Sound,
where we are the official podcast of Indiana HQ, recording
(01:14):
this edition of The Hoosier Sound on Wednesday, September eleventh,
twenty twenty four, Where I am your host, Nathan Christian.
Here with me is my normal co host, Matt Lucan's Matt,
this is like a natural point of transition and natural
critical point. Indiana took care of business first two games
against software opposition. We all knew Week three against UCLA
(01:37):
was going to be the first big test for this team.
But IUFB is two and zero. What are your main
takeaways from the first two victories over FIU and Western Illinois.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
The first victory, I'll go back to FIU to start.
I expected the defense to look a lot worse than
they did against FIU, especially as you're putting a lot
of new pieces in new decordinator. They're really solid. And
then you know, you know, to add you know, cherry
on top of the cake. If if you look at
(02:10):
how FYU performed in their last game against Central Michigan,
you know, those signs are there that you know, we
did really kick some ass on defense against FYU. And
then of course you held Western Illinois team to three points,
which honestly, they they probably shouldn't even have given up
those three points if we're being completely honest, Like they
(02:31):
just let up a stupid drive at the end of
the half for a field goal. Like other than that,
they really just didn't even let them breathe. For the
most part, I think what Western had like maybe like
less than ten first downs in the game.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Well, first of all, Indiana the first twenty one first downs.
I vividly remember that, and then you know, I think, yeah,
they ended up with something like one hundred and ten
yards one hundred and twenty total yards in the game.
I mean, just complete domination.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, yeah, so you can't whatever one drive is whatever,
But they probably shouldn't even let that up. They were
that much more superior than Western Illinois offensively. I thought
they looked a little bit shaky against FIU, especially in
the second half, because again, you know, they actually killed
it the first half. They had what twenty eight points, yeah,
(03:25):
twenty four points, yeah, twenty four points in the first half.
Not much more you can ask for from them. In
the second half, they took the foot off the gas,
and then coach Sigg talks about wanting to execute and
having standards, and they come out the next game, and
you know, if this was a Tom Allen team and
Tom Allen team, he would have talked about setting expectations
and studying standards and they would have done the same
(03:48):
thing the next game. They probably would have taken the
foot off the gas in the second half. You know,
they probably would have put up forty something on Western
and and nobody would be none the wiser. No, not
a Kurt Signetti coached Indiana Hoosier's team. They took the
(04:10):
message of hey, let's let's actually go out there and
play like we're playing against the big boys and actually
try because this is those these are the moments where
you're supposed to do that. And they set a school
record for scoring in a game. So the offense, to me,
(04:31):
has been a fantastic especially if you if you factor
in the fact that we're down what two offensive linemen
in the rotation there, you're down Donno McCauley has caught
Our best receiver from last year has caught one pass
for nine yards through two games, and we just set
the school record for scoring. The offense is fine. I
(04:55):
was confused going to the season. Who are starting running
back is going to be I'm still confused, but but
but I'm like happily confused because it's gone from it's
gone from who's gonna, you know, put their head and
who's gonna stick their head out and actually, you know,
from the rest of the pack and kind of you know,
(05:17):
show that they're superior to the rest of the running back.
So now I'm looking at the running back room and
like I can see roles for like four of these guys.
You know, we have we have two guys in our
running back room that are averaging damn near ten yards
of carry. I think Elijah Green's at like eleven something
and just Elson is just a shy under ten.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Like that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Can't I can't even do that in NCAA football on
like all American I can't do that if I tried.
And I have a heismand winning trophy running back in
year like five in Bloomington, and I still I still
can't do that. On the video games, They're putting up
video numbers for two games. Last thing I'll say about
the team, Uh, the biggest surprise on the whole team,
(06:04):
on the whole team has been the play of Omark Cooper.
I I he has gone from last year. He had
some some you know, some flashes. You know, I don't
really blame him for not, you know, showing more last year,
especially given the fact that I thought he was I
think he was injured or he was fighting injuries last
year at some point. And then you add in the
(06:26):
fact that our quarterback play was just so abhorrent that
he really didn't get a chance to show it off.
And now you have, you know, Curtis Rourke throwing to him,
and he's putting on a show. I think he was
like the third highest rated wide receiver by PFF this week.
(06:46):
Rat was not surrat was not very far behind. Like
these guys are putting up some gaudy numbers and it's
I mean, it's been nice, but now now it's you've
gone against power five team this week. So now it's
a put up or shut up moment where it's like, Okay,
if you can do this against Western Illinois and and
(07:08):
and you know, get the school record for scoring, great,
but go to the Rose Bowl and beat the crap
out of UCLA and you'll start getting some of that
attention at this program I think deserves.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah. Absolutely. As I was listening to you there, you
know you're talking about surprises. For me, the big surprise
has been not only the productivity of the running game,
but just how wide open the lanes are created by
the offensive line. I mean, this is where I don't
say this too often, but you know, I really do
(07:40):
think you or you or I could get three or
four yards of carry with this offensive line, you know,
you know I would. I would only get a couple
of snaps to be fair, you know, Coach Sig probably
wouldn't put me in for too long, especially given the
running backed up that Indiana has at the moment. But
I'm fairly confident with with Mike Kaddock and Carter Smith
(08:02):
and the others paving the way in front of me,
I could probably snag three or four yards before contact,
and then I'd be injured and cry my way back home,
you know, and then talk. I didn't think about the
fact that, yeah, Indiana has not played a Power five team,
obviously correct, but that's not exactly been a walk in
(08:24):
the park for a lot of other Big Ten teams
so far. Never my Notre Dame right rip fighting Irish
back on Saturday. But you think about some of the
results so far this year. Wisconsin, a team that everyone's
pretty high on, was really struggling with Western Michigan early,
really through the third quarter in their Week one matchup.
(08:46):
Michigan State looked completely awful against Florida Atlantic. But you
know what, the Spartans deserve credit for bouncing back in
week two and winning at Maryland. You think about Iowa,
a team that yeah, okay, I'm sorry, not Iowa, Northwestern
team that really struggled Miami Ohio, and a lot of
folks that say, hey, maybe Miami Ohio is a solid
MAC team, but Northwestern really struggled against those guys. And
(09:09):
then Oregon, Yeah, okay, Boise State solid, but that game
against Idaho, it was really hard to watch from the
duck standpoint before they sort of got some breathing room
there at the very very end against an Idaho team
that Hoosier fans are very familiar with. So it's not
like playing FCS teams. Playing group of five teams is
(09:32):
some sort of forty to fifty to sixty point guarantee
as far as margin of victory. Yet Indiana's gone out
and put up a whopping plus ninety eight point differential
on the board through the first two games, taking care
of business, looking good doing it. Offense, defense, special teams
all hanging in there. I love see Nico radicch which
(09:54):
make eleven out of eleven extra points in the game
against Preston, Illinois. You know he's gonna be useful at
some point coming up, especially I mean potentially as soon
as this game Saturday Night, where that field goal game
kicking game will make a pretty big difference. Overall, though,
as I think about the Indiana's first two games, it's
(10:15):
just such a breath of fresh air seeing how well
prepared this team is for both opponents. I mean, I watched,
I watched Kurt Signetti and Mike Shanahan and Bryant Haynes
and Tinos and Serri and the whole team looks so prepared.
They look so ready to go on both sides of
the ball. I'm so happy we don't have to wait
(10:37):
until November to figure out who our best players are.
Isn't it great?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
You know, it's great. I was trying to think back
to the last time I felt like we had an elite,
like elitely coached de Booren, Wommick, the Boor and Womack.
Yeah that I would give it that, But I'm not
(11:04):
even to count that because now they're coaches at Alabama.
That's like, that's that's that's that's like the greatest story
of all time thirty for thirty. Really, seriously, I don't
know how both those guys were ever ever ever at
AU but let's throw them aside to previous to that.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
I mean, look, I can only speak to my lifetime,
right and like I've take close attention since eighth nine,
and there's nothing I can fairly say. There's nothing outside
of the Boro watter.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Than I I would say. I would say maybe the
the the Kevin Wilson offensive line play. Yeah, they're under
Kevin Wilson. Seth Latrell. You had Darren Hiller one Volume one, Yeah, yeah,
(11:59):
Volume one, Darren Heller. Yeah, But that that first period
under Wilson, I think that's the last time we've really
had elitely coached units. And now now I look up
and down this roster from the back room with Tino
Censeri with the wide receivers to the offensive lines of
(12:20):
the D line, Oh yeah, improved so much.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
And we're going to talk about that in the U
c l A preview. You have no fear, but you know,
especially on a team that lost McCully to injury in
the first quarter. I believe of the f I U
game and and and all this, Like I'm fairly certain
right now that Indiana's depth chart is one hundred percent correct.
(12:46):
Curtis Rok is the best QB. But you know what
Tavin jacks Tavin Jackson didn't whine or moan or complain,
came in still there, came in as the second string
QB against Western Illinois and looked absolutely amazing. The throws
are on. The throws were accurate, obviously small sample, but
the deep shot to Omar Cooper, the one where Jackson
(13:08):
rolled out to his left and found a receiver downfield
throwing on the run, was wonderful to see. He looked
they brought in a mobile aspect to his game. He
kept the ball on a on a on a poll
of the of the play there and then he scored
h later on the later on the drive and the
and the poll by Jackson even confused. I think it
was ada A Johnny, the offensive lineman. He thought the
(13:29):
running back kept the ball and now I actually as
quarterback tam and Jackson did as he went into the
end zone. I love the fact that Indiana uses the
tight ends in the passing game, specifically Zach Horton who
comes over from JMU. But we've seen James Bomba catch
a couple of passes. Nice depth in the receiver room
as well. I love Miles Price. I've said it for years, Indiana,
(13:50):
for some reason, after Wap Philier left, decided we weren't
going to have another proper slot player dominating the middle
of the field, even though wap Philier was one of
the best receivers in school history. Even though no one,
no one wants to admit that, you know, Indiana has
turned out a bunch of great outside boundary receivers over
the years. Watt Filier was special over the middle of
(14:12):
the field, and Miles Price is somebody that you're actually
able to use in that capacity, and Indiana's used him really,
really well so far. But just from a preparation standpoint.
Now they're gonna be games down the road where preparation
means a little bit less and your in game adjustments
will matter a little bit more. Kurtzignety's got to show
a little bit more from the in game adjustment standpoint,
(14:33):
but he hasn't had to show anything through two games,
because Indiana has had one hundred percent likelihood to win
each game that they've played so far. After the first
couple of drives, right, you go in against FIU obviously
the second half with a little bit whatever, but they
dominated so much in the first half that the game
(14:54):
result was never in doubt, so you could play it
close to your vest, you could take you could take
the foot off the pedal a little bit. Perhaps you
don't want to show too much of your playbook for
UCLA coming up on Saturday, Maryland Northwestern coming up in
a few weeks. So all in all, I look at
this team and it's incredible to watch games from the
(15:15):
opening drive with a clear idea of what the game
plan is from Indiana and watch this team go out
and execute it. In the first quarter of both of
these games, they've come out throwing the football, spreading the
ball around, and then using some of that loose defense
(15:36):
to attack in the ground game. I have loved watching
this team look so prepared, so focused, so clear minded
going into each of these two games. And again, unlike
a lot of other Big Ten teams so far, the
result has never been in doubt for Indiana's first two matchups,
so you definitely have a lot to look forward to.
(15:58):
And this is exactly why Indiana has been favored against UCLA,
has gotten the opportunity to be favored against the UCLA
going into this Week three matchup. Now, I know there's
been a lot of exciting stuff to talk about, Matt.
There have been a lot of good things. There are
a lot of impressive stuff so far. Any issues that
have popped up as far as what you've seen through
the first two games, you talked about the injuries to
(16:20):
Nick Kidwell, of course that happened in the preseason, Donovan
McCully happened in the first quarter of the FIU game.
Any issues that you've seen even you know or has
it all been fairly minor and stuff that you can
look past.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I think it's been very very minor stuff. I will
say as far as the defense goes, the secondary has
looked exploitable at times, but I'm I'm not sure if
that's just from inexperience or if it's if it's actually
(16:57):
like a real issue. And I mean, I don't know
how you can complain about the secondary when they've given
up ten They've given up ten points total through two games,
so there's a lot of nit going on. I will
say that there have been some big plays down the
middle through the secondary, and I know our dbs will
(17:20):
have more chemistry and get better as the season goes on.
So well, and some of the defensive play calling right
like assuredly.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
You know, you.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Find out what works for your unit and then you
kind of play to your strengths. And I feel like
that's something that this coaching staff does really well, which
is that they through two games, have figured out, okay,
what does this team do well, and instead of trying
to try new things where they try to see if
(17:56):
they can fix some of the weaknesses, they've just gone
for strength and strength, like strength for strength, like they
just figure out what works and go, Okay, this is
what's how we're going to win Football Schames this year.
That's fine, let's try to perfect it. Instead of last
year's staff would have found out what we're good at
and then tried new things to see if you could,
(18:20):
you know, bolster up some of the weaknesses. Where you know,
if you play winning football, you play winning football how
you play winning football. And I think Signetti and his staff,
but especially Signetti, learned this from Saban. Like Saban teams
always had weaknesses always, whether it was Saban's inability to
recruit a kicker or or it was you know, they
(18:45):
can throw down a field very well. You know Jealan
Milroe last year, right who who who could do a
lot of different things at the ball, but but certainly
was not a great passer. So they would just play offense,
or play defense, or play whatever position group they had
to the best of their ability. With the strengths that
they had.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
They dictated the terms of the game exactly and they
didn't let the opponent do that.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
And I've seen the same thing. Of course, it's two cupcakes.
They don't get me wrong, I just might take could
be completely wrong by the end of uh, you know,
Saturday night. But I've through two weeks. Through two weeks,
I have seen a coach Signetti team that has done
things the way I saw. You know, a Nick Saban
(19:35):
winning program do that. You can insert any high purchase
smart winning program. Does any of the high level programs
when they are winning, like a Jim Harbaugh led team,
they play to their strengths and they dictate the game.
They play the game how they want it to be played.
And if you can beat them, you know, good luck. Right.
(19:55):
So I I really, really, I can't stress this enough.
I am so optimistic that I would actually I'm I'm
giving you a question right now. Through two games. I know,
I know it's two games. We've we're outscoring teams like,
what one hundred plus one hundred and eleven to ten, ye, right,
(20:18):
or something like that through two games, hundred eight to ten,
one hundred and eight sorry, one hundred eight to ten
through two games. What is your final revised record regular
season for this team? Because now we've seen how shit
Michigan is, right, We've seen how bad Maryland is, We've
(20:41):
seen how bad Northwestern is, We've seen how bad a
lot of these other Big ten teams are, and how
good Indiana has looked through two games.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Six and oh six and oh is Like, if Indiana
loses before their bye week, I'm I'm do they play
Nebraska for their bi week?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
No?
Speaker 1 (21:03):
So the next four games are at u c l
A home, Charlotte home, Maryland at Northwestern does have to
be fo Wednesday. If Indiana loses one of those games there,
it's got to be because there's an injury that we
don't expect, or a couple of injuries we don't expect.
Or you had some really flukey turnover luck that went
(21:26):
against your way. You know, you fumble the ball three
times and they were all recovered by the opponent. There
was a batted ball that you know, Maryland or Northwestern
picked off and you know stuff like.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
That, the team that returns you know, a touchdown, you know,
doesn't turn touchdown, drops the ball.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
And then they don't give him the touchdowns the touchdown
and the atrocious referee decisions, because like I just I
would be really disheartened. And again, I'm not thinking Indiana's
got to win by third, but just from a win
loss standpoint, you know, you like, beat UCLA by one
(22:07):
or thirty, I don't care, but.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
I'm really not sure.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
I've looked. I've looked at this matchup every which way
so far, and I think the only reason Indiana's not
a bigger favorite is just because of the history of
the programs.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
That say, I I've watched UCLA tape. Of course it
was one game, and they did play in Hawaii, right,
so yeah, fair enough. They were probably really distracted, you know,
going surfing and stuff, as I would do a team
that being said, Hawaii is not supposed to be good,
(22:44):
Like they're supposed to be really really really really really
bad and you only win by three points. And I
watched State, so I was like, I just got to
see what what's happened here? I'm not And then I
was curious. So then I went watched fi u's last game.
I found I some found the highlights somewhere and I
(23:06):
watched that. Are we sure that U s LA is
better than FIU? Because I'm not sure. I'm I'm I'm
really not sure. I think you usually might be one
of the worst Power of five teams.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Have ever I've ever laid there a ten point home
favorite against if that game happens and they look bad
and really bad, and again, like you know, you could
have had a situation like Oregon Idaho where Oregon, yeah,
they only won by ten, but Oregon actually dominated every
statistical category in that game. It's just they messed up
(23:43):
a couple of third and fourth downs and you know,
it just sort of fumbled and bumbled that way. But
I I just have looked at this matchup every which
way and and so you know, to me, six and oh,
I'm trying like six and oh has like has to happen.
And if it doesn't, there has to be a really
(24:05):
really good reason as to why that didn't that it
didn't end up that way. So after six and oh,
you know, Nebraska, Nebraska's looked really good, Like I'll give
them a lot of credit. I actually think Nebraska is
a legit dark horse to make the Big ten championship game.
You know, if if Penn State or something, or Ohio
(24:25):
State stumbles, Oregon, you know, takes a couple of l's
because they're really sniffing with danger there. You know, Nebraska
to me looks like a dangerous team. I think you
split one of the I think he split the two
home games after the bye week, so you're seven and one.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
I think he's split Washington and Nebraska.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah, I think you're seven and one after Washington and Nebraska.
I think you're eight and two after that at Michigan
State home Michigan. I think you're eight and three after
at Ohio State, and I think you're nine. I think
nine and three.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I I I hate to be this guy, but I
I think it's I think it's tenant too. No.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I I you're you're not you're you're you're which? Uh So,
which which one of those four games between Nebraska and
Michigan do we lose? I?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
I I agree that it's one one of Washington or
Nebraska home. I I think they'll both be really close.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So you're Michigan now.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Oh I think Michigan is like three and nine beads.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Look look I have I have Nithan, I have Michigan fans.
You know, of course I've done stuff with ant but
you know, in the past and and still do stuff
with Ant. I have. I have Michigan fans telling me
how good Jack total is.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yeah, this is how far are they fallen.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
They're trying to tell me who I watched. You know,
we watched Jack Bubble play quarterback. And they're trying to
explain to me that Jack Tuttle was the next coming
to Jesus Christ. I'm like, guys, guys, you you you
you you'd almost be better running triple option. Like put
(26:19):
in Orgy and run triple option the rest of the year.
There's no reason to throw the ball on the field anymore.
Davis Warren is terrible, Orgie's worse, and Jack Tuttle is
a walking corpse.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
So like, man, yeah, I mean this is good thing,
you know? Is that bad? And I talked about this
also to I think I mentioned on this podcast before.
On our podcast, if talked about this to a few others,
Like last year in the Big Ten, you had three
legendary players and teams You had that Michigan football team.
You had the Perdue men's basketball team with Zach Edy.
(26:52):
You need the Iowa women's basketball team with Caitlin Clark.
And I don't care how great the program is, how
great the culture is, but those three legendary level teams
that will be remembered forever lost so much and I
just have I'm just not sure how great any of
these three teams are going to be this season. Now. Look,
(27:14):
Michigan lost to Texas, right, Texas is a legit national
championship contender.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
I'm curious three points at all?
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Well what I'm curious to see now? And we will
potentially talk about Michigan a little bit later in our
Big Ten Picks of the week. But you know, this
Michigan team, now, they get USC at home, they get
Minnesota at home, they go to Washington, they go to Illinois.
So like a lot of these games, it's like, what
level of toughness do you have? Not that you've been
(27:43):
dealt a lot of adversity? Right Like that's where you're
You're excited to watch some of these teams grow and
develop because they're eighteen to twenty two years old. And
this is why college football is such a great product.
It's what makes it a little bit different than the NFL.
And so that's where I'm looking at this Michigan team, going, hey,
you know, what can you do? Michigan State looked awful
in Week one, but what do they do? They picked
(28:04):
themselves up. Week two, went to Maryland and one on
the other Maryland smashed Yukon. Everyone's like, well, this is
a top twenty five potential team. Then they come back,
stay at home, loose to Michigan State and not Maryland
is like, you know, all in chaos. So college football
is the chaos sport. But Matt and I have both
(28:24):
talked about this Indiana team now as nine and three,
ten and two.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
I swear to God, I swear I could see nine
and three too. But I think the ceiling is the
ten and two, and I think they can they can
beat it. I think Nebraska is actually I think Nebraska
is beatable, which I didn't really think, going well, I.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Mean in Nebraska, it's like it's like, how much credit
do you deserve for beat in Colorado?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Zero Carla was a terrible football team, But you were
pretty sure, So I don't know, I'm pretty sure You
could take four any four defensive linemen from the Sun
Belt put them on Nebraska and they would have gotten
as many pressures on on on Shitter Sanders.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
As as Nebraska. I'm not saying the defense lines bad.
I'm just saying that's how bad Colorado's defensive line is.
They are offensive line. They are atrocious. They are They
might as well be, you know, guarding Shadoor with with
the with Mattador like the little flag, Yeah, the flag.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Nebraska. Nebraska does come off of bye before they face us,
so both teams will be coming off bye week before
that game in mid October will cross.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Bye week my week. Everybody's got up by bye week.
Everybody's got up by week, and UCLA has got a
buy a week before us.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
What's this.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
They're got to prepare for us? That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
We'll talk about this who's your team more in just
a second and start previewing East LA. But first it's
time for who won the week this past week? And
I use sports a lot of candidates to choose from,
But how about women's soccer freshmen Laila A Serta, who
won her first couple of Big Ten awards. She won
Big Ten Freshmen of the Week as well as Offensive
(30:17):
Player of the Week in the conference, which is now
eighteen teams. By the way, Serda scored five goals in
her first two games. She also had a couple of
a couple of assists. Indiana put fourteen goals last week
on the on the pitch in women's soccer. They beat
Lawrence nine mil and then knocked off Fivensville five mil
(30:40):
over the course of that week. So shout out to
shout out to Laila a Serta Georgia native, So so
good for her for taking women's Offensive Player of the
Week in the Big Ten as well as as well
as Freshman of the Week in that in the conference.
So it's absolutely wonderful to see. They're men's soccer off
(31:03):
to a bit of a rough start to say the least,
but that's how things go sometimes. Folks. If you like
what if you like what you're hearing, if you enjoy
our show, leave us a review, tell a friend, share
our links. Your support really helps us grow this podcast
and reach more passionate EYEU fans such as yourself. A reminder,
if you'd like to follow us on social media, head
(31:25):
over to Twitter Facebook, YouTube at India HQ or at
the Hoosier Sound give us the like, retweet our stuff
that really helps us grow this podcast. Matt, this Hoo's
your team. We're talking about nine to ten wins potentially
over the course of the season. But the first step
(31:46):
two what would be a historic year of Indiana football
is winning at the Rose Bowl On Saturday night, the
Hoosiers take on the one to oh UCLA Bruins in
a battle of first year head coaches. Signetti goes up
against Deshaun Foster. Indiana as of this morning, is a
(32:07):
three and a half point favorite on the road. As
we pointed out back on Sunday over at Indiana HQ,
Indiana is a big ten road favorite for the first
time in seventeen games, first time going back to twenty
twenty when the Hoosiers took on Michigan State. The over
(32:28):
under for this one is forty six and a half,
and so you do some meth. The numbers project this
one out as a twenty five twenty two roughly Indiana
win over the UCLA Bruins. This will be a seven
points the seven thirty Eastern kickoff on NBC. This is
the first ever head to head matchup between Indiana and
(32:50):
UCLA going back to the long, long time historic origins
of both of these universities. Matt UCLA knocked off Hawaii
sixteen to thirteen in Week one. It was a bit
of a rough go uh it's U c l A offense.
I'm not sure how far they've come along since they're
bye week after that Week one win against Hawaii. It
looks like a team that is led by their defense.
(33:12):
What are your first couple takeaways as far as this
U c l A team, How can Indiana take advantage
of this Bruins team who is a home underdog going
into this matchup in the Rose Bowl?
Speaker 2 (33:23):
They have a I actually, I just they suck. I'm sorry.
I I want me to find some pots about them.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
They're genuinely out my coffee there.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I'm sorry, They're just BA.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
I have watched them.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
This is gonna be clipped for all time when you
this is gonna be clicked for all time if if
we lose, Yes, it's true, yeah, okay, if I had to.
They have a decent wide receiver unit, true, decent, decent,
and their defense did give Hawaii nightmares. But it's Hawaii,
(34:06):
so I'm really really not sure where they stand.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
And then they had a week off, so and.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Maybe they fixed a lot of that stuff. Probably not,
but maybe there you go. That's what you feel like.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Is this going to be an Indiana home game?
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I'm telling you it's going. I've been telling people all
summer that it's like, oh, you start your big ten play,
you better watch out. And I'm like, you better watch
out for what a home game?
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Like, I'm saying, it's it's a Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles.
It's a Saturday, the natives and the natives are you?
Are you prioritizing ECLA football? On?
Speaker 2 (34:51):
God on God. I know probably about twenty people personally
that are going to this football game, all of them
not are separately connect like they they don't know each other.
So this is not like I just a group of
twenty people going. No, I know like twenty people. I
see what you're saying, going, none of whom know each
other that I just know them so and they're all
(35:13):
ay you fans. So you know, some of them live
in California. I've got people flying out there in Chicago
to go. I've got people flying out from Arizona to go.
I've got people flying out from Florida to go to
the game, Like I know a bunch of people that
are going to this game. Are we are we not
sure that this is going to be sixty five seventy
percent red in the crowd.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
I'm not sure. I think that's I think that's very
much in play. It is going to be an absolutely
gorgeous day in Los Angeles. Looking ahead to Saturday, of
course you'll get that Golden Hour as well with the
game starting at four thirty Pacific time, and then you know,
as you're near seven o'clock there into the fourth quarter,
you're gonna get your sons that at the Rose Bowl
(35:56):
as we see historically on New Year's Day when we
watched the Rose Bowl on TV, that's kind of that's
kind of the time that the game is at every year,
and you're getting that once now with the Indiana Hoosiers
personally selfishly happy this game wasn't like a ten Eastern
kickoff just for that reason, it's going to be it
(36:16):
made for TV event to say the least. Yeah, you,
cela Is, I think I would power rank them eighteenth
out of eighteen right now in the Big ten. I
just would. And you know, I understand Iowa lost to Iowa,
lost to Iowa State. You know, Michigan ugly loss home
Texas Northwestern rough home loss to Duke. Still, as I
(36:42):
look at this, I think UCLA is eighteen out of
eighteen as far as this conference is concerned. They do
have some decent players. Defensively, Matt talked about their wide
receiver as far as Logan Loya and j Michael Sturdivan
in the room that they had there. But defensively, you know,
I look at Jay Toya, I look at Keanu Williams.
I look at kJ Wallace as a nickel coming out
(37:05):
of the slot here he had a sack against Hawaii.
They have some good players on defense. Indiana's offense will
be tested, I think a lot more than the defensive group.
I did notice that UCLA threw the ball sixty drop
called drop backs sixty eight percent of the time against
Hawaii according to game on Paper. So you know, it
(37:26):
looks like this UCLA team is going to like to
throw the football. I just don't know how smart that is.
When Ethan Garber's their quarterback, completed fifty percent of his
passes against Hawaii through two interceptions. Their running game just
didn't manufacture anything either though outside of Garber's so Eric
(37:48):
b Enemy, the former Chiefs offensive coordinator who won multiple
Super Bowls with Kansas City, He's got some work to
do as far as as far as this offensive group
is concerned. Not only lost Chip Kelly to Ohio State
in the offseason, they lost defensive coordinator Danton Lynn to
USC in City in conference. And Danton Lynn has largely
(38:12):
been responsible for usc looking like kind of a juggernaut
through two games, especially in that win over LSU and
the season opener. So you know, as I look at this,
you know Indiana's offense will be put to the test.
Hawaii struggled quite a bit to move the ball up
and down the field. Hawaii had no running game against UCLA.
(38:33):
So Indiana team that has run the ball very effectively
through two games, hopefully they can put up more than
the fifty one rushing yards that Hawaii did in the
season opener against the Bruins. Matt as you look at
this Indiana side of things, you know, who are the
one or two players for IU that you're looking to
step up If Indiana is going to record their third
(38:54):
win of the season. You know, as you look at
the different matchups here, who are the one or two
Hoosiers that you think could really take advantage of the Ruins.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Oh, I mean it's got to start with first. I
know it's not a player, but it's got to start
with the offensive line. The offensive line has to show
the same push that has over the two Cupcake opponents,
which I mean you see like I'm just gonna get clipped.
I mean, I might as well be put up on
the video board at the Rose at this point. But
I mean this is our third straight Cupcake opponents, So like,
(39:24):
you know, you know, like like like like what what
what else do you want? I mean, there's there's three
point favorites. Man, we're three point favorites. We should be thirty. Anyways,
I don't care. I don't I don't care. I have
the utmost confidence in my guys, and so the offensive
line should really make you say, I look like the
(39:47):
group of five team that they probably should be. Anyways,
continuing on, I mean, can I can I combine uh, Justice,
Ellison and Tyson and Green into one group?
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Running backs Caleb Black as well of course Kayla Black,
just just and Kobe Martin. He throws all of them
together into one group, the running backs, if the offensive
line plays well, and the running backs and to make
the decisions. Keep the ball, don't turn it over, no fumbles,
no protect protect possession. If they can do that, I
think we'll be smooth sailing. I don't even give you
(40:21):
a the third one, I don't I don't care. I
think we should just run the ball down their throats. Honestly, tbh,
don't care, don't care.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
I actually think it's interesting you did mention the trenches
because as I look at this, this is the first
time in a long time, at least when the opponent
isn't Dumpster Rutgers from like five years ago, where Indiana
does have a clear advantage on both of the lines.
(40:49):
You know, you're talking about Indiana's old line versus UCLA's
front four, as well as the opposite Indiana's defensive line
run stuffers, pass rushers again the UCLA's protection. This is
a pretty lopsided mismatch, especially when it comes to Indiana's defense.
You know, could I see UCLA's D line maybe pushing
(41:12):
a little bit over the course of the game. Sure,
winning occasional snaps here and they're sure. But as far
as Indiana's d line, Indiana's pass rush, and that doesn't
even include the fact that Brian Haynes has aggressive tendencies,
it is likely going to throw some unique blitzes at
Ethan Garber's or whatever quarterback UCLA has out.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
There who interception to our secondary.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Yeah, that's this is one of the rare times where
Indiana just Indiana has a coaching advantage. Indiana has the
trench advantage, Indiana has the quarterback advantage. And so when
I look at this, it's like, how have Indiana teams
won games previously? Because that's the blueprint UCLA is going
(42:02):
to have to use here, right, Indiana before this season.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Had to win against each other because we loved each other.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
That's why Indiana has had to win games with a
disadvantage in the trenches a lot of times, a disadvantage
at quarterback a lot of times, a disadvantage in the
head coaching matchup when you go up against Ryan Days
a lot of times.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
A lot of times means that there was sometimes where
we weren't at.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
A disc twenty nineteen, twenty twenty. I'm not going to
we were still at that I'm not going to ignore those. No,
we were still. Look all I'm gonna say is, you know,
and I'm including not just the head coach. I'm putting
the OC, the DC, you know, the whole, the whole group,
the whole fine, you know Indianama's head.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Having Alabama's head coach does help.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Hey, Look, Indiana previously has had to rely on takeaways,
explosive plays on offense, maybe a trick play or two,
a special a special performance in the kicking game and
the punting game. You see, LA UCLA does have does
have the raining Special Teams Player of the Week in
(43:15):
the Big Ten or a couple of weeks ago after
the win over Hawaii a team, but Dani had three
field goals against Hawaii when UCLA won that game. And
so if you get into one of those games where
there is some strange explosive plays, some strange trick plays.
(43:36):
U see LA's kicker is pummeling kicks in from fifty
yards out at the Rose Bowl and beautiful weather. Now
now we're starting to get into some into some fragile,
flaky territory. But it's just so surprising to me as
I look at the trenches, how much of an advantage
Indiana has, And as I look at that, you know,
(43:58):
I'm very much looking forward to Indiana running the ball.
You mentioned the four headed beast that Indiana has as
far as the running back committee is concerned. But I'm
very curious to see Omar Cooper in this Week three matchup.
How much can you how much stock can you put
into that Week two performance against Western Illinois? Because I
(44:22):
look back last year and every time Omar Cooper caught
the football, I'm like, that guy's got to be on
the field more. That guy's got to be on the
field more. That guy's got to be on the field more.
I want to have him on the field over Dickie's Carter,
over E J. Williams. I want to have Omar Cooper
on the field ninety percent of the time. This year,
the roster makes that difficult. Right now, Donovan mccully's injured.
(44:43):
We don't know if he's going to be able to go.
If Omar Cooper, Donovan McCully and Elijah Surat are all available,
who's the odd man out?
Speaker 2 (44:52):
And if it's play all of them, look.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
You know you know it'll be then you know, do
you take up Miles Price, who's so effective the middle
of the field. Or do you play four receivers and
take off the tight end or do you put the
tight end down the field and go without a running back?
I mean, you know, there are a lot of crazy
possibilities here for Mike Shanahan as he runs this offense,
but specifically with Omar Cooper. If Donovan mccully's not one
hundred percent, can you take that Week two game turn
(45:21):
it into a big Week three performance. And if you
can do that, what does Kurt Signetti and Mike Shanahan do.
Is he go into that Charlotte game? Is he go
into the Maryland game? Hawaii did have one hundred yard
receiver
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