Weaver & Kelly's IU Football Podcast: Indiana vs. Oregon preview, Mailbag Q&A

No. 7 Indiana travels to No. 3 Oregon in arguably the most important game of the Curt Cignetti tenure, and Peegs.com's Matt Weaver and Jared Kelly break it all down plus give their score predictions. In the second half of the show, Weaver and Kelly answer listener questions as part of a mailbag Q&A.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome in everybody. This Tuesday, October seventh, Indiana's rank number
seven in the AP Poll. This week, coming off a
bye week, Hoosiers have a big one on tap, arguably
the biggest game, the most important game of the Curse
of Netty tenure, as they travel to number three Oregon
this weekend three point thirty kickoff on CBS at Austin Stadium.
Peaks dot COM's Matt Weaver Jerry Kelly here to get

(00:25):
into everything from the Hoosiers and Ducks this weekend, and
then at the end of this podcast, we will do
a little bit of a mailbag Q and A that
you guys. You guys submitted your questions over on the
Peaks dot Com Premium Football Award, so we'll get into
some of those questions try to answer them as best
as we can. First, Matt, bye week for me, it
was nice to nice to decompress a little bit. Did

(00:46):
you guess watch it colleg football or would you kind
of take take things?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, No, it's Saturday.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
I didn't watch any college fotball till at eight thirty
at night.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
I was busy with kids' activities pretty much from seven
am until about eight, so I was home for I
was home for about I don't know, thirty to forty
five minutes, but it was before the game started, so
now I didn't get to really watch much unfortunately.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah, welcome to being dad. Yeah it wasn't. It wasn't
a great slate of games any anyways, especially nicely. It
wasn't terrific, So you didn't miss a whole lot. Although
we do need to talk about Penn State. Maybe we'll
talk about this at the end. But what I mean,
what has happened to Penn State this year is crazy.
I mean, I'm sure you saw a little bit of
the UCLA Penn State at least some of the highlights

(01:29):
and stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Yeah, I did, and I mean I was.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
I was.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
My son had all of a sudden had a baseball game,
so I was. I was coaching first base, but in
between innings, I was getting on my phone and I
was checking scores. But I did see that score, and
somebody came up with me and said, did you see
the pen I had checked it. It was I think at
the time it was twenty four to seven, and I
think UCLA went up twenty seven to seven a half,
So I don't know. I mean I've said it before.
I'm not a huge believer in James Franklin. I think

(01:57):
I'm not saying he's not he's a bad coach. I'm
just saying and I you know, I think there are
better coaches you could have at a program like Penn State,
you know. And he's obviously got players. They put guys
in the in the league every single year, and guys
high up, and they still can't find a way to
win some of these games. And then that loss to UCLA,
He's got to go down as one of the worst

(02:18):
losses for like a top ten even a top twenty
team in a long time. I mean, that's people if
they were gonna go winless, they changed their coach, the
coordinators were ahole new. I mean, that is programs of
total upheaval. And they dropped forty two on Penn State.
I'm sure Penn State probably helped them out a little bit.
Like I said, I can see the game, but still
that's that's that's an inexcusable loss for for for that program.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, it's it's things are not great. Happy valut it
right now. And obviously Indiana will travel to play Penn
State in a couple of weeks here and we'll talk
a lot more about that and the implications of Penn
State season so far and what it might mean for Indiana.
But first, Matt, this is maybe the most important game
of the Signetti era. Probably not for us to say
whether it's it's it's right, right or wrong on that regard,

(03:03):
but you have an opportunity for probably most signature win.
You could say Oregon last year, same similar opportunity, but
this one especially, A lot of people view Oregon as
you know, the top team in the nation right there
with Ohio State. Uh, going three three time zones away
not gonna be easy, of course for Indiana. Where are
you with this game in terms of importance level? And

(03:23):
now that we know that Penn State probably isn't as
good as we thought they were, Uh, does this make
this game even more important than your eyes for this
for the season?

Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (03:32):
But I mean, I you know, I you can you
can lose this game and still be exactly where you
want to be at the end of the year. Now,
you don't want to go out there and get you know, embarrassed.
But it's gonna be a tough game. I had this
game talked up as a loss all along. It's but
Oregon's really good. They're they're They're super talented. They score
a ton of points, they don't give up many points.
Their quarterback is playing like an NFL guy, Dante Moore.

(03:55):
They got speed all over the field. It's gonna be
a tough I think Indiana will go out there and
give them a give them a good game. But I
think the at the end, you have the home field advantage.
You know, that'll be a big factor. And I just think,
you know, obviously, for Oregon, this is the game they
really I mean, they could still be but they can't
lose this game like this is this is the you know,

(04:16):
they're they This is the kind of a must win
for them, not only because of Indiana standing and in
the playoffs, but because it's a home game and you
don't want to you don't want to drop any of
these But uh, it's gonna be a heck of a battle.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
It's gonna be fun to watch, you know.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
But I I do like I've liked Oregon Oregon all
along in this game, and that hasn't changed.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
I watched Oregon a lot this season, you know, just
just from the nature have been playing on all the
national time slots, uh this year. So I watched a
lot of them this year. They are super, super impressive
and obviously last year they were the number one seed
in the CFP, and it looks like they might even
be better this season, just the different components they have
on both sides of the ball. All Right, So Indiana
opened I believe it was an eight and a half

(04:55):
maybe nine and a half points spread, depending on where
you looked. The line has moved down in favor of
India since then. Right now, depending on where you look,
Indiana is about a seven and a half point underdog,
which to be expected. ESPN Football Power Decks has the
Hoosiers with a thirty point five percent chance to win,
so kind of in line with what what we we

(05:15):
kind of thought going into the season, Matt. But the
more I look at Oregon this year and watched them,
they are a very dangerous team, probably the most dangerous,
most explosive team Indiana's gonna see this season. And you know,
Indiana has been good this season, especially tackling and not
allowing those big plays, uh, you know, especially once they
got into big ten play. What's what worries you most

(05:37):
about Oregon? Uh in in the in the time you've
had to look at them.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
They're big playability on offense that you know that that
titan Kenyon Sadik, I think is how you say his name.
He's really good. And I just think tight ends like that.
I mean, you saw it last year for Penn State
with Tyler Warren. You see it all over the place
with these these I mean, they're they're just really really
tough covers because you know, if you try to put
a dB on them, well, then he's got the size advantage.

(06:03):
If you try to put a linebacker, then he's got
the speed and athleticism, and then and then their speed
at other positions. You know, I think they're playing like
a true freshman who's who's tearing it up. And then
Dante Moore is probably the biggest concern because of his
ability to run. And I mean, obviously in the first
game that was one of the the buggaboos for the
IU defense against Old Dominion.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
Their quarterback really had you know, it was only two runs,
but still they were two big runs.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
And this guy's better. I mean, Dante Moore is one
of the best quarterbacks in the country. So and then defensively,
you know, they're well coached. Dan Lanning is a defensive
guy by trade. They've got players at all levels. Uh,
they're big upfront, you know. So it's you know, there's
there's not a lot of weaknesses on this team. No,
no team is perfect, and you know they've they've had

(06:50):
some moments and games where maybe they they've been vulnerable.
But it's gonna take an A plus effort from Indiana
to win this game.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
So Oregon offensively, it's gonna be extremely tough for Indiana
to stop Oregon. They have I believe it's like four
different running backs with multiple touchdowns this year. They can
really rotate three to four different guys in the backfield. Receiver,
they have a true fresh with the colorin Moore. He's
been really really good this season. He's their leading receiver.
You mentioned Kenyon Sep the tight end. He's a big

(07:19):
body guy, really tough coverage. I wonder how Indiana is
gonna to defend him with I'm assuming they're gonna put
either boyk In or maybe Lajah Hardy on him in space.
But this offense, Matt, I mean, if if you're Brian
Hayes going to this game, how do you approach this
because you know, obviously you want to get after Dante
Moore as much as possible. But the threat of him

(07:39):
getting outside the pocket and getting loose and you know,
getting in those one on one battles in space like that,
that's just as dangerous as you know, keeping him inside
the pocketing him trying to throw.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, you gotta be disciplined.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
I mean, your edge guys, you know, you can't really
lose containing excuse me, and you mentioned, you know, on offense.
I mean, like they don't have I'm just looking at
the CF stats. They their top receiver comes in at
like twentieth the freshman decoring, he's got nineteen catches. But
then they got like two guys of sixteen, another guy
as fifteen. So this is a lot like kind of

(08:13):
defending Indiana, like pick your poison? You know who who
who do you who do you try to who do
you try to take out? I mean, you know, if
you try to take out Sadik and maybe you you
you shade him a little bit, then maybe that obviously
you're gonna leave somebody else in a while. I mean,
it's it's gonna be tough, you you know, they obviously
watched film. They know what they're playing is. And the
other thing is, I think Organ's only giving up I

(08:34):
think one sack on the season, if I if I
if I saw the stats right, So, and some of
that's probably due to More's ability to escape pressure.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
But the bottom line is.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
They don't they they don't, They don't give up much pressure,
and then they have all these weapons, so and it's hard.
I don't care. If you have five D'Angelo ponds out
in the secondary, you can't cover forever.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
At some point, somebody's gonna get open.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
So they're gonna have to figure out a way to
try to speed him up more that is, and hopefully
him you know, a little bit flustered, which won't be
easy and all at the same time not allow him
to get out and make those plays that he came
up with his legs. So I don't, I don't. I mean,
you know, this is what Brian Hayines is paid big
money for. But I don't envy him this week because
this is gonna be a really I'm guessing he's had
some sleepless nights.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, I mean, the last two weeks of the bye
week have been crucial for a Nana. Oregon also coming
off of bye week, so that could both teams will
probably have some wrinkles here and there that we haven't
seen yet this season offensive line wise and the trenches.
I mean, we talked about this every week. This is
this is a you know, one of the criterias every
week regardless of who you play, but you gotta win
the trenches. Oregon is so good up front, and I

(09:40):
mean we remember Matthew Bedford, Matt from his time in Indiana.
I think he's like in his seventh year there at Oregon,
and Oregon's offensive line is so good that he's not
even starting for them, a seventh year guy Bedford. That is,
so it's gonna be really tough here now Indiana. And
in the trenches, they've been really good. Especially that Iowa game.
I think opened a lot of eyes not only within
the fan base but nationally that Indiana could could at

(10:02):
least handle the line of scrimmage defensively. In the run game,
but this is a different kind of rushing attack that
Oregon has. You know, they have different types of bodies,
different types of guys who can run north south, you know,
get go horizontally, break off a big plage a collection
of different bodies here. Do you do you feel like
Indiana's a run defense that is, will travel well in
an environment like this.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
Well, I mean, I think we're gonna find out. I mean,
you talk about it.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
I mean, h Dearie deer Hill junior freshman, he's averaging
ten point four yards of carry, Like every time the
guy touches the ball, he gets a first down Like
I don't. That's insane. And again it goes back to
the speed. They just have a ton of speed. And
I'm sure, I mean, you know, I've watched a little bit,

(10:48):
but I would expect they're gonna try to spread you
out as much as possible, probably some decent sized splits
on the old line, and they're gonna try to hit
those creases and I mean Aiden Fisher, l Jahardy and
Isaiah Jones, and then you're probably gonna have to, you know,
use some safety. Those guys are gonna have to come
to play. The d lin is gonna have to do
it good. You can't get blown back. You're gonna have
to hold your own. But those linebackers are really gonna

(11:09):
have to come to play this week because they're gonna
have to they're gonna have to make a lot of
these tackles and if they can't, then it could be
it could be a long day.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
No doubt. And you know, especially especially the developments of
Tyer Tucker, Mario Landino, those guys this season, you'd like
to see that continue to translate in these big games,
which you know, they had good games against Iowa, good
games against Illinois, So hopefully that will translate here when
they go to Eugene. All Right, defensively, Matt now Oregon,
sorry offensively for Nana. Defensively for Oregon. Uh, Dan Lanning,

(11:38):
he's a defensive coach by Shreia, a former defensive coordinator
I believe at Georgia before he came to Oregon. So
he knows he basically has that defense wrapped under wrapped
around his finger. He knows exactly what he wants to do. Now.
Oregon is not a huge pressure team this season in
terms of you know, drawing up, I don't think we're
gonna see nearly as many blitzes design blitzer as we
did against Oregon or sorry against Iowa. That is Oregon

(11:59):
this year. Just nine sacks and in twenty two TfL
so a lot of their defense is pardicated on you know,
we're gonna let you throw the ball a little bit,
but we're gonna get some We're confident in our in
our secondary to get stops. If you're Indiana, is this
a game where you know, maybe you want to try
to control time possession more so than you would or
are you are you looking for the big play here?

Speaker 3 (12:22):
Well, I think you probably need to get some chunk plays.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
It's gonna be hard to go eight, ten to twelve
plays up and down the field. Now, it's interesting looking
at opponent red zone conversions. Organs actually last in the
Big Ten.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
But here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
There's only been six red zone attempts against them all season,
so I mean, and now there's been six scores, five
tds and one field goals. So when teams are getting
down there, they're getting successful. But obviously they're not getting
down there very often. Six times and what are they
in what they played five games too? I think that's
not much. So teams aren't really So you know, I

(12:56):
haven't looked at the their you know, as far as
giving up long scrimmage pay plays. Yeah, I mean, they're
apparently they're their first in the Big Ten. And ten
plus giving up templus our plays. It's only thirty three.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
So uh, you know they it's gonna be tough.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
I mean they're you know, they're big up Friday coach,
and they talked about there they got a couple of
they rotate d tackles. There are three hundred plus pounds.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
You know, this may be a game.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
I mean, you're not gonna abandon what you've been doing,
but maybe this is a game where you're gonna try
to get it on the perimeter a little bit more
and try to stay away from those huge guys inside.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
But you know, you gotta be.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
Able to run the ball.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
You can't you you we you know we.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
Saw what happened last year at Ohio State when Indiana
cannot run the ball and they were in third, second, long,
third and long and you know, do you can't listen
the the there there's there's tape out in Indiana. I mean,
they they won that Iowa game, but they did struggle
at times against those blitzes. And I know, you know
we're going they may not blitz a lot, but I

(13:54):
wouldn't be shocked if they don't incorporate some of that
this week because it was an area where Indiana strous
gold to pick those guys up, especially those safeties coming
in the running backs having to block him. So, you know,
I I'll be interesting how how Indiana comes out. They
come out throwing the ball, they come out trying to
run it. You know, it probably depends on how Oregon's playing.
But you know, I do think you're going to trying

(14:14):
to get some chunk plays. You're gonna have to be
able to take some shots downfield to soften up that
defense a little bit.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, So Oregon for the most part this season, they
played a lot of uh, you know, a lot of
the pressures coming in coverage, just coverage pressures, you know,
sending four sending five guys at most. Mao Matteo u
Al he's maybe the best defensive end in the nation
or starting in the Big Ten this year, maybe the nation.
He leaves with four sacks. They got a host of
guys here on the defensive line, obviously, just freak athletes,

(14:42):
four stars, five stars across the d line there. Bear Alexander,
he's a guy that was a former five star recruit,
has bounced around a couple of schools now and and
he's he's you know seemingly found his putting there at Oregon.
Going back to the Iowa game, Matt and this is
something that you know, I feel like we would have
seen more of and we didn't. And if you watch

(15:03):
my film study going back, that was something I pointed
out was, you know, Indiana used a couple of bubble
screens that worked pretty well seven eight, you know, seven eight,
ten yards to Omar Cooper. Things like that. I wonder
if Indiana tries to use more about this year's stretch
Oregon horizontally and see see what you can do in space,
because it's gonna be a really, really tough day trying
to run the ball north south in this one.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
I think, yeah, it is.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
And like I said, that size up front is gonna
be tough to deal with. You know, I think anything
between the tackles is going to be a major league challenged.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
So you know, trying to.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
Get him be out those guys outside outside of the
tackle and maybe this is where you do you know,
you do those ones where Mendoza the kind of the
ring pat he takes a snap and gets it out quick,
and you're trying to get.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
The ball off to Omar Cooper.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
He try to get the ball up to Surat and
let him try to go one on one with the
dB instead of trying to go inside.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
He gets a three hundred and twenty three hundred and
thirty pound tackle.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
You know, I'll be you know, I guess one of
the criticism you know of Indiana from fans has been
a little bit conservative. They are a little bit conservative
against Iowa. Now, probably part of the problem is you
gotta be able to block it. But you know, you
wonder if maybe they came out with a little bit
more aggressive. I mean, that crowd's gonna be rocking. It's
gonna be super loud there. So do you try to
come out and do something. You don't do something crazy
or reckless, but do you try to do something to

(16:19):
try to get some momentum eily, especially on an offense,
and get that crowd out of it. So, and the
biggest thing, the biggest way to do that is a
big play, you know, something down the field to Cooper,
maybe to Williams or Surat, but get get get a
big play, go down the field and get some points out.
They did that last year to ho State. They went
right down the field and obviously it fell apart. After that,

(16:39):
So you know this game is it's gonna be you
know it's it's I say it over and over again.
Who who is better up front is probably gonna win
this game. And I think that'll be the case this week.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
Again.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
You don't have to run for two hundred and fifty
three hundred yards, but you got to be able to
run a little bit you get you can't be second, nine,
third and eight because even if they don't bring blitzes,
you got to.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
The receivers got have time to run the routes past
the sticks.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
And so they've they've been they've been pretty good at
getting pressure with just four or five guys, so you
got to figure that they're gonna get some pressure this
with gindianaso.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
All lines played well, but this is a good defensive line.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
So you gotta you gotta stay ahead of the chains
and keep it second and six, third and fourth stuff
like that, so you have a chance.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
So for me looking at this, I think this is
a chen kitchen sink type game where you throw everything
you got at the wall because you know, if Indiana
can go in here and get a win. Of course,
this changes the season dramatically in terms of CFP hopes
and where you ultimately might end up at the end
of the season if you can win this one. If
if I'm Mike Shanahan going to this game, and I
know there's still six games left after this one, but

(17:42):
Penn State doesn't look to be nearly as daunting as
is once thought. And then after that it's you know,
Indiana should win the rest of its games. This is
the one game where if you have trick plays, whatever
kind of you know, creative wrinkles you have, I think
this is the game where you throw them out there.
You know, we've seen a lot of you know, different
things with trying to get Omar Cooper on reverse reverse handoffs.

(18:02):
Last year, we saw Tyson Law and I believe twice
he tried some running back passes. This is the type
of game where whatever whatever Signetti has in his chamber,
I think you let him loose, assuming that the situation
and the circumstances dictated.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, I agree, I.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
Mean, you know, and why not, I mean, you're what
are they?

Speaker 2 (18:21):
I think if it will start off about a touchdown,
touchdown and or seven and a half, I don't know
what the line is now. I mean, you're it's a
decent you know, you're not many people, I'm guessing are
picking Indiana to win this game. And I understand, you
know so, and like you said, you know, you look
at you look at Penn State, and all of a sudden,
they gotta go to Iowa, they gotta go to Ohio State.

(18:43):
I mean, even going to Michigan State obviously isn't gonna
be isn't gonna be easy after what happened. Uh, you
know so that that games after the a U game,
But I mean by the time the Indiana game comes around,
I mean, even if you do go into the Happy
Valley beat pet State, how you kind of wonder how
good of a win it's gonna be, you know, I
mean it's it may not be all that all, not
all that great for your resume. I'm not saying it'll

(19:04):
be bad, but it certainly didn't doesn't like it was
going to be before the season. So yeah, I'm with you.
I mean, we haven't really seen and I don't know
if you've ever seen a fake uh we ever see, Yeah,
we did see a fake punt from Indiana against was
against Purdue last year. So I mean, yeah, I mean,
what do to me you know you do you do
whatever you can to try to win this game. You know,

(19:25):
you know, like I said, you don't want to do
it be reckless or anything like that. But if you
if you've been saving some trick plays, this is a
week to use them. I don't know if there's anybody
and that you know, as far as a running back
and receiver who can throw the ball, who's a former quarterback.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
But if you've got somebody who can, then maybe this
is the time you do it.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
You and you you.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
Try to run some stuff that they're not expecting that
you haven't put on film.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
I also think special teams, uh, you know, we you
mentioned the Blues James Carpenter last year who had that
fake punt run against Purdue, kind of just rubbing it
into the face of Purdue at that point. But there
are some things in Indiana do on special teams. I
feel like, especially in the trick play route, that could
throw Oregon off. And Indian a special team this year
has been really, really good. I feel like Signetty has

(20:08):
a lot of confidence in them if he were to
call something for for that unit to execute. And this
is an Oregon team too that I believe they rank
outside the top one hundred in special teams efficiency from
from ESPN's FPI. They have missed two field goals this season.
They don't take a ton of field goals this season
because of how well they've done, you know, scoring touchdowns
inside the red zone, but they have missed two field

(20:29):
goals this season. Their punter is averaging less than forty
yards per punt. So if there's one area where Indiana
might be able to find a slight edge in this game,
I think it is special teams and we saw it
against Iowa. Right, You're gonna this is a game where
you're gonna need Nico Radichish to make make a couple
of big field goals. Maybe Ms McCarthy, he's gonna have
to do a really good job punting the ball and
let the let the coverage guys gets downfield. In terms

(20:54):
of like players to click for you, Matt, like, maybe
we'll go one guy on each side of the ball.
Who are you looking at for Indiana that they have
to perform exceedingly well in this game. Indiana's gonna have
a chance. Who are those two guys for you?

Speaker 2 (21:07):
I mean, I think defensive, I think Gaiden Fisher's got
to play great. I think Aidan Fisher's got to play
like an All American. He's a middle linebacker, you know.
I mean, there's other guys you can talk about. You
can talk about defensive lineman, but I think Aiden Fisher's
got to be all over the field. I think this
is one of those games where you need twelve fourteen
tackles out of Aidan Fisher. And I'm assuming India is
gonna probably try to bring pressure against Dante Moore and

(21:30):
Fisher could be one of those guys. He probably will,
I would assume would be one of those guys. So
I would I think he. I think he's got to
play well, you know, offensively. You know, I think it's
kind of it's kind of an easy call. I think
Mendos has got to play good. He's got to take
care of the ballall he's gotta. He's got to hit

(21:50):
guys when they're open. I mean, I just I think,
you know, quarterbacks are so huge and nowadays, and you know,
he he's got to play well. He he had some
ups and downs against but when they needed him, when
they needed him to make a play, he made a play.
So I to me on offense, I think I think Mendoza,
and then I think I think, really the two quarterbacks
of your team, the quarterback on defense, the green dot

(22:12):
guy on both sides of the ball. In my opinion,
this is the game where your stars have to play well.
Your studs have to show up. I mean, we can
talk about the complimentary guys and all that, the bottom
line is those guys don't matter if your studs don't
show up.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
And to me, those are two of Indiana studs.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Obviously they got others, but those are to me probably
the two key guys in this game.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
Yeah, I agree with I agree with Mendoz, especially on
a big, big stage like this where you know, for
his Heisman hopes and things like that in individual accolades.
Of course that'll come secondary to win in this game.
But if he can have a have a really nice
performance Mendoza, I think that could open up a lot
of more eyes than he already has. I like Roman
Henvy too. I think he's due for a big game eventually.

(22:52):
I don't know if it's gonna come against his Oregon
Front seven. I'm gonna be very tough, but if he
can break off, you know, a good thirty forty to
fifty yard chunk run uh and give Indian in a
really good field position. That's gonna be huge in in.
You know, we've seen Indians at least their top two
with e. J. Willis or sorry, with Omar Cooper and elijahs. Shurrat.
You know a lot of confidence in those guys to

(23:13):
at least at least put up put up decent numbers
in this game. Now, Oregon secondary is really good. And
then defensively, Matt, I think this is a game where
macal Kamar he really needs to step up. And I
and I understand that, you know, what is his second
in pressures on the team, and he does a lot
of things that go, uh, you know, unnoticed on the
box score. But this is a game where he's gonna
have to really pressure and make his presence felt on

(23:33):
Dante More because let's not forget this is his first
season more starting as a quarterback at the college level.
He is largely an experienced prior to this season. I
think you can force more into some mistakes, uh in
mcal Kamar, if he can get some pressure on him,
you can force him into maybe some bad throws. And
you know, on the back end, Marie Farrell Lewis Moore
of those guys. You gotta win the win the turnover margin.

(23:57):
But mcal Kamara and this is kind of a good place, Matt.
I guess the pivot with Kamara because you know, there's
still this sort of discourse about his his production numbers
being low, but his pressure, his pressure numbers and underlying
numbers are good. Where are you out with him at
this point of the year, because we're halfway through. I
think he only has like two sacks this season, still
pretty low production numbers. Where are you with Kamara?

Speaker 2 (24:20):
Well, I mean he is getting pressures, but it's it's
kind of, I guess, disappointing that he's not getting more
numbers on the stat sheet. And you you brought this
up before. Brian Hayes has said, uh, you gotta have production.
The production's got to be there, and I mean, you know,
in those in those kind of categories where that they

(24:41):
can track and keep and and keep you know, kind
of tabs on things. He's doing some stuff, But why
is there not more production on the stat sheet? I
mean we saw it last year, he did it the
year before when he was at JMU. You know, I
don't want to say that the move to the other
side has been a miss. But I do think it's
fair to wonder if maybe it's hurt his ability to

(25:06):
impact games. I don't, I mean, I think it's a
fair question at this point. Now, you know, there's still
more than half the season ago. There's still plenty of time.
And like we said, he is getting into the backfield.
He's just not the one that's getting the sacks or
the TFLs or whatever. So but I I'm with you.
I mean, I did say Ean Fisher and I still

(25:27):
believe that. But you're right, he's got to come to play.
That's the guy that could really wreck their offensive game
plan for Oregon by getting in there. And even if
you know, again, even if he doesn't make the tackle,
if he can push more into somebody else who does
make the tackle, or or or force more to throw
the ball before he wants to. Now, he'd like to
see him get sacks. But this is this is like

(25:50):
I said, this is a stud game. This is an
all American game. You're all Americans have to play. Ponds
has to play good. You know, it sounds like he'll
be back. Fisher, McCall, kamara, those guys have to play well.
I mean, on the other side of the bio, Mendoz
is not an All American, but he's playing like one
right now. Sarat is playing like one. Those guys have
to come out and play really, really well for Indiana

(26:12):
to have a chance.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I totally agree with all that.
All right, let's get into predictions here, Matt, and then
we'll get into the rest of this podcast with the
mail bag questions. Here. Indiana seven and a half point
underdogs right now. I believe before the season started I
had this game. I had Indiana losing an overtime. Do
I actually think that's gonna happen in overtime? Maybe? I

(26:34):
don't know. Indian doesn't have to play really well to
even stay competitive in this game. Of course, that's first
and foremost. You gotta be competitive in this game. You
can't get blown out. You know, you can't look completely
you know, incompetent on offense like they did against Ohio
State last year. Let's go score predictions here, Matt. I'll
let you go first, because I think, yeah, I'm still

(26:56):
I'm still kind of going back and forth online.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, I mean, I thought, you know, these are two
good offenses are also too good defenses. Now, one thing,
I think weather can be a factor, like a ninety
percent chance of right, and it's only gonna be I
want to say, around fifty degrees, maybe mid fifties, so
not that's not real cold. But this this I think
weather could be an issue. So that's gonna probably maybe
lower my my the total that I think that this

(27:20):
game will be. I'm gonna say, I'll go I'll go
thirty twenty are Now that's too high. I'll go I'll
go twenty four to twenty organ.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
So okay, so you're not in the camp of a
shootout in this type of game.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
Now, like if like I said, I think the conditions
were better, I think the rain will change things a
little bit. I mean, if it was if it was
you know, let's say it was fifty five, it's gonna
be you know, sunny and no precipitation, I'd probably go
more like thirty four to thirty something like that. I
just think it'll there's gonna be some points gone from
this game, and it's gonna make it a little bit tougher.
And I do think these defense are these defenses are legit.
They're gonna play. I think it's gonna be it's gonna

(28:03):
be a little bit tougher, you know, I mean if
you watched h yeah, I mean I got to see
a little bit when Oregon played.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
At Penn State. We were driving back from Iowa.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
You know, that wasn't like a super high scoring game
for a lot of the game either. And I know
that the end, but they wouldn't do overtime. But that
was a game that I think it was, you know,
like in the thirties or something going you know to
that game.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
So I think it I think it could be similar.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
And I you know, I do think these defenses will
show up and and and you know, make things tough
on the offenses.

Speaker 3 (28:30):
So that's why I'll go with twenty four to twenty Oregon.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, I'm kind of with you on that. So the
over under right now, I believe it's around forty fifty
four and a half points. I think I think both
teams are defenses are too good to allow just a
runaway game like that. Uh So I'm gonna go Oregon
twenty eight Indiana twenty four. I feel like Indiana will
have a chance, give itself a chance in the fourth
quarter to potentially win on a final drive similar to

(28:54):
what we saw against Iowa, but more so in this game,
you just got to be competitive and and you know
in a in a now, Matt, obviously Christy Netty is
not one to do moral victories, you know, participation trophies,
what have you. But say Indiana does lose close, you know,
four point seven point loss, even maybe a ten point loss,
that's you know, looks looks looks a little better than

(29:17):
the score might indicate. Like, do you do you feel
like that would do a lot for Indiana in terms
of perception, to to lose close at Oregon or as
any loss as good as a loss.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
No, I think if you go up there in your
competitive I think if you go up there in your
competitive that that that doesn't really hurt. I mean, let
when when did people really start chirping? I mean they
were kind of all year, but when did they start
chirping about IU in the playoffs? When they went to
house State and they didn't play that great and they
got beat pretty soundly, people were already talking about, you know,
they don't deserve to be there, all that kind of stuff,

(29:49):
and then the next week they they they absolutely just
kill uh, Purdue, and then Ohio State loses that Michigan
and which you know, so that but I'm just saying
I don't think I don't think a close loss, you know,
and this is not trying to be moral victory, but
I don't think a close loss hurts you.

Speaker 3 (30:04):
If you go up.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
There and you know you're they they they pretty much
control the game, and and they they you know, they
control you, and and it looks like you're basically always
on the verge of maybe getting blown out. I think
that that doesn't help.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
That's definitely gonna hurt you as far as your chance
to the playoff.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
But if you go up there and you play them tough,
you play them toe to toe, and it goes down
to the end, and they end up putting the game,
I I don't I don't think that will be a
big negative for Indians.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Resume now on the flip side, in in in the
event that Indiana does pull off the upset here, Uh,
do you does that catapult them to number one in
the country? Because I know a lot of people are
asking that you know this because because this probably would
be the best win in the country if Indiana can
go in there and win. I mean, of course this
would do wonders for Indiana on a national level, but uh,

(30:48):
do you think this might put them in a contention
for number one in the country.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
I think you at least get votes. I don't know
if they would get enough to be number one, because
they'd have to they would have to jump. Uh, they'd
have to jump, you know, multiply, but really the big team,
they have to jump to a hot state, you know,
in Miami, those two teams.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
But I think you would least get some votes.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
I mean, I I you know, I don't see how
it'd be really hard to make an argument against Indiana
being number one, other than you know, where they're coming from.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
They have to other teams, you know, if other teams
you know, don't lose this week.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
But I mean, you're right, that's that would be that
to me, would be the best win of the season
for any college football team. Now, there's a lot of
season to go, but to this point of the season,
that would be the best win. So, you know, again,
I know people get caught up in the rankings and
where they're and where you're at the polls. It really
doesn't matter until until after week whatever. Thirteen or fourteen
on others, by weeks whatever it is. When you play
Perdue that that's when it really matters. I mean, I

(31:37):
know there's before that they start the college football playoff
bracket thing. But the end of the day, just keep
doing what you're doing. If you keep winning, you will
be where you need to be at the end of
the year. And if you go up to Oregon and win,
you know, not only do you have a chance to
be number one, you got a real shot to run
the table. You got a real shot to be twelve.
And oh, because this is my opinion, this is this
is the toughest game. I thought it before the season,

(31:59):
and even more so it's it's by far the toughest
game remaining on this schedule for Indiana.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
Yeah, and you could argue this is the toughest game
of the Signetti era, even going back to the Ohio
State Notre Dame games from last year, just based on
where the Indiana hasn't traveled to. Well ended on this
mat before we go to the mail bag, do you
think this is the most important game of the Signetti
tenure because I kind of think it is. Be based
on you know what, Indiana has a chance to prove
here the opportunity that lays before it, because even the

(32:27):
Ohio State game last year, I feel like people still
weren't really taking Indiana all that seriously and didn't really
give him a chance. I think Indiana's got a lot
of people are given Indian a chance in this game.
And if you can go on and prove a lot
of people wrong and or right in this game, I mean,
your program just flips tenfold compared to what it already
has climbed to.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
Yeah, I think the argument that's the biggest game since
he's been here is fair. Now, obviously we're only what
he's coached for like eighteen games in Indiana. But I
also think that if you lose this game, like we
talked earlier, if you lose this game and you're petitive,
I don't I don't think it's the worst thing in
the world. In fact, I think there could be some
positives out of it. If you go up there and
you play them tough. Now, if you go up there

(33:08):
and like I said, you kind of get you kind
of get dog walked a little bit, then then you know,
people are the questions that people had about Indiana last
year and coming into the season and even through the
first few games are gonna are gonna reappear and get
really really loud.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
So but yeah, as far as what's at stake and
what you can prove and where you can put yourself.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
I mean, quite honestly, you win this game, you're I
don't want to see, you're guarantee. But you'd have to
really crap the bed the rest of the year and
not make the playoffs, like you'd have to seriously fall apart.
Because after this you got a bunch of games that
you'll be favored in except for at Penn State, and
even that one you get to Penn State. I expect
Penn State to win this week at Northwestern, but if

(33:52):
they somehow drop that game, they're looking at five losses
in a row because they gotta go excuse me, I
go to Iowa and Ohio State the next two weeks.
So you can even be favored in that game possibly
or be close. So yeah, as far as his tenure
so far, this is the biggest game. That Hot State
game was big last year, but this one is this
is this is a statement game, a big time statement game.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
Yeah, all right, so we'll see what Indiana can do
in in Eugene this weekend, Number seven Hoosiers versus the
number three Ducks, three thirty pm kickoff on CBS. Switching
over here to the mailbag, Q and A. We asked
our board members on our premium football board over on
peaks dot com for some questions for this week and

(34:35):
we are going to get through as many as we
can here, all right, First one here is from Hoosier
REB zero one. They're asking what just give the general
feel for the support behind the scenes with NIL if
at this point I you can go and gain go
after guys that they want and be competitive in those
recruiting fields. Matt, what's your feel right now on the

(34:56):
NIL layout for Indiana?

Speaker 3 (34:58):
Well, NILS is is. Well, it's supposed to change.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
There's supposed to be more guidelines, more kind of guardrails
in place. There's supposed to be a clearing house where
you have to clear deals before they can before you
can you know, distribute the money. Right now, my understanding
is that most of the money that's being offered to
players is revshare money. Out of your rev share pot.
I want to say, what is it for college football?
I want to say it's around fourteen million I could be,

(35:22):
you know, at least in that neighborhood. So I think
a lot of the deals that are going on are
being done out of that revshare pot.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
Now does that mean there won't be an AL? I'm
not saying that.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
I'm just saying I think people are still kind of
I'm say, in the dark. But there's some unknown with
an AL because it's supposed to be changing from what
it has been the last you know, remember in the
years it's been around where it was pretty much you
could just pay a guy. I mean there now its
supposedly there has to be some there has to be
some kind of service for maybe something in return from

(35:52):
the player. What that is I don't know, but there's
totally guidelines and like I said, kind of guardrails in
place to monitor this and some kind of a I
don't know, clearing house to check these. So I'm not
sure how NIL is gonna look going forward. I mean,
Indiana has been fairly competitive before. I don't think that'll change,
and hopefully it won't, but right now it seems to

(36:13):
be rough Share seems to be driving the train right
now as far as paying players.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
Our next question here is from Gator prof. IU, which
players who haven't seen much action yet this year will
make their presence known in the latter half of the season.
I mean, I feel like if if players were gonna
get on the field substantially, they would have already gotten
on the field. The two guys I have in mind,
Matt we haven't seen a ton of Jalen Bell. I

(36:39):
think he's only played in three or four games this year.
I wouldn't be sprised if Indiana tries to work him
because because it seems like they're very high on him
on defense. And then Charlie Becker is a guy who
he's kind of been in and out of the lineup,
but maybe he gets some more chance as a receiver
this year. Anybody else in mind for you.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
Now, I mean really, it'll probably be if there were
some kind of I mean, I think one guy and
people I know there's some questions about him, but Byron Baldwin,
is he a guy that still could have could make
somewhat of an impact.

Speaker 3 (37:04):
But I'm with you Jalen Bell.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
To me, I'm not saying he's this guy, but could
he possibly be this year's Rolo Jah Hardy who you
know he was playing kind of special teams getting some stamps.
I don't think so because, uh, you know, they're deeper
at at corner and you know now he played some,
but they're deeper there than they were last year. You know,
a linebacker and Hardy you know he was able to

(37:28):
get but I I don't. And maybe Lebron bond But
like I said, there probably have to be an injury
somewhere at receiver where he would get some more reps.
I'm with you. I think the guys who have played
are the guys that we're going to see the rest
of the year, barring, you know, in any kind of injuries.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
Moving on, Kookie, here is the plan maybe to sit
Byron Baldwin unto the last four weeks of the season,
preserve its red shirt or the talent like him. Does
it really matter if you you know, to regard him
or not if he has Sunday potential. You know, we
haven't seen Baldwin at all through five games this year.
I don't know how much that you want to throw
him into a game like Oregon for his first career game.

(38:04):
We we both thought Matt going into the season that
he was, you know, the top candidate to not red shirt,
but at this point, it looks more and more likely
that he might, you know, depending on what he looks
like when he comes back.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
I mean, my thing is, if he can't play, then
you do it.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
But if you can get him for even half the season,
Like I said, I don't think Byron Baalin spends five
years in Indiana.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
That's just my opinion. And that's that's just the way
college football is nowadays.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
I if I'm a coach, I'm trying to play a
guy now. You know, even if he's not gonna spend
five years, you know, maybe you get him to his
red shirt junior year or whatever. But if he if
he can play the last half the season, six games
plus whatever you do in the postseason. Remember postseason games
don't count against your red shirt, so you could play
four you know, you can play four games during the

(38:47):
last four games of the season and play in a
bowl game whatever, and it doesn't count against you. You still
can red shirt, you know. I mean, if he can't
go and he's he's you know, we don't And I
know there's another question. Let's go ahead and tackle this now.
Why is there so much mystery? And he has to
talk about injuries and I'm not trying to be rude
to people on the board, but we get injury questions.
They don't talk about injuries. I don't ask about injuries
off the record. I don't ask because I can't talk

(39:09):
about it. So it doesn't matter. In my opinion, I
don't care if I know or not, because it's the
information does mean no good. It really doesn't, and people
can disagree with that all they want, but there's no
there's no benefit to me knowing about injuries. If they
want me to know, they'll tell me, and if they
don't they want. I don't ask about those things off
the record when I talk to people inside the program

(39:30):
because I know I cannot discuss it. So that's why
there's mystery. Because curse Signetti is not He's the most
tight lift even more so the coaches in the past
than any coach in the US had. Since I've been
doing this, they don't talk about injuries and they're never
going to. And I know fans get frustrated and they
want to know. You're not gonna know. You're just gonna
have to accept it. It's not gonna happen.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
So we'll see if Walwin gets on the field here
in the second half of the season, but so far
he's been a no go through five weeks. All right,
I'm moving on here. Basketballts. They ask your thoughts on
which of the team's young players not yet eligible for
the NFL Draft will have a chance to be outstanding
players next year. So by young players, I think I

(40:09):
think they mean under classman. Maybe. You know, we talked
about Becker, We talked about Jalen Bell. Although you do
have Gandy and a Marion Knighton and Jamari Sharp coming
back at cornerback next year, assuming they all stay. So
I don't know how much Bell is gonna get in there.
Becker's a guy I thought Daniel and Dukoid play a
lot more this year. He really hasn't. Landino, of course,

(40:30):
is a young guy who's who's really taken a next
step forward. Lebron Bond we mentioned him, anybody else met
Kobe Martin of course too.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
Yeah, I was gonna say Kobe Martin and Lebron Bond
and Becker. You know, I will say this about Bell.
I know they have older corners coming back, but he's
jumped some of those guys. I mean, he's jumped Knighting
for sure. Now Gandy started last week, but it's you know,
Bell's the guy that has come in.

Speaker 3 (40:53):
I think he came in one time.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
They put him in at like I think when Moore
was out, they put him in at the slot, at
that nickel, the rover position, whatever they move came back
to safety.

Speaker 3 (41:01):
So to me, you know, he's he's jumped at least
a couple of guys.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
But I would go with I think Martin's got a
chance to be to be a really key player. I
don't know if he's gonna, you know, meet at running back.
I mean, they split carries so much, but I think
he's got a chance. And then Bond and Becker on
offense and then defensively. You know, we kind of mentioned
it Bell. You know, I've written off in Duke way.
I just think, you know, he's still he's still kind
of a young guy. But I think he's a guy

(41:26):
that's got a chance. But those those would be the
guys for me.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
All right, So there's a portal question here. We're gonna
skip over that because we might get into that with
some of these other questions coming up here. Ar Grossman asked,
what are the chances of holding on to the entire staff.
Will Shanahan or Brian Hanes get offers elsewhere? I mean,
in my opinion, this is my opinion. I don't think

(41:50):
Haynes or Shanahan are gonna leave h for another coordinator
job because Indiana has shown that they're willing to pay
them what it takes to stay and and Haynes already
turned down you know, Penn State, Ohio State last year.
I think if he leaves, it's gonna be for a
head coaching job. Now, what are the chances to hold
on to the entire entire staff. I don't know. Because
these are high level, high level position coaches that Signetti has,

(42:11):
and you know a lot of them are probably looking
to get to the coordinator level like Tino sincerit did
last year. So, uh you do you have any feel
on that, Matt No.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
I mean to me, the one job if I was
an Indiana fan that would that would that would concern
me if it opens up, would be James Madison. And
I say it for this reason. Chesney's doing a good
job at James Madison Virginia Virginia Tech has opened up.
There could be other jobs in that area that open up.
He's probably gonna be a candidate for some jobs. And
the reason why I say that is, if you're JMU,

(42:40):
who do you who do you? Maybe look at you
maybe come back and you look at Mike Shanahan and
or Brian Hayes. I'm not saying it's gonna happen. This
is not source info. This is just me, uh, you know,
speculating and connecting dots. If things would happen now, he
could end up staying there, nobody could go after him.
But to me, that's one of those ones. I mean,
there's other jobs that could open that could be you know,
it could be a problem. The one thing I would

(43:00):
say is, I mean, you don't want to lose guys.
But quite honestly, I'm not concerned about Kristinetti having to
replace coaches. He has an unbelievable eye not only for players,
but he has an unbelievable eye for coaching talent, and
they will find they will get good coaches. And if
they lose somebody in the offensive side of the ball,
I'm even less concerned because Mike Shanahan's terrific. He is

(43:21):
a great coordinator and I think he'll be a head coach.
But this Kurt Sinnetti is really involved in the offense,
you know they'll be okay. And the other thing about
is if you would lose one of those guys. Let's
say you lose Shanahan, they hire him at JMU, He's
probably taken an assistant or two with him. He's probably
taken one of these guys with him to go to
be maybe his coordinator or something like that. I'm you know,
like I said, this is all just speculation, but that's

(43:43):
the kind of thing I could see happening if they
were gonna leave, you know, if I mean for both
of them, I mean, Haines is what top five in
the country, I think in coordinator salary. If not, you
know what I mean, Like, you know, unless and and
you know, I don't, I don't know where.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
He would go.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
As far as something that could open up, I think,
but you know, you just never know.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
You never know.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
If these guys, they're they're all very ambitious. But I
think I'm with you. I think it's either for a
head coaching job or not at all.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
The one guy too, I would be a little concerned
if Indiana lost, would be Pat Koontz because a lot
of their recruiting class this year has been built on
the interior d line and they you know, had a
lot of success there recruiting. And Koons obviously is a
tremendous developer of talent, so if he were to get
another job elsewhere, that could be a big blow. But
obviously Indiana this year, you know, they were able to
plug Tino sinceera channel Whitmer, and they really haven't missed

(44:32):
a step there. So you know, we don't we won't
know until the offseason, so it's kind of a moot
point to discuss where they might go at this point.
I'm moving on here, Double cup, Jerry. They ask big weakness,
biggest weaknesses on both sides of the ball so far
this season. What would you think, Matt. We'll start with
offense here. I mean, there haven't been a ton of

(44:53):
glaring weaknesses. Probably probably the blitz pickups in the protection
of that area.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
Yeah, and to me, that's something that you know, that's
you watch on tape. I think that's pretty correctable. They
you know you've got I mean Camlebin Black's proven in
the past that he can that he can pass blocked.
We don't know a ton about Roman Heavy in that
area because we haven't seen him till this year.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
Really, but I don't I don't.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
Really see I don't really see a ton of glaring
weaknesses on offense. I mean they taking care of the
ball and then doza. I mean, you know, they run
the ball well. Even against Iowa, I can tick out
the negative yardage. They still ran the ball pretty well there.
So offense, I would.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
Say the short yardage because they have trouble there.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
Yeah, it gets old to me.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
And they and they had some and obviously and I
guess Iowa on the third and short and then obviously
the fourth downs, So that would be one thing.

Speaker 3 (45:41):
And some of that is I mean.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
Because is there's things you could call differently? Is there
a different kind of play call you could do?

Speaker 3 (45:47):
You know?

Speaker 2 (45:47):
Again, I think those are things that you can navigate around,
you know, some more so than things where you just
there's nothing you can do about it. You are what
you are personnel wise, So I think there are some
things you can do to fix that, you know, Defensive,
the secondary, I mean we talked about that. There's been
some breakdowns. There's a breakdown against on more than one
according to coach Signetty, but only one ended up in

(46:08):
a touchdown. But I would say that to me, the
safeties have been a little bit have not been on
the same page, let's say all season long.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
Yeah yeah, I'm with you there. On defense, Moving right along,
Austin for one nine asks what young offensive lineman and
young defensive lineman do you think can play big minutes
over the next couple of years. And I assume he
means somebody that's not already in a in a pretty
sizable role. Offensive lineman, Matt you might have a better
feel there.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
I'd say Damola Johnny. I would say he's a guy.

Speaker 3 (46:43):
Austin, Lee Fried, Kevin Lawrence.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
These are the guys that I kind of expect to
start challenging for spots next year. You're gonna lose your
right tackle, You're gonna lose your center, and you could
you lose your left tackle. Carter Smith decides to go,
you know, jump into the to the NFL draft year early.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
So to me, those are the biggest spot or those
those are the main guys on the D line.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
You know, they brought in a bunch of guys, so
I mean, you know Kyler Garcia, you know Tyrone Burris,
Tristan Abram, these are guys. I mean, they're they're gonna
there's gonna be now, they're gonna go to the portal.
I mean I can almost guarantee that I don't have names.
I don't know who they're gonna go after, but they're
losing so much on the D line that they're gonna
get some portal guys. But some of these young guys,
you know, these are guys that could start if they're

(47:27):
I'm not saying start, but they could definitely be in
the mix for playing time next year. So off the
top of my head, those are the biggest. There's there's
probably some others, but those are the guys that jump
out for me right now.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
Baylor Wilkin, I mean we saw him at the end
Dealinois game. He was with the second team all line.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
He's a true freshman. I think it's a guy that
really has a chance to at least compete for playing
time next year.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
Yeah, and on the D line too. It is nice
Indiana this year will have the luxury with especially with
the D tackles of you know, they get Landino back
next year, you get Tyrek Tucker back for an out
the year. So really, the only guy you lose. A
consequence is Ratcliffe Jose Wheeler two uh is in that
mix of guys that'll be gone. But at least you
get two of your top guys there, so that'll be
promising for Indiana's an outlook. Going for our next question

(48:10):
from U. M. V. Packer asked, given the ration of
firing so far, is the staff looking at any of
the numerous twenty twenty six D commits. Matt, you'll you'll
have a better feel on that.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
Yeah, I don't know off hand.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
I can't think of I mean, he's probably he's talking
about Virginia Tech. And who's the other guy that was
far in la U c l A. Yeah, I mean
there could be. I can't think of a ton of
guys that committed to either of those schools that Indiana
was after. Now something happens with Penn State, then that
could be because they were they were competing with Penn State
for a number of guys, so that that could be.

(48:44):
That could be a school.

Speaker 1 (48:46):
You know.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
Another thing is is you know the portal?

Speaker 3 (48:48):
I mean I don't, I don't. I know guys are
kind of going to the portal from those schools.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
That's all Virginia Tech's had some guys.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
Going the portal.

Speaker 2 (48:53):
I don't know how much you you know, you're gonna
recruit them right now. I mean I guess you would,
but they can't come in and help you this year.
So but you know, there there there could be. There
could be some decommits, you know that coming down the pipe.
It's just it's kind of early. There's only been a
couple of firings and we're still pretty early in the season.

(49:13):
I mean we're not even halfway through. So but yeah,
there'll there'll be guys that they will look at. I
you know, do I have specific names, Not really, because
I just don't. You know, it's it's still kind of early,
but there I won't be shocked if there's a handful
of guys from other programs, if there's coaching changes they
go after.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Okay, moving along, some of these we've answered already. Captain
Cal asked which freshmen will burn their red shirt this year.
We talked about that a little bit. Lebron bon is
in that group, and then Byron Baldwin, maybe Jalen Bell.
Matt has this full freshman tracker that he does every
week that you guys can take a look at as
well for the games played for each of the freshmen.
Next question to hear from Oasis one oh one. I

(49:52):
know stars don't matter, but when do you think I
will get their first five star? If ever? I'm didn't
Indiana have five so quarterback a couple of years back,
Matt that didn't end up playing here.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
The closest they got is they had a commitment from
I think the closest the guy was probably Gunner Keel. Yeah,
but he he never suited up for you. He decommitted
and flipped to who do you flipped to Notre Dame
or whatever or No L s U and then he
flipped It was a few more schools.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
But anyways, I mean, I guess it's possible. But here's
my here's my thing on that.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Elijah Surat has been a five star player. Aiden Fisher
has been a five star player. McCall Kamar has been
a five star player. Fernanda Medos has been a five
star player. Curtis or five star player. I can go
on and on and on. I mean, the portal changes things.
Before you had to have a roster letter with five
star players to play for a national title. Uh, the
portals changed it guys who were not even close to
five star status coming out of high school. They improved,

(50:50):
they get better, they whatever forever reason, they're late developers
and they become those kind of impact players and they
start at G five schools or whatever it may be.
And I was able to get him, an other school
was able to get him. So well, it's nice to
have a bunch of five stars. I don't think it's
as necessary as it was ten years ago. If you
want to compete for national title. Ten years ago, it
was it was pretty much essential. Most of the teams, Alabama, Clemson,

(51:13):
Ohio State, they were littered with the with the five
star players. You you can you can you can get
a five star guy with a portal who wasn't really
a five star player to begin with, So I mean,
it'd be nice. They came close on Jalen Brewster, the
dtackle out of out of Texas. I think at some
point they probably probably I guess they'll probably be an
in state guy, you know, which is kind of weird

(51:34):
to say, because intate guys always kind of shied away
from my you. But my guess is there'll probably be
an in state guy or somebody kind of in this area.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
I don't know who it'll be, uh, but at some
point I think that will.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
But again, I don't think it's crucial anymore that you
have to load up on five stars to be able
to play for the big prize.

Speaker 1 (51:49):
I agree, and I also think too this is is
my opinion, But especially in this age of the portal,
I don't think schools should be prioritizing their money on
freshman classes as much as they are on the poor,
just because you can't guarantee these guys are gonna stick
around like Alabama hoarding five and four stars like they
used to. You can't do that anymore because guys who
sit on the bench for a couple of years that
are uniformedly highly really rated, they're not gonna wait their turn.

(52:12):
They're gonna go elsewhere in the portal. So I don't
think it's I don't think it's why to spend all
your dollars.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
If you want to get a five star quarterback, you're
probably gona have to pay well over seven figures. And
let's be honest, most freshman quarterbacks I don't care how
I mean. We saw it last year at with ryolat Nebraska,
he struggled Underwood's play has played pretty well this year,
but I mean there's you know, it's still it's it's
tough for those guys to play right away. And if
you're using, you know, a fifth or a sixth of
your rev share on one player and he's really not

(52:41):
playing much, that's not my money well spent. In my opinion,
I'd rather go spend that money on a guy who's produced,
like a Mendoza or a Roar and bring it in
because you know what you're gonna get from him.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
Yeah, I agree there all right, Ace Marshall eighty one.
How would you classify the intensity level of recruiting top
end talent in state by the staff and what's the
vibe from the success as it relates to how Indiana's
Indiana kids are viewing? I you, Matt All Aster have that.

Speaker 3 (53:07):
Yeah, I mean I think he's asking how hard are
they recruiting in state players?

Speaker 2 (53:11):
That's how I take it.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
And they are recruiting the end state really, really hard.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
Now, there's some guys that other schools went after, and
there are two of them down at Heritage Hills, Tyler
Rutser and Ja Goldsberry. They didn't go hard after them.
But they might have offered both, but they never went hard.
And there's gonna be some guys. The people may be like, well,
how come Indians out recruit them harder? They I can't
give you a reason why, but there's guys that they have.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
They have a certain guy they're looking for.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
And even though if Tyler Ruts was going to Oklahoma,
maybe Oklahoma he fits what they're looking for, not so
much what Indiana's looking for. I don't know all the
ins and outs of that recruitment because it didn't get serious,
so I didn't really pursue it all that aggressively.

Speaker 3 (53:47):
But they are recruiting guys in state hard, and the
vibe is changing.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
The perception of Indiana football is changing, and it's you
have to remember, these kids grew up in this state.
I know jered out for me, but you grew up
in the state basically like any made fun of they
were they they they're there there, they were the joke
of the joke of everything, and so you know that's
it's gonna You're not gonna change that in one or

(54:13):
two years. It's gonna take time and time and time.
But the perception is changing. Guys in the state are
looking at it. Indienda a lot differently because of what
they're doing out on the field and what in this staff.
I mean, these are good recruiters, but they're going out
there and they're they're obviously winning and winning at a
high level.

Speaker 1 (54:29):
All next question from Green Mountain Hoosier one, two, three,
and we're not gonna spend a whole time of time
on this, but basically they're asking, do you think, uh,
coach Signetti is is gonna jump ship to another place
that opens up like penn State, Florida, Clemson. Maybe. I
I don't think SIGNETI Signetti is going anywhere. I think, uh,
you know, with with with Scott Dolson, Pam Pam Witt,

(54:50):
in the athletic Department's investments. Uh you know, they just
gave Signetti one of the biggest UH made him one
of the highest paid coaches in the country. I think
he has everything he needs here. I don't think he's
gonna leave penns Day would be maybe the one place
because he's from Pennsylvania, where you know, he might give
a look. But I don't see him going to any
of these places.

Speaker 2 (55:08):
Now I've said before, I don't I mean the two
biggest reasons why a guy leaves a school a coach
leaves is money and the chance could be for national titles.
He's proven you can compete for getting the college playoff
football playoff and compete at that level. And then as
far as money, Indiana has already gone. I mean they've gone.
They've already gone to what nine million a year. I mean,

(55:28):
if you have to go up another million or two,
my guess as they do it. So I don't see it.
I think I think he's, you know, the one thing,
the other thing that works. I guess in Indiana's favor,
he'll be what sixty five when they when we start
the twenty twenty six season. But I'm not saying people
want I mean, you know, he he he seems to
be in good health. I can see him coach another

(55:49):
ten years. But if you're a school that's looking for
like a you know, at your long term guy, he's
probably not it. Now. What he has shown is if
you're at school that's like, hey, we want to win.
I mean, like, I'm not saying to go to Florida,
but Florida strikes me as a school that would be
really super desperate. They have that one basically since irban
Meyer has been there at all. And if they want
to try to win right away, maybe they do. Maybe

(56:10):
they try to go crazy because he's proven he can
win immediately.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
But I think I don't.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
I don't think Kursoning is going anywhere. I said that before.

Speaker 3 (56:17):
I think he will finish his college his college career
in Bloomington.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
It looks sick Netti will get a statue built for
him at IU. He's not going to get a statue
built him at Penn State or Florida or Clemson. So
just just different, different, different situations there, all right, I'm
moving on at another recruited question for you from WIT
twenty four. Are there any potential flip targets from other
schools in this recruiting class?

Speaker 3 (56:40):
Now, I mean we kind of talked about this a
little bit earlier. I mean, I'm sure there's guys that
are monitoring.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
I mean they and guys are talking to but I
don't have specific names right now. And I mean, you know, honestly,
I'm not sure how much I would say if I did,
just because a lot of times that's kind.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
Of off the record if I get kind of stuff
like that.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
And because you know, kids, if they're committed to school
and they're talking to other school, they don't want that
out and I'm gonna I'm gonna honor that and I'm
gonna respect that. So but I mean, I think there
will be some that emerge as we later in the
season and there's there's more movement as far as coaches,
you know, leaving or or getting fired or whatever it is,
changing jobs. There there there could be some more. There

(57:20):
could be some movement as far as that goes.

Speaker 1 (57:23):
All right, three more questions here to round us out
in the mail bag. This one is from Foo Psychology.
Assuming Banana Mendoza goes in the draft, do you think
the staff views Alberto as a likely starter next year
such that they'd only bring in a more proven backup
QB in order to brendalas elsewhere? Uh? You know, I
think I'd have to think that they're gonna give Alberto

(57:44):
a chance to win the starting job next year. But
Indiana would be foolish not to bring in a veteran
with a lot more experience in the event that, you know,
maybe Alberto is not ready yet just because you did,
you don't you don't know what you don't know, and
with Alberto, he's only played you know, spot minutes at
the end of blowouts. So I would be fairly fairly
shocked if any and it doesn't bring a veteran QB
in to compete at the very least. But I think

(58:06):
I think I'll give Alberto a shot next year at
least to win that starting job.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
I agree, But and again I've said this before, Fernando leaves,
you got Alberto who's played, you know, not really meaningful
snaps Jacob Bell, and you bringing in Cashierrera, the twenty
twenty six quarterback in your recruiting class that's literally no experience.
Kurtse Sinnetti is not going to go into a season
if he can help it with that little experience to quarterbacks.
So they will go get somebody. Does that mean it'll

(58:33):
be somebody that's guaranteed to be the starter. I don't know,
but I think Alberto will be given every chance to compete.
But I mean, you know, I expect them to go
after if Fernando Mendoza does leave, I expect him to
go back to the Portal and bringing a veteran guy
to at the very least compete to be the starter
next year.

Speaker 1 (58:54):
All right, moving on, here a couple more questions. This
one's actually a kind of a fun one here, Matt, Uh,
what actor would play Kurtzignetti in a movie about his
coaching career? I kind of thought, like, I mean, I
don't even know who looks like him, Like Nicholas Cage.
I have no clue you do have anybody in mine?

Speaker 2 (59:15):
Yeah, Nicholas Cage isn't a bad choice. This one's a
little bit I actually went down and looked this question.
I started thinking about it before we started this. He's
a little bit older now, but like, to me, Harrison
Ford would have been perfect. But now, I mean, I
think harsupports puting an eighty. So I don't know if
you could pull it off. I mean, you can do
this stuff with the makeup and everything, but it may
be kind of tough. Oh. I'm trying to think of

(59:37):
his name. He was in he was in the Hill,
and he was the dad. The only reason why I've
seen this movie and people are gonna laugh at me
because I have I have nieces and I had a
daughter the parent trap. I can't think of the guy's name.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
Yeah, I know he's yeah, I can't think Yeah, is that.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
Yeah, Like I think it's him. I feel I feel
stupid that I don't can't remember his name, but I
think that's yeah, Yeah, Dann's Quaie. I mean he might be.
He's a guy that could be that could pull it off.
And he well he's seventy one, so he's a little
bit older than Sig. But you know, he's a guy
I think can pull off and I think he'd be
good at it. I mean he's he's had kind of
roles like that, But I don't know. I mean, to me,

(01:00:18):
the first thing that chop my head was Harrison for
But I mean he's he's quite a bit older. So,
like I said, makeup can do a lot, but I
don't know how much younger you can make him look.

Speaker 3 (01:00:25):
But Nicholas Cage isn't bad either.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
Yeah. Yeah, uh, that would be That would be quite
the movie if they made one for for Signetti. All Right,
Captain tie here asks do you have any idea of
Sigg has trusted mentors to consult for situations such as
the silent count due to crowd noise. Does he have
a warm relationship with saving and would he reach out?
I can't say that I know about if he's still
a communicator to saving I'm guessing they have a good relationship.

(01:00:50):
But the thing with this island count here too is
I mean, Signetti is gonna do with Signetti feels his
best for the offense and what he feels that that
Banana Mendoza can handle. Like. I don't think he's looking
for outside consultation on things like silent counts and in different,
you know, little nuances. Signetti knows the team better than
anybody else, and he's gonna put Banana Mendoza in the

(01:01:12):
best position possible, I think, to maximize him.

Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
I mean I don't see him calling somebody up and
be like, hey, what would you do on silent counts.
I mean, he's been coaching for a long time. He's
gonna do. He's gonna do what he feels his best.
I mean, you know, I'm sure he talks to coaches
in the business, you know, I don't. I don't know
how much he talks to Nick Saban. I mean, obviously

(01:01:38):
he's on his staff for what four years, whatever it
was through or four years. There's probably a lot of
other guys that he that he's got relationships with. But
I I don't see him really, I think I think
Signette has a plan and he's gonna put his plan
in place and hopefully go execute it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
All right, last question for Captain Tie, I will overwhelm
the offensive line by blitzing considerably more bodies than we
could block. I would think this would expose him for
more quick throws to receivers by didn't Indiana attempt more
of this? I feel like Indiana wanted to. But you know,
on the flip side, you have to understand that Curseignetti
is very steadfast and how he likes to play, which

(01:02:15):
is he wants to assert his physicality of the line
of scrimmage. He wants to play balanced. He doesn't like
to favor too much of the run or the pass
either way. Like how Kurzignetti plays is how the offense operates,
and we saw that all of last year. We've seen
that all this season. And for people to think that
Signetti is gonna drastically change his game plan because they're

(01:02:35):
playing Iowa, Oregon, whoever, like, that's just not reasonable. So
how they play, you know, they might throw some wrinkles
in here, things we haven't seen, but it's not going
to be drastically different on an on an opponent's an
opponent basis.

Speaker 2 (01:02:48):
Yeah, I agree, and I mean as far as quick passes,
maybe it's something like you said, they wanted to do
and it just wasn't there for whatever reason. I don't know.
I mean, you know, you know, other teams are going
to study. I use tape and learn, and Indiana's coaches
are gonna study their tape. I mean, they don't just
watch tape of other teams. They watch their own tape,
not just to help their players, but to help them
come up with And that's why you have, you know,

(01:03:08):
these some of these consultants and all these guy quality
control guys. That's kind of their job too. They help
you figure out, you know, where you're you know, not
only they don't have a bunch of them like some
places do, but you know, and Sonetti quite honestly doesn't
need a lot of consultants. He's gonna watch a ton of
film and figure things out himself. So you know, they'll
they'll adjust, you know, and sometimes sometimes the other guy

(01:03:29):
at times is just better and what they call their
call is better than your call. I mean, sometimes that happens,
and give I Phil Parker is an outstanding defensive coordinator,
and if there's a Hall of Fame for coordinators in
college football, he would be in it because.

Speaker 3 (01:03:43):
He's really really good.

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
So you know, I'm I'm not trying to make excuses,
but sometimes you got to give credit to the other
guy too.

Speaker 3 (01:03:49):
It's not just Indiana failed.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
Iowa did some good things against them and and made
it tough on him. So you know, we'll see what happens.
Jared's talked about. This doesn't seem like org Blitz is
a ton They try to play. They try to bring pressure,
they try to cover you on the back end, and
then try to get make it so that there are
four or five guys they rush have enough time to
get to you and get your quarterback on the ground.

Speaker 3 (01:04:10):
So far as work for him.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
So I while I could see them blitz a little bit,
I don't think Oregon is gonna change, just like indian
is not gonna change. Oregon is gonna do what Oregon
does because that's what's gotten to where they're at.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
Yeah, all right, so that will do it for our
mailbag segment. Maybe we'll do another one of these towards
the end of the season. Indiana does have one more
bye week. I believe it's right before the Perdue game,
so maybe we can do a mail bag around then.
But that's all the time we have for this week
on the podcast, Indiana versus Oregon. This week perhaps the
most important game of the Signetti ten heure Indiana looking
to get a huge signature victory in Eugene this weekend,

(01:04:43):
our Jeff rab Johns forpeaks dot com will be in
Eugene to cover that game live, and then Matt and
I of course will have all the all the pregame,
in game and postgame coverage as well on the site.
But from now Matt Weaver, Jerry Kelly, we'll see folks
over on peags dot com