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I am going to guess Cole Hocker.

"Indiana did win its last game played against Oregon; Oregon's 24 to 30 loss to Indiana in 2004 was authored by Indiana coach Gerry DiNardo." That odd 2004 Indiana game (even through the 4-8 Helfrich cave in, Bellotti's 2004 "lost" season, and the 1996 "Stubler experiment") remains one of only two losses by Oregon in Autzen in the last 30 years to teams that finished with a losing record. 2004 Indiana (3-8): 24-30 1996 UCLA (5-6): 22-41 The Indiana story was primarily 7 Oregon turnovers. UCLA 1996 was right in the middle of five straight losses in the middle of the season as teams were running wild on the Duck D. UCLA outgained Oregon in rushing 303 yards to 45 yards (with Oregon missing starting RB Saladin McCullough that day).

Issues at that point with students enrolling. They do still need to be student athletes. The new window makes that a bit more difficult but pushing it into February means many students might not be able to enroll until after spring camp which is counter productive. For schools on the quarter system, like Oregon, that wouldn't be so bad but more schools are on semesters and that locks students in or out until summer.

Dante Moore is a wise dude like Justin Herbert. The extra millions don't mean as much as just enjoying a year of life you can't duplicate later, and being better prepared for the next level. Dante has already done that once. He sees the success Herbert Nix and Gabriel are having and the common theme that they all used up all of their eligibility before moving on to the NFL. I think the real deciding factor for Dante is going to be if if Will Stein stays or takes a HC job somewhere else. I don't believe projections of how high he will go in the draft carry much weight with him.

A B1G Unforeseen Game? Indiana was not dumped on in the preseason by every 'expert,' just most. Like, Pat Forde at SI. OK, I'm biased, but I prefer Darren's article, and I doubt that Forde volunteers to write for SI. 😁 SIForde-Yard Dash: The Stunning Big Ten Showdown Nobody Pre...The Hoosiers and Ducks meet Saturday as top 10 contenders with Heisman hopefuls and College Football Playoff dreams on the line.

Cig....who's your Daddy at Autzen?

Oops! Nothing to see here, move right along! It was only a $40 million mistake. 👌👍🤬 AP NewsCollege Sports Commission reveals it mistakenly overstate...The College Sports Commission sent out a correction, saying it had overstated the amount of name, image, likeness deals it has cleared by more than $40 million in a data set it had previously made pub

And hopefully, also for Don Fernando? Will Tosh keep him under the Mendoza Line?

Gary Danielson Q and A: 'Yeah, they can take on a Big Ten team in a one-game bowl game or in a big matchup as a preseason game, but could they take the pounding week in and week out?' And I think they've now more than answered that with trips to Michigan, the Ohio State game at home and now this last one at Penn State, with perhaps as good of a home field advantage as there is in the Big Ten. Picking CBS broadcaster Gary Danielson's brain on all things Oregon before the Indiana game

And then, there's this - 'Help me operator, even with Gundy gone, this line is always busy!' 😁 AP NewsCollege sports watchdog sets up tip line for confidential...The College Sports Commission has launched a tip line that allows for anonymous reporting of potential violations of new rules in the name, image and likeness era that outline how players are paid, pl

Sleepless nights for Don Essig

“The number one overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Cam Ward, signed a contract worth $48.7 million over four years, with the entire amount being fully guaranteed” That is generational wealth that NIL cannot compete with. If Moore is projected in the Top 10, I can’t see a situation where it would make sense for him to stay another year.

You have to be a canewaver to recall Joe Namath in 1969, guaranteeing a Jets win over the Baltimore Colts in what was then called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game (today referred to as Super Bowl III, if you please), and cashing in on his prediction, 16-7. Coming out of Bama where he played for Bear Bryant, Joe signed a 'huge' three-year deal with the Jets for $427,000.00, total. $142,333.33 a season. 🤑 The win by Broadway Joe and the Jets helped lead to the merger of the two leagues. Also of note in the above prospective first round draft is Saturday's matchup of No.1 Dante Moore battling No. 3 Fernando Mendoza. These battles were supposed to happen in the SEC this season, not in the Big Ten. Of course, Dante returning and winning back-to-back Nattys (👍👌😎 ?) means going to another crummy team. But if it's Miami, at least he won't have to pay state income tax on his home game appearances. 😁 Incinerate Indiana! Put Out Them Cigs!

Funny, it didn't even occur to me how rain might affect the teams! 😄 I've been concerned about myself, what to wear, hoping that since it is a 40% chance of rain, that the 60% non-chance will prevail!

Student athletes and coaches both should have to sit out a year when they transfer to another FBS program with the exception of graduate transfers who can play immediately. I know what the ramifications are and I think they're healthy.

It's been sunny and dry in Bloomington all week. They'll probably get a teste of the weather during their Friday practice. Oregon will be wearing yellow.

Thanks, Darren. Always a treat! 247 Sports combined roster rankings: OBD No. 5, Hoosiers No. 72. Oregon has a significant roster and home-field advantage. You can bet, as we saw in the movie 'Hoosiers', Curt Cignetti will focus on the David vs. Goliath theme. The Hoosiers survived a letdown rock fight game at Iowa to climb to No. 7 in the AP. Under Cignetti, Indiana has come to life. Cig took over the 'losingest' team in CFB, and in 2024, Indiana's 11 wins set the Indiana record. Football season tickets are sold out for the first time in ... forever. The man's two losses at Indiana to date were road games against the final AP No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Notre Dame. Saturday will give Indiana the chance to break its 0-46 road record against top-five-ranked teams. Indiana did win its last game played against Oregon; Oregon's 24 to 30 loss to Indiana in 2024 was authored by Indiana coach Gerry DiNardo. Today, DiNardo, an AA guard and national champ winner at Notre Dame, is one of the Big Ten Network's lead football analysts. During the Brooks and Bellotti years, compared to the Hoosiers, OBD was Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers. The Arches aren't Golden in Austin, for sure, but for decades, the Indiana football Hoosiers put the S in HoSers and Suck. 🤬 FWIW, the last 2025 NFL draft I saw on Athlon has Dante at No. 1, Moore better than Fernando Mendoza at No. 3. The QB play in the SEC this season was predicted to be the best, but this game could feature the best QB duel of the regular season. James Franklin and his coaching staff belong in the State Pen and not at Penn State. The PSU coaches, especially on special teams and defense, were schooled by interim Bruins head coach Tim Skipper and first-time play caller Jerry Neuheisel, who allowed Nico to play with athletic abandon. PSU tanking does matter, possibly a lot. First, a 9-3, or 8-4 Penn State, hurts the seeding of every B1G playoff team. Second, Penn State not qualifying for the playoff means a loss of multi-millions for the conference. Third, depending on Saturday's results, especially Indiana at OBD, Ohio State at Illinois, Michigan at USC, and Nebraska at Maryland, the conference could be at risk of having only two teams finish 10-2 or better in the regular season. (Perhaps in error, I'm giving UW the Friday night home win against OBD's Week 8 opponent, Rutgers.) Darren, thanks again for another enjoyable read. Hose Down the Hoosiers!

There's a few cautionary tales out there but by and large QBs who stay for their senior year end up with a better understanding of the game. Just look at Herbert, Nix, and Gabriel none of which I think would be doing as well in the NFL if they hadn't come back for their senior year. A former NFL announcer who started his career in the '70s and frequence my restaurant once regaled me with a story about Dak Prescott as a junior asking him for advice. He told Dak to stay in school and refine his game as he saw QBs get destroyed in the NFL when they didn't have enough starting experience. We we're talking about how NIL does have some positives. Lanning protected Nix his senior year and didn't ask Gabriel to do a whole lot of running either. He knows it's a bad look when you sacrifice your QB for a few yards. Throw in a few million in NIL maybe a commercial or two and you're making some serious money for a college senior. If you're going 1# then you have to go for it.

Everett is another great choice. I think Ahmad Rashad would be a good choice as well. Much to my surprise, he's never been guest picker. I believe Prichard is in the pre-season, but he doesn't have a game on Saturday and doesn't play until Sunday evening.

I like the one transfer portal window but why not just move it until after the season concludes, so that it’s not a distraction or negative for those players playing in the post season?

Maybe not #1 overall, but there are plenty of examples the other way too (Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Justin Herbert).

I saw Neil Everett listed as a potential guest picker. He has been a great ambassador for the program and school.

Much like Conerly Jr. last year, Moore is young enough to return for another season and still only be 22 when drafted, so with NIL, arguably there doesn't need to be quite as big a rush to the NFL. Two old Pac-12 guys usually come up as "cautionary tales" though. 🤷‍♂️ RB Bryce Love after rushing for 2,100 yards and finishing second in the Heisman, returned to Stanford and had a pair of ACL injuries and fell to the forth round and never had an NFL carry. USC's Matt Barkley, who was thought to be a first round lock in 2011, returned to USC as a possible Heisman favorite and the team dropped to 7-5 and he got a shoulder injury and missed the ND game, Sun Bowl, and NFL combine. Fell to the forth round. Moved around as a backup QB through several NFL cities, playing in 20 games with 7 starts between 2013-2023.

Yeah, dare I say slow things down with methodical ball control, ground and pound them. Take the air out of their offense. Thanks for the comments!

I was thinking the same thing before your article. If you take the name off the jersey, Indiana would be even ranked higher than they are based on how they are playing (on both sides of the ball) and their resume to date. They are not getting the benefit of the doubt that Oregon now receives, after decades of success. This is a really good football team we will be playing on Saturday and their coaching staff has done a tremendous job. Hope Autzen brings the noise on Saturday!