iubhounds

When living in Washington and attending a few Dawg/Duck games home and away I had a chance to compare the hatred of the Oregon and Washington to the IU/PUkes (purdue) rivalry. I would see the hatred, believe it or not, might be a little more intense back in the state of Indiana. Yet in 2003 I am sitting at Husky Stadium watching Gerry DiNardo's (BTN now) IU's Hoosiers play UDub. Of course Washington has won the game by early in the 3rd quarter, when a Husky fan stands up in the section next to the IU Visitor section and yells "**** IU we HATE THE DUCKS" and is waving a 10' pole with a duck hanging by a noose around it's neck .... it brought the loudest roar from the crowd the game had. Add on the Twitter posts I see now between Duck and Dawg fans ... I would say the hatred is real between you two ... but until you shut down an IU and PUke forum for two weeks due to personal threats in the Indy Star forum many years ago, the UO/UW hatred might rank #2. I understand not wearing colors of rivals. I follow the same policy. So Drake, it is not irrational excluding purple and orange from your wardrobe ... it just makes sense to do so with the colors of our rival teams.

I would say that Riley is dangling by a thread of that rope and he better hope that highest paid recruiting class of freshman can play big time football fast.

I will add a third sport that has be watched live ... Hockey. As far as baseball, I agree. Luckily 4 miles from my house we have the infamous Frontier League Evansville Otters, played in the same stadium as Tom Hank's movie A League of Their Own was filmed. For college football I can watch that any time, any day, live or on tv and I seemed to be counting days until the 2026 season stars.

To many years ago I took a 14 day vacation with a company that did MLB tours. We saw 13 games in 14 different cities and the day off was spent at the HOF in Cooperstown. We would usually get to the cities early enough to do a little touring around the city. In Pittsburgh my brother and I found where the old stadium use to be. It was mostly a park but some of the original wall still stood and some were remembered in the sidewalk. They showed the exact spot where Mazeroski's HR went over the fence.

It seems to automatically renew every year whether I pay for it or not.

I can report from Indiana they lose a game to UNC in extra inning when their relief corp can't hold a lead after the 7th inning. They did the same thing against LSU when leading the game in the 8th. The most bizarre loss though was that extra inning game at UNC. IU has the lead in the 9th, routine ground ball to 2B and he did a "Steve Sax Dodgers" throw ... where the ball didn't even make it halfway to 1B for the out. UNC ties the game after that throw and wins in 11 innings with a walk off HR. I don't think you have to worry about the Hoosiers being "a contender" in baseball.

I know "stars" don't mean anything to Cignetti but I would die for recruiting classes like you have over the years.

The thing that has helped Cig compared to other coaches, his DC and OC have been with him for over 10 years. He did lose his strength and conditioning coach last month to Tennessee and then replaced him with another that had been on his previous staffs as an assistant SC. Then what he talks about a lot "alignment from the top to bottom". He means from the school president down to the janitor in the football complex. Everybody on the same page. How many of you know that in Cignetti's contract from the time he stepped on campus in 2024 it states that IF either the AD or school Prez leave for any reason, fired or otherwise, then Cignetti is a free-agent and his buy-out is cut in half immediately. The AD has been there since he was a Bob Knight basketball student manager. Their school Prez just got a huge pay raise and contract extension this past week. So things look good in that direction. I guess it took IU over a 110 years to realize that good football teams make a LOT of money for everything else on campus. You cannot have anything closer to compare with Cig's success than this year or next two years than UCLA ... Chesney comes from JMU like Cignetti, brings 10 players with him and 7 of those 10 were All-Conference players. Two differences though ... Chesney has not been a head coach as long as Cignetti and UCLA's football history is better than IU's was. For example ... I use to buy tickets from my scalper friend outside the IU stadium and sit between the 40's, no higher than row 20. I'd have enough room to stretch my legs forward in the row in front of me and lean back like I was in a recliner watching IU football. That is how bad some years were. In all honesty ... from beautiful Southwestern Indiana ... Oregon has more than any team in the nation to win the 2026 Natty. The coaching, the returning players, the portal class and an outstanding ranking recruiting class. IMO it will not matter who wins that game in Columbus OH because by the end of the year the Ducks will be clicking on all cylinders for their Natty Run. Yes, as a Hoosier alum and life long fan ... I believe the Ducks are the team to beat for the 2026 Natty.

How could they have ever left off a QB with a name like Babe? Babe Laufenberg - Indiana - recruited by Lee Corso - NFL journeyman QB

From a view from the Midwest, that Oregon at Ohio State game is going to be monumental. UO has 8 of 11 back on defense and Ohio State imported every SEC player they could find for their portal players on both sides of the ball. Should be a beautiful fall day in Columbus with one of you having 1 B1G loss by the end of the night. A little west of that game I am 100% confident in IU replacing 6 starters on defense, some with the young players that played and return, plus possibly an Edge from Kansas State that will be better than the three Edges they had this year. Ponds may never be replaced at CB but I like their chances with AJ Harris from PSU, a 3rd Team All-B1G in 2024 and playing 11 games in 2025, missing a game due to injury. It is not so much the history (stats) of the players the transfer portal brings to IU but it's what DC Haines and HC Cignetti sees in those players to bring them to IU. No doubt they will be better at IU than where they came from after seeing two years of data. I will miss ragging on Thieneman on X. I know Duck fans have a different view of him as a player but in Indiana "once a PUke always a PUke" ... I will never forget seeing him bowled over in the end zone in Eugene by Hemby or him chasing Sarratt across the end zone in Atlanta for an IU TD. But that enjoyment is not really directed at the Ducks or their fans. It is enjoyment seeing those images with a tint of black and gold up in Laughingette. (Last night in basketball does not count 🤯) This FishDuck forum makes it harder for me to get through the off season for college football. A lot of good information, a lot of good discussions by fans that know ball and we all have one thing in common ... not only do we want to win we want to win natty's. Yes, I honestly think with Cig's "process" they can win another even if it's not back to back. My prediction for surprises in the B1G in 2026 .... watch out for Michigan, I hated seeing a coach like Whittingham take that job.

That is exactly what happened as I have posted before, when the B1G "tried" division. It didn't matter if the split line was horizontal for a north south division or vertical for an east west division, the three best teams were in the same division. That did not include Indiana because at the time MSU was very legit as was PSU. Of course that might change a little adding the four west coat teams. Honestly I am not sure there is any answer for a conference with 18 teams. I like the idea of moving it back to scheduling every three years instead of five years. I was thinking yesterday that the least travel a west coast B1G team could do, would have those four teams play each other every year. What would leave five B1G games where alternating years west coast teams would travel east twice and three times in a season because dome of those team would also travel west for games. Yet that is not fair either, with the four west coast teams playing each other every year and only traveling up and down the coast highway. Yet it wouldn't be any different than those teams in the Midwest and East play a lot of the same teams every year. As mentioned in posts above, there are a lot of intangibles that can throw a monkey wrench into scheduling. Cignetti, PSU easy schedule, a better coach at Michigan, injuries ... All I can do is sit back and continue watching 14 hours of college football on Saturdays, some during the week (especially that new SacState vs BallState game 🥳). Schedules will not affect me but I will still complain about those with the "easy route" to the CFP. I guess that is where the focus is now, the CFP and only 10 slots open for the best teams. I probably need to spend more time researching robots. Not just the vacuum kind but one that can serve food to me during those long Saturdays, feed the dogs, let the dogs in and out of the house and even walk them. After all I don't want to miss a minute seeing Oregon playing in a driving snow storm some November at Rutgers, Maryland, or up north at Wisconsin, MSU or Michigan.

When Cig walked on campus in November 2023 they signed for a little over $4M per year with a list of incentives you thought were impossible. He checked them off like my home to do list. I think his a few hundred thousand behind Kirby Smart for the highest paid head coach though.

Cignetti has a point in his contract that if he makes the Semi-Finals in the CFP, his contract is rewritten at the end of the year to keep him in the top 3 salaries of college coaches. Not only that, today it was announced the IU President also got a substantial raise. As you know success in football makes a lot of money for the academic side of the house.

Too many to list since I liked all of his movies but I guess I would have to say my favorite was Broken Trail.

I wasn't going to reply but I have to Jon ... LOL If the UO IU 2nd game would have been in Bloomington instead of Atlanta there would not have been 30-40,000 less IU fans. They would have bought as many tickets as possible just like they did in the peach bowl. Fewer fans ?? Sure ... IU's stadium doesn't hold 56,000 so the Peach Bowl around ~77,000, there would around 21,000 less IU fans. IU really didn't avoid the injury bug as you claim. Early in the season their #2RB goes out for the year. So Black #8 was #3 to start the season. #8 Edge rusher at Eugene game went out for the year with 5-6 games to go. His replacement Daley lead the B1G in sacks within 5 games played only to injure himself right after the B1GCG jumping up to touch hands with a fan to celebrate their win. So in the Peach Bowl they have their #3 Edge Rusher starting the game #17. But yes, overall compared to other opponents IU avoided the injury bug. I am asking in a friendly tone to please take your annual physical and hopefully an echocardiogram (both of us are old) to make sure your heart is up for more stress since this "traveling east thing" seems to elevate your heart rate. (joking with my dry sense of humor). 😂 With the B1G now stretched out from coast to coast every team has to travel and there will never be any way around it.

Do that same thing with B1G that play in those four West Coast stadiums. I like what Cignetti said in 2024 about playing at UCLA and what Underwood said a few days ago after Illinois killed USC in LA ... traveling makes no difference to them.

I can tell you as a resident of Indiana, hell will freeze over before Notre Dame joins the B1G. They have had plenty of chances to do so and have turned the B1G down every time. Yet their hockey team plays in the B1G because there is nowhere else for them to play. They don't want to share any of their tv money, no matter which network wins their contract. Now that they have a written guarantee of being in the CFP every year as long as they are on the CFP's Top 12, the odds joining the B1G get longer. That's good. Anything I say about Notre Dame would be very vulgar and not politically correct here, so I will do what my mother use to always tell me "keep your mouth shut." Don't think the B1G can logically make two even divisions with any number of teams. They tried that before, then used different names, leading to the East and West Divisions. They were so even that a bad Indiana team was stuck playing Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State (when they were good) and Penn State every year in the East Division ... some times 3 games in a row. While the PUkes just a little west of the line drawn down the middle of the conference, kept their rival game with Indiana but played powerhouses like Northwestern, Wisconsin, Nebraska, a bad Illinois team while playing one or two of the big dogs in the East. I don't like 20 teams. I don't like 18 teams and never liked 12 teams in the B1G. TV does and I am not the B1G commissioner so my likes don't mean much. I would/will get my drawing board out to see the possibilities of splitting the conference in two but I can see already if they would do it by location, the East already has more better teams than the 10 teams west of what I assume would be the Indiana/Illinois state line. That line would be just a little west of their original line down the center of Indiana, extending straight up into Michigan. IMO the B1G will never get it right in scheduling because they haven't since they expanded the conference multiple times. I will say though by the next tv contract the B1G will have two new teams ... probably from the ACC. Those teams will be based only on their tv market so take your pick. Thanks Grandpa Duck for scrambling my braincells today ... that is always a good thing. Now, it's time to enjoy some "teasing" nice Indiana weather.

You are right ... the NIL and the current transfer portal rules change everything. I remember when Cig was hired all my friends and I wanted was consistent winning seasons comparable to Iowa ... now we are not sure we can handle a 3 loss season. Plus with the new hires of HC in the B1G, that conference just got tougher from top to bottom, thus hard to stay on top.

In case you did not watch the Oregon - Indiana basketball game the other night, the IU coach was Altman's assistant for 12 years at Creighton. The Altman family baby sat IU's 2nd leading scorer, Tucker DeVries.

Some interesting things on their schedule. They have no luck scheduling OOC over the years. This year they schedule North Texas who was good in 2025, only to have their HC and a lot of players follow him to Oklahoma State for next season. So they will be a much different NT team. One interesting tidbit, the starting QB for NT next year started for IU in 2024 when Rourke was out with an injured thumb and later surgery. Western Kentucky has been on and off the schedule for years. IU always beats them but they go on to have a good year. Howard? I didn't know they had a football team until their best DL goes to Oregon this year in the portal for 2026 season. As a college football fan I would normally say there is no way Indiana stays on top. Like you, I will put my money on Cig and his coaching staff. They know this year means nothing for next year. One play, one game at a time. I do like the land mines in the Ohio State schedule before they come to Bloomington. For the first time I can ever remember in decades, the stadium will NOT be called Columbus West with Ohio State fans. A general observation about next years IU team ... team speed at RB, WR will be much improved ... break-away speed actually and something they have not had the past two years.

I think this is a result of NIL spending. Teams now can pay LEGALLY what these teams did for years under the table.

With a #1 recruiting class, some portal transfers and some big cash, Oregon's basketball season can flip in a year, from bad to great. Other teams can make the same kind of improvement too. I follow both sports, all the teams and IMO college basketball recruiting is more brutal than college football. I guess nobody is really committed until they are on campus at that first team meeting, getting their photos taken in uniform. Yet there are a LOT of good basketball players nationwide, enough for every team, no matter their ranking.

I am not sure how many years ago this took place. I might look for his book at the library but won't buy it. Honestly I wish Nebraska would have gone back to the B12. I bet many of their fans wish they would have or would now but the B1G tv money paid out is just too big to ignore. Yet I am biased when it comes to conference realignment ... too old school. I remember it bothered me a little, not a lot, when Arizona and Arizona State was joining the Pac8.

I had a look a couple of times to double check my eyes but I don't see where Jedd Fisch's UDub is listed. I thought he had every high school player in Arizona as a lock to follow him to Seattle. To me that is a little interesting not to see them listed by name.

My first sports forum was around 1996 at the Indianapolis Star and then other IU forums and other B1G fans forums formed after that. Needless to say I have visited many forums over 31 years, to see what information I could glean from opponents. I even joined a few where I saw there was legitimate sports discussion without arguing or attacks. THIS FORUM, FishDuck is the best forum I have ever visited, joined and posted on after the short time I have been here. I am serious when I say that. That includes Indiana forums. I have also found Duck fans on X just as nice to joke with, discuss our teams, our coaches, recruiting etc. You Duck fans are a lot different than a couple of B1G fans I could name, but won't. You are some of the best fans I have ever run into online since I first started the internet in 1995.