iubhounds

I would love to see that but they have played some of those B10 teams for over 50 years. IU finally gets to play them home and home starting in 2030. With their 2026 guarantee of getting into the playoffs every year if they are in the Top 12 of the committee's ranking, they will never join a conference now. They use the B10 for their hockey team because the ACC doesn't having hockey. Sad to say ND will never be relegated to the level of BYU ... their arrogance, entitlement and history are too much to overcome when it comes to relegating them lower.

Great idea as I sit in 6° weather again this morning. 11-1 / 5 / 2 / 315 for B1G games

It's the "cost of doing business" for being in a conference located in the Midwest. I hated to see the Pac12 break up. I couldn't believe the commissioner didn't have a decent tv deal set up. How does a conference with more National Championships won than anyone else do that? 20 years ago I told a fellow college football addict that in our lifetime we would see 64 of the top football teams take their sports and break away from the NCAA, forming 4 different divisions of 16 teams. The teams west of the Rocky Mts would have their own conference.

I understand completely why to some fans it is not fair having to fly back to the Midwest or the East Coast for Big10 games 3 or 4 times per year. It is hard to keep from doing that with 9 B10 games on the schedule. There are only 3 other teams on the west coast and you don't play those teams every year. Let's say for this example Oregon played all three west coast B10 teams annually. That leaves 6 games to play to finish the conference. 2 of 3 OOC games are probably at home every year, 1 or 2 of those west coast teams would be home. So there is possibly 4 home games before any other B10 teams are played. IF 3 of those fly to Eugene to play that leaves a possible 7 home games for the year and 3 games "back east" ... so really there isn't a way to get around from playing B10 games "back east" 3-4 times every year. The big problem I see here while sitting in Indiana ... starting times. For all schools that are flying opposite directions to play conference games. Like Washington in 2024 in Bloomington. That was a BigNoon Fox thing so kickoff is 9am for the Huskies. When IU went to Eugene last fall that was a 3:30pm ET and no problem for an IU team traveling west. It will aways be advantageous for the other 14 B10 schools traveling west for games. TV tells the conference what games are going to be featured on THEIR times ... while not caring for starting times, where or who they played the previous week. Add that to a B10 office that has had mysterious scheduling in football and basketball every since they went from only 10 teams in the conference ... there isn't much hope for logical B10 scheduling.

Actually IU's OOC became easier late in 2023 before Cignetti got there. Tom Allen was trying to save his job so he dropped Louisville who had won the year before. Before Allen could enjoy the fruits of his 2024 OOC schedule change he was fired at the end of the 2023 season with a cupcake schedule on the horizon. Cig shows up in November 2023. He and the AD wanted 7 home games and at the last minute dropped an away game at UVA in exchange for another cupcake to play at home. 2025 rolls around and Indiana State is on the schedule for two reasons. Their head coach is the son of the winningest coach in IU history, even with a losing record, Bill Mallory. The 2nd reason, their program had been close to bankruptcy in recent years where there was talk of dropping the football program. As a favor financially and as an honor to Mallory they were added on the schedule. In 2026 Indiana State will play at Purdue. Cig was not going to schedule JMU but to give a team a chance in that conference to do what they beg for, IU scheduled G5 Old Dominion. First play of the season their QB goes for 75 yard TD. Later after the game was wrapped up, their QB did another 70+ yard TD run. That QB transferred to Wisconsin after this past season. IU use to play Kentucky and Missouri every year on the OOC but years ago when the SEC went to 8 games they both canceled saying they could no longer play teams that were now called P4 teams. IU would usually win those games. When Lee Corse was HC at IU he went to USC, LSU, Arizona, Nebraska and Washington in their OOC games. Like all schools these OOC games are scheduled way in advance. For those that are always bashing IU easy OOC will be happy to hear that in 2030, after years of asking, Notre Dame decided to play IU home and home but only for two years. They would rather beat up Purdue every year like they have done forever. In today's world there is no reason for IU to play a harder OOC ... yet this year two of those teams won more than 10 games and both played in bowl games.

This might help. What did Northwestern do to make the B10 scheduler mad? Their bye is the 2nd week of the season.

IU has the same situation. That reminds me of a little bit of B10 history. When they had divisions IU would play OSU, Michigan, Penn State and a much better Michigan State team every year. Not really a good way to get over the hump in winning games. Most years they would play at least three of those schools in back to back weeks.

There are a lot of great matchups and on top of that new coaches that looked to be better than the ones they are replacing. My only question is how did Penn State not play IU, Ohio State or Oregon???

Even if he had thrown it when he did, if he would have thrown it to the goal line corner of the end zone, #7 Moore for IU would not have gotten there soon enough.

Thanks. Funny you say that about OU because Oklahoma is exactly what I think of first when I hear that.

A friendly request. Indiana is only IU, UI is our hated neighbor Illinois ... 😎

On X (twitter) I told Miami fans their team's DNA was turnovers, penalties and strange coaching decisions. That would lead them to lose a tight game. As an IU fan I was not feeling good when they were getting big chunks of yardage at the end of the game. I told my sleeping dog "we might have blown this game" ... luckily the kid that got his butt chewed out on national tv in Eugene made the interception. A 20 year old true Junior.

There is no reason the Oregon at Ohio State game cannot be prime time 7:30pm ET game. I see that as the only possible loss for Oregon in the 2026 regular season. Of course based on my helmet icon the Ohio State at Indiana game will be my favorite. BOTH will be fantastic games to watch.

I would think the Ducks are the odds on favorite to win the national title in 2026. The Natty game is a week later next year, with the same number of teams. Why? More time off? I honestly don't know the answer for that. IU had the time off figured out before their first playoff game but I am still not sure it is better than playing as soon as you can, which means it is best NOT TO play in the B10 championship game. All teams change and the B10 schedule is going to be a dog fight for everyone. Oregon, Ohio State, Indiana and I'll even add Michigan since Whittingham is now their coach, will be the B10 Champion. IMO Oregon has no excuses for 2026 to win it all.

With ND's arrogance, we live with it back here in Indiana, they will never join a conference unless THEY get to choose which conference teams they play or how many they play. They are begging so much to stay independent they HAVE TO have their hockey team play in the B10 just to have a place to play. They have never wanted to share tv money (NBC forever). Might be able to find it on YouTube but Jon Gruden had a great video after Selection Sunday on his idea for a 16 team playoff and how to do it.

Yes IU is losing a few star players but Cignetti has reloaded. On3 ranks their portal class #1, not as good as Oregon's recruiting classes but he has had better classes each year, the three best in the history of IU. There were many true freshman got experience in blow out games, some actually started. For example that #28 that had two long runs at the end of the Oregon game is a true freshman and has not transferred. Interesting story about Hoover the QB coming from TCU. He was a verbal commit for Tom Allen in 2022. He backed out before the National Signing Day in 2021 and decided to play back home where Sonny Dykes had been hired at TCU. IU was predicted to be 6-6 for the year and 3-6 in the B10 this year. Their players were ranked last in the B10. I will say though looking at their 2026 schedule, like all other top B10 teams, it's tough and each of those teams have 2-4 games they could lose. So your prediction COULD be right. Based on the improvement I have seen for two years from week to week and their coaching philosophy's I don't see them losing 4 games or even 3 ... yet I could see them lose 2 games like they almost did this year. Ohio State at home will still be brutal, a battle. At Michigan will be interesting just because one of my favorite coaches is there, Whittingham. USC at home I still lean toward an IU win. At Washington ... hard game to figure out with the chaos in Seattle this off season. I would like Oregon to become like a rivalry game with IU. I'd like to see them play each other every year but the B10 scheduling computers don't see it that way. Purdue will always be our hated in-state rival but an Oregon-IU rivalry would be good for the B10.

I can give you some insight on this. Mellancamp never attended college but was an IU fan growing up. In 1995 IU's fund raising was so poor for football they did not have enough funds to build an indoor practice facility like all the other B10 teams were doing. John came to the rescue and paid every dollar for it. As far as Mark Cuban, he did not donate any football money until this summer. By that time, the 2024 and 2025 teams were already paid for. Mark is an IU grad but was a HUGE Bob Knight fan. When IU fired Knight in 2000 he swore he would never give a dime to IU whenever approached. He only gave money to "the club sport of Rugby", a team on which he played on in college. This summer he met Cignetti for the first time ever. Not only did they find out they were both from Western PA but they were also born in the same hospital. So really Mark did not get involved financially with football until right before this last season after all the 2025 NIL deals had been signed and delivered.

There were five JMU player that started this year. It will make a difference in their leadership and their 2025 performance. Yet IU returns 12 of 22 starting players. Only their center on the OL is gone. Those other 4 OLs were recruited by IU. They have a strong RB room coming back along with 1 portal transfer built the same as the two RBs you saw this year. You might think they lose a lot at WR but Charlie Becker was only a true Sophomore. A portal transfer from Michigan, their #2 WR in 2024, tore his ACL and did not play this year. He is at full strength and practicing during the playoff weeks. They also will have an All-B10 WR from Michigan State from the portal, Nick Marsh. More speed coming off the bench that were true freshmen this year. As far as tv goes ... I think tv stations should adjust their schedules during the year based on what teams are doing. Granted the logistics might be a problem but they own their stations and can fill time slots when needed. I want to see more of the top of the B10 matchups in prime time ET. A Wisconsin vs Northwestern on a Saturday prime time does nothing for this football addict. One big difference for IU in 2026, but I am not sure it will matter Cignetti's process ... they will now be the hunted and not the hunter. They along with Oregon, Michigan, Ohio State will be their opponents Super Bowl.

The high Monday was 11° where I live in Indiana. From the ground to the porch is 30" ... solid snow The English Bulldog statue is sitting on the porch.