63-10?

Wow. I don't know where Cig finds these guys, as we all knew about Mendoza, (and he was MUCH better than at Cal!) but the players on defense, in particular pass-rushing was just jaw-dropping to me. If anyone coaches offensive linemen well, it is Coach Bret Bielema, and his team got tore up yesterday with a ton of sacks....like I can hardly believe.

The skill players at Indiana just zipped past Illinois, and the precision of their passing game was impressive. Between the JMU transfers, and all the transfers that came in after last football season....Cig has a very smart, old team made primarily up of seniors.

This has become a very tough game in nearly three weeks, but we can worry about after next Saturday. I just thought I'd give the warning after a 63-10 destruction of No. 9 Illinois by Indiana yesterday.

Wowsa.

P.S. You cannot see it on mobile, but on laptop and especially on desktop...you can see a wonderful picture in the background of No. 2 Gary Bryant scoring his touchdown. It is very hard to find the right photos that fit, as you'll note the football is on the same level as his face....which never happens, and is perfect. His positioning is to the right, thus the ad won't pop up in the middle of his face. (at least on my desktop)

And the photo by Scott Kelley is looking upward with the celebrating crowd behind, and not at eye-level which has cement wall background, the sideline, etc. And to add to it--we have had massive issues with the new platform uploading photos, and I think we have a band-aid on it for now.

Fun stuff, that makes it special.

I read somewhere that by game’s end Illinois had lost a total of six of their ten DB’s to injury.

Week 7? Hoosiers could be a hard Cig to stamp out in Autzen.

The B1G headliner this week is OBD at Penn State. (DUH 😜) However, Indiana's first road game of the season at Iowa could be interesting. The Iowa D looked bad in the 1st half at Rutgers, but Phil Parker's D shut down the Rutgers O in the 2nd half.

I was surprised by the score vs. Illinois, but not the manner in which the Hoosiers played. Cig did a great job of improving where Indiana most needed improvement, both LOS. Mendoza is a step up from Kurtis Rourke. And Indiana looks faster and quicker than last season.

Google Cig, he wins! 😁

Illinois is not a top 10 team, but Indiana truly embarrassed them. Indiana believes they belong in the CFP picture, and I won’t argue.

Their QB was 21/23 passing, and they rushed for over 300 yards. They also had 7 sacks. Nobody beats a team with those stats.

Home field advantage at Autzen is the real deal, and our defense will be challenged. 10/11 will be a can’t miss game.

38 minutes ago, Charles Fischer said:

P.S. You cannot see it on mobile, but on laptop and especially on desktop...you can see a wonderful picture in the background of No. 2 Gary Bryant scoring his touchdown. It is very hard to find the right photos that fit, as you'll note the football is on the same level as his face....which never happens, and is perfect. His positioning is to the right, thus the ad won't pop up in the middle of his face. (at least on my desktop)

On mobile I just have a picture of a defeated Beaver.

Indiana wiped the floor with Illinois. They also played with great intensity. All those sacks! That's the kind of fire we need to see from the Ducks. So far they haven't played with that kind of intensity against a strong opponent, since they haven't faced one yet this season.

IF the CFP was based on today's AP Top 12, then No. 11 Indiana would be out.

No. 12 Tex Tech would be in as Big12 rep, and No. 27 USF would be in as Non-Power 4 rep. USF would take the No. 12 spot, and Tex Tech would move up to No. 11. At No. 6, Oregon would host Tex Tech.

The 1st-ranked team that Indiana has defeated under coach Cig.

481 yards in the Hoosiers' favor vs. a top 10 team is a CFB record.

Indiana's 63-10 beatdown of a top 10 team is a CFB record.

Are you not entertained? 🤪

Obviously we posted a very similarly lopsided score and beat down on week 2 vs OK St.

But even in those clearly game-controlled contests against MSU and NU and even against the Beavos, we are generally at the spread and don’t wreck folks by 50+. If you look at the Indiana game, and the lines of similarly dominant teams in FBS this isn’t uncommon. While OBD have been dominant thus far, we haven’t “broken their spirits”. Well maybe we did that to Gundy and Co lol.

Why is that? Is it Lanning, who wants us to dominate but also seems to exude a culture of respect and doesn’t need to feel the ego need to go for 2 late in the fourth quarter? Is it that logic prevails, an we want to provide our 2nd/3rd team with valuable reps, and we want to preserve our 1’s from garbage time? Or are we actually trying to break those teams but they were better than that (we couldn’t beat them by 70).

It feels like there may be coaches that are okay wrecking other teams. Cignetti didn’t do it to Old Dominion, but Indiana was mercilous in weeks 2,3 and 4. I’m personally okay with it but it has me super curious. We are only 2-2 against the spread and we were similar last year. I don’t think Lanning cares!

10 minutes ago, SEA Duck said:

We are only 2-2 against the spread and we were similar last year. I don’t think Lanning cares!

First off Lanning doesn't care at all about the spread. He's concerned about winning and ensuring the health of his team for the long run of the season. We have depth and can take some hits, already have taken some hits but can't take needless hits.

Second off... the line for Oregon to beat Oregon State at 34 points was absurd from a betting standpoint. The Ducks got pretty close but a spread like that usually requires running up the score and with Lanning as the head coach that is a tall order to ensure they get those points. The Ducks did it against Ok State because they couldn't stop anything.

Personally I'm just happy to see the Ducks break the 40 point mark this season.

10 minutes ago, David Marsh said:

Lanning doesn't care at all about the spread. He's concerned about winning and ensuring the health of his team for the long run of the season. We have depth and can take some hits, already have taken some hits but can't take needless hits

I think that’s totally right.

Lanning wants to win the game and doesn’t really care about the score. He is wholly unconcerned about the spread - outside noise. He doesn’t care about padding stats either. Jayden Daniels is clearly awesome, but Bo could have had many more TDs / yards if that was a priority for us. Dante only played for a half and a bit for the first three weeks.

He wants to see the perfect game. For him that seems to be defined by depth, perfect execution beyond the 1’s. He knows that snaps at game speed and intensity are so valuable for the non starters.

And he knows the season is a marathon. Not worth over rotating on any game after the outcome is determined. Prepare-Execute-Celebrate-Correct… and then on to the next. Maybe the thumbs up/thumbs down game at Michigan was the only time where we punched in another TD late in the game when we already had the outcome guaranteed. I was surprised at that. I also loved it! 😊

I much prefer coaches to give the backups reps in one-sided games as opposed to running up scores for whatever reason. Game reps are super important for player development and a coach never knows when those backups may have to be thrust into action to (hopefully) keep a team headed toward its seasonal goals.