Just as I suspected, Paul Finebaum showed his colors this week. You know, the ones on the yellow and blue logo of the SEC. This week Paul Finebaum was poo-pooing the winning ways of the Indiana Hoosiers. He opined that if the Hoosiers are 11-1, he has given them a defeat already against Ohio State, the Hoosiers should be stepping aside in the playoff talk in favor of an Alabama team that got beat by Vanderbilt. Where’s Lewis Grizzard when you need him to talk some sense into Finebaum? I suppose forty years ago Finebaum thought the 9-4 Auburn Tigers should have been ranked above the National Champion BYU Cougars. Paul Finebaum knows the Indiana Hoosiers are not made for him. Paul works the sensationalism outside the lines. The Coach Cignetti Hoosiers of 2024 just keep winning without flair. When a player makes a big one, he doesn’t act like he is running for public office. There are no dunks to be made or chains to be worn or boxing belts. Keith Jackson would love it. Having called a few high school ballgames on the radio myself, I always come to the aid of awkward announcer speak. I always say, “Yeah, but there is air to fill there. He’s got to say something.” Paul has to say something when the SEC is feeling threatened about a playoff spot. I suppose it hurts that Indiana is the one doing the threatening this year. Paul can’t help it. Y’all should know my Tua touchdown story by now. Just more of the same.

Last week was a great one for the Indiana Hoosiers. A solid no questions asked victory over the Washington Huskies that featured an offensive line that controlled the game. A defense that rose to the occasion and made big plays. Solid kicking and a punt return by Myles Price that was almost the one I have been waiting for him to break for a TD. He broke it for 65 yards and the Hoosiers scored quickly afterwards. Justice Ellison ran the ball 29 times and made the Huskie defense earn every tackle. The energy around Memorial Stadium was like nothing I have witnessed there, and I will still be trying to believe it all some quiet Saturday afternoon come late next February.

Last week we had 11 winners and three losers. For the season, 94 winners and 32 losers. Yes, a couple I picked were dreamboat longshots. Like I say, I don’t do this for money. I do this for the fun of it. I don’t ever want to be upset because my team didn’t win by enough points. That logic does not compute in my football world.

Let’s see what happens this week.

Miami beats Duke… And I hope I miss this one. Would love to see Miami go down.

Illinois beats Minnesota… The Illini did not have a good showing against Oregon. They need to come home and regroup.

Purdue beats Northwestern… Yes! The Boilers are going to get one at home!

Ohio State beats Penn State… Can I really be rooting for the Buckeyes and against a Tom Allen led defense? Only for the Hoosiers. Pass the Mylanta.

Ole Miss beats Arkansas… This may be a tough one for the Rebs. Who likes to go to Fayetteville?

Auburn beats Vandy… Alabama didn’t manage to accomplish that.

Georgia beats Florida… Enjoy Jacksonville today.

Oregon beats Michigan… Jack Tuttle threw up the white flag this week. The Wolverine QB said he and his concussions have had enough. That is something you can respect.

Nebraska beats UCLA…The game is in Lincoln. Early this week I came across this one and had one of those momentary lapses of reason. What is this? UCLA and Nebraska in November? Oh, yes, they are in the same conference now. It took me a minute.

Clemson beats Louisville… The Cards are good. They have missed a few plays here and there that have cost them dearly. Can they hold up at Clemson? Only if Clemson turns the ball over 5 times.

USC beats Washington… You have to think Tommy needs this one to save Coach Riley? Clay Helton is not looking so bad out there right now.

Iowa beats Wisconsin… This will be fun to watch if you like to see two mules fighting over a turnip.

Tennessee beats Kentucky… You better have oxygen for the trumpet players. They are going to be blowing off Rocky Top at breakneck speed.

SMU beats Pitt… I think the last time I saw these two play each other was in the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1983. Dan Marino was chunking the ball for Pitt and The Pony Express was alive and well before the death penalty came to SMU. In the parlance of Keith Jackson, “This should be a good one.”

Enjoy these college football games. As usual, the football season is going by way too quickly.

Hats off to Coach Mark Williamson and his staff and The North Harrison Cougar Football team. A 14-8 victory over the Indiana Creek Braves last night was a big one. The Cougars host the Sectional Final next week against the Madison Cubs. North has visited the Sectional Final on three occasions: 2005, 2014, and 2017. The sectional crown has eluded North so far. They’re going to get this one. Last night on the opening drive, the Cougars went 71 yards in 10:27 playing keep away and scoring in the process. The Braves were frustrated. The Braves solid passing game must have gotten off the bus around Salem on the way to Ramsey last night. I expected a little more fire out of the Brave offense. A great defensive scheme by the Cougars covered their receivers well. Nice job! Oh, and watching Bryce Fessel run the ball last night was reminiscent of watching Anthony Thompson run for IU thirty-some years ago. 5 yards here. 3 yards there. 12 yards here. 8 yards there. He piled the yards up. I bet he carried the ball 40 times. That offense is a thing of beauty when the defense comes along with it. Last night, they did exactly that.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

There they were sitting in the northeast corner of the endzone. Looking at a camera and saying a 7-0 Indiana Hoosiers team was going to be bested by the 4-3 Washington Huskies. There were two guys on ESPN’s College Gameday panel that picked against the Hoosiers. Nick Saban? Hoosiers. Pat McAfee? Hoosiers. Guest picker Kyle Schwarber? Hoosiers. Lee Corso? Hoosiers. Two guys picked the Huskies. It was reminiscent of listening to Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville hanging out in Melville’s home called Arrowhead in the Berkshires. Wrapped in their protagonists and antagonists and chocked full of symbolism as they slighted the Transcendental upstarts back east in Concord. This ethical concentration on nature and self-reliance was too much for them. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau may be good guys but where is the story? In Bloomington Saturday, there they sat. A modern-day Melville and a modern-day Hawthorne. They can’t pick the Hoosiers. This feels too good. This isn’t our Big Ten Football. A Michigan man and a Buckeye. What did you expect? Kirk Herbstreit to pick the Indiana Hoosiers on the GameDay set in Bloomington? Never! Desmond Howard to pick the Hoosiers? Double-Never! Then Indiana, ranked #13 in the land and the only team not to be scored on yet in the first quarter of any game or yet to be behind on the scoreboard, soundly beat the Washington Huskies 31-17 in a workman fashion that the greatest novelist ever would have to appreciate. This is an American Football Renaissance.

ESPN College GameDay came calling. What do you do? Well, I got there early.

Memorial Stadium lit up before the light of day was a special sight.

Everything about the experience of last Saturday was new to me. I’ve seen more than a hundred games in this stadium. Nothing prepared me for what the day was going to hold. As one dear friend has offered to me more than once, “This is everything we ever talked about wanting.”

The whole College GameDay experience was surreal, up until Desmond and Kirk picked against the Hoosiers.

Want College GameDay sign? They were there to help.

What brought all of this home for me were two things. Just hearing the voice of Reece Davis from the speakers and seeing the Washington State flag that has long been a GameDay staple regardless of where the show is that week.

These things made it real for me. Otherwise, it was just some kind of dream.

Seeing Lee Corso in his vintage Hoosiers sweatshirt was more than I could ask for. I still remember him bouncing up and down the Indiana sideline when I was a kid. I’m not a kid anymore. But I sure felt like one for a few fleeting moments when I saw Coach Corso back where I know him from.

I have to tell you about this poor gentleman here. He was chosen for the $100,000 field goal kick just left of the set. They bring in a goalpost and so on. This poor guy. He was signing all the liability forms or whatever else is there and he was shaking like a leaf. The pen was shaking. The papers were shaking. If this guy has four kids, he won’t be as nervous as he was on this day when they get here.

I tried to help him out. “Keep your head down. Follow through. Toe straight.” Well, that was all fine and well until he decided to practice the full motion at 110% on grass that was uneven and a little slick. On his third attempt to give it his all and really follow through, his legs went flying forward over his head. He busted his ass bigger than life. I think he hurt himself. Pat McAfee, who hosts that portion of the show had an understudy kicking for himself and the hurt guy. He raised it to $150,000 each. The kid who kicked has some spring in his leg. I was shocked. He was so wide left it made those famed Florida State misses look like they were worth 4 points.

Here’s where the story brings us back to reality.

Coach Curt Cignetti has been called Coach Cig. Towels like this one were placed on each seat in Memorial Stadium the night before the game. It must have looked wonderful. When the stadium opened it looked like this.

and this…

I call these growing pains.

I call this Indiana Hoosiers Football team a bunch led like they played for Henry David Thoreau. SIMPLIFY was one of Thoreau’s messages. Can you imagine a guy who lived in the 1840s and never saw a computer saying, “Our lives are frittered away by detail.” That was Thoreau. Everything is relative. Coach Cig simplifies things with his mantras.

“We believe that with the proper preparation, the commitment, and discipline, that there’s no self-imposed limitations to what we can accomplish. Day in, day out. Play in, play out.”

“We play that way: one play at a time, six seconds a play. Every play’s got a life and history of its own.”

Henry David Thoreau would smile. I know I do. Coach Cig knows when you take over a football program, the muscles that need to be strengthened first are the ones from the neck up. That is one of things I enjoy the most about this team. The humbly take care of business like they belong there. No dumb penalties. Players don’t act as though they are running for public office when they make a great play.

I was delighted to be there with my good friends Adam Disque, Andrew Evertts, and Russell Harrell. Yes, I had a blue shirt on. I was following press box etiquette. You don’t root for a team in the press box. Well, if you do you keep it to yourself. I do.

When I am in the press box, I keep a play tally from start to finish in my own writing and vernacular. The game for me started like this:

Well. Here we are. This is everything. The last time I was in a full Memorial Stadium crowd filled with IU fans, I was watching Anthony Thompson run the ball. This is surreal. Kirk Herbstreit was his OSU self. Desmond Howard was his Michigan Man self. They disrespected the Hoosiers again. Of course they did.

Kickoff taken by Washington. Returner was CLOCKED at the 18-yard line. First and 10 Huskies own 18. SACK! 2nd and 18. False Start! 2nd and 23. Completion for 15 yards. 3rd and 8. INCOMPLETE! 4 and OUT! Intentional grounding….4th and 17.

That set the tone for this game. That is the way good teams start games on defense. Yes, Indiana is that good. I don’t care what Kirk Herbstreit thinks.

Oh, I know full well the Hoosiers will have to win 2 National Championships in three years before an SEC fan will give them the time of day. That is the natural order of things. I doubt Paul Finebaum knows the Hoosiers are undefeated. But he will.

This picture was taken with less than 3 minutes left in the game. The stadium was still full.

This old English teacher’s favorite literary period was the New England Renaissance. I have walked around Walden Pond on five different occasions. What I felt in Bloomington Saturday was akin to walking around Walden Pond. It wasn’t overwhelming. It felt okay. I know truth when I see and feel it. This Indiana University Football team in nothing short of An American Football Renaissance. You don’t have to rank a team higher for them to keep winning. You just look foolish in the process. #13 last week and # 13 this week.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

It is true. ESPN’s College Gameday has landed in Bloomington, Indiana during football season. I must be dreaming. Nope. It really is true.

Look, I don’t know how much of this I will see tomorrow. Sure, I will meander over that direction bright and early in the morning to take some pictures and try to realize this is really happening. The crowd for the show is allowed to gather as early as 6:30 in the morning.

If Gameday is in town, that means Lee Corso will be back in town. Coach Corso was the IU coach of my childhood. I saw him march up and down that sideline on the east side, where the Hoosiers’ bench was back then. How many of us remember that? Facing the press box is not bad for a coach working it. Also, the yard markers are on the side of the field opposite of the press box. This is a nice place to make a case about where the ref is spotting the ball.

This is the Coach Corso I remember.

The Holiday Bowl played on December 21, 1979. No, I did not have to look up the date. I remember it well.

Honestly, I am having a hard time processing what lays in wait for tomorrow. Then I start thinking about how well this Coach Cig IU Football team has played and I ask, “Why not? This is a very good football team. If they were wearing Michigan’s uniforms, they would be ranked no lower than 3rd. They are ranked 13 in the land. That number is only going lower.

Last week we had ten winners and four losers bringing the season total to 83 winners and 29 losers. Let’s see what gives this week.

Ohio State beats Nebraska… But not as badly as the Hoosiers whipped the corn boys.

Ole Miss beats Oklahoma… This is a home game the Rebs certainly need.

Indiana beats Washington… My first time to see the Huskies. Tayven Jackson will start at quarterback after Rourke hurt his thumb last week. Running back by committee. A host of receiving threats. A tenacious defense. Solid kicking and urgent teams. But the best thing about this team is that they don’t make mistakes and players don’t act like they are running for public office when they make a great play. This is solid, disciplined, hard-nosed football and it is being played in Bloomington, Indiana.

Arkansas beats Mississippi State… The Hogs have one coming and State is not very good at all.

Illinois beats Oregon… You know, I just don’t see the Ducks coming back after that crazy win over Ohio State with an even performance. Some games are too much.

Maryland beats Minnesota… I have already been called crazy for this one. I don’t see Goldy winning this one. In their last two games, Goldy and the boys beat both USC and UCLA. Maryland takes it.

Alabama beats Mizzou… The game is in T-Town. The Tide needs to win big. Or is a two-loss season just too much for the Tide and their fans to take?

Iowa beats Northwestern… There has been some rumbling about maybe this being the end of the run for The Big 10’s dean of coaches Kirk Ferentz. I hope Iowa takes this one.

Wake Forest beats Stanford… Imagine the boys from Winston-Salem going to Palo Alto to play a conference game. I know. I need to get over it. One day I might.

Texas beats Vanderbilt… Hope the Horn folk don’t start throwing water bottles onto the field at Vandy.

Miami beats Florida State… The only question is by how much?

Texas A&M beats LSU… A night game in College Station is intimidating too.

Michigan beats Michigan State… The Hoosiers next two opponents are these two.

Wisconsin beats Penn State… It is official. This season is like no other when I am rooting for Bucky. Anything to help the Hoosiers.

That’s it. When I get home tomorrow, I will try to find a way to write about what it will be like to see a sold-out Memorial Stadium that is not filled with Ohio State fans. The last time I remember that was watching AT. I never dreamed I would see something better. But this is going to be just that.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

When you speak the rights you speak the rights. Sometimes that means you don’t enjoy it.

I got sidelined last night. At a high school football game of all things, I got sidelined last night.

For the past three college football seasons, I have been attending Indiana University Football nonconference games under the aegis of speaktherights.com. I write because I need to. Some guys play golf, and I wish I played that more. I feel the need to do this (write). When I go to the IU games to write, I sit in the press box and enjoy everything that goes along with that experience. I don’t feel out of place. I don’t feel like a normal fan there. There is more than a modicum of sense of duty that goes along with being afforded this opportunity. I look around the room and know there are just a scant few there who have seen more football in Memorial Stadium than I have. Maybe only two of them. It depends on if Max Skirvin or Bob Hammel make it out. Then there might be four.

After Indiana’s game against Charlotte, I sensed that good things were on the way. I wrote this may be one of “those teams”. “Those teams” as in the ones we watch on TV in bigger bowl games than we have seen since January 1968 when the 1967 Hoosiers played in The Rose Bowl. Well, I should say some of you saw it, if you are old enough; I got here in March of 1968. A shoutout to the kicker Dave Kornowa! He scored Indiana’s 3 points with a field goal and tackled O.J. Simpson of USC in that game playing defensive back. USC 14 IU 3.

Knowing there is an understanding that IU has been kind to me and my modest writing endeavors, after I wrote my story after the Charlotte game, I went to media credential portal and requested credentials for today’s game against Nebraska, the Washington game next week, and the Michigan game on November 9th. In less than 3 hours, I received a positive response.

Do you notice something that may be incorrect here?

Leading up to the games I attend in the press box, I always get two emails. I didn’t get those emails this week. After a couple of emails sent and a couple text messages back and forth, I was on the hill last night watching the North Harrison Cougars play the Providence Pioneers when my phone rang. It was a guy at IU telling me their “system” had been having some troubles. Honestly, I suspected this could be case, though I didn’t want to believe it. But if your notice the dates of the games in my confirmation email, you will see that the Washington Huskies game is listed ahead of today’s game. They are not in order.

Turns out I DID get the Washington game. I DID NOT get the Nebraska or Michigan games. I am not going to complain. Indiana Football is in a strange place right now. There are going to be glitches and times of what do we do now? Growing pains. In a crazy college athletic landscape that is more uneven than it has ever been, what do you expect? Nebraska will bring a huge contingent and press today. Michigan will bring a huge contingent and press. Washington, not so much. I get it. So, I will be there next week ready to write.

Disappointed? Yes. Very. But I get it. I didn’t give the IU guy a hard time. His voice sounded as though he was doing some tapdancing. I assured him it was just one of those things. Life is full of them. And I will tell you what I tell folks often when things have not exactly gone my way that day. If this is the worst thing that happens today, I have got it made.

Yes, I do have a ticket to today’s game. This is the biggest game in Memorial Stadium in my lifetime. I wanted to be there. I also wanted my dear wife, Carrie, to be there too. We’ll watch on TV, and I will be afforded the ability to yell at the ref. That is a no-no in the press box. Carrie and I will be able to sit together. She can’t come to the press box. I think I made out okay today.

I won’t lie. I woke up early this morning and shook my head in a little disgust. Then I did what I had to do. I poured a cup of strong black coffee, threw in Gregg Allman’s last album Southern Blood, and started writing and speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Go IU!

It was 1978. Imagine this Indiana Hoosiers nonconference schedule: Game one at LSU, Game two Washington at home, Game three was Nebraska at home. Just like the photo above from the last time the UC Bearcats came calling to IU, there was plenty of Red in Memorial Stadium for the Nebraska tilt in 1978. I was there. I was ten. I’m not ten anymore. A Nebraska running back named I.M. Hipp led a Husker run game that put up more than 600 yards. Nebraska won 69-17. To Coach Lee Corso, I now say, “Not so fast my friend!” Times have changed.

Tomorrow the Indiana Hoosiers play host to the Nebraska Cornhuskers in what one could argue is the biggest game to be played in Memorial Stadium since 1967. Nebraska is 25 in the coach’s poll. Indiana is 16 in the AP poll. The last ranked matchup with fans in the stands at IU was 1993 when three of those games were played back to back to back starting with Michigan State. Anyone else out there remember that late October game when there was foot of snow on Memorial Stadium before the game and you had to clean off your own seat. It was a mess. Indiana won 10-0 over Sparty. Sparty was pelted with snowballs the whole game. Good times.

I think we are looking for good times tomorrow. The kickoff is at 12 Noon and that is a good thing!

Last week was dreadful. 7 winners and 7 losers. Season total: 73 winners and 25 losers. It has to get better this week!

Miami beats Louisville… If the Cards win the turnover battle by plus-3 they might win it.

Indiana beats Nebraska… I think the Indiana offense is ready for the “black-shirt” defense. The folks blowing off in Lincoln sure don’t think so.

Rutgers beats UCLA… Ouch. That hurts. 9 AM in Piscataway? You go play at 9 AM in Piscataway! Such is life in The Big 10.

Wisconsin beats Northwestern… The Badgers found something last week. Not a Bucky fan.

Alabama beats Tennessee… The 3rd Saturday in October. I was fortunate enough to witness this in Knoxville in 2016. Milroe may be “running back” this week…. wink.

Illinois beats Michigan… This will be a big one. Have you seen the Illini helmets for this one? Not an alternate helmet fan. These I love.

Cal beats NC State… The Wolfpack playing a conference game in Berkley?

Notre Dame will beat Georgia Tech… The Irish won’t need Rudy for this one.

USC beats Maryland… The Trojans may be licking some wounds after that loss to Penn State in the Coliseum last week. For their coach’s sake, Tommy Trojan better be ready.

Texas A&M beats Mississippi State… You almost feel sorry for ole State these days.

LSU beats Arkansas… It is at Fayetteville and that is a tough place to play.

Georgia beats Texas… Why not? Let’s mix this thing up a little bit! Welcome to the SEC Bevo!

Iowa beats Michigan State… The Hawkeyes might score 30.

Florida beats Kentucky… You gotta think after getting beat by Vandy and losing another one the Cats will struggle in The Swamp.

Enjoy the weekend! Nothing like that 3rd Saturday in October!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Last weekend was a great time to watch college football. Recently I alluded to this year’s Indiana University Football Team as maybe being one of “those teams.” Last Saturday was one of “those days” to watch college football on television. Yes, I love to attend games in person. I have seen 74 of the FBS teams play in person in my lifetime. Still, there are days in my memory that harken back to watching college football games on television and most of them featured Keith Jackson as the announcer of my football life’s soundtrack.

The day Van Tiffin beat Auburn with a 52-yard field goal on the last play of the game giving the Alabama Crimson Tide a victory on The Iron Bowl in 1985. One to remember.

Notre Dame at USC the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 1978. We were at my Uncle Durwood and Aunt Barbara’s house on Dubarry Lane in Jackson, Mississippi. The late afternoon game was the perfect bookend to a storybook Thanksgiving.

The 1979 Cotton Bowl. In Shreveport, Dad and Granny wanted to watch something else. I retreated to my Granny’s bed that had a 9-inch black and white TV on a nightstand. Joe Montana led the Irish to a 35-34 win.

In 1979, I remember seeing John Fourcade and the Ole Miss Rebels play Tulane in the Superdome on ABC. It was regional coverage and the game I was watching ended quickly and they gave us the feed from New Orleans. I was glued to the TV for that 4th quarter. The Rebs lost.

Again in 1979, The Indiana Hoosiers played against BYU in The Holiday Bowl. The Hoosiers won 38-37 in dramatic fashion. It was on Mizlou or Raycom or some other non-network entity. Those were the guys who gave us many bowl games leading up to January 1st back then. There was no Capitol One Bowl Week on ESPN that lasted a month.

The Hoosiers showed up on ABC in a regional telecast in 1982. They were playing Iowa in Bloomington. A guy called Babe Laufenberg almost pulled the Hoosiers through. They lost 24-20. Still, it was one of those rare times at that point that I had seen Memorial Stadium on television opposed to being there in Bloomington.

We’ll leave with The Rose Bowl in 2006. This was Keith Jackson’s last call. It was a classic contest. Texas defeated USC 41-38. “He’s got the corner!”

Last weekend was filled with great games. The Gophers beating the Trojans. The Huskies handing it to The Wolverines. The Hoosiers taking care of the Northwestern Wildcats. Ole Miss beat South Carolina. Arkansas beat Tennessee. And the upset of upsets, sorry Brother Tim, was Vandy beating Alabama. The whole day was filled with great football.

Last week we had 9 winners and 5 losers. Bringing the season to 66 winners and 18 losers. There were those serious upsets that I flat missed last week. Let us see what this week brings.

Clemson beats Wake Forest… Clemson is rolling.

Washington beats Iowa… I think the Huskies will take that momentum and get Iowa in Iowa City. Big question here is how will the Huskies handle kicking off at 9 AM PDT?

Rutgers beats Wisconsin… Rutgers has something to prove at home against Bucky. They lost their first game of the year last week in a 14-7 mule fest against Nebraska.

Louisville beats Virginia… The Cards have a thing or two to work out after a defensive meltdown against SMU last week.

Texas beats Oklahoma… At least there is one tradition left in college football. These two teams playing in the 50-50 divided Cotton Bowl Stadium amidst the Texas State Fair, albeit these are SEC teams now.

Penn State beats USC… This is at the Coliseum, and this will be a good one to look in on. You know the USC folks will be fired up to play a college football tradition like the Nittany Lions.

Illinois will beat Purdue… Lots of happy parents in Champaign. Their boy is gonna play today!

Notre Dame beats Stanford… Look for Stanford to give the Irish a tussle. This is historically a pretty good matchup.

Georgia beats Mississippi State… I heard rumors that Kirby Smart is going to the New York Jets. Rumors is better a Fleetwood Mac album than anything else.

Tennessee beats Florida… Back home after getting a Pig-Soooie put on em’, the Rocky Toppers will have have One Cheek Hill rockying again.

Ohio State beats Oregon… This is in Autzen Stadium. One can only hope the visiting Buckeyes get tripped up by the Ducks. “And the Ducks are cooking at the 40!” That is what Keith Jackson once said.

Ole Miss beats LSU… I know Death Valley at night is tough for any team to withstand. Look for the Rebs to explode and make a statement. In the parlance of Boz Scaggs, I say to the Tigers, danger there’s a breakdown dead ahead.

Kentucky beats Vandy… Can Vandy keep it up? They might.

UCLA beats Minnesota… I gotta pick my Bruins here.

Hey! Enjoy your weekend.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

The Indiana Hoosiers did it again.  The Hoosiers are 5-0 for the first time in my life.  The 1967 team started 8-0.  That might happen again.  For it to do so, the Hoosiers need to take care of business this week along Lake Michigan at Northwestern in a cracker box of a temporary football stadium on what should be a beautiful fall afternoon. For Indiana football fans this is our Magical Mystery Tour.

October is my favorite month of the year. The month says football.  High school, college, and pro football are all going strong.  At this time of the year, we start to find out who the pretenders and the contenders are.  By the end of the month, we will know.

Last week saw 11 winners and three losers.  For the season, 57 winners and 13 losers. There were a few questionable picks that came true for me last week.  This week holds just a little of the same.

Texas A & M beats Mizzou… Not giving up on A&M to make a statement just yet.

Pitt beats North Carolina… The boys from Chapel Hill are having a time of it this season. Coach Brown asked the team if he should move on after JMU put 70 on them. Strange times.

Louisville beats SMU… The Ponies can run. The Cards can fly. Look for the passing game of Louisville to put up nearly 400 yards today.

NC State beats Wake Forest… NC State should run over, around, and through Wake.

Penn State beats UCLA… The game starts at 9 AM for the west coasters playing and watching back home. Such is life in The Big Ten.

Indiana beats Northwestern… As a Hoosier fan, you are still conditioned to wonder if this will be the one where Indiana farts. Nope. Not this year. Kurtis Rourke will carve up the defense of the boys by the lake and the Hoosiers ground game will take advantage. Look for a big win for Indiana. The Hoosiers will be 6-0.

Ohio State beats Iowa… This is the one I hope I miss. Seeing the Buckeyes go down is a wonderful sight.

Ole Miss beats South Carolina… The Rebs better come out on fire. This USC will be ready. Ole Miss played down to Kentucky last week and got what they deserved.

Nebraska beats Rutgers… Are we ready for a Rutgers team to go to Lincoln and beat a decent Cornhusker bunch? I don’t think so.

Clemson beats Florida State… The Tigers have a thing or two to prove to naysayers and this will be a piece of that puzzle.

Michigan beats Washington… Another game that looks like a Rose Bowl Days of Future Passed. Washington won’t hold up in a close game.

Tennessee beats Arkansas… I hope there is more “Pig-Sooie!” than there is “Rocky Top”. Pig Sooie is more entertaining. But we’ll get more Rocky Top.

USC beats Minnesota… Another classic Big Ten matchup! He typed that and shook his head.

Georgia Tech beats Duke… Look, Duke has a team and a coach in Manny Diaz. We can talk about fast starts by surprising teams. Have we ever seen Duke and Indiana both 5-0 in something besides basketball? I doubt it. That fun ends for Durham tonight in Atlanta.

A big shout out to the North Harrison Cougars for defeating Silver Creek last night to run the season record to 5 wins and 2 defeats. Get Clarksville next week! That’s always fun.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

There are names and there are those names. Pete Rose had one of those names. Pete Rose. Larry Bird. Elvis. Walter Payton. Tom Seaver. Willie Nelson. Alicia Keys. Those names. The ones that transcend and become symbols of a time and place and feeling. Names that keep folks younger and always leaves them with a smile.

Yes, Pete Rose bet on baseball. He has been denied a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Some are sympathetic. Or should I now say they were sympathetic. Either way, there is not a room or a building or a town that can hold all that Pete Rose meant to so many of us. Admittedly, I am not much of a Hall of Fame person. I have never been to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, though I have been through Canton more than a dozen times. On Interstate 90 in upstate New York, I have passed the exit to Cooperstown more than a dozen times. I have been drawn to neither. I can’t tell you why.

Maybe my mind is my hall of fame. Maybe my memory is my hall of fame. I was able to see Pete Rose play and the Big Red Machine play when I was a kid. Thankfully, we had a friend in the town we lived in that had season tickets in the green seats of Riverfront Stadium along the third base line. We never missed a summer not going in the 1970s. Watching Pete Rose bend down with that crouched batting stance was, in itself, worth walking through the turnstile at Riverfront for.

In the 1980s when Pete was a player-manager for the Reds, we saw those teams too. Yes, another friend had season tickets, and we never missed a summer not seeing the Reds in the 1980s. It wasn’t until the 1990s that I had to pay to see the Reds play. I did.

I got this scorecard at the last game I saw at Riverfront Stadium. I couldn’t tell you why I have always known where it was to put my hands on. I have never thought about that, until today.

When I was in the third grade playing kickball during PE class at Brownstown Central Elementary School, I kicked a one-hop line drive to the pitcher. The pitcher threw it quickly to first and I was out in a hurry. However, I ran as hard as I could to first base anyway. On my way back to my team standing against one wall of the gym, Miss Ault, our PE teacher, stopped me and told me I didn’t have to run that out. I told her if Pete Rose is going to run them out, I am too.

I’m not going to be able to tell you in a year where I was when I heard Pete Rose died. Elvis? Yes, I can show you where I was standing, one foot on parking lot and one foot on grass going to watch my dad’s high school football team practice. Elvis was 42. I was 9. Pete was 83. I am 56. There is a correlation there and we all know that. I never saw Elvis. But did I ever love watching Pete Rose play baseball.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

This photo was taken at Wake Forest in 2008. The Ole Miss Rebels were taking on the Demon Deacons. This was also the weekend that left us with an adventure as we left Indiana after school Friday. Hurricane Hannah was wreaking havoc. We went any way. There was an Ole Miss game to see. The irony is that as we were watching this under clear skies in Winston-Salem, thirty miles down the road in Greensboro, they were getting ten inched of rain. I always tell my mother the rain has to stop and start somewhere.

The Ole Miss Rebels play the Kentucky Wildcats in Oxford on Saturday. On three occasions I have seen these two play in Lexington. The Rebs got the Wildcats in 2001 when Eli Manning was a sophomore. My Aunt Barbara came up for that one. In 2006, my dear wife, Carrie, and I left at halftime after the Rebs had 4th and half a yard on the Wildcat 23-yard line in the final minutes of the first half. The QB turned around and pitched the ball back to BenJarvis Green-Ellis, a former Indiana player, six yards behind the line of scrimmage for a two-yard loss. I couldn’t stay. UK won. In 2011, I went with my father-in-law to Lexington. UK won again. The Rebs have pretty much owned the Wildcats in Oxford. I hope that trend continues.

The Indiana Hoosiers will take on the Maryland Terps for win number five. That would be 5-0 for the first time since 1967. I was born a couple months after that team played in The Rose Bowl. This is a big one. And they are only going to get bigger. No, Coach Cig is not going to get his 50,000 fans in Memorial Stadium on a rainy day like we had for the 14-10 poncho-soaked upset of Michigan in 1987. If the Hoosiers beat Maryland today and Northwestern next week, Indiana has a week off and fans will have two weeks to gather their spot in Memorial Stadium to see a 6-0 Hoosier team take on Nebraska. We shouldn’t be able to get anyone in the stadium with a shoehorn if the Hoosiers come in 6-0, for no other reason than historic value.

Last week the picks went 12 winners and 2 losers. Season total 46 winners and ten losers. Eight of those came in week 2.

On to this week’s picks:

Ole Miss beats Kentucky… Jaxson Dart does it again. Look for the Rebs to score fast and often in Oxford. The Rebs won last week and dropped in the poll. Those things matter.

Indiana beats Maryland… 5-0. Say it with me! 5-0! This is Indiana Football we are talking about.

Michigan beats Minnesota… Goldy comes to The Big House and it will play out as usual.

Nebraska beats Purdue… The Huskers lost a heartbreaker in Lincoln last week to the Illini in OT. The Corn boys will admire the fields and crops around West Lafayette and grow a few points of their own at Ross-Ade.

Tulane beats South Florida… The Green Wave had made strides in their football program the last few years. Tip of the cap to them today!

Louisville beats Notre Dame… I think the ball will bounce the way of the Cards today. They beat the Irish in Louisville last year. Coach Jeff Brohm won’t tell you this, but winning a game in Notre Dame Stadium is a trophy for the heart and mind and memory.

Arkansas beats Texas A & M… Am I this crazy? Yes, I am. The Hogs are not a bad team, and they are getting better every week.

Oklahoma beats Auburn… The Sooners put a number on Coach Freeze who is starting to thaw.

USC beats Wisconsin… Games like these are Rose Bowls being played in the middle of the season. These are matchups I will be able to enjoy for a couple of years.

Texas beats Mississippi State… Will Arch start this week? How bad is State anyway? Toledo came to Starkville and collected a check will leaving a butt-whipping on the Bulldogs. Are the cow bells getting rusty?

Duke beats North Carolina… Last week Coach Brown asked his players if they had quit on him? He didn’t frame it that way, but that was the question. UNC game up 70 points last week to James Madison and Curt Cignetti was coaching the Hoosiers that day.

Clemson beats Stanford... This is an ACC classic! Standford in the ACC. Strange times indeed.

Alabama beats Georgia… Yes. I think so. Biggest game of the season so far. UGA struggled vs. UK. Bama has a great deal to prove, and this one is on their turf. Look for Coach Smart to take off that visor and throw it down in the third quarter.

Penn State beats Illinois… The Illini is a confident bunch. How good in Ole Miss? Illinois’ QB Luke Altmeyer transferred from Ole Miss. Altmeyer has ten TD passes and 0 interceptions. If I were a great QB prospect, I would look for Lane Kiffin.

The weather has been brutal the last couple of days. Wind and rain and I don’t know what all. Things are tough for a great many folks right now in places of the country I have visited time and time again. My heart aches for them. Makes sitting here blowing off about college football seem meaningless. Still, it is what I do each week of the season and there is that “keep pressing onward” sensibility that, if I am going to preach, I better practice. That’s what we all do really. We keep pressing onward. F. Scott Fitzgerald knew what he was talking about when he alluded to boats against the current to the end. He wasn’t thinking about Daisy Buchanan or Jay Gatsby. He was thinking about all of us.

Speaking the rights and looking for the Hoosiers to go 5-0…

Danny Johnson

It is time to get to the theater. The theater that is Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana. You may have thought you have seen this movie before. 1985 perhaps? The Hoosiers begin the season 4-0 a year after going 0-11. Then the ’85 Hoosiers proceed to lose the 7 games left. Are we really still that weary? Is that why Memorial Stadium is looking like the home of a contender-pretender? Can we just say that folks can’t really believe what they are seeing from this team? I am here to assure you that you have not seen this movie before. Why not, you ask? Sit down.

No one has been tougher on new Indiana Football Coach Curt Cignetti since he got here than I have. Why? I’ve seen the movie. I have spent my falls having my heart broken. Whether it was Rob Lytle and Rick Leach running behind a behemoth of a Michigan O-Line in 1976, or Scott Bonnell pulling a short field goal to the left in 1989 leaving the Hoosiers turning over the Oaken Bucket without a bowl and AT without a Heisman Trophy. 2015 when Ezekial Elliott runs the # 1 Ohio State to a 34-27 win in a game some of us started to think might be our time. That’s the problem. In my lifetime, all 56 years of it, IU Football has not had an “our time” team. Until now. And just typing those two words “until now” makes me nervous. Am I really going to see one of “those” seasons? The answer is yes. And I know some are still skeptical. This is IU Football, right? Not really.

Look, that 2015 team began the season 4-0. Those wins included beating Southern Illinois 48-47, beating FIU 36-22, beating Western Kentucky 38-35, and Wake Forest 31-24. This year’s Indiana Hoosier Football team is, after four games, outscoring the opponent by an average of 50-9. First Downs? Indiana has 110 to 50. The Hoosiers have punted 5 times in 4 games. Total yards average? 514-199 per game in favor of the Hoosiers. Most importantly, the Hoosiers have yet to turn the ball over to the other team. There is not a team stat, save two more penalties, that does not favor the Hoosiers.

Quarterback Kurtis Rourke has hit 75% of his passes. We all know Myles Price is going to bust a punt return wide open sooner or later. Four receivers have 12 or more receptions. Wideout Donaven McCulley has only caught one pass due to injury and timing. He will make his presence known when conference play is in earnest. Defensive Coordinators will be losing sleep knowing this Indiana team has done all it has without McCulley.

The one stat that rings true for me more than any other is that 14 different Hoosiers have scored a touchdown so far this season in only four games. There is no Burger King on this team.

I was there in 1988 and 1989 when putting 50,000 fans or more in the house was not an uncommon sight. I was also there at Memorial Stadium in 2002 for a homecoming game that had less than 23,000. The Hoosiers beat a #24 Minnesota team that game. Times change. TVs are bigger. Games are ubiquitous on TV.

Look, Indiana will get those crowds again and soon. I give the credit to Coach Curt Cignetti. I am delighted he is not in an Indiana football culture that once refused to accept a bowl bid (Coach Mal). Times change.

My secret wish was that one-day Mike Leach would make his way to Bloomington. That dream is over. But guess what? Indiana got the next best thing. Coach Cig reminds me of Mike Leach. His looking off in the distance when he answers a question. His ability to interrupt a question. His attention to detail that he knows his team must adhere to. If we were casting this movie, John Wayne would probably make a good Coach Cig.

I have had a great seat for the first three games. The reception I have gotten from my writing and reporting has been meaningful. This week, during the game, I got some words from Dave Kornowa and that humbled me. I interviewed Dave in 2020, and he said:

“I told my folks I wanted to play for the Indiana Hoosiers because they had a chance to play in the Rose Bowl.  My folks laughed at me and told me if I was planning on playing in the Rose Bowl I better try to get on at Michigan or Ohio State.” 

He made good on that. Dave kicked the field goal to give the Hoosiers their 3 points that day on January 1, 1968, in The Rose Bowl when the Indiana Hoosiers played the USC Trojans and lost 14-3. To date, this is the only Rose Bowl the Hoosiers have played in. I am always delighted to hear from Dave Kornowa.

Speaking of a humbling experience, before the game Saturday, I was at the soft drink dispenser at the top of the press level on the other end from where I sit. I looked to my left and standing beside me was Don Fischer, the Voice of Indiana University. Don is in his 52nd year of calling Indiana Football and Basketball. The man is a legend. I looked over at Don, and simply said, “In 1987, you wrote me a nice letter about how a young man of 19 might find his way into the broadcast booth one day.” He gave me a wry smile. Of course, he didn’t remember. It was a time in my life when I was enrolled in a second college in less than a year and not enjoying any of it. Don and I shared a few more words and he was gracious. I did tell him that I did eventually call games on radio for a number of years before the station decided to split the broadcasts between two teams and not just my team. I told Don I couldn’t do that. He told me he did not blame me. We walked on to our break of stairs. I said, “Have a good call.” Don Fischer nodded, and said, “Thank you, sir.” I looked around and wondered if I should just go home now. No, there was another great Hoosier Football game to cover.

This is a new movie. The one we never thought we would see. That is why the theater is slow to fill. But, that theater will be full soon.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson