Yesterday I received my first 2024 College Football magazine to read and rue over. Oh well, life goes on. We can watch football or watch something else. As difficult as some of the changes that have interrupted tradition and the lay of the college football land for many of us have been, at the end of the gameday it is still about how your 11 did against my 11. That dynamic has not changed. The Xs and Os will still go a long way in deciding the outcome of a college football game, no matter how many dollars are thrown at one quarterback over the other.
Reading over this magazine’s Big Ten preview for this year took nearly twice as long as it used to. ‘Ten’ became 11 in 1993 with the addition of Penn State. Subsequently, Nebraska, Rutgers, and Maryland eventually joined. This year we add the University of Southern California Trojans, the UCLA Bruins, the Washington Huskies, and the Oregon Ducks. There are 18 teams in The Big Ten now.
This particular magazine picks the Indiana Hoosier to finish 18th…dead last. We can only hope that won’t fly. The apprehension pointed out in the magazine is the one most people are not talking about out loud much in the Hoosier State.
Oh, there has been plenty of bravado thrown around about the confidence of the new coach. He’s going to need it. How he displays it is another story. I keep hearing Coach Curt Cignetti talk about taking over teams before in similar situations, meaning the teams were losing before he got there. This ain’t Elon. This ain’t James Madison. This sure is not Indiana (Pennsylvania). Maybe he can do it! Stranger things have happened. Uh, no they haven’t. Coach Cignetti has never had a losing season as a head coach. His record is 119-35. That’s amazing. For the Glory of old IU, I hope he does it again. But I think it will take some time.
What folks aren’t talking about much is more a question than a statement. Coach Cignetti has brought along a comfort zone in the form of James Madison players to help ease along the transition of expectations and “culture”…as they say… to IU. I don’t have the heart to ask the question. Let me put it this way: I guess Coach Cignetti thinks these guys from JMU can help him win in the Big Ten. I like that confidence. I like that loyalty. I am sure the JMU players will like the NIL bump to be had.
Coach Tom Allen was let go last season and it was the right call for all. I believe that. I believed a little too much, going back to the day Tom Allen was hired. Look at how many games those Hoosiers lost by one score or less in the Tom Allen era. There were 18 one score loses by Indiana in the Tom Allen era. He finished 33-49. Win 12 of those one score games and the record is 45-37 and we are all looking forward to year eight of Coach Allen’s Hoosiers knowing the last time an Indiana football coach had a win-loss record 8 games over .500 was when Coach Bo McMillin stepped off the field in 1947 with a 14-year record of 63-48-11.
Moral of the story is the potential is really there. Indiana is not as far away as the magazine wants you to believe. But it’s a hard sell isn’t it. Press onward is the battle cry. Maybe Coach Confidence will bring it all around. Some of us would like to see it in our lifetime.
The Indiana-UCLA game is to be played in The Rose Bowl on September 14th at 7:30 PM. When we found out what the date would be, many months ago, I ceremonially booked a room at the same hotel where I have stayed twice whilst watching UCLA-USC in football’s greatest cathedral. I cancelled the reservation yesterday. But I am not yet going to cancel my optimism completely. Sometimes being able to say I told you so just plain hurts and is not fun at all.
Speaking the rights.
Danny Johnson