GOOGLE THAT MAN!!

[Thanos72]

1 hour ago, PaulieD said:

He's a good coach and came from a good stable.  The stars aligned for him (and Indiana) with the squad he put together, which led to a natty.

 I think he might be scary as a coach for a school with deep pockets.

Coaching is only a piece of the puzzle, albeit an extremely important one.  Having a disciplined squad is the real key, IMHO.  Texas adding Coach Muschamp should help us in that area, at least on defense.  Arch showed some fire to his team mates in the Michigan game, so let's hope he helps on the offensive side as well.

Good post tough I wonder if some coaches are better just below the elite level schools 🤷🏽. I think he is a very good coach and he excels at maximizing his strengths while minimizing his weaknesses. Duh I know but it’s not very common. Right or wrong, he knows what he wants and ensures his team executes to it. He also pivoted well when he saw they couldn’t protect Martinez on obvious passing downs. Great season for him and string start to his Indians tenure.

My original 🤮 was about the doting posts and not about Cignetti’s amazing turnaround at a traditionally awful football school. We overly and swiftly crown coaches like him while under appreciating our own damn good coach. Mostly, because we can’t find a guard. Sark deserves criticism for sure. Stubborn, maybe overly loyal, and takes his foot off the gas too often, too soon. I’ve posted on him, and especially flood, more than once but not sure who I trade him for today. Really, not sure who we upgraded over flood and gets probably my biggest gripe. We are “stuck” with him for now it seems. Back to the original point. I guess fawning in general ain’t my thing.

I’ve decided that I’m excited for next year regardless of any other portal action. We’ll have enough. Now let’s see our coaches make it happen. 🤘🏽

[Aspann85]

So it seems like Thanos here thought I was disparaging Sark bc I said Cig had a historic run the last two years…talk about making random a$$ inferences out of left field…

Just bc you praise someone, doesn’t mean you’re not excited about your own. What a 🤡 shoe…

[Thanos72]

42 minutes ago, Aspann85 said:

So it seems like Thanos here thought I was disparaging Sark bc I said Cig had a historic run the last two years…talk about making random a$$ inferences out of left field…

Just bc you praise someone, doesn’t mean you’re not excited about your own. What a 🤡 shoe…

I unignored you to see your response. Mistake, lol.

I’m responding to a different poster. Didn’t mention you. Maybe stop seeing yourself in others’ comments. Maybe ignore me. Maybe develop a different skin. For sure, move on. Ignored ♾️

[Aspann85]

1 hour ago, Thanos72 said:

I unignored you to see your response. Mistake, lol.

I’m responding to a different poster. Didn’t mention you. Maybe stop seeing yourself in others’ comments. Maybe ignore me. Maybe develop a different skin. For sure, move on. Ignored ♾️

Well darn, a cynic with nothing positive to say blocked me. Continue the spiral bud. It does get better out there! Maybe read Tony’s book!

[GetHooked]

On 1/20/2026 at 11:17 AM, MBHORNSFAN said:

Some of you should buy Indiana gear.... 

Who's yer retailer?

[MBHORNSFAN]

4 minutes ago, GetHooked said:

Who's yer retailer?

 

I have no idea who has that trash.

[GetHooked]

14 minutes ago, MBHORNSFAN said:

 

I have no idea who has that trash.

A Hoosier (who's yer) retailer, of course.

[Matthew McClure]

On 1/20/2026 at 6:16 AM, marathon said:

He was smart enough to cancel all non conference games against P4 opponents and play only cupcakes against non P4 teams. He gets easy wins, doesn’t get his team beat up physically and allows backups to get game reps.

Meanwhile we are playing an SEC schedule and choose to take on Ohio State in addition. The playoff committee only looks at wins and losses.

If we are dumb enough to continue to put ourselves at a disadvantage schedule wise….then we deserve what we get.

Cignetti realized quickly that you don’t make it any harder on yourself than necessary when it comes to scheduling.

 

The "Indiana faced an easy schedule" trope is a bit disingenuous.  Here are a few truths to illustrate my point:

1) While I despise SOS narratives and think it's the most over-emphasized metric in college football, do you know who finished with the #1 SOS in 2025-26?  That was Indiana, and by a wide margin -> the gap between #1 SOS IU and #2 SOS Oregon was wider than the gap between #2 SOS Oregon and #5 SOS Miami. 

2) The record for most Top 10 wins in a season is 7 by LSU in 2019.  Only 2 other teams in CFB history beat 6 Top 10 teams -> 2024 Ohio State and 2025 Indiana.

3) Most people who know ball, recognize the schedule significance of facing your toughest opponents away from your home stadium.  Only one of Indiana's six Top 10 wins came at home.  This doesn't even include a pair of additional games played at two of the most challenging road environments in CFB:  Kinnick Stadium vs. Iowa (SP+ #12 / FPI #16) and Beaver Stadium vs. Penn State (SP+ #15 / FPI #18).

4) Indiana played 8 games against teams in the SP+ Top 25, with only #20 Illinois being a home game.  In fact, 10 of Indiana's opponents finished with a higher SP+ than Arkansas, Kentucky, Miss St, and Florida!  Note South Carolina narrowly missed being a 5th SEC team on this list of lower SP+ ratings.

5) Let's talk about those out-of-conference G5 "cupcakes".  Two of those opponents (Old Dominion and Kennesaw State) finished with 10 wins and went bowling.  ODU's #49 FPI was significantly higher than Miss State's #58 FPI, and ODU's #50 SP+ was comparable to South Carolina's #49 SP+.  Both of these teams were many levels higher competition than teams like 3-9 San Jose State, 2-10 UTEP, and 2-10 Sam Houston.

I really don't like the strength of conference arguments, and consider the SEC and B1G about the same in terms of difficulty.  Hopefully this tired discussion point will die the death it deserves before next season starts.

[Matthew McClure]

On 1/20/2026 at 6:39 AM, Thanos72 said:

🤮

One season with 32 yr seniors and he’s the greatest…

Please allow me to take a massive dump on this new coping narrative before it becomes the next "Indiana didn't play anyone" explanation.  Only 9 Indiana starters are out of eligibility, hardly the profile of a team that relied exclusively on old men.  Cignetti recognized experience trumps talent, exactly what is preventing other teams from going this route?  What's next, Alabama was only good in the 2000's because they had a bunch of highly ranked talented players? 

[Here for the Wins]

27 minutes ago, Matthew McClure said:

The "Indiana faced an easy schedule" trope is a bit disingenuous.  Here are a few truths to illustrate my point:

1) While I despise SOS narratives and think it's the most over-emphasized metric in college football, do you know who finished with the #1 SOS in 2025-26?  That was Indiana, and by a wide margin -> the gap between #1 SOS IU and #2 SOS Oregon was wider than the gap between #2 SOS Oregon and #5 SOS Miami. 

2) The record for most Top 10 wins in a season is 7 by LSU in 2019.  Only 2 other teams in CFB history beat 6 Top 10 teams -> 2024 Ohio State and 2025 Indiana.

3) Most people who know ball, recognize the schedule significance of facing your toughest opponents away from your home stadium.  Only one of Indiana's six Top 10 wins came at home.  This doesn't even include a pair of additional games played at two of the most challenging road environments in CFB:  Kinnick Stadium vs. Iowa (SP+ #12 / FPI #16) and Beaver Stadium vs. Penn State (SP+ #15 / FPI #18).

4) Indiana played 8 games against teams in the SP+ Top 25, with only #20 Illinois being a home game.  In fact, 10 of Indiana's opponents finished with a higher SP+ than Arkansas, Kentucky, Miss St, and Florida!  Note South Carolina narrowly missed being a 5th SEC team on this list of lower SP+ ratings.

5) Let's talk about those out-of-conference G5 "cupcakes".  Two of those opponents (Old Dominion and Kennesaw State) finished with 10 wins and went bowling.  ODU's #49 FPI was significantly higher than Miss State's #58 FPI, and ODU's #50 SP+ was comparable to South Carolina's #49 SP+.  Both of these teams were many levels higher competition than teams like 3-9 San Jose State, 2-10 UTEP, and 2-10 Sam Houston.

I really don't like the strength of conference arguments, and consider the SEC and B1G about the same in terms of difficulty.  Hopefully this tired discussion point will die the death it deserves before next season starts.

The strength of conference and strength of schedule wouldn’t necessarily correlate these days.   In that conference comparison of Big 10 versus SEC, it just depends on how it plays out.  Each year is different.

Your strength of schedule was built off the post season.  You had a conference championship game and a national championship game.  With expanded playoffs, there should be no historical comparison because there’s no history to this format.

The important aspect of strength of schedule should end prior to conference championships.  It does matter to that point but is irrelevant once once the postseason begins.

As to your point #3, this had very little discussion leading up to and after the selection.  Miami and Ole Miss from what I recall had 8 home games.  Miami did leave home until October.  Texas had 4 consecutive weeks away from home, 42 days.  And Kentucky was the 3rd of those weeks.  MSU was the 4th.  Whatever metrics are referenced likely do not give a value to those facts.  Kentucky had two weeks to prepare while Texas was coming off the OU game.  Even UF had two weeks to prepare.  Texas did too, but it was critical for UF.  Far too little emphasis is placed on where you team X but also within the sequencing of the season.

 Now to Kennesaw State, Old Dominion in comparison to SJSU, UTEP and SHSU.  These potentially skew strength of schedule.  Some games need to be thrown out.  Texas wasn’t losing to any of these teams.  Indiana wasn’t either.  I’m not sure where you cut them but when a team presents no chance at a victory it should not be part of the evaluation.  I’d be interested to see strength of schedule recalculated without the gimmes.

[marathon]

48 minutes ago, Matthew McClure said:

The "Indiana faced an easy schedule" trope is a bit disingenuous.  Here are a few truths to illustrate my point:

1) While I despise SOS narratives and think it's the most over-emphasized metric in college football, do you know who finished with the #1 SOS in 2025-26?  That was Indiana, and by a wide margin -> the gap between #1 SOS IU and #2 SOS Oregon was wider than the gap between #2 SOS Oregon and #5 SOS Miami. 

2) The record for most Top 10 wins in a season is 7 by LSU in 2019.  Only 2 other teams in CFB history beat 6 Top 10 teams -> 2024 Ohio State and 2025 Indiana.

3) Most people who know ball, recognize the schedule significance of facing your toughest opponents away from your home stadium.  Only one of Indiana's six Top 10 wins came at home.  This doesn't even include a pair of additional games played at two of the most challenging road environments in CFB:  Kinnick Stadium vs. Iowa (SP+ #12 / FPI #16) and Beaver Stadium vs. Penn State (SP+ #15 / FPI #18).

4) Indiana played 8 games against teams in the SP+ Top 25, with only #20 Illinois being a home game.  In fact, 10 of Indiana's opponents finished with a higher SP+ than Arkansas, Kentucky, Miss St, and Florida!  Note South Carolina narrowly missed being a 5th SEC team on this list of lower SP+ ratings.

5) Let's talk about those out-of-conference G5 "cupcakes".  Two of those opponents (Old Dominion and Kennesaw State) finished with 10 wins and went bowling.  ODU's #49 FPI was significantly higher than Miss State's #58 FPI, and ODU's #50 SP+ was comparable to South Carolina's #49 SP+.  Both of these teams were many levels higher competition than teams like 3-9 San Jose State, 2-10 UTEP, and 2-10 Sam Houston.

I really don't like the strength of conference arguments, and consider the SEC and B1G about the same in terms of difficulty.  Hopefully this tired discussion point will die the death it deserves before next season starts.

 

Indiana did not play a tough regular season schedule. 

There is zero denying that Indiana and Cignetti canceled all non conference games against P4 opponents from 2024 until at least 2030….they did it to make winning easier.

They have scheduled non conference games against non P4 teams like Old Dominion, Austin Peay, Howard and on and on over the next few years. Old Dominion lost by 5 touchdowns to James Madison (63-27) and ODU had to score 2 late TDs to get within 4 TDs of a 5-7 Marshall team after trailing 48-10 in the 4th quarter.

In Indiana’s last 6 games, they played 1 team that won more than 4 games…a 7-6 Penn State team (& Indiana needed a last second miracle to win that game  27-24)

Indiana’s last six regular season games were against MSU 4-8, UCLA 3-9, Maryland 4-8, Penn St 7-6, Wisky 4-8, and Purdue 2-9.

Their other 3 regular season games were against Illinois 9-4, Iowa 9-4 and Oregon 13-2 with both losses to Indiana.

Indiana’s path to the playoffs was about as easy as possible.

They had to win when they got to the playoffs and they did. But playing an easy schedule helps you rest players in blowouts and develop depth. Texas needs to learn from Indiana that you don’t get a ribbon for playing tough non conference games. 

I would rather play OOC marquee games in the playoffs.