I was born in Bumfuck, Illinois but we moved to Bloomington when I was about a year old, and I lived in Indianapolis from the ages of 5 to 22.
I welcomed the Pacers home at the airport when we won the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals, but had moved to Virginia by the time the Colts won Super Bowl XLI.
Southern Indiana here. Born in Jeffersonville, grew up in a little town called New Albany, just across the river from Louisville.
I’m living a version of the very common dilemma where I obviously want my team to win, but the more they win, the longer the administration delays firing the coach. Billy Napier is not fit to be coach of the Florida Gators, but he wins just enough games to stay around. A four-game win streak at the end of last season saved him from being fired after the season, and a win against a ranked Texas team a couple weeks ago may have saved him from a mid-season firing. If they lose to Mississippi State tomorrow there’s a good chance he’ll be gone by Monday, but MSU isn’t very good, so there’s a decent chance Napier will live to fight at least one more week.
Ohio State and Indiana are now ranked 1 and 2, with Miami having lost this weekend.
In other news, Montie Quinn of the Division III Curry College Colonels ran for an all-division record 522 yards on just 20 carries (an average of 26.1 yards per carry) with a long of 85 and 7 rushing touchdowns in his team’s 71-27 win over Nichols College.
He beat the previous record by more than 100 yards.
Fuck Notre Dame.
That’s all.
I’m in that same situation this year, with Wisconsin. Luke Fickell was clearly the wrong choice as coach: the team has been progressively worse each of his three years at the helm, and they are absolutely awful this year. In four Big Ten games so far, they’ve scored only two touchdowns, and have been shut out the past two weeks.
I was at the game at Michigan two weeks ago; friends of mine are Michigan alums, have season tickets, and invited me to join them. The Badgers scored on their opening drive, and then were hapless the rest of the afternoon. It was just embarrassing to watch.
The best possible scenario played out this weekend! The Gators won, but did poorly enough that Napier was fired yesterday anyway. Also, FSU lost its fourth game in a row.
Beware of Aggie
I’m not a fan at all of Texas A&M, perhaps unfairly swayed by the amount of MAGA-ness I see affiliated with the school’s supporters, but danged if they’re not looking fast and fierce on the field this year. I can’t remember the last time someone went into Baton Rouge and delivered such a beat down.
But if you’re a schadenfreude guy like me, you have to enjoy how apoplectic James Carville must be today. During the Les Miles era, he went into a screeching rant on the Tony Kornheiser radio show about how LSU “should never lose more than twice in a five year period” and it’s very pleasant to see that kind of entitlement deflated.
It’s particularly ridiculous entitlement considering LSU as a national football power didn’t really become a thing until after Saban arrived there in 2000. From 1950 to 1999, LSU won the SEC football championship 5 times.
Brian Kelly is out as head coach at LSU.
Some people in northern Indiana having some sweet schaedenfreude tonight…
It’s gonna be quite the off-season for pursuing new coaches, no? Penn State, Florida, Oklahoma State, UCLA and now LSU. I expect the Wisconsin job will be open soon as well. Florida State, too?
And just when he started to really get a handle on the accent.
I thought Iowa State was in the middle of a get right game against undefeated BYU when they were up 24-10 just after the 2 minute warning in the first half. They lost 41-27 after failing to leave the locker room at halftime.
Cyclones were 5-0 and ranked 14th 3 weeks ago. Three consecutive losses have derailed their season. They will still go to a bowl, but this season will be a major disappointment for a team that had hoped to challenge for the Big 12 title.
Indiana beat the living hell out of Maryland, 55-10.
There’s a decent chance that the #2 Hoosiers go undefeated at least until the Big Ten Championship Game against presumably Ohio State.
Our three remaining opponents are Penn State (3-5), Wisconsin (2-6), and Purdue (2-7) in the Old Oaken Bucket game.
Ohio State’s got UCLA (3-5), Rutgers (4-5), and Michigan (7-2) in their rivalry game in Ann Arbor. It’s possible that Ohio State loses to Michigan again and Indiana wins the regular-season conference title.
Assuming the Hoosiers don’t play down to the competition.
Oh, Ohio State also has Purdue.
In their game tonight against Ball State, Kent State went for it on 4th down deep in their own territory and failed, allowing the Cardinals to start their opening drive inside the Golden Flashes’ red zone.
And then Kent State held them to just a field goal.
MACtion, baby. It’s unpredictable.
The #2 Indiana Hoosiers, with a record of 9-0, is seeking its very first win in Happy Valley today against the unranked, 3-5 Penn State Nittany Lions.
And it’s a battle. 7-7 in the second quarter.