Indiana Positive with Mr. Komodo: Return after a Busy Month

I feel the need to be honest with you. I have failed you as a “writer” from Indiana. Indiana is having perhaps its best season ever, even better than 2020, and I haven’t written about Indiana in almost a month.

Shame on me.

I mean shame about my life choices and work schedule, but also some shame about myself.

Indiana just waxed the Nebraska Cornhuskers 56-7 in Bloomington in front of a sold-out crowd. I was there. It was everything I wanted. I was also on national television with Urban Meyer waving an Indiana flag that somehow ended up in my home for free. I have no idea what happened there.

However, I feel like I need to make up for lost time this week. I’ve previously published an article about the history of Indiana football and how you can win here. I wanted to take this Indiana to Buffa to talk about a couple of things rather than do the usual reviews and explanations.

Sounds good?

Good.

Kurtis Rourke is out. Should we worry?

Let’s start on a somber note: Indiana starting QB and Heisman dark horse candidate Kurtis Rourke suffered a thumb injury around halftime of the Indiana-Nebraska game. Rourke finished the half and still sent the ball 50 yards downfield, injuring his thumb, but did not return to the game after the break.

Enter Taiven Jackson. Jackson entered halftime 7/8 passing for 91 yards and 2 touchdowns. He threw an exceptionally sweet pass to Elijah Surratt for a touchdown. In principle, he looked good, playing with a lead of 21 points or more.

Now he will have to carry the load himself. So the question naturally becomes: Should Indiana fans be worried?

No. I don’t think you should do this for three reasons.

1. You won’t get to 7-0 when playing no closer than 14 points and you’ll take down the best defensive team in the conference by relying on just one player. While Rourke has been the center of attention and has had some damn good games, he doesn’t make this offense difficult to play. He makes the right reads and makes shots that seem pretty open most of the time. I know this is actually more difficult than it seems, but this leads to the second point.

2. Cignetti, Shanahan and Sunseri are talented enough to create a game plan that allows Taiven to be comfortable playing in a well-run system. Give this coaching team the credit they deserve. If anything, this absence could be a hindrance for the team to rally on defense and on the line to help Taiven achieve even more success. And if the defense and special teams can take things up a notch…well…

3. Taiven is good enough to play the way he needs to to win. He has starting experience. Every time he’s seen action this season, he’s looked impressively competent for a backup QB. Do I need to mention the 2023 Louisville game as proof that Taiven can actually play football at a high level?

I think this team can function without Rourke, and let’s be honest, Taiven is Rourke’s most likely successor (at least for now), so he needs to be able to play in the big games, which he’s already done in his career . He now has a competent coach and I think he can take a huge step into the future by winning this game on Saturday.

How did the Big Noon Kickoff go and how did Saturday’s game go?

It was amazing! I had the opportunity to attend the Big Noon Kickoff the Saturday before the Nebraska game and then got to sit in section 109 and watch the game in some pretty good seats.

I say this as if most of the seats at Memorial Stadium aren’t good enough. Anyway…

I loved the atmosphere and would really like to go to College Gameday this weekend, but alas, young Komodo will have its last football game this weekend and I can’t afford to miss two games in a row.

After hearing horror stories about the game in Cincinnati a couple of years ago, I was a little apprehensive about attending the sold-out crowd this weekend. However, I must say that I was very impressed with the layout of the stadium. While the lines for drinks and snacks on the top deck were silly, if you just walked around the stadium you could find a decent line somewhere and buy food or drinks fairly easily. I think I only missed three minutes of game time waiting for a drink at half-time, and most of that was just because we were walking around the stadium.

10/10. I recommend it, but…

SOLD OUT!

That’s right, sports fans. The Hoosiers are sold out for the rest of the year. Parking passes are sold as cryptocurrency on Seatgeek and Stubhub. If you can afford a resale ticket, park somewhere in the grass. The atmosphere is fun, but I’m really excited to have 5 sold out crowds in Indiana this season!

Where should we go next?

My college basketball coach had a phrase he always said. “The next game is the most important game on the schedule because it’s next.” I’m sure Curt Cignetti feels the same way and talks to his team the same way. However, I think the Washington game IS the most important game left on the schedule because everything (mostly) depends on it.

If Indiana beats Washington:

Games against Michigan State, Michigan and Purdue take on much more significance.

With MSU you are playing for the best program start in history – 9-0.

Against Michigan, you have Indiana’s best season record in history with 10 wins.

Against Purdue, if you lose to Ohio State, you’ll be playing for second place in the Big Ten, which has only been done once before (twice if you include second place in the East in 2020, but that math doesn’t really work). )

If you beat Ohio State, Purdue will have a perfect season and a chance at the B1G title game.

The game against Ohio State is not a must-win if you go into it undefeated. You still have a very good chance of making the playoffs if you play well.

If Indiana loses to Washington, you do risk going backwards with a backup QB, which may sound counter to my opinion up there, but I’m old enough to know how IU football usually works, so I thought I’d bring it up.

Looking at the schedule as a whole, I think that besides Ohio State, Michigan State is probably the scariest matchup on paper. Sparty has been playing well lately and has really improved over the year. This road game poses a challenge if Indiana can’t stop this offense. Michigan State does have its weaknesses, but I’d like to go into this game chasing a perfect 9-0 start, the best in program history, to get a little extra motivation.

But that’s just me, and Coach Sig is a much better coach than I could ever dream of.

How does Indiana Hoosiers football make you feel? Leave your comments below!