Indiana, Our Indiana
I'm still kind of reeling from the weekend to be honest. It has been quite a while since I had so much fun watching a college football game. Especially given the fact that my Michigan State Spartans sucked so much last year. Despite that, Indiana has become the lovable underdog of the Big Ten. It almost feels wrong to even call them an underdog at this point.
Maybe we should go with unexpected behemoth. They absolutely crushed Oregon in the game on Friday night. I was a little worried after they set the pace with a pick six on the first play of the game that they might not be able to keep up the momentum, but they absolutely did.
The 56 to 22 thrashing was a virtual clinic in offensive and defensive game play. Unlike the Ole Miss/Miami game that was a close match up and marred with controversy and questionable officiating, the Indiana/Oregon game left zero doubt about who was the better team and why they are ranked the #1 team in the nation.
I talked about this infographic last week, but I wasn't able to find it at the time. I did a quick Google search this morning and I was able to discover a couple different variations of it. The numbers are the same across all the formats, it's just the way it is presented is a little different. I'm not going to cite my source here as you can freely find your favorite version of it by doing a quick Google search.
In any event, you can see why I alluded to the fact that Indiana was the clear underdog in this scenario. The numbers tell the story pretty clearly. By all accounts, Oregon or Miami should have been the top team this year with the number of 4 star and 5 star players they have on their roster.
Despite that, Indiana has built something pretty amazing with just 7 four star players on their roster. As I said last week, that gives me some hope that Michigan State can turn things around assuming this new head coach is legit.
Now, on the flip side of things, we have a Miami team that has been getting a lot of love since the beginning of the season. I remember the commentators singing their praise before the season had even kicked off.
We are now just a week away from the big showdown between Indiana and Miami down in Florida. It's certainly going to be a tough road for The Hoosiers given the fact that it is basically a home game for Miami despite Indiana being the higher ranked and official home team.
I think what the Peach Bowl down in Georgia taught us though is that Indiana fans are not afraid to travel.
That stadium was virtually 80% Indiana fans versus Oregon fans, and I have little doubt they are going to attempt to make it a lopsided affair in the national championship game. There is little doubt who I am cheering for come next week. I just hope Indiana can keep their momentum up and give us a great game.
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I can't bring myself to cheer for Indiana in anything. I lived there for about 8 years. That entire state sucks. Go Hurricanes
My nephew still lives there. My sister and her husband did as well for a while. They are back in Michigan now. I've never had much of a problem with the state besides driving through Gary. That sucks on every single level.
I lived on 5th and Broadway for 2 of those years...
... And lived to tell about it.