The bottom rail is on top…the manner in which Indiana has flipped the script is almost Biblical. And that being the case, is not the best yet to come? (Press Pros Feature Photos)
So Indiana is playing for the national championship in football, and what’s to say about it. They’ve beaten everyone so far, and for all the right reasons…they might fulfill prophecy!
My normal Sunday morning routine goes like this.
I’m usually up by 6, into the first pot from the Bunn coffee maker, and scanning through the basketball posts from the night before.
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Then, by the time the second pot is ready, the emails begin to arrive. And one of my constants on Sunday is a friend from southeast Pennsylvania…master photographer, ex-marine band musician at the White House, and a Penn State football fan.
“What do you make of Indiana beating all these football powerhouses,” he asked Sunday. “Do we take this as a sign of the apocalypse being upon us?”
“Is it Biblical,” he added. “Have you read Luke 9:48…where it says that he who is least among you all shall be greatest?”
To his point, I’m typically cynical of people who overthink things. But in the case of Indiana football suddenly rising like some phoenix from the ashes…who’s to say?
Have not the talking deads at ESPN considered every other angle?
Paul Finebaum has said that if an SEC team isn’t national champion he’ll leave the country? Cross your fingers.
So it could be Biblical, and if it is are there enough ‘good’ books in Columbus? Are they reading prophecy – the King James version, stacked up like cord wood in Ryan Day’s office?
Honestly, I can’t see one thing about Indiana after watching them beat Ohio State, Alabama, and now Oregon (twice) that makes me think they’re anything that special. They just play better.
That said, I do think it’s special that former Piqua Indiana Bryant Haines is getting big attention as the Hoosiers’ defensive coordinator. But in the end, Indiana is just playing better than everyone else. AND…could it be they have more to play for?
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I can’t prove it, but anyone I’ve asked with knowledge about Indiana sports and NIL claims that no one there is getting rich. Only what they need. According to estimates, they’re spending half of what’s being invested for talent retention at Ohio State and Michigan.
No one’s driving a Bentley.
There are no five-star recruits.
And I hear it again and again that the players that Curt Cignetti pursues in the portal are those that have a chip on their shoulder for being snubbed by the bigger, more publicized programs. A friend and Hoosier alum from Indianapolis assures me that where Indiana is concerned less is more…when you’re not born on third base, and think you’ve hit a triple!
Indiana was never interested in recruiting Jeremiah Smith and Bryce Underwood. And the fact that Fernando Mendoza languished around Cal Berkley as long as he did is further proof that he who is least among you can be great. All he needed was a better opportunity, and consistency.
And for the sake of consistency, compare IU to Ohio State, where outside of Ryan Day the coaching staff is little more than a revolving door of assistants and coordinators coming and going.
Yes, OSU has won three national titles since 2000, a success rate of 12%. But outside of that the most consistent thing you can point to is their beating up Ball State, Marshall, Grambling, and Youngstown State. We know now that Texas, on week one, was far from the #1 team in the country.
The daily headlines…..
Is it Ryan Hartline’s fault?
Who’s getting paid? How much?
They need more money.
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And the constant questions about perception of under-performing, even while having the most powerful football profile in the Big Ten?
Which leads me to predict that Paul Finebaum is NOT going to leave the country now that an SEC team won’t be winning the national championship. Because if that were true all the Ohio State Finebaums would have already left, given their constant focus on each recruit and coaching move.
A friend from Ironton told me last week. “Indiana’s beating the spoiled rich kids who have everything, and don’t need to win. It’s just nice when it happens.”
And that comes from experience. They’re very sensitive to excess and things spoiled in Ironton these days.
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But compare to Indiana, where for years people looked down their noses and wrote about how awful Hoosier football was – literally the doormat of the Big Ten.
So bad, in fact, that when Lee Corso was coaching there he had his picture taken with the entire Indiana team in front of the scoreboard showing a 7-6 lead over Ohio State during a game in 1976.
But no more. The bottom rail is suddenly on top, and for no better reason than Indiana having more to gain than the powerhouses they’ve beaten – Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon and Alabama. And if they beat Miami…and they well might…I would expect them to quietly get in their pickups and drive back home.
No Bentleys, no Quinn Ewer, or Kyle McCord.
No plea for another 20 million to keep pace with the Joneses.
And if they DO beat Miami, is that not all the proof you need?
The least among you shall be greatest!
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