John M

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3 years 39 weeks

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Date	Title	Body
2 years 33 weeks ago	1.  Kentucky ended the series	1.  Kentucky ended the series because they only wanted one major conference team on their non-con schedule and decided to stick with their rivalry against Louisville.  I wish the series were still ongoing, but there's not much that IU can do about it. 2.  While this year's schedule doesn't reflect it, IU is modestly upgrading the non-conference schedule.  The home-and-home that began against Virginia last year continues next year, and IU has series against Missouri, Navy, and South Florida on upcoming schedules.  3.  For the ten millionth time, Bill Mallory didn't get fired because IU fans were sick of going to minor bowl games.  After a 5-1 start in 1994, IU went 6-21 over the next 2.5 seasons, including 2-19 in the Big Ten (I'm sure I don't have to remind you that both Big Ten wins were over Purdue at Ross-Ade).  Sure, IU fans were grumbling in the early 1990s when the program had dipped a bit after the promise of 1987 and 1988, but Mallory never would have been fired if he had continued to plug along at a 6-5 average.  I wish that Mal had been given another year or two to right the ship, but IU was nowhere close to being a bowl team at the end of Mal's tenure.
2 years 33 weeks ago	The Bourbon Barrel was	The Bourbon Barrel was retired in 1998, after an intoxicated Kentucky football player caused a car accident that resulted in the death of two of his teammates.  I've heard vague rumors that the trophy was "unofficially" exchanged thereafter, but nothing confirmable.  If that's true, then IU would have the trophy based on its 2005 win.
2 years 33 weeks ago	IU's football history is	IU's football history is sufficiently pathetic that I would think you could yank our chain without making stuff up.  The Division I-A minimum attendance requirement during the Dinardo era was 15,000 per game.  IU's worst attendance in the Dinardo era was 22,282 on October 30, 2004, against Minnesota.  Don't get me wrong, that's pathetic, particularly considering that Minnesota was ranked and it was a beautiful day (I was there--IU pulled the upset, too).  Still, IU was never within shouting distance of the bottom line number for even a single game, let alone for a season.  If you have proof to the contrary, I would love to see it.
3 years 22 weeks ago	Well, Pitt demolished its	Well, Pitt demolished its football stadium for the purpose of building a state-of-the-art basketball arena, and since then has transformed from a middling program into one of the country's top basketball programs. So even if we presume that the move damaged the football program, it has substantially improved the basketball program. I've never been to Heinz Field, but I think it looks pretty nice, and as others note, the Big Ten schedule and traveling fans probably would help fill the place. I think the biggest problem with the Metrodome wasn't that it was off campus, it's that it was the Metrodome.
3 years 34 weeks ago	Willis led IU with 69 rushing	Willis led IU with 69 rushing yards on Saturday and scored his first career touchdown, and he isn't on the injured list, so I presume he will play. He sat after fumbling in the week 1 game against Eastern Kentucky and was hurt for the WMU game. Demetrius McCray has played well, so I don't have any real issue with how he has been handled. He will get his chances.
3 years 34 weeks ago	Exactly. That sort of	Exactly. That sort of scheduling disparity wasn't uncommon prior to 1960 or so, although the IU-Michigan setup probably is the most extreme example. The schedules were "normalized" around that time, and 1960 is also when IU moved out of its antiquated old stadium, which held fewer than 30,000 fans even with temporary bleachers. As for the why, I've never really researched it. My guess is that it's a combination of the football powers being able to dictate to the less successful schools, and there also may have been a revenue component to it. It's interesting, because the basketball schedules had been home and home for decades. It would be an interesting offseason topic.
3 years 34 weeks ago	Not mentioned in the podcast,	Not mentioned in the podcast, but it was 1967. IU was 4-0 and beat Michigan 27-20 (IU's most recent win in Ann Arbor) on the way to the Hoosiers' only Rose Bowl (to date).
3 years 38 weeks ago	Obviously I agree with you,	Obviously I agree with you, Brian, but I'm pretty sure that the 1991 Northwestern-OSU game was a Northwestern home game. I've read that elsewhere today, and a quick look at the series history shows the Cleveland game sandwiched between two trips to Columbus. That changes nothing, of course. The only precedents I can find are that OSU-NU game and a Duke home game played in Orlando against FSU. I have no illusions about IU's place in the football world, but I would hope that our AD would aspire to be somewhere ahead of Duke and pre-Barnett Northwestern.
3 years 39 weeks ago	Jacksonville.	I have been to the Gator Bowl, and Jacksonville isn't that bad. First, the average temperature of 55 is a bit deceiving: that's based on a high of 64 and a low of 45. San Antonio's averages for January 1 are 64/39, so it's actually a slight advantage for Jacksonville. There is an area downtown, not far from the stadium, called the Landing. It's certainly not Bourbon Street or the Riverwalk, but is it that hard to have fun drinking beer on New Year's Eve? Plus, it's Florida. There's good golf nearby, there's the beach (although it's too cold to swim) and you can drive a couple hours south for better weather. Certainly, it's not San Diego or Miami, but it's certainly much better than anyplace in the Big Ten footprint in the dead of winter.