Colts can't tackle Pittsburgh

Steelers: We're here at Who's Your Beef? I'm with the general as usual. And boy, did we we have a tough time winning in Pittsburgh. The Colts go down 34 to 20 today, the hands of bad tackling, and it was a game of touchdowns versus field goals. we are recording this fresh off a Colts loss. Your thoughts, sir. Well, good afternoon. Yeah, the Colts drop one on the way back from London. We knew this was gonna be a tough one with the Steelers coming off ten days of rest. Colts coming back from across the pond. And we just didn't execute in the red zone as far as I'm concerned. Settling for field goals. Well, we got a weapon with Spencer Schrader there, you know, five field goals is not gonna cut it at the end of the day. I got him on two of my fantasy teams. So that I mean speaking of that rest thing you're talking about, man, you you warned us last week. We got hosed on that thing. I mean, it took us forever to get that line going. I mean, they're coming off what, ten days rest? We're coming off the London game. And then we got the same bullshit the next two weeks, right? Both teams are off by the Colts wanted to go back to the running game. You know, they tried to tried to pound J T early and we just weren't getting a push with the O line and So yeah, we had to resort to Jones and while Jones did make some plays, any end just wasn't enough, stalling out in the red zone several times down there inside the ten, inside the five. And yeah, when when Taylor only runs for forty five yards, and I think a total of sixty five for the team, probably not a recipe for a win for the Colts. today we got a special guest for you guys today. Let's bring in Adam and Fishers. how are you today? I'm good, boys. How are we doing? Well, we were doing great a few hours ago. But I mean I I mean, I think we just have to admit The Colts are mediocre. We are sitting here mired at mediocracy. it's just the same story. I mean, the defense just is not good enough, you know, to be great and to help this team win. And, you know, kind of touch on what Jason was just talking about in the red zone. I mean, I've got the the play breakdown. I mean, we ran four plays from the two on our first red zone tribe. for one yard, zero yards, zero yards, and then we scored up and fourth in goal. second trip, we ran for one yard, negative two yards, through an incompletion, kicked a field goal. Third trip, incomplete, incomplete, incomplete. So we ran eleven plays for one yard and a touchdown. I mean, I understand two of those drives in the red zone started at the the two and the three yard line. So there wasn't a whole lot there. But it's where's the creativity? There there's zero creativity. You know, throwing the ball to a single man downfield at triple coverage. on first and goal from the ten. You know, then we can't even hit a check down on second and goal from the ten. And then we just jump all up to Tyler Morton. Like there's just no creativity in offense. And we're supposed to have a guru, right? Like Shane Steichen is supposed to be this offensive guru. he's not a guru. No, he's had plenty of chances, plenty of quarterbacks. I don't think so. Plenty of skill players. Let me ask you guys a a question. If I told you you had a team that had zero turnovers and zero or one punts, how many points would you expect to score? No turnovers and call it zero punts. Well over thirty. I mean at thirty to thirty you know, that thirty to thirty five range is is definitely gotta be a number we we would be at. Right. So Colts today Jones took care of the ball which has been his bugaboo. He had seven turnovers coming to the game, didn't throw a pick, didn't fumble. and Sanchez had one punt, which was a good one, fifty two yarder. And we put up twenty-two points. I mean, so we've talked about this the last few weeks. We really wanted the Colts to stretch the field with Tyler Warren. Guy finally was running some seam routes and Jones was hitting him. He had a long of twenty nine yards today. So it was nice to see that finally, you know, used. you know, seven catches, eighty three yards. Downs had a big one for 42 there along the sidelines. Jones hit him. I think that was early in the game. But you know, when when Jones is 24 for 44, 267 yards, I know he didn't turn the ball over, but it's just like again, the execution inside the red area is just not going to get it done. Taylor averaging three yards a carry, McGowan three point two yards a carry. I mean, it's just not gonna get it done. So yeah, the creativity. Is completely lacking. You you think you got a Tyler Warren, you got a Keenan Allen inside the red area. One of those guys ought to be able to get it done in the end zone, over the middle, you know, whatever. So Well, in this game last year, if you guys remember, we lost twenty seven twenty, and it was the same story on Pittsburgh's end. Firemouth scored a touchdown, Jalen Moran scored two touchdowns, and we had five turnovers and scored twenty points. And I think Jones threw for close to three fifty in that game. And so today, no turnovers, they do the exact same thing, and we only score two more points. Like, that's crazy. That's crazy to me. But you're right about Warren. I think they showed his full potential and his versatility a day. I mean, I love when he runs the ball. That's kind of cool. But Downs again just didn't show up much. there was thirteen seventeen left in the second quarter. Okay. And Pittsburgh had just scored and we come out and I thought we had a new play caller. They opened it up. That's when they were chucking it. And that's when Downs hit that forty four yarder or whatever. And then Warren dropped one and then he he oversailed Westbrook. Akeen, he had him for a score. And then that's we get all the way down there, and that's what Adam was talking about. and then in the second half, JT gets rolling in the fourth, the offensive line's going, and we get all the way down there, and he has three straight passes. It's just like there's no consistency there. I don't I don't know what the man's thinking. There's really not. But you know, going to the other side of the ball, I think one thing the three of us were talking about throughout the game and and Adam really hit on this to me was the Colts tackling. Adam, I want your opinion of of this, what's going on with it, what can we do to fix it? It seems we're missing so many tackles. I mean, coming into the game the Colts were ninth worst. in the league with twenty six miss tackles, which, you know, seems like there should be a lot more. Davis Gaisen Burt is only credited for two miss tackles, but you know, he had the biggest miss tackles in game, you know, on the fifty yard touchdown run. He's in the pole. He's there. You have to break down and make the play. Like it there's just no excuse. Your job is to make tackles. Cam Bynum had a couple of missed tackles, you know, a couple of safety and Corners had, you know, missed tackles on the outside. I it's just fundamentals. It's just not breaking down and and doing the assignment, letting guys run you over, whatever. The cabin basically just it's it's just not good. And and and what I really just don't understand, and I know you guys have talked about this on the pod, we finally did get to see some CJ Down come in game. he made one tackle on Jalen McMarrent. He picked up a a holding call, getting in the hole late in the game. At at that point. Gaither Dav Davis Gather's just not doing enough on the football field to warrant being on the football field. If C J Allen isn't good enough, then let's find out he's just not good enough by having him on the football field. You know, you spit the draft equity on the kid. So now d he's got to go out and either prove he's good or no good at this point. Because at this point it can't be any worse than the product that we have out there at linebacker. Our linebacker rate is just so bad. Yeah, that fifty yarder was the The backbreaker. The the first touchdown of the game, the 80 yard swing pass, that was just a a a bad angle by Betcher. He really botched it. Should call him botcher, right? Botcher. He took a totally wrong angle. And then DK just manhandled our two DBs back there with the double blocks. I mean, you'd expect Bynum to maybe do a little better there, but I mean he took Ward completely out of that play. So kudos to him. And I thought, okay, there's a fluke play. You know, if the D holds strong like they did that first drive, no problem. And we were moving the ball, but the same damn thing happened. And that I agree. That was on Davis Gether Colt's Beats Ryder on Twitter were calling him out, saying, This does not look like he needs to be in there. The the one major problem with the NFL and I think a lot of elite college teams anymore, they don't actually tackle in practice anymore. And I think the fans, a lot of fans that aren't as much into the game, more the casual fans, they probably don't realize that that doesn't actually happen in practice. Nobody gets tackled anymore. I mean, they'll you know, they'll hit guys, but it's rare anybody ever gets taken to the ground. And you can see the teams You know, that have, you know, mastered the art of tackling. And yeah, I mean, Davis Gaither, he the guy while while you said he's only credited for two missed tackles, I mean, he had to have missed four or five out there today. I mean, it's every week and it's usually a big miss and and goes for a big game. cred to Rogers, he he did what what we gave him. He was dinking and dunking this whole game. after that eighty yard swing pass to Warren, they followed it up with another like twelve play, eighty yard drive. you gotta hold them to field goals, And they were doing that to us. that was kind of the difference of the game. They had two big plays, and we couldn't buy one. Yeah, I mean, we we were seeing prime Aaron Rodgers today, weren't we? 125 quarterback rating. I think he hit his first 12 passes in the game. While he was dinking and dunking, I mean, the guy was he was looking sharp. He looked like one of those games we play against Lawrence, you know, when he goes twenty for twenty two. He was even showing the wheels off a little bit like he used to in Green Bay, you know? So I think him him and Lou had a little laugh at one time. He ran over there and I think there was a penalty, but it was funny they were they cut it up a little bit about, you know, I think Rogers scrambling out of the pocket on him. And in the meantime we thought we would have a chance to get back into first place or a tie for it. And then somehow the Eagles give up that crazy kick return to the Jags with ten seconds left and they put a second back on the clock and when you know it Cam little drills it, that was I had turned that game off and all of a sudden it it comes across the the ticker there and what a kick in the groin that is too. I am so ready to move on from this regime. If it takes, you know, seven and eleven or whatever it is to get Ballard out of here, I I just I'm fine with it. I don't necessarily want Shane gone. I know whatever, if a new GM does come in, he may want it his his to hire his own coach. That's fine with me. I'm good if Shane stays or goes. I really am. I like Shane. He's proven somewhat. But yeah, like we were talking about in the red area, our creativity's lacking. And I mean, you can throw that for Alec Pierce being out, you know, just not flat out having the weapons on offense. But I mean, the reality is this team does have weapons. I mean, Laquan Treadwell, like we were talking about the last few weeks, guys looking like he was at Ole Miss lately. You know, I mean, shoot. He's making plays, running good routes. Jones getting the ball in there to him. Downs looking good. We've got Warren. This Tolt's team has plenty of weapons, especially with Alec Pierce on the field to be a competitive football team, to make the playoffs in the AFC. So that not happening at the end of this year is a failure. Absolute failure. The bottom line is, and and Adam, I like to get your thoughts on Shane and what kind of job you think he does. The problem's up top with Ballard, but Shane's doing what he can. He can't unteach Jones not to turn the ball over. He's done that his whole career with multiple coaches. And he he's not a defensive guy. I mean, if there's blame to be put on the coaching staff, it's on the defensive side of the ball. And we've run through our fair share of DCs. It's just not working. So at some point there's got to be a a switch flip. And Historically we've never had a a top tier defense. It's just never been a focus of our. We've always been a offensive minded team. You know, going back to the mid nineties and and forward, you know, even our championship run there, we had a very specific Tampa Two thing where we just take big leads and then pin our ears back. But we we get into tight games like that, people are gonna manhandle us on that side of the ball, I think. Adam, what's your thoughts on Shane with two years left on his deal? I h here's the problem that I have with with what Shane is doing. And and if you wanna blame Jim Bob Cooter or whatever, but our two our two best weapons, right? We know who they are. It's Jonathan Taylor and it's Tyler Warren. All right. so where where's the creativity to get the ball to twenty eight? And then if you go watch the last couple of drives, I understand Pittsburgh's rushing and and you gotta protect the quarterback. but your best player to catch the football is in Petros Pro. He's not getting out in routes. Tyler Warren had to stay in a block the entire last two series. And he's your only weapon. And I I think disagree with you a little bit, Jason. I don't think the Colts have very good weapons. I I've been a guy that likes Lips on Treadwell, but I don't think he's gonna make a ton of big plays for us. I don't love the way Keenan Allen catches the football, letting everything get to his body. He had a big drop earlier in the game. He's had a couple big drops earlier in the B's end by letting the ball get to his breastplate, not using his hands. you know, and he he's not gonna be a guy that just creates a ton of separation. you know, Devon didn't have a great game. He's your guy that's supposed to be able to get it open across the middle and and and he just didn't. But you know, Tyler Warren is the is the guy that the Colts need to be using as a weapon and did some effectively did Epic. But the last two drives, the two most important drives probably the game. guys sitting back there blocking because we our our offensive line, you know, we couldn't stop pass rush. And so he's not even out in routes. He's in there chipping, he's in there actually pass pro. Like that's a problem. So for me, it's, you know, can Shane be a good coach at times? I think so. but there's just so many deficiencies within the offense. you know, we I don't think we we really blindside people with a lot of trickery. and we don't need to get too trickery, but we've gotta have some designs. We've gotta have something out there. You've got a guy named Anthony Richardson sitting on your bench. Why are there no play designs or packages where he comes into a game? maybe to run some option, speed option, whatever, you know. use your athletes, use your best athletes. 'Cause we know Jones just can't run like he used to. You know, he and maybe he will get back to that, but that's just not his skill set at this point. So You know, we gotta find a way to better use our weapons and you know, Jonathan Taylor had not a very good game, but I don't think the Colts did a very good job of finding a way to get him in space. Do you two think if Carly Ursay decided to fire people through the headset on the sidelines? Mm. She's getting all this attention. Yeah. That'd make some good drama. That's how you put Ballard in this place. Just fire him straight from the set. I mean you guys are out. I I I can't remember if we mentioned it a couple weeks ago on the pod, but I know you sent it to me. The Seattle Mariners making Dan Wilson go to the podium and basically announces him firing. I would just that'd be beautiful if Ursay made Ballard do that to him. good with the with the pressers. How would he handle that? All right, guys. That's enough on our our little I don't see Balards making it to the end of the season. it doesn't look like we're we're going to the playoffs. So it's gonna be what, seven and ten, maybe, something like that. who knows? But you just hope no one gets a career ending injury or Something like that at this point and you see some development in the young guys going forward. Well, let's get to some better news. you wanna go to Lincoln? Hoosiers end up winning twenty to seventeen at Memorial Stadium. black shirt showed up out there for GBR. Yeah, I mean this was we knew going in this was gonna be the biggest test, you know, since Ohio State from last year for this IU team. And it absolutely was a test. They couldn't run the ball in the first half. They couldn't contain Nebraska's quarterback Kalandria. And it was just an absolute mess in the first half. So credit Nebraska for coming out with one hell of a game plan in the first half. And I think I definitely add them. we were texting back and forth during the game. The fact that Nebraska's lead was only what ten to three at halftime. I mean, that was that was where they they could have put IU to bed in the first half if they wanted to. They stalled out a couple times. They had a missed field goal inside the what was it about a forty yarder or so? And there was there was a lot of wind in the game. So going with the wind yesterday was a huge benefit for whichever team had that wind. And going into the wind made it a huge deficiency for that offense. you could definitely tell that at times. But You gotta credit Bryant Haynes. The adjustments he made at halftime with the defense to try to contain Kalandria was the de the difference in this ball game. He went with we're gonna rush three, we're gonna drop eight in coverage. We're not immediately gonna get our three guys up the field. We're gonna try and hold and then contain Kalandria. And when you make Calandria try to pass the ball, when you get him in third and sevens or longer. This kid's proven that he's not very accurate. Now, Barney, their wide receiver, he did have nine catches for 108 yards on us. good game by that kid. But yeah, Calandry was just running wild. He could do anything he wanted in that first half. Anytime they had a third and one, two, I think they had a fourth and short as well. They just rolled him out. Now you didn't have anybody over there. They did a good job Nebraska did a good job with their tight end Luke. He's a I mean, that the kid's an absolute hoss. He not only did he get open over the middle of the field, but he also was kind of blocking out for Calandry on some designed runs as well. So yeah, I mean, credit this Nebraska team. Why they're not ranked in the top 25 is beyond me. There's obviously such a huge SEC bias in the voting, in my opinion. Northwestern finally popped into the top 25 today, which that was a long time coming for them. Credit to the Wildcats up there. We've been talking about the the old Northwestern Wildcats for the last few weeks here and and they showed out again. so yeah. But this was a massive test for my you. Adam, like to get your your thoughts on the first half and what might have been the difference here. Well, I mean, I I kinda wanna take it back to the the question you asked about earlier in the Colts, you know, if the Colts had zero turnovers and we to do for this many yards and we did these things, what how many points did you expect us to score? If you looked at the box score and saw IU was one at on third down and Nebraska was ten to nineteen, who would you thought would won the football game? Nebraska all day. So I mean Nebraska outplayed Indiana, I think, for the most part. but Indiana was able to keep themselves within an arm's reach. Right. They didn't they didn't break. the miss feedback goal at the end of the first half was massive for Nebraska. you know, it was a big momentum shift. it was good drive. They kept the ball out of Indiana's hand. and then it didn't they come up empty. and then, you know, you score on a great play by Calandria, running all over I used easements and one play bang, Indiana's back, scoring a touchdown on you, you know, keeping it a ballgame. five years ago, four years ago, that their their will would have been broken on that touchdown run by Calambia. You'd have never seen them recover. but it's it's something that Matt SIG talks about and it's just a mindset and you know, it's moving forward on to the next play. this Indiana team bit it. didn't run the ball effectively. but I think we got to see that Josh Hoover can be pretty good quarterback. you know, granted It was kind of a busted coverage on the the s the second touchdown to Marsh on the fourth and one, but it was a great play design. Like Indiana totally fooled him and got both their guys wide open and he could choose whether it was gonna be back or Marsh to score a touchdown and and they got it in. So you know, just great will by Indiana to fight all the way for sixty minutes and you know, Nebraska kinda just fell apart in those last, you know, fifteen. I didn't catch the game, but just looking at it on my end, it was a massive test, a massive win. for them. It it seemed like, especially your run game, it just got stuffed. I look I was falling on my phone, I was like, Turbo and B B, you know, they got nothing and that place is I know they've lost their luster over the last decade or two, but Nebraska's still a really tough venue to go in and play. And they were rolling, they were undefeated. And that place was electric. as soon as Marsh scored that seventy five yarder, that place it it took some light out and the momentum certainly changed. And then yeah, busted coverage on the last one. You really I mean came through big and I think Signetti in the postgame, I'm paraphrasing here, but he said that's that's the kind of win we needed to show these young guys we don't quit. And then I was listening to S VP this morning and he was he was comparing Signetti to Steven Segal, just you know, he's hard to kill. Hard to kill. So credit to the Hoosiers. they got a different animal coming into town this week. Someone's got to cover number four. General, you and me, we talked about after that northwestern game, was it going to be concern when you get a quarterback that's more of a playmaker that can run around? there now a blueprint on how you can at least compete with Indiana in this huge twenty two game winning streak they have? Can you just get a moving pocket, which Nebraska was doing the first half, but then as soon as he became a sitting duck, he had to throw from the pocket. I you just pinned their ears back and went and got will that strategy work going forward or do you think they're gonna be able to make the adjustment earlier in the game? Well, l let me just drop one one stat here to to tell you guys, and and you both know how bad the IU football program's been. But this just really goes to show you. So entering play on Saturday, Indiana was one in one hundred and twenty when trailing by double digits, entering the fourth quarter since the start of the 04 season. So we're talking about 22 seasons of football, and IU trailed by double digits 121 times. So that just goes to show you how improbable. the IU national championship run was last year and how incredible it is that it even happened. So as a as an IU fan, you know, it's all keeping this in perspective. Obviously that was last year. This is a whole different team, but you can still see it's one play at a time as Signitti always says. And this team they never quit. And while I do think they don't have quite the talent that Ohio State does and IU comes in Right now, as a four-point dog at home against the Buckeyes on Saturday, I think you're gonna see some different preparation for this game. I think Bryant Haynes knows that he he got out coached in that first half. And there were some very, very questionable, unsignetti-like decisions. And Adam, I know you were ticked off about a couple of them. He called time out. couple times in the first half when we had fourth and I think one or two and then didn't end up going for it. And then it's just like, what the hell's going on? This is so unlike him. they looked a little bit out of sorts. That look, you know, if he wants to take a timeout and then decide to punt, that's fine. But he did it three I think they did it three times. I think they burned all three of the timeouts on that, which Again, it's the first half, it's not the second half, but I hate wasting timeouts for no reason. Like, if you're gonna punt, just punt. That's fine. but they they they were definitely out of sports, but again, the game didn't get out of hand. they made the adjustments. And and and to touch on Toby's point, yes, but I think a quarterback that can move around in the pocket can cause Indiana some fits just because their their defensive line is very good. We know that. but we all know that good defensive lines can get up the field a little too fast, they can lose contain. They can lose the edge. and and it happened. And Kalandro was able to get outside the pocket. He was able to make plays with his legs. We saw that with with Chiles in the Northwestern game, especially in the second half. so yeah, if if we run across some other athletic quarterbacks that can get out of the pocket and can move, that I could see that being a problem. Now I don't think as Julian's saying So I don't think we really have to worry about that that much. I think Indiana obviously contained him very well last year in the the championship game. And, you know, to your point on talent, yeah, Ohio State's gonna have more talent than IU. They had more talent than IU last year. And they're gonna have more talent than IU next year and the next year. But the kids gotta go out and play the game. Indiana takes care of their business and tackles well. That's been Indiana's biggest problem in in my opinion, from last year's team to this year's team, is last year's team was such a great team at tackling as a team, you know, that didn't let guys break tackles, they didn't miss tackles. This year's team has been a little bit different story, but you know, they they just have to shore some things up and I think Indiana's gonna have a chance. that's gonna be must see T V next week. Absolutely it's it's a twelve kickoff. I'm a little ticked off because Big Noon's going and ESPN does have the Notre Dame BYU game, so they decide to take game day to to Provo. And I know they haven't been there in a long time, but you got the last two national champions playing. And Big Noon and Game Day, they've been at the same place at the same time before. But yeah, we're gonna go Notre Dame BYU. I I I mean both teams are undefeated So yeah, I mean It is what it is. I I I I'm probably being selfish here and wanting game day in Bloomington, but when when they were in Bloomington last game day. I believe they're I believe they were there last year. Nebraska. Yeah, Nebraska game. They haven't been to Provo since nine, so it could a little black there. Getting greedy for who's your fan all of a sudden. Well one one more thing, and then we'll move on to your boilers. Yeah. The the Adam was referring to Guys missing tackles. This IU team is missing the Aiden Fishers, the D'Angelo Pons, the Mikel Camaras that were always reliable in the tackling game coverage, you name it. And they got Isaiah Bones-Jones. I mean, that guy's always making plays. But my biggest worry against this Ohio State team is the secondary. AJ Harris and Jamari Sharp. They're good players, but they are not D'Angelo Pons type players. They're not locked down like we had last year. So I'm very concerned about how we're gonna contain Jeremiah Smith and that that passing attack. Crasher. Well, we'll see next week. believe early line on that, four and a half for Ohio State. they'd probably be a touchdown favorite at home. So we will see how it goes. But Let's hop over to West Lafayette where my Boilers won. Took the ball down on Minnesota, huh? You told me before the game, you texted me, you said I got a good feeling about the Boilers. I said, No way they win, man. Minnesota's on a roll. Flex putting blood on his face. They just knocked off Michigan. And man, I was wrong. I was totally wrong. We showed up defensively for the second straight game. Barry Odum does not know how to talk after a postgame win. Because he's not used to it. The last two interviews he's done are hilarious. The first time he walked off mid question, then ran back to answer it, just yelling. And then yesterday he couldn't keep his eyes on the camera. He's just like looking around the whole time. He's just mesmerized that we're winning games. But I gotta give it to the boys in the trenches. That's really where they've been at fault the last couple of years. And they totally dominated Minnesota on both sides of the ball. Specifically the offensive line. So I'm not going to give you a ton of breakdown, a ton of stats from this game, but the most notable one is that Minnesota in its last three games had given up 167 total rushing yards combined. Purdue throws in three five yesterday. Wow. And Fame Isaboy, who came from Minnesota, had the ultimate revenge game. That boy went off. three touchdowns. 31 rushes. he was a workhorse. 195 yards, just pounding them. we didn't really have to pass the ball. And it was a total beatdown. It was 20 to 3 at half. And I actually missed the first part of the game because I had to go to a wedding. But when I flipped that on, what was funny is, you know, I'm always texting you. about stuff and then I've got like a a text thread with a bunch of boiler fans, my buddies, right? And what was funny during the IU game, I look at my phone and you were dead silent. This is when they were down. And my boys were just going nuts. I had like eighteen messages here compared to you. And it's usually the opposite. I so it was one the one thing I will say is the line just the line stunk so bad to me. Minnesota minus three coming off a massive win against Michigan. And and I really was surprised that PJ Fleck did not have them more prepared because I respect the hell out of that guy as a coach. And I think he will be on to bigger and better things in the next few years, to be honest with you. But yeah, I mean, Purdue just came out and just knocked the life out of them right away. And it was just over between Easia Boy and and Brown. I mean Brown was chucking it all over the field on first drive. So Yeah, he was scrambling too a little bit. So I I don't know what happened, but I just hope they can Keep the momentum going. They've got, some winning games coming up. the g they host Washington next week. I believe that's the Big Ten Friday night game. And all of a sudden Purdue's losses aren't looking too bad, to be honest. I mean, they lost to Wake Force and double overtime, a game they pretty much won, if it wasn't for that fourth and fifteen play where they ran a bad coverage and then replay I in my opinion screwed us. And then they go to UCLA who who was undefeated and a top ten team now and they put up thirty eight points out there And then, you know, the juggernaut that Notre Dame came in and whipped our ass, they're not looking like a a seller team anymore. Like hey, I mean I I I think The the old bucket game might be a might be a game this year. not after the A D's comments. Signetti's gonna use that bulletin board material and try to drop eighty on him. You know he is. Yeah, we'll we'll see. And it it could be hugely important for IU as well. You know, it just depends what happens over the next few weeks. They got Michigan, they got Minnesota, they got USC. So I mean, IU can only afford to probably drop one of those games and or the Big Ten Championship if they were to make it. Think more any more than two losses, they're they're out of the playoffs. And, you know, but anyway, credit Purdue. You know, Browns got rolling. Coach Odom's got rolling. I mean, hopefully he's got some some big time recruits coming in. You know, he he's gotta really pump this program up as much as he could. I know we talked about the NIL being The lowest in the Big Ten. He hey, while he's hot and he's on two game winning streak, he needs to go to that AD and be like, hey, man, or some some of these alums, we need some more money up here. Hey, I'm showing you we can compete. Let me bring some more guys into this program. They did land the local kid from Centergrove quarterback. Yes, that's a good addition. There's so many good recruits right now in the junior and senior class in in the state of Indiana. It's unbelievable. We had a a crazy day in college football yesterday, by the way. I mean, how about Texas going down to a terrible Oklahoma team that could not move the ball and somehow won? And so down goes number one. And then Alabama and Georgia as advertised, big physical game, some controversy at the end. And Georgia's your new number one. Notre Dame's gonna be two. tell you what, the end of that Georgia game, I don't know Georgia, Alabama, I don't know if you guys were watching it, but De Boer, I've never seen him more animated in ever time he's been a head coach anywhere. They got absolutely screwed on a a non pass interference call that was called. And then their boneheaded player blow to the head on the Georgia player. And I mean, he went Saban esque on that player as he should have. And there were some people on social media saying, he's kind of overboard to say I'm like, No. Guy gets, you know, a penalty that essentially ended the game that is absolutely inexcusable. I mean You know, he didn't get thrown out of the game for it, but it cost him fifteen yards of first down and game over. I mean, he deserved every last bit of that, and I'm sure, you know, that carried on over after the game as well. I'll tell you what, I am worried about these new Big Ten teams coming in with these violent plays. I mean, USC on Oregon's quarterback and yesterday you see that U C L A punch. Mm-hmm. And Oregon ended up finishing the game with their third string quarterback. And just look pitiful. So I'm joking of course, Oregon, I mean, they're paying Dylan Riola like a number one QB, backing up Dante Moore and that guy he just looked terrible yesterday. I think college football is wide open Georgia looks in control of their own destiny, beating Alabama. So but I'm interested to see what happens to Big Ten, especially if Ohio State beats IU, then you know everyone's got one loss and besides UCLA and we'll see what happens. And UCLA if you look at their schedule Thing it sent to both of you, it pretty winnable all the way out for them if if they keep playing the way they have been. There's a path for sure. I did see Northwestern pounded Bull State. Bull State set a program record with fifteen penalties. you know, pretty good stuff. We got Pacers back in action. I did a little Pacers preview last week and I was right on Jarrus Walker. He's coming out swinging, ten assists in that first game, including that. Crazy off the backboard, little lob pass to himself and then dumped it off to Huff. Huff went on a little heat check then that third quarter, dropping threes. It was good to see that. So I think we can go a little small ball with him at center. have you have you had a chance to watch the Pacers at all yet? I caught a little bit of the game in Ames and you know it was it was, you know, up and down as a preseason game normally is and you know, I you just never know how hard those guys are going in in preseason. But overall, you know, looked pretty good. It was good to see Hal Burton back out there running and and gunning. And yeah, I mean, I I have a pretty good outlook on the season. I think the Pacers are a definitely a top four team in the East. But I wanted to kick it over to Adam. I know he's he's a big Pacer fan lifelong as well. And wanted to get your thoughts on on what you think of this Pacers team for this season. Yeah, I mean I I think you and I have talked about this pretty openly. I think I think they're gonna be better than what the biggest things are gonna be. I think they're gonna be better than what a lot of pundits are talking about. I mean, I I easily could see them being the forty eight to fifty two win team. you know, I caught some of the Abes game. It was good to see be, you know, ball movement. Alec Burton, you know, running the offense kind of the same way he was running the offense before. I think it'll be it'll be a couple games into the season. We'll we'll we'll kind of get a good feel for that. But I think what people just don't realize is this team has depth. it's I mean, we've we've got two really good units. how are we gonna mix and match and and but what adjustments are made when No guy may might be having an off night or whatever, but I mean, we have two really solid units. we don't really have a whole lot of, you know, superstar power that maybe some other teams have. but we just have guys that know how to play basketball. we get to move into basketball. You know, Neesmith, what did he play the other night in aims like fourteen minutes, scored nineteen points? something like that. just on fire. Guys moving the ball around in open shots. so I I'm excited to see, you know, it's it's the team I think that was already really good. and I think the Chennazubak's gonna make this team better. you know, we've got a guy that can rebound, he can defend. but I think where you're gonna see a giant impact is he sets the mean screens up top and it's gonna be pretty fun to watch. Yeah, I I think Hal Burton had a had a comment on that in in one of his pressers or what have you. Something about he I knew I knew Zoo was a good screener, but he's even better than I thought he was in in in real life. So that's encouraging when you hear that. I mean, he he didn't do a whole lot offensively, and there's gonna be games where we don't need him. Just set screens and rebound, dude. So, but he's gonna get his. I I think he's gonna be a great addition to the team. The thing I just always about this Pacers organization. In terms of playing together, they play together better than any team, you know, moving the ball and and playing as a team, better than any or other organization in the NBA, in my opinion. Now, whether that adds up, you know, in the wins column or not, I just always think they play good basketball and it's an enjoyable brand of basketball to watch. I as I said in the preview pod, I tend to watch a lot of West Coast NBA. Just 'cause I live on this time zone. So I probably see it more than you guys, but I knew Zubak was gonna be a hell of a find for us. I know it didn't really pan out not getting our pick back, but I've always been impressed, especially when he plays against other other top tier bigs. He always stands his own, he's always in good position. And that screen is real. I mean, I've seen guys fall flat on their ass hitting him. He's He's solid. So we'll see where the Pacers go. But I'm really excited, especially the way this cold season's going. We got some hope to look for the rest of the season there and then hopefully off and running when springtime comes. let's let's finish up a little high school action. we've got one more week, before sectional start next week, right? Yep, this is putting on your sleeper team of Carmel, but I didn't see much Much else. What do you got for us, General? Yeah, so the old alma mater, Brownsburg, taking care of business once again, fifty to fourteen over Noblesville. Warren did in the pro well, it was two games of the week, to be honest with you. Warren forty two twenty eight over Carmel, kind of showing their dominance. Then Lawrence North over Center Grove twenty eight to twenty. so Lawrence North, they're really showing to be a really good ball club. Monshun Sales, the recruit to I Yu. He has not even been playing. He's been injured. And their quarterback, he's been making plays for them. So they're definitely one to look out for. I think I mentioned it last week on the pod. Lawrence North did play Brownsburg in the first game of the season. Played them tough for probably three quarters of the game, and then Brownsburg pulled away. So that's something we could see. I believe it would be a state championship matchup or a semi state matchup. It would be on down the line. anyway. HSE Royals getting to win over the Franklin Central Flashes as well, 35 to 14. They're rolling into their senior night this coming Friday against the vaunted Brownsburg Bulldogs. So I'll be in attendance for that one and we'll see how it goes. But hey, I want to give a special shout out to a little town up in northern Indiana. The Bluffton Tigers, that's the alma mater of my parents, Jack and Deb. And they are off to an 8 0 start this year. This past Friday, they beat Adam Central for the first time in 17 years, 36 to 28. Snap a 17 year losing streak over Adam Central. They've got this kid, Cooper Craig. He plays defensive in and running back both ways. I mean, he's an absolute beast. So W Bluffton came in that game ranked eighth in three A. Adam Center was ninth in three A, so look for Bluffton to move up in their rankings in three A. They do have a tough path. they haven't gotten out of sectionals, I believe, since I believe it was like four and haven't won a regional since the eighties, but looks to be a special season for them. It's their best start in many, many years. Adam, you got any takes on any high school happenings? Well, I mean, Brownsburg is Brownsburg. If they don't win, it's because Brownsburg costs Brownsburg. but I I could see b know Westfield's gonna be right there. They're still very good. but I'd I'd love to see Burns North make a run, man. That'd be f that'd be some fun stuff. So but outside of that, yeah, I mean my alma mater is mired also in Diacrity again, as a handsville. So yeah, nothing to really root for there. Well Hometown analysis on your high school sports, you're only gonna get that here. Who's your beef? I'm gonna even one up you here. So the the high school that my dad would have went to if it was built by then Riverton Park, who is ranked number one in class A, dominated the high school that he actually went to, formerly known as Rockville in Heritage Park, which is now a mix of Rockville and Turkey Run, absolutely dominated them. I think it was fifty six nothing. They're on their way. I think we've covered it all today. you guys got anything to add before we sign off? Nope, we got the got the IHSA sectional pairing show coming up here in actually four minutes. I heard Greg Rakestraw talking on J B this week about some matchups that were going on this past week that were he had highlighted, for teams to look out for. So Gonna be some some big games coming up here in the next few weeks in the state of Indiana. Yeah, speaking of stuff coming up, about half an hour from now, I believe, we're gonna get some preseason hoops. IU basketball travels up to your guys' neck of the woods there in Henkel and plays on Butler here in about half an hour from taping. So you said you almost scored some tickets that, but couldn't go. Sure, yeah, I fell asleep at the wheel and did not have my notifications set for when the tickets came out. Still could have snagged some tickets, but around seventy bucks to sit up top and Hinkle for an exhibition game, I was just like, nah, I'll pass. Especially when I heard a nostalgic good time there. Yeah, Hinkle is one hell of a place to watch a game, I will say that. Well, we've got hopefully a win with us the way the Titans look today Titans, I mean, just absolutely horrific. This I don't know when they're gonna end the Cam Ward experiment, but it's gonna go down as one of the worst draft picks of all time, in my opinion. Well it's a competition on who has the number one pick between them and the Finns, I think, Anyone else not have a win yet? Yeah, I think it's between those two. the Jags pulling that game out today in London. They play again in London next week. they live there. Yeah. I mean, there was rumors a couple years ago that they wanted to make that like their home. I think everyone thought they were crazy. You can't keep going back and forth. It would definitely be a really weird Deal. Now, to say it'll never happen, we know money talks, so but I I know London, they really want to have the first Super Bowl outside the United States, which I just think would be a trip. That's not right. You can't do that. I don't know. Roger Goodell, man. Don't put anything past him. All right, let's let's let's put one of their championship match type games in in the US. if they played how about Champions League over here, the final. There you go. Champions League at MetLife Stadium in New York. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You know you I'd be there if it was Arsenal versus absolutely. Thousand dollars. Yeah, for the you guys don't know, Farley and I are are both big Arsenal supporters. So we we had a marathon of a day yesterday, at least I did. Arsenal played at 4 30 AM Phoenix time, and then Purdue had a night game. So it was it was a marathon of a day yesterday. How were you feeling at that wedding last night getting up so early? I'm I may have snuck in a nap. That's why I didn't catch a little bit of that IU game. There you go. Well, hey, Madam, we really want to thank you for coming on today. Your insight has been great. And yeah, we'd love to have you on sometime in the future as well. It's been good chopping it up. unfortunately the Colts come away losers today, but IU and the Boilers, great days yesterday, and we've got some exciting high school football to look forward to. Hopefully the Colts can get back on the winning track next weekend. And yeah. We shall check y'all next week. Thank you, gentlemen. Take