We’re doing this. We’re really, actually, no fooling doing this. In this climate. In this year. Localized entirely within this conference. Aurora Borealis, this ain’t, but I guess it’s college football again. For $ome rea$on$ or another. exhale All right, here goes nothing.

Obligatory Musical Reference About How Empty the Stadium Will Be

(Expecting the original version? Well, get used to disappointment. This is Indiana football, after all.)

What We’ve Already Written About Indiana This Offseason

The vast majority of what’s been written remains true, so let’s go over what has definitely 100% changed.

Marcelino Ball tore his ACL

Something I apparently did not hear about like 3 weeks ago. Ball was expected to provide experience and much needed leadership for the defense, but in a weird way, his position (the HUSKY linebacker/safety spot) has enough depth with some prior game experience that it’ll only be a decent downgrade, and not a significantly larger problem. (It’s still not good, by any means.)

That’s not our only ACL tear of the last couple weeks

More recently, one of our true freshman offensive lineman also went down with an ACL tear, but unlike Ball, Kahlil Benson wasn’t really expected to contribute significant time this season. Additional depth would probably be nice in this of all years, but this is a much easier pill to take.

The Schedule

This was a major change, in the sense that it didn’t get played on the days it was originally scheduled for. Otherwise, well.....Indiana doesn’t play Illinois anymore, and beyond that it’s the exact same teams, just in a new order.

The only other changes are both minor and important: swapping Michigan and Michigan State’s home and road alignment. One of those games got a bit easier, and the other one a bit harder. You figure out which is which.

Any Opt Outs?

Not that I can find, actually. Feel free to correct me in the comments if you know of any.

Predictions

Well, assuming we play 8 regular season games, 4-4. Who’s the 4th win? Dunno, but I’d love if it was a team we didn’t expect to beat (see the title of this article). Less games probably means less losses if those games don’t get made up, more game(s) depends entirely on who we’re playing.

Bowl game? Maybe, assuming everyone who plays in 2020 gets one. I’ve heard Detroit isn’t terrible in December, so look for us there, probably.