Hoosiers Football Stock up/Stock Down: Week 1

Hoosier the Bison debuts on the field before the Indiana versus Old Dominion football game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. Subscriber Content Saturday was everyone’s first look at the 2025 Indiana Hoosiers. While No. 20 Indiana notched the win, there were plenty of issues to address. In 2025 we are bringing back a Hoosier Huddle classic: Stock Up, Stock Down. Let’s take a look at who were the big gainers and who needs a bail out for the hoosiers football team. Stock Up IU Special Teams Indiana looked really good on special teams with a punt return touchdown and a play that really looked like a blocked punt, but was called a penalty for running into the kicker as well. Jonathan Brady is a weapon. Brendan Franke was perfect on kickoffs and Radicic hit both of his field goals. This was IU’s saving grace Saturday. https://twitter.com/B1Gfootball/status/1961872204364214602 IU Running Attack Between the 10’s While the failures inside the five-yard line will rightly be a concern, IU ran the ball really well on the other 80 yards of the field. The Hoosiers ran for 309 yards as a team, led by Roman Hemby’s 109 yards. Hoosier the Bison There was a lot of skepticism surrounding the return of the Hoosiers’ bison mascot, but IU knocked this out of the park. Not only did they parachute him (her?) in, but they brought back a bison intro video and he led a great I-U chant across the stadium. https://twitter.com/HoosiertheBison/status/1961957369069425081 Stock Down Red Zone Offense After being elite in the red zone in 2024, IU was anything but that in the first game of 2025. Whether by design or just ineptitude IU was just 4-7 from inside ODU’s 20-yard line. They scored 20 out of a possible 49 points and that doesn’t even count Lee Beebe’s fumble at the 20. So IU left between 9 and 29 points on the field. That’s not going to win at the level Cignetti or the fans want to. Fast, Physical, Relentless Cignetti’s pillars on which he has built his program upon did not look up to the standard he has set. IU did not play fast as they basically took the air out of the ball after grabbing a 24-7 lead. The Hoosiers were not physical enough on both lines of scrimmage. I also would not call IU relentless, although they did dominate the box score, the edge was missing. Pregame Festivities IU hit a home run with Hoosier the Bison. I thought he was great, but there was just too much going on pregame with Hoosier, the band, the hype man yelling stuff inaudibly, to really get the full effect. Things seem to just pop up with no attention getter. I love things happening organically, a lot of things seem forced. If IU did each of the pregame events on its own, they’d be really good. Hold Mikail Kamara The All-American made the move over to STUD to put him in position to make more plays. That was not the case Saturday as ODU keyed on Kamara and held him to just one tackle. The assault on the program’s sack record is not off a good start. However, Kamara has a great track record and should get back to his productiveness the next two weeks. Aug 30, 2025; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Indiana Hoosiers linebacker Isaiah Jones (46) celebrates after a sack during the second half against the Old Dominion Monarchs at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images Expectations It is easy to overreact to just one game one way or the other. Does this game make me reevaluate my expectations for this IU team? No, not yet. Now if IU comes out the next two weeks and has similar struggles against Kennesaw State and Indiana State, red flags should be raised. Any reevaluation of expectations are on hold until Illinois. Subscribe to get access Read more of this content when you subscribe today. Log in

Hoosiers Football Stock up/Stock Down: Week 1

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Hoosiers Football Stock up/Stock Down: Week 1

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