Will have a listen. 

Excellent summary of our Fight'in Hoosiers.

I’ve never heard of these guys.  This was a good listen.  Thanks!

I think they have a pretty good handle on where IU stands.

OLine is biggest question mark.  I haven't researched numbers on this, but I think our OLine from last year gets a raw deal versus some of the other teams that got exposed at the end of the season against ND and OSU.

1. When Evans was healthy, we controlled and dominated every team we played.  The Washington game, as an example, we bullied them in the 2nd half.  Our OLine dominated them physically.

2.  The two games that created this perception that our OLine was "weak", OSU and ND... those two teams played for the Natty.  Those two teams beat, THE HELL, out of multiple "elite" teams on their path to the Natty game.  And a large reason was their front 7's dominating the other teams OLine...  Why doesn't PSU have OLine concerns, Oregon?, SMU?, Tennessee??  Maybe they all do, and I'm not seeing it?  Heck, even ND struggled against OSU's front 7.

I think those 2 games, unfortunately, erased the incredible job Bostad, and Shannahan, and Cignetti did with the OLine last year.  And I think this year, we have more pieces to work with, and better overall talent to work with.  IF, big IF when you talk about the OLine positions, but if they stay healthy, I think it will be looked at as more of a strength of this team, than a weakness.  

Beyond the OLine, I'd say just general health at key positions.  For the most part, until the Evans injury, IU was incredibly healthy last season.   Rourke's injury played a role later in the year, but you have to view IU's health, overall, as very fortunate, if not lucky.  Is IU deep enough to overcome a normal year of injuries?  That's another big question mark and key.

I think it would take A LOT of really bad luck, bad bounces, etc... for IU to be worse than 8-4.  I think floor is 8-4, ceiling is 12-0.  If I were setting over/under on regular season wins, I'd put it at 9.5.  

Right, getting Drew Evans back will be huge for our OL. He's that strong.

Good listen.  

I agree that we will probably go as far as our OL can take us.  Rest of the positions look fairly strong.

Think it was Joe that said he thinks Pat Coogan will play guard but I've heard is going to be slotted at center??  

Our OL looked pretty strong against all but the teams that made the championship game.  On paper, it looks better this year. I think there is reason for guarded optimism.

That was one of the better podcasts I’ve heard to date, and not just because Ruffino has an obvious man-crush on Mendoza 😄

The o-line will be a concern until it isn’t. Evans went down at an unfortunate time and was a big loss. No guarantee he will be a healthy version of himself at any point. The dude is a beast when healthy, and we will need him at some point. Maybe not the first 3 games, but I hope he can be rotated in at our leisure rather than thrust in out of necessity - before he’s ready.

I’m really hoping we can avoid the snowball effect of an injury bug again. Apart from Evans, we were mostly lucky last year.

Posted by: @mohoosier

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@hurryinghoosiers I played golf with his future brother-in-law who said Coogan was told he was brought in to play center.

@the-watson but what set that Indiana team apart from our past teams is, sure Evans went down, but we plugged in another o-lineman and went right on to 11-1. Just like Ohio State or Penn State would have done to us.

@irregulars Don’t disagree, but losing Evans hurt - a lot - heading into that critical home stretch + ND. We got manhandled up front against the big dogs. Not saying Evans would have made a difference, but woulda helped.

@the-watson agree.  Tyler did a good job filling in but before the injury we were just so good I have to wonder…

@the-watson 

Can't argue there.