I am doing everybody on ken Bi Cup and welcome to the Peats Podcast.

It is Bucket Week, folks, and there is a ton on the line for the Hoosiers, possibly the most on the line for Indiana in the Bucket Game ever, and I'm not joking about that.

Now.

We could talk about the Bucket Game in the year Indiana went to the Rose Bowl and they had to win that thing in order to make it to the Rose Bowl, and they did it.

It was a very big deal.

You could talk about the two thousand and seven game in which Austin Starr kicked Indiana into a bowl game on the play thirteen season in honor of Terry Heppner.

That was a really big game.

Other games Indiana has played to become Bowl eligible, in the old oaken Bucket Game, they've never played one where if they win, they get a trip to the Big Ten Championship Game and solidify their place as the number two team in college football, potentially become the number one team in college football should Michigan beat Ohio State.

We're in Banana's territory, kids, But this is a game that Indiana, given the season that they've had, given the season Purdue has had, it would seem that Indiana should be able to just roll to a win.

Perdue hasn't been very good.

Indiana has been transcendent.

They haven't really been challenged by much of anybody save for Penn State and Iowa.

Everybody else Indiana has been comfortable with.

But you got to play the game, and this is Produced Bowl Game right here.

They have an opportunity to play the spoiler role, and lord knows they will want to.

It's in West Lafayette, which isn't a great town to go in in the best of times, let alone in late November, so there's going to be a challenge.

Fernando Mendoza probably has never played a game this cold before, but he has Heisman hopes and Heisman Trophy candidates have to play in some tough conditions.

So it is an interesting game to say the least, because of the fact that Indiana just has so much on the line and has to make sure that it stays focused and get and take care of business.

The good news is it seems like there's going to be some guys that are coming back healthy, including Elishah Suratt, including mc kamara, so that's a positive and we're gonna have a lot more about this game and hear from Kurt Signetti in just a few minutes.

But first I wanted to mention that you got to act now because the biggest stretch in Indiana football and basketball is here.

Kurt Signetti's Hoosiers are undefeated, on track to play for the Big Ten Championship, and poise to make a deep run in the college football playoff.

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Indiana Undefeated has an opera ortunity to go twelve and zero in for the first time in school history.

They're already writing a school record winning streak eleven and zero.

To get to twelve and zero is extraordinary, and they have that opportunity in front of them.

They know what is out there, what the possibility is.

Heisman trophies, college football playoffs, a legitimate shot at winning a national championship, the chance to go to the Big Ten championship game for the first time ever.

There's plenty to play for, but you have to beat Purdue to do just that, and Kurt Signetti and his staff know that staying focused is going to be critical.

But you don't have to take it for me.

Here's head coach Kurt Signetti during his weekly press conference with the media from the team room at Memorial Stadium last Monday.

Yep, okay, looking forward to the preparation for Purdue and State rival much improved football team.

Coach Odam's got him playing hard.

They've been very competitive at home.

I mean you look at Purdue.

Uh, they go to Michigan, they lose by five, They got Rutgers, They're ahead with four minutes going the game at home Minnesota, they led the whole game and lost at the end.

Ohio State was a competitive game for most of the first half, and then they went to Washington and the game got away from them.

And that's a hard place to play.

So we're certainly expecting their best shot.

And we've got one focus, all eyes on Purdue in the process of preparation to put ourselves in the best position to be successful.

Questions with the injuries, can you give us an update on some guys?

Elijahs Roy will he be available at Camara go down in that game?

Will he be available?

And then True Evans, is there more of a timeline for his return?

Yeah, we expect tomorrow will start, Surratt will start, Drew Evans will know more today and him and the rest of them are working hard to get back.

On the field.

Kurt, I guess normally a bye week tim the way this one was probably would seem a little bit awkward, just with only one game left in the season.

But what did it do for your team recognizing just how much more season you might have ahead of you?

I mean if you win this game obviously Indianapolis, but then even thinking beyond that too, a postseason that has gotten a lot longer in terms of games in the last couple of years.

Yeah, I'd look at it from a different perspective.

It was much needed off week.

Playing six games in a row late in the year.

I think everybody that's playing is banged up, and I think the entire organization was a little tired.

I could feel it since it Penn State Week and Wisconsin Week, So I think it came at a really good time, and every buddy seems to be refreshed.

There was a lot of spirit of practice yesterday, and I can tell in the office everybody's rested up, so it's a good thing.

Yeah, Coach, I'm curious your thoughts on just kind of the whole theory of teams needing quote style points unquote, you know, to impress the committee gets you say again, I'm curious your thoughts on the theory of style points, teams needing to win in impressive manners for the committee.

Hear it get talked about here, margin and victory get talked about a lot this time of year.

I'm just curious your thoughts on that.

Do you think it matters, do you think it doesn't matter?

How do you approach it?

Yeah, It's not something I'm really thinking about, quite honestly, you know.

I mean, we've had some wins where we've won by a lot of points, and we've had some wins that are close.

I think the most important thing is that you win.

Yeah, Kurt over here, can you assess the play of your special teams and in particular, what makes Nicos such an accurate kicker?

Yeah, you know, Nico's been money in the bank for two years.

We've been pretty fortunate about the last five Our field goal kickers have kind of been that way.

We've got a certain thing we do with them that has worked up to this point.

But it's really all credit to the kickers and their ability to put the ball between the uprights.

And I think our special teams have done a good job.

You know, we've blocked punts and we've had no catastrophic mistakes so to speak.

We've kicked some really key field goals, there's no doubt about that, had some good punt returns.

Not many opportunities in the kick off return game, and so you know, we count those block punts as basically turnovers.

I mean, we're number one in the country and turnover ratio plus fifteen.

You had a few of those block punts, you round plus eighteen, and you know those are winning edges.

Curt a unique situation this year with the rival game.

It gets Purdue coming up and then most likely a Big Ten championship game, and with the guys that have been hurt, that have been out and are coming back, of course they probably need to knock some rust off.

But are you going to be cautious how you play them with that game coming behind.

Look, we have.

One hundred percent focus on Purdue and nothing else.

That respect for Padue.

If you don't respect your opponent, then you're starting in a bad spot.

But I respect what I see on tape.

They're playing hard, they're making plays, they're in games, they're doing a good job up they're coaching, and we got to go up there prepared and we got to play well.

I mean, we're going on the road to play a Big ten football team in state rival.

That's all we're thinking about.

You mentioned Elijah you think will start on Friday.

How do you balance getting him back into the fold, but also knowing the production you've gotten from Charlie Becker the last couple of weeks and balancing.

I guess Friday night, I was gonna you answered something before, but I was gonna ask you about Purdue.

I mean, Barry faced some similar challenges in building up a program as you face when you first came in here.

I guess, just what do you see from Purdue now compared to where they were a year ago?

Yeah?

Well, first of all, they're they're competing really hard.

That's what I see.

There's no give up in that team, and I'm sure they're disappointed in the way it went out at Washington.

They're wide open on offense, spread you out, put you in conflict, balanced running pass, defensively, really mix it up.

You know, every every play something different and they attack.

They got an aggressive style on offense and defense and special teams.

And I'm sure that's a personality the head coach who played linebacker college and defensive guy.

They attack and uh, you know their their their physical football team.

I think this is time number one hundred between IU and Purdue.

You got the taste of victory last year in the rivalry game.

I mean, how have you seen just yourself the program start to embody this rivalry with so much history.

I probably haven't been here long enough.

You know, we've played him one time.

They probably weren't in a real good spot last year when we played them, So you know, the goals be successful.

Maybe in five six years I can answer that question better.

Daniel I Fernando, I think you'd said that he preps just more than any other QB you've had.

Why is that?

Like?

When did when could you tell that his prep was just special?

Well?

I think it's because he wants to be great, and uh, you know, he's willing to make the sacrifices and put the work in, has discipline to do it day and day out.

I think, and Chandler Whitmer's done a great job too of developing him and showing him the way, so to speak.

I'm guessing this is probably gonna be the coldest weather game Fernando's ever played it in his career.

I'm guessing nothing's gonna change this week.

Is that the right way to look at this?

We still have to throw the ball.

It probably is.

I haven't asked him.

It's gonna be cold for everybody.

Thanks, So they're sig very focused as always.

I love it, and I tell people that he's a psychopath, and in the very best ways because of his focus.

Because the next game really is what he focuses on.

I give him a lot of credit for that, and he's going to make sure that his guys stay focused on the task at hand, which is beating Purdue.

So Purdue team that got beat sixty six nothing by IU year, Now, every season is different every season.

You know history, what happened last year doesn't make a difference on third down this year.

But when you get beat sixty six to nothing, and a guy who before he ever coached a game said to a screaming crowd at Assembly Hall, Purdue sucks, but so doas Michigan and Ohio State.

And then he then you came to his place and he beat your ass last year.

You're going to be fired up to play him and ruin their perfect season.

So when you take the field, if you're I you and you take the field at West Loafiette, you damn well better be ready to play.

The good news is Indiana's coming off a bye.

They've had two weeks to prepare for Purdue, and given what this coaching staff has been able to do since they got here, you gotta feel good about what the possibilities are in West Lafayette.

Elijah Surratt the opportunity to come back.

How much he gets used, I think really will depend on the game how that plays out.

But it's beautiful that you have Charlie Becker there, who could be yet another receiver who could make a difference.

O Mark Cooper obviously is what he is, Heja Williams.

There's so many different options for this offense, and then you have your Heisman Trophy favorite.

They got to come ready to play.

Meanwhile, Aiden Fishers the leader on that defense he's on.

He's a Butkus Award finalist, Fernando Mendoza is a Maxwell Award finalist.

Indiana's getting the props for what they've accomplished to this point, but there's so much more ahead of them.

You have boxes to check off.

Yeah, Indiana has won a ton under Kurt Signetti.

One of the I don't know if it's criticisms, but one of the things that stops people from believing in this Hoosier program is that when they played Ohio State last year, Indiana lost.

When Indiana played Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff, Indiana lost.

So the idea for some non believers is that every team Indiana has beaten has been a little bit less than including the attitude of well, if Indiana beat them, they can't be all that good, and for some reason this feeling has persisted.

The way you make that go away is by finishing a season with the perfect record and then going to the Big Ten championship game and giving yourself an opportunity to beat Ohio State.

You'll quiet everybody if that happens.

If Ohio State is there, because they have to deal with Michigan, and they've had their own problems with Michigan over the years.

So we'll see.

But this is still a hungry Hoosier football team who also wants to prove that last year getting to the college Football Playoff and losing the way they did, when a lot of people then just said, the so called experts and non believers said we'll see there.

That's what you get.

They want to make a statement.

And so that's why I think that this team is really focused and will be focused to take on Purdue.

Now, what do you got to do to beat Purdue?

Well, first and foremost, take care of the football, no fumbles, no interceptions, limit those momentum shifts there.

And it's going to be chilli as chilly as some of the games that we've seen last year.

If you remember the Purdue game was pretty snowy.

It's not going to be like that on Friday night, but it's going to be cold.

So you've got to be ready to play in the cold in a way that you really haven't yet this year.

It has been pretty warm for all these Indiana games, So you've got to be ready to deal with it.

But Purdue has to deal with it as well.

Still, you got to take care of the ball and do your best to overcome the elements.

You have to be able to run the ball, which is something Indiana has been able to do very very well this season and running the ball.

Establishing that really will take the wind out of the sales of this Purdue football team.

And then once they start to crowd the line, then Indiana's explosive passing game could come up, but then it starts with running the ball and really then take some of the elements out of it as well.

Because you don't want to have to throw the ball in the cold.

You got to be able to run the football, So that's going to be really important.

Limiting explosive plays that you give up defensively is going to be important.

It hasn't been a problem for Indiana's defense, It's been something that's popped up from time to time, So limiting those chunk plays and making sure Purdue doesn't build any confidence is going to be really important as well.

It's also going to be critical to be disruptive in the backfield.

One thing that I think that Indiana hasn't done as well over the past couple of weeks is they haven't been as disruptive in the opponent's backfield.

So you need the defensive line to step up and be able to just overwhelm Perdue the way that they did against Illinois against some of these other teams U, C, l A.

Other these teams earlier in the year.

Getting back to that is gonna be really really important.

And again, just playing with the sense of urgency is going to be everything with this one.

Don't let the crowd get into it.

It's gonna be lot of IU fans there too, because Purdue fans have given up on this season, and so yeah, it's IU Purdue, but there's a lot of tickets still available for this bucket game, so just dealing with that is going to be really important.

I don't make predictions about games.

I'm just saying that I do feel really good about where this Indiana football program is, and if they check off the boxes, they know what's available ahead of them.

So I'm really looking forward to seeing what level they come out at.

And again, last year was sixty six.

Nothing sig ain't letting off the gas.

That ain't how he rolls.

Indiana has put up fifty plus on Big ten teams multiple times this year.

I think that's kind of the goal this time around.

And plus you want to hold onto the old oaken bucket.

Of course, should be a ton of fun.

We have a postgame call in show after the Bucket game.

Uh, it's a I leave a seven thirty kickoffs, so we'll be live Friday night.

I want to hear from you then on Saturday, call in show after the Bathune Cookman game here at Simon Scott Assembly Hall.

So that's something to keep in mind as well.

But looking forward to it, looking forward to this game, looking forward to Indiana finishing off a perfect season by knocking off Perdue.

It's just going to be absolutely incredible.

And then then it's it's house money.

Let's see how it goes.

Looking forward to it.

Can't wait to hear from you in the postgame.

What's all the time we have on the Peaks podcast this week?

I want to thank you for listening.

I don't want to remind you to visit Peaks dot com for the very best one I U football at basketball coverage.

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Folks.

You are not going to be disappointed.

Folks, are out of time, but for now and for Jeff, Matt, Trevor and Jared, I'm ken Bikov saying thanks for listening, everybody,