How are you doing, everybody?

I ken Bykoff and welcome to the Pigs podcast.

Boy, busy, busy past weekend for the Hoosiers.

Obviously, IU Football puts a fifty six to six whipping on Ucla.

Now they turn their attention to Maryland and a road trip to Maryland at that game is at on Saturday, three point thirty pm Eastern time kickoff, in the game that the Hoosiers are definitely favored in, and you'll get to hear Kurt Signetti in just a few minutes talking him up.

It's he's not at Lou Holtz level yet, but every single team the Hoosiers play are a threat and danger, and the Hoosiers are in a lot of trouble every single Monday.

When Kurt Signetti is talking about he's the team, at least to the media.

He talks about like last week Ucla was three and oh ignore those first four games.

Three and oh, it's the right attitude.

It's how you go about things.

But then Saturday comes and then Indiana just kicks ass, takes names, that doesn't bother to take names, and then goes along their way.

So that's kind of how they work.

This week is Maryland, and obviously Sig says that they have a you know, a ton of talent and they're very dangerous and all this kind of stuff, and we'll see.

But the Hoosiers have to play the game that they know how to play.

And that's the thing about this IU team is that if they play the way they know how to play, there aren't a lot of teams in the country that are going to be able to beat them.

That's how good they've been.

For Nando Mendoza has been fantastic.

I use defense has been stifling.

You'll hear Sig in just a few minutes.

But again, Aiden Fisher is going to be labeled as probable for this one, which is good.

Which means he avoided a serious knee injury last time out, which is obviously a huge positive.

He's a huge part of that IU defense and IU needs everybody to be as as healthy as possible for this game.

But you know, as this win streak for the Hoosiers continues, for most teams, pressure ratchets up the more they win, the more they get a target on the bat on their back.

They're the number two team in the country.

But again, this is an IU team that just stays so incredibly grounded and consistent from week to week.

Uh, it's really special.

And again that defense is now playing with such a huge chip on its shoulder and allowed six offensive touchdowns this year, two of them in the first game of the season, So that means in the last seven games, I use giving up four to offensive touchdowns.

You had to pick six against Oregon a couple of weeks ago, but otherwise they've just been absolutely stifling to watch and that becomes a thing because you don't want to be on the field when IU gives up a touchdown because you have this great streak going.

So it's pretty exciting just what they're going to be able to do and kind of the challenges ahead of them.

To talk a little bit about that, here's head coach Kurt Signetti from his weekly press conference with the media that happened Monday in the team room at Memorial Stadium.

Okay at Maryland three point thirty homecoming game.

Good football team.

Coach Loxley and staff done a great job of recruiting the DMV.

Excellent young talent.

A lot of a show going up on the field, especially on defense as true freshman.

You know, they got off to a four and oh start, and they had Washington twenty to nothing with three minutes going to third quarter for win five, and then went into the fourth twenty to three and it kind of came apart on them and lost by four, and then lost to Nebraska by three.

Who's a six and two football team, as is Washington and Ucla is a tie game with thirty three seconds ago, and Ucla hits a couple of big plays, kicks a field goal with two seconds going the game to win.

So three tough losses.

They're open this week, but really impressed with them as a football team.

I mean they're in the top ten in the country in turnover ratio.

They've got a new defensive coordinator that's been in the NFL for sixteen years, was linebacker coach for the Ravens.

Two Super Bowls.

There, they had fourteen interceptions, twenty two sacks.

They're giving up seventeen points a game.

They're offensive only giving up two sacks, and they're outscoring people the first three quarters one seventy five to fifty.

Got an excellent punter, excellent field goal kicker, short snapper, long snapper, and.

You know they're doing a lot of good things.

Freshman quarterback sixty five and thirty pounds really has a strong arm and can run, and wide receivers are very talented, so it's a tight end lines huge good running backs that also catch a ball out of the backfield, so they fly around.

On defense, they create turnovers, they sack the quarterback, and offensively they're protecting the quarterback, protecting the ball, making explosive plays, and have a good kicking game.

So it's home coming.

We're gonna have to be at our best, have a great week of preps, starting with today.

A couple things about the UCLA game got off to a fast start, like we wanted to aiden Fisher with the interception on the second play, sack on the first play.

We had seven to nothing out the gate, and defense really won the line of scrimmage, created three turnovers which resulted in net fourteen points.

For US, held them to.

Two hundred yards the last drive they gained some yards, but so they were probably in the one fifties or one sixties for the most part and one of eleven on third down.

An offense scored seven out of eight drives drive two through the midway the fourth quarter.

I think or early fourth quarter and third and fourth was fourteen to sixteen, and that's probably the story of the game, was third down in the turnovers, and you know, we ran the ball for two hundred and sixty two yards and our special teams were solid with a couple one discipline penalties I wasn't real pleased with, but you know, so it was a good afternoon.

So but Maryland will be quite a challenge.

Questions first, just real quick, did you have I know Aidan Fisher was going through some tests.

Did you get an update and do you anticipate him being available for Saturday or out any.

I would list Aidan Fisher as probable.

And then with Fernando, have you offered him any advice kind of dealing with the national spotlight he's under.

I know you kind of say eliminate the noise and clutter.

He's deleted to social media and he's a thoughtful kid, but this is different, he admitted kind of on Saturday.

He's never kind of faced kind of the spotlight he's under.

Just have you offered had a conversation about that with him at all?

Yeah, up to this point we haven't really had a one on one regarding that.

I know he's got a lot of support off the field.

My messages to the team are always about staying focused on the here and now and things.

That affect Prepper and positive.

Performance and eliminating the noise and clutter, and he's always tuned into those messages as well.

So but as you know, we move further down the road on a daily basis, you know, the antenna is always up.

But I think he's handled it great.

He improves every week, makes plays and I thought he made a lot of really nice plays Saturday.

We've asked you the last couple of years a lot about experienced quarterbacks, especially here.

How do you.

Evaluate a guy that is at Maryland, very raw of the vision, has a lot of physical tools, has put some good stuff on film, and is obviously still growing.

Just what do you see in the lake Washington.

Yeah, he's got great size.

They're doing a really good job protect protecting him, which is huge.

I mean they've only given up two sacks.

But he's also got the ability to extend plays, avoid the rush, which he's done, and throw it down the field or run, tuck it and run.

But you know he can make all the throws down the field, and you know he he's learning as he goes, but he's very impressive.

Yeah, Coach, I did a quick count.

I think my math is right.

You guys have eleven Big ten wins in your tenure by double figures past decade.

I think it was ten.

What do you think has led to not only you guys playing well, but having dominance in the Big ten?

Yeah, I really haven't thought about that very much.

I think at home our you know, our fans are the best, and playing at home is a huge advance for us.

Once they get going.

I mean it's just.

So loud and crazy, and our players feet off of that.

And on the road we've been successful as well.

And you know, the thing.

We ask our guys to do is play every play like.

It's nothing, nothing, game on the line and from beginning to the end, regardless of the competitive circumstances.

And I think they've end of that message.

Yeah, Kurt, you got a good game from Devin Boyk and what do you need for him to continue that the rest.

Of the way here?

Yeah, he played really well on special teams too, and had a big interception, had some nice plays defensive player of the game, and you know I've seen that whole safety position.

You know, the more snaps they get, the more familiarity they have playing together.

You know, a lot of interceptions in the back end.

Good ball skills back there.

Boykin, Lewis, Moore, and Farrell all have good ball skills.

And you know, Boykin's a really smart player.

He can play all three safety positions.

He's good tackler, good cover guy, and you know he made a really nice plan that interception you know, Saturday, but had some big special teams tackles too.

How would you describe the importance of Bob Bostaed with what you guys have been able to do on the ground so far the season.

Well, well, you know, I think it's huge, which is you know why I felt so fortunate to be able to retain him.

Fired up that when I saw he was on a roster of the year before, because had been kind of aware of his name but had never met him, probably you know, ten twelve years ago, and everybody sang his praises about the improvement of the offensive line in twenty twenty three.

And you know, Bob's an excellent line coach.

I mean, he's a football guy, and you know he's a great fundamental teacher, you know, and he makes them tough, and those guys respond to him.

And but you know, like everything else, it's a team game.

It's you know, it starts up front, and then a tight end and wide receiver downfield blocking, but and our backs run really hard, really hard, and done a great job of protecting the ball too.

Then Fernando chips in with his yards now and then.

The looks Haynes throws are just really cool, really unique.

What's the process look like of trying to craft those kind of looks?

And how early on after you hired him did you kind of tell that his mind was just really advanced.

Yeah, I felt I got that sense about him pretty quickly when I hired him.

Now, you gotta remember I hired him back in who I think it was two thousand thirteen or so.

He was coming off of fourteen, coming off a graduate assistant ship at Ohigh State under Urban mar and had been a graduate assistant in Indiana and had a Division three job.

Also, I actually hired him to coach a defensive line.

That's a position I had available.

It's a part time position, but you're full time, ores full time coach for maybe eight thousand bucks and I thought he did a great job with the defensive line.

So at that point I always kind of viewed him as a d line guy, but he always expressed he wanted to be more of a linebacker guy.

And then I always thought he'd be coordinator material.

And then when I got the Elon job, you know, he had gone to cal Davis and they had.

Got released as a staff.

So I was fortunate enough to bring him back to Elon right and did a tremendous job.

Was Tony Trishi and he's the right hand man there who's not the head coach at Elon.

And then when I went to JMU, you know, I hired Corey Heatherman to be the defensive coordinator who's not Miami, and he would did a great job.

Was with me three years.

But the day that about twenty minutes before Corey was to arrive for his interview, Bryant came walking into my office and said that Tony down at Elon had offered him the defensive coordinator job at Elon.

I said, well, what do you want to do?

He goes, I want to stay with you.

I said, okay, well look I'll talk to Corey.

You know, see about you being a co coordinator.

Uh, but you know understand that Corey's the coordinator.

Uh, and Corey was cool with that.

And then when Corey left to go to Rutgers and right before, right after the twenty one season, I think, uh, I elevated Bryant and he just you know, did a tremendous job.

And I and and now you see it.

And every year the package continues to build.

The product production numbers are great.

We're always in the top three of the country against the run, we're normally in the top ten and TFLs and sacks at least amount of yards given up.

And uh, you know, uh, he's he's a football guy.

So not only is he good at the x's and o's and and his philosophy is to attack.

He wants to attack offenses.

So the X and O part of it's a strength.

But he's a great teacher.

He's a great teacher, uh.

For the linebacker, very detailed.

And I can't say enough good things about Brian Hayines.

And I'm glad he decided to stay last year when he had some opportunities because he's a super key guy in the organization.

Mcmar entered this year with some lofty ambitions and goals.

He was talking about wanting to, you know, aiming for a program sack record.

Obviously, he's still been productive out there, but you know, quieter than expected.

Just one sack.

I guess, just what's been different for him this year?

What's this year been like for him?

Yeah?

Well, you know, I think production numbers speak for themselves, and I think he's got another level he can play at and I'm waiting to see it.

Coach, you mentioned that Maryland is very good at taking the ball away.

Last year, I think they turned you guys over four or five times.

But the defense.

Responded, what lessons can he take from last year to show the team this year to how to respond to that adversity.

Yeah, well, it's a different set of characters on their defense and a new coordinator.

I remember two early ones and then maybe a late fumble.

I thought, once we got our feet on the ground offensively after the first two series, we played fairly well.

But I have not gone back and looked at that tape because it's a completely different scheme this year.

So look, no matter who you play, you gotta.

Win a line of scrimmage.

You gotta be able to run the ball, stop the run, put pressure on the quarterback.

You gotta win a turnover ratio.

Turnover ratio equals points.

UCLA were plus three equals fourteen points.

We have almost every year since I've been a head coach, but one been in the top ten in the country turnover ratio, and maybe there's two or three, but we're normally.

There.

And then it's a battle of explosive place runs plus twelve passes, plus fifteen critical situations and special teams.

So we've done a really good job of protecting the football.

We haven't turned it over hardly at all, and we've been getting takeaways.

So I just expect us to practice up to the standard and stacked meetings and days, have a great week of preparation, and put it on the field.

Play one to one fifty.

Kurt talked about how good the defense is doing.

But if you look at the numbers, you guys are giving up about three points per game in the second half of each game, and you're averaging about twenty points scoring wise each game.

So the team stays defensively, you're getting stronger in the second half, which of course is what you want, but not always what is seen.

Yeah, I mean I think you know, od you had some had two big plays on us.

Other than that, not much.

Kenna saw got us up on a couple shifts, emotions and some funky formations.

Aside from that, you know, it's been tough going for opponents against our defense, and but you know it's been that way for a while.

That's what I'm used to seeing.

And our guys play with a lot of pride.

You know, there's a tradition on that side.

Of the ball.

They've got a great leader.

The other assistant coaches do a tremendous job as well, and we got a lot of veterans back there have played a lot of football.

And then offensively, we try not to put them in a bad spot.

That's the one thing about me still being involved offensively is it's not about scoring points, you know, it's about winning the game.

So I make sure that we don't put the defense, you know, in a bad position where we're turning the ball over in minus territory.

So and when people have moved the ball a little bit against our defense, we've done a good job of holding the field.

Goals hurt.

I guess something a little lighter if you didn't mind to finish today.

I know you probably won't have time to celebrate with travel and everything, but I'm curious Halloween weekend.

Do you have a favorite Halloween costume from your past, your kids past, anything like that, like one that you think back on and that that was a really good one.

That's a hard question for me.

My wife loves Halloween and she's really disappointed that she's going to miss miss it this week.

But I can remember as a young kid, my mother making me a homemade Superman or Batman costume, because you know, back then we didn't have a lot of money.

I mean that was high school.

Maybe it was a pit, but I think it was Superman Batman.

I was a snicker Bar recy cup guy.

So the costume one is important to me is getting you know, all the candy.

Have you seen impersonator that they're shown on TV that dressed up?

Yeah, he's pretty good, all right, guys.

So there is sig from the team room as the Hoosiers prepared to take on Maryland.

It's Maryland's homecoming game, and so you know there's always a tension put on that.

But really, from a player standpoint, homecoming games don't mean anything more than any other.

Here's what you need to know about Maryland.

Maryland does a lot of bend but don't break.

Doesn't have it exactly an explosive offense, but they're a solid defensive team even if they give up plenty of yards.

The Hoosiers obviously are better defensively then is Maryland.

It's going to be a situation where can Indiana put points on the board early in the game, take the wind out of the Terrapins, and basically just step on their neck at home.

I mean that that is what it comes down to.

Is you wonder about that?

It's a team that sits at four and three on the season, not exactly a world beater, but you know, you go on the road in the Big Ten, it's always going to be a challenge.

That said, this is also a team that's coming off a bye, that lost to UCLA last time out and gave up seventeen points.

So what do I expect from this IU team at Maryland?

I expect Indiana to get off to a fast start, to close them down defensively, closed down Maryland defensively, and rolled to an easy win.

That's what I'm expecting because that's where we are with IU football that this is a team that is consistent week to week, has repeatedly gotten the job done, avoided the traps that may exist, and yeah, Maryland's going to be fired up to play the number two team in the country.

But Indiana is awfully damn good.

And that's just where we have to be.

The nerves and everything that goes into Indiana football, they have to be starting to go away a little bit because you have to believe what you see on a week to week basis, and what we're seeing is an IU team that doesn't just win, but just absolutely dominates.

And Maryland scores seventeen points against a UCLA team that watching it on Saturday were like, how in the hell do this team win three games?

Indiana just dominated them in every single facet.

So get a couple of takeaways, defensively, convert those you know, run the ball, dominate both sides of the line of scrimmage, and the Hoosiers should be in good shape.

Again.

Maryland's defense gives up yards, doesn't give up a ton of points.

Indiana is a bit more explosive and so being able to get to uh the end zone a couple of chunk plays will really take the win out of Maryland sales.

They've got a real nice opportunity to move to nine to oher.

Uh heads up about the postgame call in show on that that one's gonna be.

This is gonna be a fun one.

It's a road game, but I'm gonna be doing it remotely with some friends who have done the IU call in show themselves in the past, and we're going to have, you know, a guest who is a IU history buff that We're gonna talk about the history of this program and everything that goes along.

Not not just I'm a history guy, but but our guest is a is a huge history guy as well.

Should be a great atmosphere, looking forward to getting your calls.

Eight one, two, three, nine, six hundred is the number.

It's gonna be our Halloween episode.

So there's a real good chance I'm gonna be in costume on on YouTube.

So check it out on peaks dot com.

That's where the link will be.

Are on Twitter at k Bikoff, That's where that will come now.

Indiana closed out its exhibition season last Sunday against Baylor, you know, winning in the closing second seventy six seventy four.

I just wanted to touch base on this.

This game is more important from a from a exhibition game standpoint because it was against a real team, a peer team in Baylor, and Baylor is a challenge way more obviously than Mary and Marion in Indiana's first exhibition game.

And what we saw from this Hoosier team, Darren DeVries went into this thing like it was a regular season game.

It wasn't hey, let's play out our bench, let's see what we got, Let's let's let's go down the line.

That's not how it played out.

And what we learned with this team is that there are plenty of weapons, plenty of guys who could step up when somebody else is having a little bit of a different game.

I'll give you an example.

Trent Sisley comes off the bench and a nice game in the opener against against Marion, comes off the bench, plays sixteen points, doesn't attempt to shot, is held scoreless.

It's not a bad thing.

I'm not looking at it as that.

It is somebody who is accepting their role and understanding they don't have to they can make things happen without the ball in their hands.

Lamar Wilkerson had a great game before filing out twenty eight points on six of fifteen shooting, made all thirteen of his free throws.

In fact, Indiana made twenty of twenty one free throws.

So how is that for a nice change of pace for these Hoosiers.

You you have Taytan Connorway fifteen points, Tucker Devriez eighteen points on seven to fifteen shooting.

Hoosiers didn't shoot particularly well from three point range.

But this is a team that I think is going to surprise some people.

And playing in a game like the one against Baylor, I think was really really critical to building the chemistry on this team because you need a peer level team to kind of test yourself, see what you're what's possible.

And there are a lot of guys on this team that are coming from non Power five conferences and they need to say they need to step up kind of their play and see if they are ready for it.

And I think the answer was, you know, pretty definitively yes, Yeah, there's stuff to polish, stuff to work out well.

The fact that you have as many guys who are new playing together and yet against a team with Baylor's talent, with with everything that goes along with them.

Only we have a total of nine turnovers on the game, including just three in the second half.

That's important.

Those are the numbers that I think are really important in this one.

My takeaway on it is, Yeah, it's great that you got the win, but nine turnovers for a bunch of guys that are in their second game playing together and converting twenty to twenty one free throws, it's a hell of a job by this team, especially in a tight game.

So it's obviously exciting to see how this season is coming together.

It is a IU team that has, you know, a lot of questions ahead of it.

We're not going to really know much about this ball club for a little while.

First game of the season is this coming Wednesday against Alabama A and M.

And should be a ton of fun.

Should be a ton of fun to see how this team can perform, what kind of start they're gonna get off to, Because you go right into Alabama A and M, and then boom, next Sunday you're playing Marquette in Chicago, so you're jumping right into it.

If this Baylor game is any kind of indication IU is going to, you know, be a challenge for teams and that'll be exciting to see again call in show after the game, So we usually go on the air about four four and a half hours after kickoff, which puts us at seven thirty eight o'clock live on YouTube.

Obviously we put the calling show on the podcast feed afterwards, but should be a really fun show, so you don't want to miss out.

Hopefully we'll be talking about Indiana's ninth win of the season at Maryland.

What's all the time we have on the Peaks podcast.

I want to thank you for listening.

I run remind you to visit peaks dot com for the very best to IU football and basketball coverage are gonna find anywhere Nobody covers who's your recruiting better than Jeff rab John's, Matt Weaver, Trevor Anderschock and Jared Kelly.

So come be a part of a thriving, at exciting community at peaks dot com.

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 Biakoff saying thanks for listening.

Everybody,