The Indiana University Hoosiers will be in Jacksonville Florida on January 2nd to meet the Tennessee Volunteers in the 2020 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl at 7 p.m. EST. This is the second time these two teams have met in a post-season bowl game. In 1988 the two teams met in the Peach Bowl in which the Vols won 27-22 over the Hoosiers. If Tom Allen’s Bloomington Warriors win, it will be the first time since 1967 that a Hoosier football team has won nine games in a season. That’s the year John Pont’s Cardiac Kids achieved that success.
Congratulations and best of luck to Tom Allen and his Fighting Hoosiers Football Team!
Put A Fork in It. They are Done.
With their loss to the Tampa Bay Bucs last Sunday, the Colts eliminated themselves as possible contenders for a post-season playoff berth. There is still a “mathematical” possibility of a playoff spot occurring but come on. Let’s face it, the Colts season is done. They thought they could win without Andrew Luck but they were wrong. Jacoby Brissett has played at the top of his ability, particularly with the lack of receiving talent that has been available to him. But he isn’t the long range answer at quarterback. He will never be more than a Ryan Fitzpatrick bridge type of quarterback—someone to keep the seat warm until a franchise player can be found. Injuries have certainly figured in the team’s up-and-down performance.
The defensive woes were evident last Sunday. Despite Darius Leonard’s Pro Bowl style performance (10 tackles, a sack, and two interceptions with one returned eighty yards for a touchdown), the rest of the defensive players were ineffective. Buc quarterback Jameis Winston had a career day. No pass rush and poor coverage gave him a chance to redeem a failing personal season and look like a hero!
Okay special teams . . . Adam Vinatieri was on the sideline with a knee injury . . . or so they said. Adam missed his first game in a quarter of a century. He looked totally forlorn while pacing the sideline and watching his replacement Chase McLaughlin go three for three on extra points and two of three on field goals including a fifty yarder.
The Horseshoe have three more games. This coming Sunday they play the Saints in New Orleans. The Saints always give the Colts trouble and are currently in hot contention for a Super Bowl berth, so it looks like the Saints by 9. Then it’s the struggling Carolina Panthers at home and lastly the struggling Jaguars at Jacksonville. I believe the Colts will win these two and finish 8-6 — not bad under the circumstances but certainly not what we hoped for.
snicewanger@gmail.com