A Hoosier Day Like No Other – ESPN College GameDay Showcases the New IU
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- THIS is why Mike Katic came back, for the winning, the sell-out crowds, the ESPN College GameDay show opportunity, the team chemistry and camaraderie, the atmosphere that for one day at least, rivaled that of Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and all the other football superpowers.
THIS is why D’Angelo Ponds and Justice Ellison decided to become Hoosiers, why they all did, for the chance to make history, for the opportunity to as Ellison says, “be part of something greater than myself.”
THIS is why Lee Corso returned and had the crowd roaring for more, why Pat McAfee was here, why Nick Saban and Rece Davis and Steve Coughlin and all the GameDay commentators were here -- to showcase on a national scale what Hoosier Nation can be, an 8-0 Big Ten and national title contender. Saturday’s gritty 31-17 win over Washington was the latest example.
“I’m so proud of this team and these coaches for allowing us to break through and get Indiana back on top,” says Katic, a six-year college veteran who was poised to seek NFL opportunity until offensive line coach Bob Bostad and then new head coach Curt Cignetti last December sold him on their win-now plans.
“It was the best decision I ever made,” Katic says in the Memorial Stadium weight room. “I’m so grateful to be here.”
Saturday’s victory on a GameDay setting made it all the more special.
“This means everything,” he says. “I love this place with my whole heart. I’m so grateful to everyone in this program who has helped me get to this point.”
That this point so deep into the season includes a national playoff opportunity seemed ludicrous to outsiders even a month ago.
Not anymore.
“It all starts with Coach Cignetti and his winning mindset, his moxie and swagger,” Katic says. “That trickles down to the players. We play with a chip on our shoulders every week.”
Ponds, a transfer cornerback from James Madison, and Ellison, a transfer running back from Wake Forest, showed what that chip can do.
Against Washington, Ponds had a pick-6 and another interception that led to a Hoosier touchdown. Ellison rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown on a career-high 29 carries.
“Coach Cignetti believes in us,” Ponds says. “From Day 1 when I came here, he was talking that this was possible. He said we’d go undefeated. He said that when he recruited me here. We feel confident we can make it happen.”
The GameDay appearance could have rattled a less focused team. Not these Hoosiers, Ellison says.
“We’re a veteran team. A lot of us have played in big games before. A lot of our guys are four and five years in. GameDay was for the fans. For us, it’s about winning. Trust the rules, trust your technique, and play football.”
Cignetti had experienced this last year at James Madison, leading the Dukes to a 10-0 start that also brought GameDay to their campus. James Madison lost that day to Appalachian State, 26-23. This time there would be no repeat.
“When GameDay came, I talked to the team about it, but we didn’t dwell on it after Monday,” Cignetti says. “I dealt with it for about 15 seconds on Friday.
“It’s a great thing to have at the university, but it’s easy for a team to lose focus. They need to understand what they’re here for. I’ve seen it happen over and over. We overcame it and won, so it was a good day.”
As far as the GameDay experience, consider the 89-year-old Corso, the former Hoosier head football coach. He gave the crowd a huge pre-game reason to cheer on a sun-splashed Saturday outside of Memorial Stadium. Sporting his classic Indiana pullover red sweater from his 1970s’ Cream ‘n Crimson coaching days, he made his game-winner prediction by throwing down a Washington helmet, then raising and kissing an IU helmet.
It was part of a game environment like none before in the Hoosiers’ 100-year-plus program history -- a sell-out crowd of 53,082, a Bloomington-declared Coach Lee Corso Day, GameDay making its first-ever Saturday appearance at IU, students camped out on 17th Street Friday night to position themselves for GameDay festivities, fans twirling white Coach Cig towels in a frenzy during the game, and even country singer Clayton Anderson posting his “Indiana” song on social media to celebrate
Indiana’s rise into the national spotlight brought the most iconic college football pre-game show in history to Bloomington and buzz resonated throughout Hoosier Nation.
“This is awesome,” says Coughlin, ESPN Sportscenter commentator and GameDay analyst. “Curt Cignetti is the coach of the year so far with the way he’s pieced this roster together. To mold it all together, you have to know what you’re doing.”
Cignetti has proven he does know what he’s doing wherever he’s been, from Indiana University-Pennsylvania to Elon to James Madison to now IU. GameDay came to Bloomington a week after FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff show showcased Indiana’s 56-7 home win over Nebraska in an unprecedented display of national PR.
“It’s the way he’s kept his guys motivated even though they keep winning big,” Coughlin says. “How do you stay motivated? That’s the genius of what he’s done.”
Davis, GameDay host and a veteran broadcast journalist, calls IU’s unbeaten start and top-15 national ranking, “remarkable.” He says his first big impression of IU came with its September 42-13 win at UCLA.
“I was like, ‘Wow.’ There were crisp, and by that I mean they executed. They were not sloppy. There was no confusion.
“A lot of that is attributable to Coach Cignetti, (offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan) and (quarterback coach Tino Sunseri), but a lot also goes to (quarterback) Kurtis Rourke. He’s a veteran guy who orchestrates the offense very well.
“Then, the defense plays with a lot of intensity and aggression. It looks like Curt’s teams at James Madison. It’s really impressive.”
IU’s win over Washington showcased that.
“What they’ve done is remarkable,” Davis says. “Curt says he thinks they have staying power. Nothing they’ve show on film would indicate otherwise.”
A lot of the day’s special feel came with the return of Corso, who met with members of his 1979 Holiday Bowl winning team before the game.
Davis says he read an old Sports Illustrated story that detailed Corso’s approach to winning at Indiana.
“It was his ability to entertain while still being a hard-nosed competitor as a coach,” Davis said. “There are a lot of old stories about things that happened during games while he was here, and some have become legend. They might have a hint of fiction, but as Lee would say, ‘Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.’”
Davis says Corso’s impact goes well beyond College GameDay.
“He's the one, back in the day, who really embraced and personified the idea, as he always reminds us of to this day, that ‘It’s entertainment sweetheart, and football is our vehicle.’
“He embraced that early on. Because of that, he’s one of the most important, if not the most important, figure in college football television history. He changed the way pre-game shows were broadcast, that it’s not just (Xs and Os). He was one of the first to say exactly what he thought. It changed the way people covered college football.”
Corso’s entertaining style -- including his trademark, “Not so fast, my friend,” quip and picking game winners by putting on that team’s mascot head (because IU doesn't have a mascot, he put on a 1979 Holiday Bowl hat) -- has generated many stories over the years. Davis said his favorite came in 2016 at Penn State. The school has a tradition of lifting up the Nittany Lion mascot and passing him to the top of Beaver Stadium.
An idea surfaced about letting fans body surface the then 81-year-old Corso. Davis mentioned it to Corso, who was instantly all in.
He said, ‘Yeah, we’re going to do it!’ Davis says.
Then Davis and stadium security began having second thoughts.
“Security starts freaking out,” Davis said. “They said, ‘We have to call it off. Let the Lion do it.’”
Davis called Corso to tell him.
“I said, security is worried, so forget about body surfing the crowd,’” Davis says. “Lee said, ‘Hell no, sweetheart. We’re doing it!”
So Corso did. He had flair then, and still does. After picking IU to beat Washington, he added a classic line from his Hoosier past:
“Don't forget. Beat Purdue!”