Let's boo the Hoosiers all the way back to the Hoosier State.
10. Indiana is Definitely Not the Best Team in its State
Shoutout to No. 6 Notre Dame for being the best team in Indiana and beating Michigan.
Shoutout to Purdue for making it a close competition for second place.
Even looking past this season, Indiana has by far the worst history of any of the three programs. Indiana holds the fewest conference championships of the trio and has never been ranked as the best team in the country.
Indiana does not have a great history despite its plethora of talent in the NFL. Against Ohio State, IU holds just a 0.133 win percentage. The Hoosiers have also officially lost 22 straight games against the Buckeyes, the second-longest such streak in the history of the two programs (23 wins, 1960-1986).
9. The State of Indiana
The Great State of Ohio takes the brunt of a lot of jokes, ranging from endless plots of corn to potholes on every street. But if Ohio is this bad, what does that make Indiana?
Ohio has three metropolitan areas while Indiana has about one-and-a-half. Ohio has a total of seven major professional sports teams (eight if you count the Buckeyes), while Indiana only has three. Ohio is home to one of the greatest athletes of all time while Indiana has to settle for Jay Cutler and Jaylon Smith.
Simply put, Indiana is a more irrelevant state than Ohio.
8. Two of Our Staff Members Went to Indiana
Talk about a betrayal.
Two of our staff members, who now write about the Buckeyes and share my hatred for Indiana this week, are actually Indiana-educated. These colleagues of mine lived in Bloomington, Indiana, experienced their culture, learned from them, and STILL decided "eh, go Bucks" and now make a living from it.
If Indiana cannot even stop their own alumni from hating them, how is anyone supposed to respect them?
7. Not Lee Corso
Originally, this was going to be tough to fit this one in.
Then, I saw this.
22 years ago today, Lee Corso made his first headgear pick, and it was a good one. pic.twitter.com/luMrOJijhI
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 5, 2018
Lee Corso is an intense figure that is hard not to love. How dare Indiana fire a legend like him? Who cares what his record was, he deserved to be the head coach of Indiana for as long as he wanted.
Instead, he gets to pick the Buckeyes every Saturday (except against Penn State...), which is probably a better job than being the head coach of Indiana's program anyways.
6. Mark Cuban
Cuban graduated from Indiana University in 1981 with a degree in management. Now, he is the poster-child for the Kelley School of Business.
Cuban is now the majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks and is among the most animated figures on the court. Sitting courtside for nearly every game, he can be seen yelling at the refs nightly. Cuban has accumulated more than $1.6 million in NBA fines.
Mark Cuban may be a great businessman, but nothing can compete with his ability to consistently call opposing basketball teams “full of thugs”.
Stay classy Cuban.
5. Archie Miller
The current head coach of the Indiana men’s basketball program, Archie Miller was something of a legend at the University of Dayton.
Miller led the Flyers to the Elite Eight in 2014, beating our beloved Buckeyes on the way. This alone is a reason to hate him, but in 2017, he left Dayton and took the helm of Indiana's program.
The result? Well...
Let's just say Miller has had a rough start to his career and hope that Holtmann continues to torment him for years to come.
4. Candy-Legs
If you never had nightmares about the men in striped pants as a kid, you are lying to yourself.
I really do not care about the history behind these candy-canes, they are just eyesores.
For some reason, this uniform has come back to be a “vintage” style that is now lauded for unknown reasons. In fact, Indiana has gone as far as to add the warmups to their team shop.
Yes. In 2018, for just $99.99, you too can own one of the ugliest accessories in sports history.
3. Jim Jones
In 1949, the notorious Jim Jones attended Indiana University. Best known for his “refuge” in South America called Jonestown, he forced all of his followers to commit mass suicide.
Allegedly, he was inspired to start his movement through a number of speeches and experiences at Indiana University. He never graduated from IU, but started his cult just a few years after he left Bloomington.
One can only wonder what kind of teachings must be going on to motivate someone to be indirectly responsible for the deaths of over 900 people.
2. What’s a Hoosier?
A movie and many google searches later, I can confirm that a “Hoosier” is simply a native inhabitant of Indiana.
That’s it. That’s IU’s team name. I would say it is the school’s mascot, but they do not have one of those either.
In other words, the Indiana Hoosiers could be known as the “Indiana Inhabitants”, “Indiana Citizens”, or even the “Indiana Townspeople”.
Indiana’s creativity for team names is laughable. Their notable team names also include the “Pacers” and the “Fever” and “Colts” does not exactly instill fear into an opposing team.
1. Last Time Ohio State Beat Penn State, They Lost the Next Week
We all remember. It was one of the most of the embarrassing performances by a Buckeyes team of all time.
A week after an emotional, single-point, come-from-behind win against Penn State, Ohio State got thumped by Iowa. The Buckeyes were then left with two losses on the season and missed their shot at the College Football Playoffs.
Now, left in a similar situation, Ohio State cannot afford to have a bad game.
Playing at home will undoubtedly help the team, but the Bucks must show up to play. To ensure its spot in the Final Four, Ohio State needs to dominate the rest of the Big Ten and finish their season strong.
