Indiana football is enjoying a magical season. The Hoosiers sit at 10-0 going into Saturday's matchup against Ohio State in Columbus. They're getting used to be featured in FOX's Big Noon showcase and, if they can somehow overcome two-touchdown underdog odds, will cement a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game while knowing that whatever happens there will not affect their place in the College Football Playoff.
There's some school of thought that Indiana might get into the 12-team postseason even if they lose to the Buckeyes, which would really upset everyone who thinks all SEC losses are actually wins and every Big Ten team is secretly a fraud. In fact, that was one of the major narrative-shaping conversations going into the Tuesday night rankings reveal on ESPN—so much so that even proud heartlanders had to concede that a two-loss Tennessee or Georgia or Alabama is probably more deserving than a one-loss Hoosiers team.
So with that backdrop, Joey Galloway's bizarre Indiana conversation was even stranger than it would be in normal times. His big, global brain idea—which he pushed extremely hard—was that the Hoosiers should sit start quarterback Kurtis Rourke on Saturday.
Courtesy of Awful Announcing, you can see how this rightfully went over like a lead balloon.
Later, Joey Galloway keeps going on about how he thinks Indiana should sit QB Kurtis Rourke vs Ohio State.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 20, 2024
"You can't do that! It's a culture killer." - Greg McElroy
"You can't do that. You can't do that, Joey." - Booger McFarland
"You can't be serious." - Rece Davis #CFP pic.twitter.com/sdBpwgTExV
Galloway channels John King and dials up a scenario where Indiana loses to Ohio State and sees its playoff odds drop from 99% to 96%. Sitting their only chance to win pretty much guarantees and lopsided loss. Heck, even if Rourke plays no one will be shocked if Indiana gets dismantled to the tune of four-touchdowns. And if that happens, the committee of human beings is not going to put them into the playof, no matter what a computer says.
Look, go ahead and draft the Old Takes Exposed content in case a one-loss Indiana makes the playoff over handful of more deserving Big Ten teams. But also try to imagine them actually doing what Galloway is suggesting. Imagine first-year coach Curt Cignetti walking into the meeting room and plopping down ths masterplan like Kevin McAllister unsheathing his defense against the approaching Wet Bandits. Coach may not make it out of there in one piece.
It's an offensive notion. It's a reverse-engineered take that strays so far from the pure light of sports that it deserves to be rejected out of hand. More accurately, the public deserves better than to have it thrust into their brains. And it is clearly the product of having countless hours to fill and a made-for-television event that could have been on the agate page of the newspaper.
This is the kind of stuff that makes a normal, well-adjusted person wonder why they are even watching in the first place. Forgive the get-off-my-lawn vibes here but what Galloway is doing while suggesting this seems antithetical to sports and the reason people like sports in the first place. Are there really not enough other angles to explore when it comes to the College Football Playoff that this square peg needs to be forcibly and painfully wedged toward a round hole?
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Joey Galloway's Bizarre Indiana Suggestion Proves There Are Too Many Sports Takes.
