Indiana
Indiana Is New Turf For ESPN College GameDay; Personalities Excited To Be Here
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – To keep things purely factual, ESPN College GameDay has been to Indiana before. The iconic college football pregame show was hosted from Memorial Stadium at the 2017 opening game on a Thursday night.
That is a fact, but it’s also true that Indiana has never hosted the Saturday version of the show. In terms of the circus-like atmosphere the show is famous for, that distinction makes all the difference in the world.
ESPN College GameDay will begin its version of road show madness at 9 a.m. ET on Saturday. The show will be broadcast on ESPN and ESPNU. The game itself, which kicks off at noon, is not on ESPN. It will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.
College GameDay host Rece Davis enjoys it when College GameDay heads to a new site. Even he acknowledged that the 2017 appearance was only a teaser for the real thing.
“We were in the stadium in 2017. It was a great night, and people were excited. But there’s a little something different about having our full footprint of the show, the full three hours and starting the day of football,” Davis said to the Indiana media on Friday at Memorial Stadium. “It’s just a different vibe and a different energy about that.”
College GameDay does its best to host at the site that tells the best story of college football on that weekend. Unlike some of its competitors, ESPN does not hesitate to host the program at sites of games it is not broadcasting.
Davis knows Indiana is going to be fired up for the iconic show, which began in 1987 and started visiting campus sites in 1993. Over the years, it’s become part of college football tradition itself. Former Indiana coach Lee Corso, who has been on the show since its inception, has become famous for his personality and antics on the morning show.
“I’m looking forward to actually being among the Indiana fans,” Davis said. “It’s a lot different when we go some place where we haven’t been before. When we go to Ohio State, we go to Alabama, we’re treated well, we’re treated great, wonderful people.
“But it’s almost like, ‘Hey, you guys are back. Did you guys pay the property taxes and everything? I know we’re all neighbors here.’ You know, it’s like they’re used to seeing us,” Davis said.
With or without the Corso tie-in, Indiana’s football team had to put itself on ESPN’s radar to get the show in the first place. Indiana is 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the Big Ten heading into its game against Washington. Curt Cignetti’s rapid turnaround has turned heads around the college football world.
“The adjective I’ve used is crisp, and what I mean by that is they execute. They’re not sloppy. There’s not confusion. A lot of that is attributable to coach (Mike) Shanahan (co-offensive coordinator), coach Cignetti, coach (Tino) Sunseri (co-offensive coordinator),” Davis said.
Quarterback Kurtis Rourke was also mentioned as a key part of Indiana’s success, but he won’t play against Washington with his right thumb injury. Tayven Jackson will play in his place.
“(Jackson) comes in the game, and I’m like, they’re going to run the ball and get out of here with a win,” ESPN personality “Stanford Steve” Couglin said. “No. The first six plays are passes, he throws two TDs, and they score 28 more points. So, that foot is on the gas, and I can’t wait to see what they bring the table.”
Davis thinks Indiana has its destiny in its own hands as far as the College Football Playoff is concerned. The first CFP rankings will be announced on Nov. 5.
“First? They can win the Big 10, which is a tall order, for sure. I understand that. But even if they don’t, let’s say for instance they lose to Ohio State,” Davis surmised. “They don’t make the Big 10 championship game, but they play competitively. I think there’s a really good chance they would be in that top 11 (the best non-Power Four conference champion gets an automatic bid), probably, depending on where the other (non-Power Four) conference champion would be ranked.”
Indiana’s poor strength of schedule – something Davis defended while he also pointed out the reality that it will hurt Indiana in comparison to other playoff contenders – will play a role in the Hoosiers’ fate.
“There will still be football judgment, their schedule outside of these games coming up in November, will be scrutinized, and that’s appropriate. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Davis said. “So a lot of it is going to be how they play. If they play competitively, I think they’ve got a shot, and the best thing about the new system, they can just win, and then they don’t have to worry about it.”
Specific to Saturday, Coughlin had a cautionary tale for Indiana fans. When they visited Cignetti at James Madison in 2023, there was similar hype around the JMU campus. Nearly all of the attention was honed in on JMU. Their opponent, Appalachian State, was treated as an afterthought.
“Not once in that show of three hours did we mention App State, and App State won (26-23) and cost JMU an undefeated season,” Coughlin said. “So knowing that coach Cig was there for that, I’m sure he’s learned from that.”
RIPLEY COUNTY, Ind. (WSBT) — A statewide Silver Alert has been issued for two young children in Indiana.
Police in Ripley County, southeast of Indianapolis, are looing for the children who may be siblings.
The first child is 3-year-old Aaliyah Buckingham.
She was last seen wearing a pink cat shirt and tie-dye shorts.
The younger child is 1-year-old Shane Buckingham, last seen in a red shirt and diaper.
Police think both are with 45-year-old Timothy Buckingham, who was last seen driving a brown GMC truck.
Timothy is described as a 6′ 3″ white man weighing 225 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.
Photo of Timothy Buckingham provided by Indiana State Police
Police have not confirmed the relationship of the three, or why the children are believed to be in danger.
Anyone who sees the three are asked to contact the nearest police department.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A firefighter for the Indianapolis Fire Department was sent to the hospital Wednesday after battling a fire at a vacant house.
According to a Facebook post made by IFD, the fire happened around 10:15 a.m. at a house on Bluff Rd. IFD says that there were several complications, including limited access to fire hydrants and “interior hoarder conditions” that IFD says was due to squatters.
The injured firefighter received “slight injury,” the Facebook post said.
It took over an hour and a half to get the fire under control, according to IFD, and another hour to put out all the remaining hot spots in the building.
According to IFD, the cause of the fire is currently unknown. Their Fire Investigations Unit is working on figuring out what caused the fire.
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