Indiana
Oregon’s Bear Alexander Reveals ‘Fire Lit’ by Ducks’ Loss to Indiana
The No. 8 Oregon Ducks lost their first game of the season to the No. 3 Indiana Hoosiers, and Oregon defensive lineman Bear Alexander revealed the team’s mindset as they prepare to face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
“This one definitely lit a fire up under our coaches, I’m sure the players too. We back to work, it’s a work week. We got to grow from it, learn from it, continue to get better as the season goes on,” said Alexander when speaking to the media after Tuesday’s practice.
The Oregon defensive lineman was asked how the Ducks are responding to the loss with a spot in the College Football Playoff still in reach.
“It’s just something we can’t let linger,” said Alexander. “We can’t doubt ourself on it. Those guys, obviously, Indiana’s a good team. They played a cleaner game than us, so just something we got to shake back from, improve, get better as a group. Come out ready to kick ass.”
Alexander highlighted the usual suspects like Oregon quarterback Dante Moore and center Iapani “Poncho” Laloulu as leaders who have stepped up after the loss. However, Alexander also noted freshmen running backs Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill Jr. as leaders of the team.
“This team is full of leaders,” said Alexander.
Despite being a young team, Oregon coach Dan Lanning has often praised the maturity of the Ducks, but how the team responds after the loss to Indiana will be their toughest litmus test yet.
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MORE: Biggest Winners, Losers From Oregon’s Loss Against Indiana
On Monday, Lanning highlighted how Alexander has been able to make an impact in his limited time at Oregon. Prior to transferring to the Ducks, Alexander played for the Georgia Bulldogs and USC Trojans.
“He’s doing a really good job. He’s improved throughout the season. He’s a guy, we talk about taking our medicine every single week and saying, what can we improve? What can we get better at? He’s a guy that’s done a good job of attacking those things, each week, and proven to be a guy that can play snaps for us,” said Lanning.
On Tuesday, Alexander spoke to the media about how he’s changed and grown at Oregon.
“It was just a lot of stuff I was still growing from. We just prepared every day, been pushed by Coach T (Tony Tuioti), Coach Tosh (Lupoi). Just having elite preparation to get to this point, continue to execute,” Alexander said.
Specifically, Alexander revealed the message that defensive line coach Tony Tuioti gave him:
“Take it one day at a time. There’s no rush to success. Just take it one day at a time, continue to be a good person, keep treating your teammates good and the guys in the room, and know that I’ll pan out,” said Alexander.
Indiana
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All six No. 1 teams stayed at the top of the class in the USA TODAY Network Indiana high school football poll released Monday.
Brownsburg (Class 6A), New Palestine (5A), Bishop Chatard (4A), Evansville Memorial (3A), Adams Central (2A) and Springs Valley (A) are the No. 1 teams going into the final week of regular season games.
It was relatively quiet week of changes with only two teams – Tippecanoe Valley (No. 10 in 3A) and Carroll (Flora) (No. 10 in Class A) – new to the poll this week.
Here is the full poll:
USA TODAY Network Indiana poll
Class 6A football top 10
| Ranking | Team | Record | Votes | Prev. ranking |
| 1. | Brownsburg (17) | 8-0 | 179 | 1 |
| 2. | Carmel | 7-1 | 153 | 2 |
| 3. | Crown Point (1) | 8-0 | 145 | 3 |
| 4. | Center Grove | 7-1 | 119 | 4 |
| 5. | Penn | 8-0 | 102 | 5 |
| 6. | Westfield | 6-2 | 100 | 6 |
| 7. | Lawrence North | 6-2 | 60 | 7 |
| 8. | Decatur Central | 6-2 | 55 | 9 |
| 9. | Fishers | 5-3 | 47 | 8 |
| 10. | Warren Central | 5-3 | 12 | 10 |
Dropped out: None
Others receiving votes: Carroll (Fort Wayne) 9. Hamilton Southeastern 8. Avon 1.
Class 5A football top 10
| Ranking | Team | Record | Votes | Prev. ranking |
| 1. | New Palestine (18) | 8-0 | 180 | 1 |
| 2. | Bloomington South | 8-0 | 160 | 2 |
| 3. | Lafayette Jeff | 7-1 | 115 | 4 |
| 4. (tie) | Cathedral | 5-3 | 105 | 3 |
| 4. (tie) | East Central | 7-1 | 105 | 5 |
| 6. | Merrillville | 6-2 | 94 | 7 |
| 7. | Concord | 7-1 | 73 | 8 |
| 8. | Whiteland | 6-2 | 56 | 10 |
| 9. | Floyd Central | 7-1 | 46 | 9 |
| 10. | Plainfield | 6-2 | 31 | 6 |
Dropped out: None
Others receiving votes: Castle 7. Terre Haute South 3. Bloomington North 2. Michigan City 2. Evansville North 1.
Class 4A football top 10
| Ranking | Team | Record | Votes | Prev. ranking |
| 1. | Bishop Chatard (15) | 7-1 | 175 | 1 |
| 2. | East Noble (3) | 8-0 | 161 | 2 |
| 3. | Mishawaka | 7-1 | 135 | 3 |
| 4. | Heritage Hills | 7-1 | 133 | 4 |
| 5. | Leo | 7-1 | 92 | 5 |
| 6. | SB St. Joseph | 8-0 | 85 | 6 |
| 7. | Pendleton Heights | 7-1 | 67 | 8 |
| 8. | Roncalli | 5-3 | 53 | 9 |
| 9. | Fort Wayne Dwenger | 6-2 | 39 | 10 |
| 10. | Jasper | 6-2 | 20 | 7 |
Dropped out: None
Others receiving votes: Lowell 13. Lebanon 7. Northview 7. Yorktown 4.
Class 3A football top 10
| Ranking | Team | Record | Votes | Prev. ranking |
| 1. | Evansville Memorial (15) | 8-0 | 174 | 1 |
| 2. | Gibson Southern (1) | 7-1 | 155 | 2 |
| 3. | Cascade (1) | 8-0 | 146 | 3 |
| 4. | Knox | 8-0 | 120 | 5 |
| 5. | Maconaquah | 8-0 | 103 | 6 |
| 6. | Lawrenceburg | 7-1 | 98 | 7 |
| 7. | Mississinewa | 7-1 | 64 | 4 |
| 8. | Scottsburg | 7-1 | 41 | 10 |
| 9. | Tri-West | 6-2 | 31 | 8 |
| 10. | Tippecanoe Valley | 6-2 | 23 | NR |
Dropped out: West Noble
Others receiving votes: Griffith 14. Evansville Mater Dei 12. Franklin County 2. Indian Creek 2. Twin Lakes 2. West Noble 2.
Class 2A football top 10
| Ranking | Team | Record | Votes | Prev. ranking |
| 1. | Adams Central (18) | 8-0 | 180 | 1 |
| 2. | Brownstown Central | 8-0 | 155 | 2 |
| 3. | Lapel | 8-0 | 139 | 3 |
| 4. | Andrean | 7-1 | 117 | 4 |
| 5. | Eastbrook | 8-0 | 110 | 5 |
| 6. | Lutheran | 7-1 | 80 | 6 |
| 7. | Triton Central | 7-1 | 76 | 7 |
| 8. | Linton-Stockton | 6-2 | 60 | 9 |
| 9. | Wheeler | 7-0 | 39 | 10 |
| 10. | Bluffton | 7-1 | 15 | 8 |
Dropped out: None
Others receiving votes: Rochester 8. Alexandria 4. Winchester 4. Churubusco 1. Lake Station 1.
Class A football top 10
| Ranking | Team | Record | Votes | Prev. ranking |
| 1. | Springs Valley (12) | 8-0 | 168 | 1 |
| 2. | North Judson (1) | 7-1 | 136 | 3 |
| 3. | North Decatur | 6-1 | 130 | 2 |
| 4. | Providence (4) | 5-2 | 121 | 4 |
| 5. | South Putnam | 6-2 | 103 | 5 |
| 6. | Frontier (1) | 8-0 | 100 | 6 |
| 7. | Riverton Parke | 8-0 | 87 | 7 |
| 8. | Pioneer | 7-1 | 63 | 8 |
| 9. | North Daviess | 8-0 | 48 | 9 |
| 10. | Carroll (Flora) | 5-2 | 16 | NR |
Dropped out: Madison-Grant (10)
Others receiving votes: South Adams 10. Madison-Grant 3. West Central 3. North Miami 1. Sheridan 1.
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649. Get IndyStar’s high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter. And be sure to subscribe to our new IndyStarTV: Preps YouTube channel.
Usually, by mid-October, Indiana fans have already turned the page from football to basketball. And, most years, that process is completed long before mid-October.
But, in 2025, with Curt Cignetti at the helm, Hoosier nation has all of its attention channeled towards football – and rightfully so. Indiana is 6-0, ranked No. 3 in the country, and a full-fledged national title contender.
Still, basketball season is inching closer by the day, as Darian DeVries’ squad even has an exhibition outing this Friday against Marian.
Although Indiana isn’t expected to debut in the preseason top-25, the Hoosiers did have one of the highest-rated transfer classes in the country (No. 10, per 247 Sports), and appear poised to take a step in the right direction in Year One of the DeVries era.
But, historically speaking, the AP poll hasn’t been the most accurate measure in terms of predicting success. Especially in today’s era, much of the college basketball world – and sports as a whole – is focused on analytics.
In an encouraging sign for the Hoosiers, they appear to be well-respected in perhaps the sport’s most prominent metric: KenPom.
Where did Indiana land in the KenPom preseason rankings?
DeVries’ crew was tabbed as the No. 40 team in the country in the initial release of KenPom’s 2025-26 rankings. Both Indiana’s offense (No. 35) and its defense (No. 41) are expected to be stellar, but neither are projected to be dominant by KenPom.
The preseason KenPom Rankings just dropped 🔥 pic.twitter.com/RoaClW58aA
— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) October 12, 2025
10 other Big Ten squads ranked ahead of the Hoosiers, including notable teams in Purdue (No. 3), Illinois (No. 6), and UCLA (No. 10).
How are KenPom preseason rankings calculated?
The metric – whether it’s the middle of the season, the end, or the beginning – is built to be “purely predictive”. For the preseason, KenPom uses box score and play-by-play data, along with scheduling information, while taking into account transfer portal additions and any other roster changes.
Essentially, the analytical tool seems to use all available statistical data involving every member of a current team. Then, it flips all of that into an “adjusted efficiency margin”, also known as the “Net Rating”, to rank each team in Division I.
It has been proven to be such an effective metric that even the NCAA Tournament committee uses it in the March Madness selection process.
Nevertheless, considering Indiana hasn’t even played an exhibition game just yet, it’s safe to say that KenPom can’t be entirely accurate on pinpointing where the Hoosiers rank among the nation’s best.
That said, it’s a promising sign that such a lauded metric appears to be relatively confident in Indiana heading into the 2025-26 campaign.
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