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Indiana edges Michigan to reach 10 wins, likely Playoff and wants more: What is this world?

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Indiana edges Michigan to reach 10 wins, likely Playoff and wants more: What is this world?

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana junior receiver Elijah Sarratt, a zero-star recruit as a high schooler in Virginia, delivered a figurative roasting to Michigan sophomore cornerback and former four-star recruit Jyaire Hill, leaving him behind in the open field and cruising under a 36-yard touchdown pass from Kurtis Rourke.

Indiana junior defensive end Mikail Kamara, a zero-star recruit as a high schooler in Virginia, got between Michigan senior right guard Giovanni El-Hadi and sophomore right tackle Evan Link and right into the face of quarterback Davis Warren. Both of those Wolverines linemen came out of their prep careers with four stars next to their names, and both were needed to deal with Kamara. Eight stars vs. none. None won.

Indiana, the losingest major college football program, beat Michigan, the winningest, 20-15 on Saturday in front of 53,082 reborn ignorers of November basketball at Memorial Stadium. That’s 10 wins for the first time in Indiana history. That’s 11 wins all-time against Michigan in 73 tries. That’s the one that makes it hard to come up with a scenario in which first-year coach Curt Cignetti and his Hoosiers aren’t among the teams selected for the first 12-team College Football Playoff.

And I swear to you, as sure as Bob Knight could chuck a chair, these people were acting like they had to answer for something Saturday.

“I’m glad we won,” Cignetti said. “I’m not happy with the way we played.”

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He said that a few ways while commending his defense and his team for being “gutty,” and he did so after he was asked about the little bit of emotion he let show in the on-field interview with CBS after it ended — while Indiana students stood happily in the stands and didn’t rush the field, because apparently beating the defending national champion is just what they do around here now.

Those couple of seconds on the field to take it all in, some of the smiles Cignetti shared with family members and friends as he walked past the massive IU weight room toward the presser, the fact close to 20 family members and friends crowded into the place … these are the hints of a gigantic moment.

Cignetti and his No. 8 Hoosiers (7-0 Big Ten) weren’t going to say it, not after they let a 17-3 first-half lead over the disappointing Wolverines (5-5, 3-4) dissolve into the need to stop a tying two-point conversion and another U-M drive in the fourth quarter, which the IU defense did. Indiana was supposed to roll over this Quick Lane Bowl-looking Michigan team, as Indiana has rolled over everyone, and that’s not what happened.

That’s fine, Hoosiers. There’s a Big Ten championship in play. The game of the season up next, at No. 2 Ohio State after a well-timed week off. So the fact that The Athletic’s Austin Mock has the Hoosiers at 92 percent to make the Playoff and their regular-season finale is against wretched rival Purdue needn’t prompt any public exhales. Especially after this version of Michigan outplayed Indiana in the second half.

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But we outside the program don’t have to play ball. We can rub our eyes and shake our heads and laugh almost uncomfortably at the fact we are asking as a college football nation in November whether these Hoosiers have quite enough to win a national championship.

We’re wondering how Michigan hung so tough with Indiana. We’re giving the Wolverines a nice pat on the back for doing so, and gee, what if coach Sherrone Moore didn’t forfeit 31 seconds before taking a timeout late or spend much of the second half proceeding as if just trying to avoid a blowout? After the news conferences on Saturday, back up in the press box, people were watching the Alabama–LSU game and talking about how it might affect IU’s Playoff draw like that’s a normal thing to discuss.

Are we in The Upside Down? How far away from Bloomington is Hawkins, Ind., the supernatural setting for “Stranger Things”?

We can be amazed. We can be enthralled, too. Because Indiana football in 2024 reminds us that this sport is not just math and science. If it were, the Hoosiers wouldn’t have dominated play in the first half and searched for answers after a wobbly second. They would have been trucked like most Indiana teams through the decades against most Michigan teams.

The 247Sports Team Talent Composite, which assesses rosters based on recruiting rankings, tells us Michigan, having lost a lot from last year’s Jim Harbaugh-led natty, is still No. 5 in the Big Ten and No. 16 nationally. Indiana is No. 16 in the Big Ten and No. 57 nationally. There’s a talent chasm between these teams.

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Go by the starting lineups and Michigan’s offense averaged 3.45 stars — despite zero-star quarterback and former walk-on Warren — and its defense averaged 3.73 stars. Indiana’s offense averaged 2.81 stars, and its defense averaged 2.0 stars. So, yeah, Michigan is nearly one star per player better with its defense on the field against Indiana’s offense — even without its best player, injured cornerback and five-star Will Johnson — and we’re asking how the Wolverines got all these stops.

Eight of Indiana’s starting 22 on Saturday, Sarratt and Kamara among them, played for Cignetti at James Madison. Players elevate from Group of 5 programs to Power 4 leagues and make a mark frequently. But a whole slew of James Madison players, and a former Mid-American Conference quarterback, threatening a hostile takeover of the Big Ten?

Recruiting rankings mean something, of course, and correlate in bulk with program success, but they say nothing of how a player will grow and work and fit into a scheme. These evaluations say nothing about how people will get along. Or how they will be coached and developed. They can’t predict choices made in a dorm room on a Thursday evening when happy hour beckons but a young man hits the squat press or the books instead.

It’s not just science and math, it’s art. And an Indiana program known for bad replicas of “Dogs Playing Poker” is getting calls from the folks at the Guggenheim.

Yes, Saturday might have offered a glimpse of potential struggles ahead against the best in the sport for this team, which still hasn’t played a great one. The loss of left guard Drew Evans — another zero-star recruit turned excellent player — to an Achilles injury in practice last week can’t be ignored in Michigan’s four sacks and frequent second-half pressures. The math says Indiana’s depth is tenuous.

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Yet the way Saturday’s game went should be good for Indiana. For one thing, no one will be screaming disrespect on behalf of the Hoosiers when Tuesday’s rankings come out. More likely, they will question why Indiana is as high as it is. There’s no doubt Cignetti will love and use that.

And he just saw his players face unwanted pressure and respond to it. The defense did it over and over again. The special teams made an enormous play, Ke’Shawn Williams’ 22-yard punt return to the Michigan 39 to set up a Nicolas Radicic field goal for breathing room. Rourke made a crucial throw to get IU close enough and later ran for the first down on a read-option keeper that finally enabled victory formation.

“We knew eventually we’d come to a game that would be close and we’d have to see what we’re made of,” Rourke said.

“When you’re a good team and you stay confident, stay poised in those moments, you know, no moment is too big,” Williams said.

Enjoy it for 24 hours. Watch the film. Make improvements. The Hoosiers sounded like any other winning team involved in any other championship chase Saturday. Williams did, however, acknowledge that he looked around in the final seconds at that crowd and thought: “This is crazy.”

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It was. And it is.

“I can’t say enough about these guys,” Cignetti said. “I don’t throw many bouquets out there; you guys know that. But these guys have accomplished quite a bit.”

No, he doesn’t throw bouquets. He takes clay that is not supposed to be of premium quality and molds it into something very much of premium quality. Leonardo da Cignetti said he’s going to take a much-needed day off Sunday. Then it’s back to the masterpiece.

(Photo of Zach Horton and Elijah Sarratt: James Black / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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The rise of football’s ‘arrival fits’, putting player fashion in the spotlight

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The rise of football’s ‘arrival fits’, putting player fashion in the spotlight

Tom Marchitelli worked as an accountant for a hedge fund for eight years before setting up a side hustle that soon became his full-time business.

Marchitelli started a custom menswear clothing business called Gentleman’s Playbook a decade ago. Since then, he has accrued approximately 500 clients, the majority of whom are professional athletes in the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB, and on the PGA Tour.

When The Athletic spoke with Marchitelli, he was heading to an airport in Dallas after a meeting with a baseball player.

In his role as personal designer, stylist and tailor, Marchitelli handpicks entire wardrobes for a clientele which includes Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. During the different pre-seasons across the United States’ various leagues, Marchitelli is rarely in one city for long. As well as working on a lookbook of outfits for specific events, the majority of his work centres around personalising entire collections of tunnel fits for the athletes he works with.

“Tunnel fits” is the phrase used to describe what sportsmen and women wear when they turn up at venues for games (‘fits’ being short for ‘outfits’).

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Usually, athletes arrive in the tunnel beneath the arena wearing their best outfits, which is where the name derives from. Think of it as a pre-game runway, where players across sports in North America showcase their personalities through what they wear.

The most fashion-conscious athletes, such as Houston Texans’ Stefon Diggs or Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, will go big, but others prefer to keep it simple.


Stefon Diggs arrives for an NFL game in January this year (Perry Knotts/Getty Images)

Kyle Kuzma was in the former camp, and is now the latter. The Washington Wizards forward recently announced his ‘retirement’ from the tunnel walk after taking the game to heights with choices including an incredibly oversized pink Raf Simons jumper and a black Rick Owens puffer jacket.

“I don’t want to be a part of that type of community where you have to put on a ’fit. I’m really taking a backseat to all of that,” Kuzma told Vogue in October.

While Kuzma has checked out and traded in a palate of high fashion for plain-tasting sweatsuits, in Europe, footballers are only just checking into the world of tunnel fits.

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“It is a sport within sports (in the U.S.),” Marchitelli says. “Social media plays a huge role, because all major sports teams have media people who are in charge of photographing the players as they enter.

“That’s only been around, I would say maybe eight years, because when I first started, that (posting images of players arriving to games on social media) wasn’t a thing. And then it started becoming so visible.


Kyle Kuzma, pictured in 2022 (left) and 2021, has ‘retired’ from deliberate tunnel fits (Getty Images)

“You’re getting a close and personal look at what athletes look like when they’re not in their uniforms (team kit), and how they are choosing to express themselves. And, over time, players have taken more pride in how they show up for work.

“Another big factor that drives it is competition among players. These guys are trying to outdress guys on their team, guys on other teams across their sport, and even crossing over into other sports.

“When they show up to the arena, they’re given the uniform that they’re forced to wear, so they don’t have any real choices of self-expression other than their shoes, cleats (boots), maybe a wristband accessory or a headband. But the outfit that they wear to show up to the game, they’re able to express how they feel and how they want to look.”

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Marchitelli could field a team in each men’s major sports league with the number of clients he has, but not a single one is a professional footballer despite MLS and NWSL teams having both dabbled in this subcultural movement.

In European football, tunnel fits are almost nonexistent. France international Jules Kounde led the way for Barcelona in recent seasons with his ensembled looks which blend vintage finds with high fashion. This season though, Barca players are no longer been allowed to arrive for games in their own clothes. This has led Kounde, a face now as recognisable in fashion quarters as much as football, capturing his fits to share with his followers on social media after matches instead.

Most teams have a strict club-tracksuits-only policy applied to matchday and this is one of the main reasons why pre-game tunnel fits have not yet taken off in football.

So where is the individuality? The answer to that does not yet reside in the underbelly of stadiums but in the car parks of the sport’s training grounds. Heading into training for your club or national team has slowly evolved into a time when players across the men’s and women’s games can showcase their style in the form of arrival fits.

Showing up for international duty, in particular, has become a moment for players to demonstrate their fashion prowess.

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Last month, Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate arrived at France’s training ground wearing a neon green hood zipped over his face while his international team-mate Marcus Thuram, often bedecked in Balenciaga and Chrome Hearts, is among those also paving the way.


Konate arrives for international duty with France in October (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

Players of Argentina, Belgium and Portugal are three other standouts who consistently show up. Meanwhile, England — whose players include Louis Vuitton brand ambassador Jude Bellingham — are still strutting around in team-supplied Nike tracksuits, proving the trend has not completely caught fire everywhere.

“It was probably 2022 when that (arrival fits) wave really began,” Jordan Clarke, founder of Footballer Fits, a platform which celebrates footballer fashion, says.

Clarke noticed that Premier League team Crystal Palace had started putting pictures on Instagram of their players arriving at their south London training ground wearing their own clothes. After starting a conversation with the club, Footballer Fits and Palace have been collaborating on Instagram posts to showcase what players are wearing ever since.

“Now we’ve done it with Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, Anderlecht in Belgium, we’ve done it with Brentford a lot, we’ve done it with Crystal Palace Women, Chelsea Women — there are so many,” says Clarke, who hopes that arrival fits are a precursor to tunnel fits becoming a regular sight in football.

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“I don’t want to leave anyone out, but we’ve done it with so many clubs and now you’re seeing Liverpool, Newcastle United and Manchester City maybe not doing it in collaboration with us, but they’re doing it (themselves) now, and that’s amazing to see.

“With training, there is a lot less pressure. They (clubs) can release photos midweek and whatever happens on the weekend, unless you’re a super-negative person, I don’t think people are going to link back to what the players wore to training as the reason why they lost.”

Siobhan Wilson is one of the players who has featured on Footballer Fits’ Instagram page in collaboration with her club, Birmingham City Women, and she would welcome an escape from the traditional pre-match tracksuit.

“It actually annoys me, you know — especially when you see what they are doing in the WNBA,” says the 30-year-old Jamaica international with a laugh. “I wish we did stuff like that here. They just want us to all look like clones of each other, but it’s fine.”

Wilson used to deliver mail while playing part-time for Palace. She now combines a full-time playing career at Birmingham, who are top of the second-tier Championship, with being a fitness influencer to 1.3million followers on TikTok.

“It’s nice for the fans to see players express themselves through what they’re wearing and their style,” she says. “You get to see people’s personalities by doing that, so it would be something that I would love to see more of.

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“For me, I feel like if you’ve got like a nice ’fit on, and a good pair of shoes on, you just feel good. But I get the other side (players arriving in uniform tracksuits) too. It is a team game. You’re there to play as a team, so I get it from that standpoint, but wearing your own clothes and feeling comfortable in what you’re wearing: it allows you to be yourself a bit more.”


Martin Odegaard and Arsenal arriving in team gear to play Chelsea this month (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Algen Hamilton is a designer and stylist from south London.

His break in the fashion industry arrived when he started styling looks for footballer friend Reiss Nelson, the Fulham winger (on loan from Arsenal) who he met at primary school aged four. Hamilton’s client list includes Trevoh Chalobah (Crystal Palace, on loan from Chelsea), Kai Havertz (Arsenal), Joe Willock (Newcastle), Ben Chilwell (Chelsea) and Mateo Kovacic (Manchester City).

“I’ll work with them constantly throughout the season, whenever they want to — when they have an event coming up or they have an awards ceremony or they’re going to a premiere,” Hamilton, 24, explains. “When it comes to arrival fits, those looks normally come from the wardrobe I create and I’ll update it multiple times in a year.

“I speak to them first about what they want to wear and what the vibe is that we are going for, if it’s different to before, where they are travelling to et cetera. Then I’ll go off, make the outfits and send them a message. They will tell me which outfits they love.

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“So, for example, I’m working with Trevoh right now. We made a whole bunch of outfits, which he picked, and then there are brands who want to gift some stuff for winter.”


Amadou Onana, left, checks in for Belgium duty in 2023 (Nico Vereecken/Photo News via Getty Images)

Having worked with Chalobah on a full-time basis since 2021, Hamilton has watched the progression of football and fashion’s relationship firsthand.

“When I first started, players weren’t really going out there dressing up like they do now, and it wasn’t just the Premier League — we are talking La Liga (its Spanish equivalent) and the Bundesliga (the top division in Germany),” he says.

“Also, brands weren’t really opening up partnerships to football players either. As time has gone by, the popularity has grown and supporters are tapping into the player outside of the training ground and off the pitch. I feel like now, those opportunities are happening more. Players are more open with their fits and want to show them off.

“We have watched the game change bit by bit and it is only a matter of time for it to get to that stage where it’s like the sports are in America. But let’s not mix a step forward with progress, because it can be a step forward seeing teams do that (post-arrival fits on social media) but it doesn’t mean it’s actual progression for the teams to change their minds.

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“The Premier League is very traditional. They’ll probably be the last league that will change how things are.

“It would be nice for the progress to be meaningful; for it (wearing an arrival outfit) not to be looked at as a distraction or as a moment where players aren’t focused on what the team objectives are, but to see it as an opportunity where players are expressing themselves.”

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Footballers, modelling and the power of expression

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Kelsea Peterson)

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Jason Kelce to host new late-night show on ESPN

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Jason Kelce to host new late-night show on ESPN

Jason Kelce is expanding his media resume.

The future Hall of Famer, who is a podcast host and “Monday Night Football” analyst, announced Thursday he will host a late-night show on ESPN.

Kelce made the announcement during an appearance with Jimmy Kimmel, a future rival.

Jason Kelce says being a father is one of the highlights of his life. (Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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“I loved late-night shows. I’ve always loved them. I remember sleepovers watching Conan O’Brien with my friends,” Kelce said on Kimmel’s show. “We’re going to have a bunch of guys up there — legends of the game, friends that I played with, coaches, celebrities.”

The first four episodes of “They Call It Late Night With Jason Kelce” will be broadcast in front of a live audience at Union Transfer in Philadelphia, where Kelce played all 13 of his NFL seasons with the Eagles.

Jason Kelce at golf tournament

Jason Kelce waves to fans at the 18th hole at the 2024 American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course July 14, 2024, in Stateline, Nev.  (Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)

The first episode will be taped the evening of Jan. 3 and will be broadcast the following morning at 1 a.m. ET. ESPN will record four more shows, and the final broadcast is scheduled for Feb. 1.

Kelce and his younger brother, Travis, launched a podcast, “New Heights,” in 2022, a few months before facing each other in the Super Bowl.

After Travis won that Super Bowl, he hosted “Saturday Night Live,” and Jason made an appearance. Travis is also the host of the show “Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity?”

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Jason and Kylie Kelce

Jason Kelce poses for a photo with Kylie Kelce during the “Kelce” documentary premiere at Suzanne Roberts Theatre Sept. 8, 2023, in Philadelphia. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

Kelce’s wife, Kylie, announced Friday she is pregnant with the couple’s fourth daughter. In his career, he made seven Pro Bowls and was a six-time first-team All-Pro selection.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

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North Hollywood's Ananya Balaraman wins girls' cross-country title in City

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North Hollywood's Ananya Balaraman wins girls' cross-country title in City

On a cool Saturday morning at Pierce College, Ananya Balaraman of North Hollywood High did something she has been dreaming about for years. She won the City Section Division I girls’ cross-country title with a personal best time of 17 minutes, 38 seconds.

The straight-A student who attends North Hollywood’s Highly Gifted Magnet finished sixth in last year’s race in 19:18. She credits her improvement to increasing her mileage workouts.

Granada Hills won the Division I girls’ title.

Paul Tranquilla of Venice won the City Section DI boys’ race with a school-record time of 14:44.60.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

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In the boys’ race, Paul Tranquilla of Venice raced to the Division I title with a time of 14:44.60. Last week he ran a personal best of 15:03 at the preliminaries, so he put together back-to-back weeks reaching peak form. He set a school record and was the 800 City champion in track.

Palisades won the boys’ Division I team title.

It was a big day for the Montenegro family. Jorge helped Monroe win the Division II boys’ title and his sister, Trinidad, was a member of Granada Hills’ Division I championship team.

Griffin Kushen breaks record

Griffin Kushen of Tesoro, a recent Duke signee, had a memorable Saturday morning at the Southern Section championships at Mt. San Antonio College. He set a Mt. SAC course record with a time of 14:38.5 in Division 2. Glendora won the team title.

Beckman won the Division 1 boys’ team title. Maximo Zavaleta of King took first in 15:00.8.

Trabuco Hills won the Division 1 girls’ team title behind Holly Barker, who ran 16:40.7 to take the individual title.

In Division 2 girls, Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura won in 17:31.9. El Toro captured the team title.

The top teams and individuals advance to the state championships at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 30.

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