[6BS] Football Hoosiers Play For National Championship Tomorrow Night
Basketball In A Slide At The Moment
Welcome to another edition of 6-Banner Sunday, a joint production between The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall, and presented by our friends at Homefield Apparel, where we highlight the five most essential IU basketball stories of the past week, plus take a look at how the other IU sports programs are doing.
Football’s run in the playoffs will come to an end tomorrow night. Whether the game ends in a national championship or not, the best season in program history has been taken to the limit.
Also, men’s and women’s basketball continued Big Ten play with struggles. As usual, we will conclude with weekly shows and a look at the rest of the Indiana sports in action with was led by water polo pulling a huge upset in their season opener.
The Assembly Call is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Here is what is in this week’s edition:
Football To Play For National Championship Tomorrow
Hoosier Basketball Dominated At Michigan State
Indiana Hits Low Point Against Iowa At Home
Women’s Basketball Struggling As Well
Weekly Shows
Hoosier Roundup-Water Polo Upsets Top 10 Squad
Banner #1: Football To Play For National Championship Tomorrow
The No. 1 football Hoosiers will play for the national championship tomorrow. IU fans will pack Miami as Indiana looks to take down the hometown Hurricanes and be crowned the best in college football.
IU is 15-0 overall and will play at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN on Monday. IU is now just this victory away from its first national title in the program’s history and is looking to be the first college football squad ever to go a perfect 16-0.
Under head coach Curt Cignetti the team has pulled arguably the greatest turnaround in sports history. For those who were unable to make it down to South Florida, a sold out watch party is happening in Assembly Hall as many will hope to celebrate back in Bloomington.
This success has also led to multiple recruiting victories for 2026. IU got big-time commitments from the portal this week.
Banner #2: Hoosier Basketball Dominated At Michigan State
IU basketball continued conference play as red flags are increasingly appearing. This week started with a blowout to Michigan State in East Lansing.
The Hoosiers hung tough for most of the night and were tied midway through the second half. However, Indiana fell apart from there and lost by a huge 81-60 margin.
Afterwards, IU coach Darian DeVries spoke, Ryan Corazza wrote a Minute After and Film Session, Alex Bozich penned Five Takeaways, and Josh Pos put together a column about the teams woes late in games.
Banner #3: Indiana Hits Low Point Against Iowa At Home
The Hoosiers sunk even lower on Saturday. Against a solid but rebuilt Iowa squad at home, Indiana was barely in the game all afternoon.
While a few runs were made, IU got behind early and stayed there for most of the contest. In the end the season hit a low point in a 74-57 defeat against the Hawkeyes.
Afterwards, DeVries spoke, Ryan Corazza wrote a Minute After, and Alex Bozich penned Five Takeaways.
At 12-6 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers continue to sit near the NCAA Tournament bubble. They have a solid record but are in the midst of a tough stretch with ranked teams and go to elite Michigan on Tuesday (7 pm on Peacock) before a winnable road matchup at struggling Rutgers on Friday (6 pm on FS1).
Their NET sits around 40 overall. While they have few if any bad losses, they lack the critical signature victories needed on an NCAA Tournament resume. However, how they perform in the rest of conference play will decide if they make their first March Madness since 2023 or sink well out of the postseason picture.
Banner #4: Women’s Basketball Struggling As Well
Things have not gone much better (and arguably worse) on the women’s side. While reinforcements appear to be on the way for a better future with a new recruiting coordinator and the best recruiting class in program history for 2026-2027, the interim has been a massive struggle.
Currently the team is paying for its previous recruiting issues while winning which has all come to a head this season. The squad sits at 11-8 overall and 0-7 in the league.
This week saw a couple of steps forward early on with a near-miss against an elite Iowa squad at home. However, several of those same forward steps went backwards a few days later. This was due to getting blown out by an up and down Washington squad who lost to basement dweller Purdue a few days earlier.
The Hoosiers first conference win is unlikely to come this week. This because they head to top notch Ohio State at 8 pm Thursday on Peacock.
Presenting Sponsor: Homefield Apparel
Homefield’s annual Black Friday sale has already begun. Use the promo code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout to get 20% off your entire order.
The item of the week for this week is the new “Hurryin’ Hoosiers” snapback hat. Both
Jerod Morris and Tony Adragna have it, and can attest to its quality and fit.
Plus, how cool is it to have an item celebrating the great teams under Branch McCracken?
Banner #5: Weekly Shows
Podcast on the Brink returned this week a couple of times. On them, Alex Bozich was joined by the Des Moines Register’s Tyler Tachman for the first episode before the retired Rick Bozich came on later in the week.
Also, The Back Home Network has several shows. As a result, it was on air many times this week with programming.
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Banner #6: Hoosier Roundup-Water Polo Upsets Top 10 Squad
Water Polo upset top-10 Fresno State in their season opener.
Volleyball signed a player from the transfer portal.
Men’s soccer hired a new assistant coach.
Softball had several players on preseason watch lists.
Wrestling lost to Ohio State.
Track and field took part in the Indiana Invitational.
Thanks for your continued support of The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall. We’ll be back next weekend with a new roundup.
Now go enjoy yourself a 6-banner Sunday.
Aaron (Ari) Shifron
Assembly Call Contributor
The Assembly Call is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.