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.
Once again, the major news story in Bloomington happened on the gridiron this week as Indiana football continued its defense of its national title against Howard. That side of the ball looked ready to roll in another dominant win.
Also, a rundown of conference football scores, a potential basketball Hoosier was featured in a magazine, and a Big Ten basketball roster preview. As usual, we will conclude with a look at the weekly shows and the rest of the IU sports scene, which was led by men’s soccer opening conference play with a victory.
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Here is what is in this week’s edition:
Football Shuts Out Howard
Big Ten Football Rundown
Sam Alexis on Lindy’s Regional Cover
Big Ten Basketball Roster Preview
Weekly Shows
Hoosier Roundup-Men’s Soccer Wins Big Ten Opener
Banner #1: Football Shuts Out Howard
IU football’s defense of its national title continued on Saturday at Memorial Stadium with that side of the ball leading way. After their victory over North Texas, Howard came calling to Bloomington, as the Hoosiers are once again expected to be near the top of the conference and amongst the best teams in college football.
The question was not if Indiana would win, but how they would look in doing it. While the competition level must be taken into account, Rolijah Hardy and the defense looked much improved this week, allowing just four first downs all day in a 55-0 victory. The only slight question mark was QB Josh Hoover, who was solid, but less sharp and accurate than week one. Nonetheless, Charlie Becker bailed out Hoover with three touchdown catches on less-than-perfect throws with a couple of them and continued to show he is arguably the best WR in the country.
Afterward, IU Coach Curt Cignetti spoke, and Inside the Hall had a photo gallery. Also, Ian Plaskoff wrote a column about the improvements the team made this week.
Earlier in the week, the program held media availability before the contest. Cignetti gave his weekly update at a press conference and had his weekly radio show. Also, Hardy and Becker were the players who spoke.
Banner #2: Big Ten Football Rundown
While the Big Ten was expected to have a solid week as a whole on the gridiron, it didn’t go completely as planned in high-profile matchups outside of a few exceptions. While Michigan as well as Iowa scored massive power-four victories for the league, and UCLA got a solid performance against San Diego State, others were less lucky.
In other big-time games for the league, Oregon suffered an embarrassing loss to Oklahoma State, who were on a long losing streak, while Ohio State blew a 20-point lead late against Texas. Other games against high-level competition also were a problem as Illinois was edged by Duke, Minnesota was blown out by Mississippi State, Purdue lost a heartbreaker to Wake Forest, and Rutgers was edged by Boston College.
Banner #3: Sam Alexis on Lindy’s Regional Cover
In a sign of the times, IU is still not sure if Sam Alexis will get a fifth year of eligibility as his case plays out in the courts. However, Lindy’s Sports still put him as a featured athlete on their regional cover that will be sold in Indiana.
Banner #4: Big Ten Basketball Roster Preview
The Big Ten saw massive roster turnover across multiple programs, including IU. As a result, Inside the Hall looked at where each team’s personnel stands heading into this fall.
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
The Back Home Network has many shows. As a result, it was on air several times this week with programming.
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Banner #6: Hoosier Roundup-Men’s Soccer Wins Big Ten Opener
Men’s Soccer opened up Big Ten play with a victory over Michigan after a dominant performance against Denver earlier in the week.
Women’s soccer beat Ohio on the road and opened their conference year with a dramatic late win at Nebraska.
Field hockey beat Central Michigan as well as Cornell.
Volleyball beat Southern Indiana, Cal Poly, and Eastern Illinois, but fell to Tennessee.
Baseball’s fall exhibition practices are underway.
Swimming and Diving had three Hoosiers named to the U.S. Junior National Team.
Rowing made an addition to its coaching staff.
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.
If you watch the Ohio State game, Sayin missed a wide open receiver for a touchdown that would have made it 30-3 at the time, and their Mr Superman dropped two passes on third downs that would have kept drives alive. There would have been no comeback if any one of those plays was converted,
The Big Ten had an awful weekend to say the least .