Fortuna Files: A weekend for the ages leaves chaos in its wake
Five top-11 teams go down. A sixth avoided an upset with an epic comeback. What could be next as the midseason point nears?
Eighteen thoughts in honor of the now-18th ranked (AP) Indiana Hoosiers:
1. Two teams are currently bowl-eligible: Indiana and Miami. And each did it in completely opposite fashions.
2. Indiana is legitimately good, folks. You can bash the competition all you want — and there is something to be said for uneven conference schedules — but the Hoosiers have yet to trail in a game this season. At all. The over-under on a moderately windy day on the lakefront fell all the way to 38.5 at kickoff, and Indiana eclipsed that number itself in a 41-24 win, answering every Northwestern punch. The Hoosiers scored on their final seven possessions, excluding the final kneel down.
3. Speaking of wind: I visited some friends in a makeshift suite at Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium during the second half, and while for the most part it was a picture-perfect Chicago day, even the slightest bit of wind has an effect when you are literally on the lake, as garbage cans tipped over and the TVs began to shake at times. Northwestern has just one more game there, Oct. 19 against Wisconsin. (Shout out to Indiana fans for completely taking the joint over Saturday.)
4. Northwestern showed something offensively that it hadn’t before, tallying a season-high (against FBS competition) 336 total yards. Jack Lausch was crisp, throwing for 243 yards and two touchdowns, never turning the ball over. Worth noting that for all of the Wildcats’ struggles this season, this marked the program’s first time losing back-to-back games in the David Braun Era.
5. I vote in the FWAA’s Super 16 poll, and for the first time that I can remember, I simply ranked the nine undefeated power conference teams as the top-nine: 1. Texas, 2. Ohio State, 3. Miami, 4. Oregon, 5. Penn State, 6. Iowa State, 7. Indiana, 8. Pittsburgh and 9. BYU. Are those the best-nine teams? Would they beat the teams that I ranked behind them? I don’t know; I also thought Alabama would beat Vanderbilt. This is a weekly poll and is subject to change. And with this season — and particularly this past Saturday — already off to a drunken start, I reward the teams that have not tripped over themselves yet.
6. For the betting crowd: If you placed a $10 moneyline parlay Saturday with Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri, Michigan and USC losing — the five top-11 who fell — you would have won $9,142.90. (Show yourself if you did this. I want the Powerball numbers from you.)