What’s a big prediction without the quintessential Paul Finebaum touch? 10 weeks have passed and the programs have pretty much found themselves a spot. And the analysts are all ready with their pen and paper to arrive at a conclusion. This time around, the focus is on the two teams that have been pretty consistent with their efforts, Kalen DeBoer’s Alabama Crimson Tide and Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers. As discussed on the On3 podcast, at last things are going to come down to these two teams in the SEC race. And Finebaum has already chosen his favorite and sadly it’s not Cignetti’s boys. But the Indiana HC hardly cares, as he is too busy to give a grand welcome to his star QB.    

What a season for Cignetti! The Hoosiers are coming off with an undefeated 8-0 streak. Well, the Crimson Tide is not too bad either as they only lost two games (6-2). That made On3 analyst Ari Wasserman serve up a hypothetical situation for Finebaum, their guest of the evening, “If we get to the end of the year and Alabama wins the rest of their games…and Indiana is 11-1 having beaten every opponent on their schedule by 14 or more points but without a trademark quality win, what do you think the committee would do?” Looks like Finebaum already had his answer ready.

“No way that I would put Indiana in over Alabama,” answered the confident ESPN analyst. The last huddle for Cignetti’s squad is the Ohio State Buckeyes, which is scheduled for November 23. Going by the predictions, Ryan Day’s squad is likely to win, which would put them at 11-1 and outside of the Big Ten Championship race. Finebaum then comes up with a clear picture of what helped him decide between Alabama and Indiana. 

His votes are for DeBoer’s boys for what they have achieved so far. Their win over Georgia, Wisconsin, and LSU is what “matters” to the analyst. And what about Cignetti’s program? “So, I mean, I just look at what Indiana has done, and we can all sing kumbaya about, you know, FIU and Western Illinois and going all the way and winning at UCLA and Charlotte. I mean, come on. … I don’t think, frankly, I don’t think it would be a close call,” replied Finebaum. However, zero care is given by the Indiana HC who is now on cloud nine.  

A glimmer of hope for Curt Cignetti

The Hoosiers almost were on the verge of giving up when their Canadian quarterback Kurtis Rourke had to leave the gridiron after suffering an injury to the thumb of his throwing hand. Things did not look quite good even after they had a huge win over Matt Rhule’s Nebraska in week 8. Later on, Cignetti’s QB underwent surgery on October 21 and failed to contribute to Indiana’s win over Washington Huskies in week 9. 

But finally, FINALLY, Cignetti can let out a big sigh of relief. On his weekly radio show he finally disclosed the big news for which the Hoosiers fans had been waiting with bated breath, “Kurtis Rourke will start and play the game, He has taken more reps every day. He built on Tuesday (in practice), he took every rep on Wednesday and every rep today (Thursday). Every day he looks sharper and sharper and sharper.” Will he bring back his power to the gridiron again?

Before his injury, the 23-year-old transfer from Ohio University had completed 74.6% of his passes for 1,941 yards topped with 15 touchdowns. Now let’s see if Curt Cignetti’s starter QB can prove Paul Finebaum’s analysis wrong.