Todd's Take: Observations From Indiana's Win Over Florida International

On Curt Cignetti sideline interviews, Myles Price and Isaiah Jones being impressive, and Ty Son Lawton comedy from the Hoosiers' victory.

Todd Golden | Sep 1, 2024

Indiana's Myles Price (4) runs after the catch during the first half of the Indiana versus Florida International football game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

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A lot of people are jealous of sportswriters because we get paid to watch games, rub shoulders with sports heroes (even if they’d rather not) and watch it all from a swanky press box seat.

Yes, there are aspects of our jobs that are cool, though I wouldn’t lean too far into the “swanky press box” bit. Do not underestimate the power of legroom, not a commodity we have the luxury of enjoying much of the time.

For fans who envy sportswriters? There are plenty of times sportswriters are jealous of fans.

If you watch on TV, your experience is often very different from our live experience. Fans have the benefit of replay we sometimes don’t have as easily available or at all, for example.

You also get sideline interviews that we don’t see watching the game live. Normally, this isn’t an occupational hazard as most sideline interviews are obligatory, non-essential and add little to what we’re watching.

I am jealous, though, that those of you watching at home get to watch Indiana coach Curt Cignetti’s sideline interviews.

Hoosiers are off to a strong start 💥#B1GStats x #B1GFootball pic.twitter.com/Dxah1xEa1s
— Indiana On BTN (@IndianaOnBTN) August 31, 2024

I re-watched the game when I got home and was entertained by Cignetti, well, just being Cignetti in his sideline interviews. The man knows when to turn it on, but also, when to turn it off. He said during Big Ten Media Days that this is all entertainment, so why not run with it?

Are you entertained? I was. Here’s some more random observations from Saturday’s game.

• If there was a player who impressed me purely from an eye-test standard on Saturday, it was wide receiver Myles Price.

The Texas Tech transfer had 4 catches for 29 yards and one rush for 12 yards, but it wasn’t the numbers that stuck out for me.

He was tough. It seemed like every pass he caught, whether it was a slant route over the middle or a screen pass that angled inside toward linebackers devoted to delivering punishment, Price had the thankless task of absorbing a lot of contact on his catches.

He took his share of hits, but he kept coming back for more. Pretty impressive for the 5-foot-9 receiver from The Colony, Texas.

• There were very few unexpected contributors among the Hoosiers. One exception was linebacker Isaiah Jones.

The sophomore from London, Ohio, wasn’t talked about much during fall camp, but he quietly had six tackles and was a solid presence as part of a rotation that included leading tacklers Aiden Fisher (12 tackles) and Jailin Walker (8 tackles).

Jones is one of the holdover Hoosiers who stuck around for the Cignetti era. He had played four previous games – two each in 2022 and 2023 – but this was a nice coming-out party for him.

• One moment of comedy for Indiana was Ty Son Lawton’s attempted halfback pass in the third quarter.

Indiana executed the play perfectly. Lawton had plenty of time and intended receiver Omar Cooper Jr. was waiting with plenty of room to spare in the end zone. It would have been a 17-yard touchdown pass for the running back in his Indiana debut.

It would have been had the ball not slipped in Lawton’s grip and fell harmlessly short of Cooper. Indiana would eventually settle for a field goal.

Indiana Hoosiers running back Ty Son Lawton (17) celebrates with Donaven McCulley (1) and Trey Wedig (75) after running for a touchdown against the Florida International Panthers during the first half at Memorial Stadium. / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

Lawton had an explanation.

“I threw a perfect pass every time in practice, but no excuses, but I tried to wipe my gloves off with my towel, but my towel was wet and it kind of slipped out of my hand,” Lawton said.

Indiana’s sideline handled it with the proper spirit – even if Lawton himself wasn’t feeling it.

“I wasn’t laughing, but everybody else was,” Lawton said.

• Indiana’s next opponent – Western Illinois – took it on the chin on Saturday. The FCS school was bumped off 54-15 at Northern Illinois, a FBS school in the Mid-American Conference.

WIU is in a bad way. The once-proud Leathernecks – they were FCS playoff regulars in the 1990s and 2000s and made it as recently as 2017 – have lost 25 games in a row. WIU’s last win was a 38-31 victory at Illinois State on Oct. 30, 2021.

Once part of the rugged Missouri Valley Football Conference, the best league at the FCS level with the Dakota powerhouses included, the Leathernecks moved to what they hope are kinder pastures in the Ohio Valley Conference starting this season.

That switch won’t help them on Friday, though, as the Hoosiers want to tune up before they play their Big Ten opener at UCLA eight days later.

• What is FIU’s nickname? No one seems to get it right.

What’s at issue is whether FIU is the Panthers or the Golden Panthers. Several national websites list FIU as the Golden Panthers, but others as just Panthers.

The FIU game notes made it quite clear which one is right.

“Florida International University has a long and storied history across all of its Division I NCAA programs. We respectfully ask that you refer to our University’s athletic programs as the FIU Panthers.”

With a little more research, I found that Golden was dropped from the nickname prior to the 2010-11 season. Fun fact: FIU was originally the Sunblazers and were only the Golden Panthers for about 24 years.

Given that many websites that ought to know better still use Golden Panthers? It’s an indictment on how far below the radar FIU has been in football.

Myself? Anything with a little bit more Golden is OK with me, but I didn’t get a vote.

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