Earlier this week, the IU athletic department sent out a memo to ticket holders attending Saturday's IU-Kennesaw State game in Bloomington.
It was a plea for fans to remain in their seats through the fourth quarter, to resist the temptation to go back outside and tailgate or head to the closest watering hole. Or the library. (Ha, I'm just kidding about the library.)
"...We need you to be a four-quarter fan," it read in part. "We need you in your seat in the first quarter, the second quarter, the third quarter and the fourth quarter this Saturday."
Yeah, well...nice try.
By the fourth quarter, most of the students had fled. Could you blame them? It was 42-9 after three quarters heading toward 49-9 on an early fourth-quarter touchdown. What conceivable reason did any fan have to stay with it all four quarters -- besides maybe the glorious September weather?
I can fully understand why Curt Cignetti and the football staff want to keep the fans around for the entire game, and I'm sure they will once the competitive Big Ten season begins in two weeks against Illinois, but when you're playing Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State in the non-conference, that's a tough ask.
They wanted fans to hang tight despite the fact it was essentially a 2 1/2-quarter game, the Hoosiers rolling Kennesaw State (who?), 56-9, in Bloomington. The Owls pulled to within 21-9 in the first half, but IU tightened the screws in the second half and blew out the visitors. IU ran for 313 yards, an 8.9-yard-per-carry average, and defensively, they registered 14 disruptive tackles for loss. Elijah Sarratt, the Hoosiers' stud wide receiver, caught three touchdown passes from Fernando Mendoza, who looked much more locked in than he did one week ago against Old Dominion. After a sloppy performance in the red zone against ODU -- just two touchdowns on seven red-zone tries -- the Hoosiers were 7-for-7 Saturday against Kennesaw State.
But back to my larger point, which is this: If you want to create enthusiasm and build a core of four-quarter fans, maybe play something more daunting than one of the nation's least-challenging (laughable) non-conference schedules. They play nobody this year. They play nobody next year, with the mild exception of Colorado State. Fact is, they don't play a Power 4 school in a non-conference game until 2030, when they travel to South Bend to play Notre Dame.
They canceled a home-and-home series against Virginia for 2027 and 2028, adding games against Kennesaw State (2027), Austin Peay (2028) and Eastern Illinois (2029). They canceled a series against Louisville after just one meeting. They call this strategic scheduling, the idea being to provide the Hoosiers with soft touches and put them in position to challenge for post-season spots.
But it's wildly uninteresting, and it's surely not a reason for fans to stick around for four quarters. I understand what Cignetti was saying at the Big Ten Media Days -- why should the Big Ten challenge itself when it plays nine conference games to the SEC's eight (which will change next season)? Truth is, very few Power 4 programs play competitive non-conference games, in the Big Ten, the SEC, wherever.
That said, this is a pretty putrid schedule, and while it will make everybody happy to be 3-0 every season heading into the Big Ten schedule, it provides very little -- read: nothing -- in the way of compelling theater.
Two weeks from now, the Hoosiers will take on No. 12-ranked Illinois in Bloomington, the first real game of the season. Fans will surely stick around for four quarters. Give them something to watch and celebrate, something worth investing in, they'll hang around.
Bob Kravitz is an award-winning columnist who has been in the sports journalism business for 43 years. He's worked at Sports Illustrated, the Indianapolis Star, The Athletic and other publications, and is now an Indiana-based publisher at Roundtable Sports. You can follow him on X @bkravitz.