As we currently stand we are over halfway through the month of October and sports are in full swing right now. While some teams and states have to go through a sad season of the teams they enjoy, the state of Indiana is currently experiencing an incredible time of sports, where almost all teams have been succeeding.
We’ll start with the obvious – the Indiana Colts. The Colts brought over Daniel Jones from the Giants this past off season to give some competition to QB Anthony Richardson, and Jones won the starting job. He has been phenomenal through 7 games guiding the Colts to a 6-1 record. The stellar play of running back Jonathan Taylor who currently leads the league in rush yards, has taken some pressure off the well-playing Daniel Jones. Some key defensive moves, such as bringing defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo from the Bengals, and signing Safety Cameron Bynum and CB Charvarious Ward, is helping to improve the Colts defense from 29th total last year, to 19th this year, a very significant improvement.
Moving on to collegiate football teams with Indiana and Notre Dame. The Curt Cignetti Hoosiers have achieved 7-0 starts in back to back seasons for the first time, the program’s highest ever AP poll ranking at No.2, and barring some stunning upset on track to make the playoffs for consecutive years. This is an incredible leap for a program with the all time most losses, and has not won a bowl game in 34 years. Cignetti recently just signed an extension, which starting next year will make the 3rd highest paid coach in the country at $11.6 million per year. Notre Dame stumbled at the beginning of the year yet again, gone on another hot win streak at 5 wins in a row. The Irish defeated their rival and No. 20 ranked USC at home in the rain, giving them their best win of the year. The Irish are decently positioned to make the playoffs, but may need a little help, and no more room for error and very few chances to pick up good wins.
Moving on to basketball, Purdue has achieved their first ever No.1 ranking in the AP preseason poll, and returns 2 all Americans, one of which being Braden Smith who is the current favorite to win NPOY, and was just named unanimous first team All-American today, the first Boiler to do so since Zach Edey. They are also the current favorites to win their first National Championship in the upcoming season.
On some other notes both Indiana and Purdue’s volleyball teams are ranked, Notre Dame women’s soccer are No.1 in the country, and Indiana men’s soccer are ranked No.14. The pro basketball teams who just played their past seasons were also successful, as the Pacers went to their first NBA finals in 25 years and fell one game short of the title. The Fever won their first playoff series since 2015 and one similarly one game short of appearing in the WNBA finals, without Caitlin Clark. A Banana Ball league the Indianapolis Clowns will also begin play next season. All in all, Indiana sports have been quite successful this past year, giving fans great teams to root for.
