inexplicable ones. That is the standard for independence, and it doesn’t equal national relevance. No one besides us cares that our games are on ESPN (because everyone’s are now, it isn’t 2006), and no one besides us cares that we make a couple million more per year from our TV deal (which probably isn’t the case anymore anyway, with the new AAC deal worth $7.5M per team). That isn’t how the rest of the world measures success.

You guys that pin your hopes for Indy on that elusive undefeated, or even 10 win, season need to realize that we’ve been doing this for almost a decade now. And despite half of that decade being under the prime years of the second best coach in program history, we still never achieved relevance as an Indy. It just isn’t going to happen.

Nearly every team on our schedule next year has better players and better paid coaches, playing for schools that dedicate more resources to their success. We will win a handful of those games, limp to 6-6 by feasting on a few cupcakes, and play in a bowl no one cares about. That is all Indy has been or ever will be.