Our youngest child, Andrew, is a sophomore at Indiana University. The Hoosiers, smack-dab in the middle of the hoops hotbed of the Midwest, are not exactly a football powerhouse.

The Hoosiers have not won more than eight games in a season since 1967, which is the last year they won the Big Ten and/or played in the Rose Bowl. However, they have lost eight or more games 12 times in the 2000s.

From Mark Whicker’s Substack post about IU. Well worth a read.

But this year is different. They were 7-0 heading into this past Saturday’s matchup with their longtime Big 10 18 rival… Wisconsin Washington.

We bought tickets to the game for our whole fam-damily a month ago… not caring about the product on the field as much as looking for a chance to take our older kids to visit their baby brother at college.

But sports loves a good Cinderella story, and Indiana has a great story to tell: a new coach, new attitude — and several transfers — are leading to success. ESPN took notice and sent their ” College GameDay” crew — including former IU coach Lee Corso — to Bloomington.

I’ve probably watched a grand total of 10 minutes of “College GameDay” in the last 10 years. It’s style (or hype) over substance. Too much yammering (and too many commercials), not enough action. (Besides, our daughter worked at Lowe’s, dreaded archrival of The Home Depot.)

We drove over Saturday morning. Here’s what I didn’t see:

• the College GameDay crew

Here’s what I did experience:

• Gorgeous fall foliage on the 2.5 hour ride from Cincy to Bloomington on a sunny day
• Our son’s apartment (cleaner than we expected)
• Our kids hanging out together
• The pageantry of college football (the marching band, the cheerleaders, the chants, the fight song…)
• A fun Big 10 18 college football game
• Chatting with some of Andrew’s friends at the post-game tailgate
• Dinner together
• More gorgeous scenery and sunshine on the ride back home Sunday

I’ll take the latter over the former any day of the week. Including “GameDay.”