By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Another example of how much the Indiana football program has risen under second-year head coach Curt Cignetti is that Saturday’s game between the Hoosiers and Iowa has caused the two guys that can’t agree on anything to have another debate.

Mr. Optimist and Mr. Pessimist don’t normally debate over one game, but with Indiana maybe the hottest team in college football, they decided to make an exception.

Here is the transcript from their latest debate:

Mr. Optimist: Iowa has won four straight and eight of the last nine games against Indiana dating back to the 2008 season.

Mr. Pessimist: Curt Cignetti wasn’t Indiana’s head coach for any of those games.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa scored 38 points in its victory at Rutgers last Friday, its most points in a Big Ten road game since finishing with 51 points at Maryland in 2021.

Mr. Pessimist: Indiana scored 63 points in its win over then-ninth-ranked Illinois last Saturday in Bloomington, Indiana, and has combined to score  219 points in its first four games this season, including 73 against Indiana State in Week 3.

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Mr. Optimist: Over his last two games, Iowa graduate quarterback Mark Gronowski has completed 28-of-42 passes (66.7 percent) for 365 yards and two touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Mr. Pessimist: Over his last two games, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza has completed 40-of-43 passes for 537 yards and 10 touchdowns and zero interceptions.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa’s defense is ranked seventh nationally in rushing defense, 13th in total defense, and 24th in scoring defense.

Mr. Pessimist: Indiana’s defense is ranked 20th nationally in rushing defense, third in total defense and fifth in scoring defense.

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Mr. Optimist: Penn State was ranked fourth when it fell to Iowa 23-20 on Oct. 9, 2021 in Kinnick Stadium.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa has lost 10 straight games against ranked opponents since the win over Penn State in 2021.

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Mr. Optimist: Multiple players from Iowa’s 1985 Big Ten champion team will be in Iowa City this weekend as Iowa celebrates as part of Homecoming the 40-year anniversary of their historical season.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa hasn’t won a Big Ten title outright since the 1985 season.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa is 162-8-1 when allowing 10 points or less in a game since 1970.

Mr. Pessimist: Indiana hasn’t scored fewer than 15 points in 17 games under Curt Cignetti dating back to last season and has scored at least 40 points in 11 games under Cignetti and more than 50 points in seven games.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa has six players with at least one sack this season, led by senior defensive end Max Llewellyn with four, and 10 sacks overall.

Mr. Pessimist: Indiana had seven sacks in just the win over Illinois.

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Mr. Optimist:  Iowa’s defense has allowed just one touchdown in the second half this season. Opponents also haven’t scored a single point in the third quarter.

Mr. Pessimist: Indiana scored four touchdowns in the second half against Illinois last Saturday, two in each quarter.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa has had at least 400 yards in total offense in four games under second-year offensive coordinator Tim Lester dating back to last season.

Mr. Pessimist: Indiana averaged 403.5 yards in total offense per game last season and is averaging a whopping 559 yards per game this season.

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Mr. Optimist: Former Iowa quarterback and Iowa City West High graduate Paul Burmeister will provide the play-by-play for the Iowa-Indiana game, which will be streamed on Peacock.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa lost to Indiana 16-10 in 1993 when Burmeister’s was Iowa’s starting quarterback as a senior.

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Mr. Optimist: Hayden Fry will forever be remembered for rebuilding the Iowa football program at a time when some were starting to question whether Iowa would ever get over the hump again.

Mr. Pessimist: Hayden Fry lost his first game as the Iowa head coach to Lou Corso’s Indiana Hoosiers 30-26 in the 1979 season opener as Iowa blew a 26-3 halftime lead at Kinnick Stadium.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa is 8-1 in games played at Kinnick Stadium since the start of last season.

Mr. Pessimist: Indiana has yet to lose to an unranked team on the road or at home under Curt Cignetti, and Iowa is currently not ranked.

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Mr. Optimist: Indiana never has had a player win the Heisman Trophy, while Iowa’s Nile Kinnick, for whom Kinnick Stadium is named after, won the award in 1939.

Mr. Pessimist: Coming off his performance against Illinois last Saturday, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza now has the second-best odds (+900) to take home the Heisman Trophy, behind only Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa is the only school in the nation to have a consensus All-American in each of the past six seasons.

Mr. Pessimist: None of those players are on Iowa’s current roster.