Ex-Dallas Cowboys QB makes ‘bold’ prediction for his Indiana Hoosiers against Ohio State
As a former player turned broadcaster now analyst, Babe Laufenberg can’t recall the last time he was emotionally invested in the outcome of watching a football game.
Not unless that game involved one of his two sons.
Saturday may be an exception. Maybe. Possibly. Depends how things start in Columbus, Ohio.
A mostly forgotten detail to the long time Dallas Cowboys’ radio analyst’s career is that he played at Indiana under coach Lee Corso; this was before Corso helped ESPN establish its College Game Day as Saturday’s signature backdrop, and decades before the Indiana Hoosiers became the “Alabama Chiefs” of this 2024 season.
On Saturday, Babe Laufenberg’s undefeated Hoosiers will play the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes at The Horseshoe. It is the most significant regular season football game for Indiana since 1967, the one year it made the Rose Bowl.
When asked if he thought IU could defeat Ohio State, Laufenberg said, “Yes, I do.”
Now don’t you worry. There is a “But” coming.
“But, he said, “I really wish this game was not in Columbus.”
He speaks on behalf of everyone associated with the Hoosiers, a team that is currently on path to make the 12-team college football postseason invitational (again, it’s not a playoff when a team can only be granted access via evite).
For the people who played, and supported, Indiana University football through the lean not years but decades, this is a moment that doesn’t feel surreal as much as it does the end of time, the world, universe and multiverse.
The Hoosiers are the beauty of sports, and patience. If you give anything enough time (and spend enough cash on facilities, coaching salaries and their buyouts), maybe you can have yourself a winner.
For anyone over the age of 2, 12, 22, 32, 42, 52 or 92, it is inconceivable that here in November the Indiana Hoosiers are ranked ahead of Notre Dame Fighting Irish in any football poll not written by The Onion. In the latest college football playoff ranking, Indiana is fifth, the Irish sixth, which caused Knute Rockne’s ghost to throw back a six-pack of Guinness with a chaser of Guinness.
“People forget that Florida State sucked for 40 years before it hired (coach) Bobby Bowden,” Laufenberg said in a phone interview this week. “Iowa just awful before it hired (coach) Hayden Fry got there. I am hoping that maybe this is the little turnaround for (Indiana).”
Laufenberg arrived at Indiana in 1981, after he began his college career at Stanford. Laufenberg was slated to play under then head coach Bill Walsh. But Walsh left for the NFL, and the new QB recruit coming to Stanford was a baseball player named John Elway.
The NCAA’s transfer policies then were not restrictive as much as draconian; Laufenberg’s preference was to play in the Pac-10, but to do so would have meant sitting out two seasons.
With the help of Corso’s good friend, actor Burt Reynolds, Laufenberg was swayed to go to Bloomington, Ind.
“Lee had me visit him when he was on the set of a (Reynolds) movie (in Los Angeles) and he introduced me and my girlfriend to Burt,” Laufenberg said. “Burt was a funny guy. He was not a ‘method actor.’ He was the sexiest man alive back then. Well, (Babe’s girlfriend) just melted.
“At one point, Burt takes out his wallet and says to Lee, ‘What’s this going to take?’ It was all 100’s, and it was the most cash I had ever seen in my life. He had more money in his wallet than I had in my bank account.”
Babe played at Indiana in 1981 and ‘82. He was the starting quarterback when Indiana football was one of those programs that never could get any momentum, and was a money sinkhole.
Indiana football has existed since 1899, and this season is the first time its ever won 10 games. The program did not start playing 10 games in a season until 1942, but the expanded schedule didn’t help.
Other than a run of some decent teams in the 1980s under coach Bill Mallory, Indiana football existed in the shadows of Indiana basketball under Bob Knight. The now deceased Hall of Fame coach actually sent Laufenberg a typed letter, in 1977, to encourage him to consider IU as his college of choice, to play basketball.
“You knew basketball was king there, but it wasn’t like we had 12 people who came to our games, or we were only allowed to shower when the basketball team wasn’t using the locker rooms,” Laufenberg said.
On Saturday at Ohio Stadium, there will be 102,780 to watch an Indiana football game. Despite their 10-0 record, the Hoosiers under first-year coach Curt Cignetti are a 12-point underdog.
The last time IU defeated Ohio State was in 1987, which happened to be in Columbus. That was the final year of OSU coach Earl Bruce’s tenure; it’s an unwritten rule that Ohio State’s head football coach must be fired if they lose to Indiana.
In 97 games against OSU, Indiana has 12 wins, three of which came after 1951.
All of this has made Babe Laufenberg emotionally invested in the outcome of IU’s next game.
“It’s the biggest game they’ve ever played,” he said, “or it will be until they play in the college football national title game.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2024 at 4:00 AM.
