Thursday night lights? College GameDay? IU? Yep, somehow all those words are coming together to describe IU’s home opener against No. 2 Ohio State and old head coach Kevin Wilson on Thursday night.

While the average person anticipates the core football nights to be Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, IU fans and Bloomington citizens will highly anticipate Thursday night. They have good reason to as Thursday’s showdown with the Buckeyes is arguably the biggest game to ever be played at Memorial Stadium.

But the real reason this game is so big? Rece Davis and the award winning show College GameDay, which targets the biggest college games of the year, will be live inside of the stadium on ESPN from 6-8 p.m.

Things to watch for:

Lee Corso, one of the College GameDay hosts, will be making his homecoming to the stadium that he coached at from 1973-1982. This history probably won’t affect Corso’s famous headgear pick at the end of the show though as the spread favors Ohio State by 20 points.

Kevin Wilson(OSU-OC), who was dishonorably discharged in 2016 from his role as Head Coach of IU, is making his return to Bloomington as Ohio State’s new offensive coordinator.

Tom Allen(IU-HC) led a massive defensive turnaround last year as defensive coordinator, and starts his first year as head coach against one of the top teams in the nation.

“I’m most looking forward to seeing how the new coach [Tom Allen] does,” said sophomore Nick Cannon.

Richard Lagow(IU-QB) had a record breaking season last year and threw for 19 touchdowns and 3,362 yards. The problem? Lagow also threw 17 interceptions, which frustrated fans and hurt IU in several close games. Don’t be surprised if Lagow comes back an experienced Big Ten quarterback and leads IU to a win over Ohio State.

“Lagow is trash,” said sophomore J.T. Kelly.

Thomas Henderson(IU-DB) played a key role in Bloomington South’s run to Semi-State in 2014, and will be looking to contribute as a cornerback during his sophomore year at IU.

We at Optimist couldn’t be more optimistic about the upcoming season. It’s hard not to when you can already smell the roses.

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Score Predictions

Brock Pedersen: OSU 47-27

Ethan Zenkuski: OSU 42-28

Nick Cannon: IU 27-24

Luke Smethurst: OSU 24-14

Logan Hanchett: IU 77-2

John Law: OSU 45-24