10 degrees of separation between Hoosiers and Huskies

1. Michael Penix Jr. The left-handed quarterback was determined and ready to play for Tennessee when a coaching change left him without a scholarship and he headed to Indiana, where he had the luckiest luck of any college football player – suffering four season-ending injuries in a row. He revived his career at UW by winning 25 of 28 games in two seasons, finishing second in the Heisman Trophy race and teaming with his teammates to finish second to Michigan in the CFP national championship game. At Montlake, he amassed 9,544 yards and 67 touchdowns, 13,741 yards and 96 scores in his career when his Hoosiers numbers are included.

2. Kalen DeBoer. He spent the 2019 season at Indiana as offensive coordinator and mentor to a redshirt freshman named Penix, where they shared an 8-5 season that ended in the Gator Bowl against Tennessee. After a two-year hiatus as Fresno State's head coach, DeBoer led the Huskies' fortunes in 2022 and 2023, leading his teams to the Alamo Bowl and Sugar Bowl, which were considered the CFP semifinal game and title game. One of his first tasks was to convince Penix to join him at Montlake, where they both scratched each other's backs and allowed each other to move up the football hierarchy – DeBoer took the Alabama job and Penix left with the eighth overall pick to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL Draft in April.

3. Lee Corso. The Huskies made this guy look like a coaching genius in 1978 when they traveled to Bloomington, outscored Corso's Hoosiers 402-238 in offensive yardage and 23-12 in first downs – and lost 14-7. Indiana attempted three passes on the day and completed none. It was three meters and the UW was suffocating in the cloud of dust. Don James' Huskies earned a Rose Bowl victory over Michigan. Indiana finished 4-7 and suffered one of its seven losing seasons over 10 under the leadership of Corso, who was fired in 1982, while the Huskies went 7-4. Corso, 89, was part of the ESPN Game Day team that came to Bloomington for the UW-Indiana game this weekend. He was wearing a red sweatshirt and we probably knew well in advance what headgear he would wear to make a game prediction.

4. Sunseri Brothers. The Huskies travel to Indiana with first-year safeties coach Vinnie Sunseri, who will try to compete with the Hoosiers' first-year co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, a man named Tito Sunseri. Yes, they are brothers. Vinnie played safety at Alabama and in the NFL, while Tito was a quarterback in Pittsburgh. Vinnie, 32, is the little brother, three years younger than his sibling.

5. Nick Sheridan. Sheridan, a former Michigan quarterback, replaced DeBoer as Indiana's offensive coordinator in 2020, was fired after two seasons – both times with Penix sidelined with serious injuries – and emerged as DeBoer's tight ends coach in the previous two seasons UW back on seasons. They now serve together at Alabama as head coach and co-offensive coordinator. In total, Sheridan worked for the Hoosiers for five seasons and also coached the tight ends and quarterbacks before becoming OC.

6. Lee Corso. In his first meeting with the legendary Don James, Corso took the Hoosiers to Seattle and pulled off a 20-13 upset in a matchup of 5-6 teams. Indiana survived despite the Huskies' Ronnie Rowland and Robin Earl rushing for 121 and 101 yards, respectively. The UW suffered from a poor aerial game – not-yet-great UW quarterback Warren Moon suffered from a 5-for-17 passing performance that only went for 59 yards. He must have saved himself for the pros. Moon threw for 70,553 yards in the NFL and CFL, earning him induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

7. Jordan Shaw. With offers from Arizona, Washington and others, the Southern California defensive back chose Indiana instead. He appeared in four Hoosiers games in 2023, starting twice, but Tom Allen's coaching staff decided to redshirt him. After Allen was fired, Shaw transferred to Arizona and then moved to the Huskies when Jedd Fisch left Tucson and took that job. He faces his former teammates, who started five of seven UW games this season and only came off the bench when the Huskies started an extra linebacker.

8. William Ing. A former Iowa linebacker, Inge coached for seven seasons at Indiana for two coaches, Kevin Wilson and Tom Allen, serving as co-defensive coordinator, linebackers coach and special teams coach until 2019. That final season, he met Kalen DeBoer and accompanied him first to Fresno State and then to UW, both times as defensive coordinator. He is now the linebackers coach for Tennessee.

9. Keith Gilbertson. He did something his mentor Don James couldn't do with the Huskies – he beat Indiana. Gilbertson's team won a decisive 38-13 victory in Seattle in 2003 in front of 71,125 spectators. The Gerry DiNardo-coached Hoosiers actually led 13-10 early in the third quarter before UW scored four touchdowns before the end of the quarter. Both coaches were fired after the 2004 season.

10. Joe Norman. Indiana's all-time leading tackler with 444 games played against the Huskies in 1976 and 1978, and the linebacker was a key reason his underdog teams posted 14-7 and 20-13 victories. As a senior, he led the Hoosiers with a school-record 199 tackles, including a school-record 26 against Ohio State that season and 16 against UW with 3 tackles for a loss. All of this earned him second-team Associated Press All-America honors and a selection in the second round of the NFL Draft, 45th overall, by the Seattle Seahawks. He played the 1979-81 and 1983 seasons right alongside the Huskies.

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