Farewell, from BSB
As tough as it is, it's time to say goodbye to Bite-Sized Bison.
Hello everyone,
For the last four college football seasons, Bite-Sized Bison has developed into an unexpected treasure. It began as a seed planted in my mind while in the stands of Memorial Stadium, watching Connor Bazelak and Cam Camper lead a comeback win over Illinois in 2022, and it launched a few weeks later, just in time to ride a 7-game losing streak toward a 4-win season. There were no expectations other than being a creative outlet after spending years reporting on college football beforehand, and now, it’s grown into a Substack bestselling sports newsletter with nearly 2,000 subscribers (300 paid!) and a budding community of insatiable Indiana Football fans.
I’ve dumped countless hours into BSB content and taken massive risks to explore new terrain in a very public way. There truly has never been work in this market like the work of BSB, and I did it on my own. In reflection, I’m proud of that. I’m so proud of what has been built here, even if just for a short time, and I’ve enjoyed the company of its loyal subscribers. It’s been one of my favorite sportswriting experiences, if not my favorite.
But it’s time to say goodbye. Following the Big Ten Conference Championship game, the newsletter will remove paid subscriptions (refunding paid subscribers a prorated amount). I’ll publish some free, stripped-down posts near the Hoosiers’ College Football Playoff matchup(s), but after the 2025 season, Bite-Sized Bison will no longer be the source for Indiana Football fans that it is today.
This certainly isn’t easy! BSB has been life-changing in many ways. It provided a sandbox to hone newly learned skills as I worked toward my Master’s in Data Science. It paid for my tuition to earn said degree. It padded a resume that allowed me to transition professionally. These were such unique privileges for someone in my position, and this new place I find myself on the other side of BSB was unimaginable to the version of myself who watched Shaun Shivers get obliterated on the first offensive snap of the 2022 season.
BSB also offered me an opportunity to make a mark on the beat I grew up on. Covering Big Ten football as a student-journalist for the IDS and Rivals meant a lot to me, and it endeared me to the Indiana Football program, whose story – repeated punching against the ceiling of 6-win seasons and against the powers of the Big Ten East – I found to be truly compelling. Talking and working with the coaches of the Kevin Wilson and Tom Allen eras and then taking that experience to cover Ohio State and national recruiting as Ryan Day transitioned into his head coaching role taught me so much about the sport – especially the years as a recruiting reporter – and sparked within me a hungry curiosity for the game. I’ve had the immense privilege of talking about the game with the greatest football minds on the planet, visiting the most prestigious recruiting events in the country, closely covering the recruitment processes for a slew of current NFL players, and examining how programs are built and optimized from a front-row seat. I’m truly thankful to have brought this relatively wasted experience and knowledge (since my sports journalism career ended in 2020) to Bloomington and to have mobilized it in the form of BSB – and then for the result to have made any sort of impact on anyone, let alone thousands.
As this phase of life ends for me and a new one begins, BSB has come to a natural close. There’s a new way of thinking and talking about college football, and BSB was – by no real foresight of my own – perfectly positioned to transition between what was and what is, particularly as it relates to Indiana Football’s role within all of it. I have been continuously shocked at how the universe spurred the growth of this newsletter. Unfortunately, I was never the person and BSB was never the source to fill this role long-term. I will continue watching and learning, and BSB will remain active for very intermittent analytical and experimental posts, but this space will return to what I initially intended it to be – a hobby.
There are so many ideas left on the table. It’s tough to cut it off here, but I’d never stop if I measured completion by finishing every idea I’ve contrived. I think the core idea was building a small community in my own corner of the fanbase for which I could help educate, incubate informed discussion, and guide toward some new way of watching the games. In my heart, I believe BSB has done that and attached its own link in the chain for another creator to attach their link onto, and so forth.
If you’ve followed along with BSB for some time, thank you so much. I hope it enriched your experience as Indiana Football broke the college football landscape.
I want to thank:
The CrimsonCast guys (Galen and Scott), as well as Jerod at Assembly Call, for platforming the newsletter when it was in its infant stages. Many of you reading this may never have found BSB without their endorsements, and BSB’s success is partially indebted to their generosity.
My good friend, Ben Wittenstein, for being the only person other than me to regularly publish work on this platform, with Witt’s Wagers. I hope he won you lots of money.
Punt John Punt, which I read tirelessly as a student and to which BSB has long been compared, as a fan-media blog on IUFB. I could never draw a comparison to what they did in the 2010s, but many of their readers then are BSB readers now, and for that, I want to thank them.
Bill Landis and Doug Lesmerises – of Bill and Doug on Ohio State Football – for being collaborators in this space and respecting my work at BSB enough to offer me a ballot in the Big Ten Media Preseason Poll.
My fiancée, who could not have known what this newsletter would mean to me or to the BSB community but who remained endlessly supportive as it required more attention in its growth. She was next to me for all but two IU home games from 2022-25 and now argues Indiana’s CFP case each November and can recognize good and bad pass protection.
This is also a great opportunity to thank IU’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, where I learned the skills that elevated BSB to the technical level it’s maintained during the 2024 and 2025 seasons. I never thought I’d be doing this type of work after earning a BA in Journalism, but I dared to try it after just one semester in their Data Science program. What a ride it’s been.
Go Hoosiers!
-Taylor
Man oh man, we’re going to miss your work. You’ve done a phenomenal job here, Taylor. Thanks for everything! Best of luck on your new adventure — if it’s anything like what you’re doing here, you’re going to crush it.
As one half of Punt John Punt, your kind words are appreciated, but your work far exceeded anything we did. While I'll miss your exceptional content, I certainly understand the need to move on to other things. Best of luck!