In recent years, Indiana football has been the doormat of the Big Ten. The Hoosiers have posted 2-10, 4-8 and 3-9 records in the last three seasons, which led former coach Tom Allen to part ways with the program.
Now, under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti — who led James Madison to an 11-2 record in just its second FBS season in 2023 — the Hoosiers have already surpassed their win totals from the past three seasons.
No. 23 Indiana is 5-0 and finds itself inside the AP Top 25 for the first time since the 2021 preseason poll.
Cignetti’s nationally-ranked Indiana is the next test for Northwestern, which will face the Hoosiers this Saturday in Evanston. Indiana is already a force to be reckoned with in Cignetti’s debut season in Bloomington, and the team continues to ascend the conference landscape.
The Hoosiers have experienced major changes on both sides of the ball. Thirty-eight players returned from 2023 — the third-fewest in Division I. This new Indiana group is as formidable an opponent as the Wildcats have seen this season. Cignetti is building a Hoosiers team that will look much different for years to come.
“It’s no surprise to me that they’re having the success that they’re having,” coach David Braun said Monday. “Coach Cignetti has been able to do this at multiple stops, to get teams playing at a high level very quickly.”
The team’s success starts with quarterback Kurtis Rourke, who has been the best Hoosier signal-caller since Michael Penix Jr. The Ohio transfer has thrown for 11 touchdowns to only two interceptions through five games and has surpassed 250 yards in four of them.
This past Saturday against Maryland, Rourke dueled with one of the top quarterbacks in the conference in Billy Edwards Jr. and threw for a season-high 359 yards.
Cignetti’s offense has been one of the best not only in the Big Ten, but in the country. The Hoosiers are averaging 48.8 points per game, the third most in the nation. Their average of 513 yards per game ranks them ninth in the country. Indiana has scored more than 30 points in all five of its contests.
Behind the offense, Cignetti’s group has already broken multiple program records this season. On Sept. 6, Indiana scored a program-best 77 points against Western Illinois —the previous record was 76 set in 1901. More importantly, the Hoosiers are 5-0 for the first time since 1967.
Indiana has also taken significant steps forward defensively, transforming a unit that was last in the Big Ten in yards per game and second-to-last in points per game to one that is top-five in both categories. Through five games, the Hoosiers also lead the conference with 17 sacks and are tied for first with 35 tackles for loss.
Combine all of this, and you get a Hoosier squad that’s better than most in recent memory. That’s why Indiana is ranked No. 23. With a win against the ’Cats on Saturday, the Hoosiers can clinch bowl eligibility — something the team has done only five times in the 21st century.
“Their ability to establish an identity in all three phases, establish a culture and have a group that’s playing really well together is a credit to coach Cignetti, his entire staff and the group of young men that are there,” Braun said. “It’s a tremendous turnaround, and they are certainly off to a hot start, not only winning football games but winning them in emphatic fashion.”
Just like Braun in his first year with the program, Indiana’s Cignetti is taking the Big Ten, and the country, by storm. The Hoosiers’ success story is noticeable, and if it continues it will become a bigger national sensation.
“There’s a lot of excitement around that, our first Big Ten game of the season against clearly a very well-coached, talented, winning football team,” Braun said. “There’s no doubt they have our attention — the job that they’re doing, the way that they’re winning, the way they’re closing out games. This is a very talented football team that’s playing at a really high level.”
Braun and Cignetti will shake hands on Saturday, a meeting of two coaches changing the culture of their respective programs and reaching unforeseen heights.
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