BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — On the Cig Scale, this was a pretty demure postgame press conference—especially after overseeing the annihilation of a Top 10 opponent. But walking away from the podium, Curt Cignetti hinted at how hard it was to stay humble in that moment.
“I want to,” he said to Jeff Keag, Indiana associate athletic director for strategic communications. “But I’m not.”
Keag smiled and waved his hand under his chin, a cut-it-off signal to a coach who often says exactly what he wants, no matter how it sounds. And then he backs it up.
Rest assured, what Cignetti wanted to say but left unspoken was loudly declared during the game. And that was this:
Indiana heard you, America. The Hoosiers heard your gibes about their soft nonconference schedule. Heard your doubts about backing up last year’s breakthrough season—which many of you derided as it was happening, by the way, up to and including that College Football Playoff berth. Heard the predictions from many prominent voices that Illinois was about to give Indiana a reality check.
This was Indiana’s response to what it heard: a large cup of shut up.
The response was a 63–10 detonation of the first Big Ten opponent the Hoosiers have faced this season, No. 9 Illinois. The response was a packed house and raucous night-time environment, where apathy once reigned. (“This is the loudest I’ve ever heard this stadium,” said linebacker Aiden Fisher.) The response was a dominant performance that was breathtakingly complete.
No power-conference team has beaten another power-conference team like that this season. These Hoosiers now have done something the 11–2 team of 2024 did not do—beat a ranked opponent. Indiana treated the Illini almost identically to the three overmatched nonconference opponents they rolled over by a combined score of 156–23.
Everything the Hoosiers did worked.
Quarterback Fernando Mendoza, a California transfer, was brilliant, completing 21-of-23 passes for 267 yards and five touchdowns—then lamenting the two incompletions afterward.
Let’s go ahead and start talking about Mendoza as a Heisman Trophy candidate—maybe even the leading Heisman candidate, although Oklahoma’s John Mateer probably has something to say about that.
Mendoza’s numbers are stratospheric at this point: 76 completions in 99 attempts for 975 yards, with 14 touchdowns and no interceptions, That’s an efficiency rating of 206.16. That’s probably unsustainable, but at this point he is on a prodigious roll. He’s certainly an increasingly attractive NFL prospect—accurate, decisive, strong-armed, sharp-witted, tall and athletic enough to make some defenders miss.
“His physical attributes—got a quick whip, strong arm, accurate, mobile,” Cignetti said. “The biggest thing when he came to us was working with him in the pocket, being a little bit more patient, poised, going through his progressions. I think he’s got a tremendous upside and he prepares—he’s a tremendous person. He’ll do everything he can to be the best he can be.”
The Indiana running attack was productive, and occasionally explosive. The Hoosiers ran for 312 yards on 49 carries, making them 4 for 4 season in 300-yard rushing games. The receivers dropped nothing. The line blocked well.
The defensive front seven destroyed a veteran Illinois front, registering a whopping seven sacks and 10 tackles for loss. When that topic came up, Cignetti dropped his guard just a little.
“I thought our defensive line could whip their O-line,” he said. “And they did.”
The secondary covered well, with the exception of a coverage bust in the first quarter that enabled a long Illini touchdown pass. The special teams produced a blocked punt for a touchdown by star cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, and the Indiana kickers did their jobs.
“I feel like we wanted to make a statement,” Ponds said. “I feel like we did that.”
And the statement was?
“Just how dominant we could be,” he responded. “We deserve to be in the Top 10, I feel like. And I feel like we proved that today.”
Ponds went on to say, “We block out the noise here,” but that’s only partially true. The Hoosiers are highly receptive to noise that can be perceived as a slight. That’s fuel. And Ponds said he’s already preparing to hear more of that particular noise in the coming days.
“They’re probably still saying the same thing,” he predicted of the Indiana critics, who were a large and loud legion at the end of last season after the Hoosiers made the playoff and then lost handily to Notre Dame. “They’re probably saying we didn’t play nobody still. They probably won’t say we deserve to be ranked.”
Fact is, Indiana is showing every sign of being better than last year’s team. The Hoosiers are better on both lines. They’re better at quarterback. They’re at least as good at the offensive skill positions.
Cignetti brought a lot of good players back, added a few more key parts, and his staff has coached everyone up to what appears to be a higher level.
“It’s all business,” Cignetti said. “I know I stirred things up last year media-wise because I felt like I had to with the fan base to set some expectations. But we kind of go about our business, kind of a blue-collar outfit, and I think there was a point in that game where we broke their will.”
The Hoosiers led the nation in victory margin last year at 25.7 points per game. They’re on pace to exceed that, currently winning by 46.5 points per outing—a number that won’t last, but it’s been a dazzling start. The schedule is more difficult than 2024, with a dangerous trip to Iowa next week and then games Oct. 11 at Oregon and Nov. 8 at Penn State, but the path to the playoff is there for the taking.
If Indiana beats Iowa next week, it probably can get away with competitive losses to both the Ducks and Nittany Lions. Going 10–2 with two good losses would theoretically put the Hoosiers in good position.
Of course, it would help if Illinois doesn’t crater, which remains to be seen. This was a dreadful face-plant in its first game as an AP Top 10 team since 2001. Bret Bielema has built a sound, competitive program in Champaign, Ill., but this was a huge step back for a team that harbored playoff dreams.
Those were left in tatters here Saturday night. The Illini strongly resembled a team that quit in the second half, offering no resistance and playing with scant pride. The blowout stoked the blood lust of some Indiana fans who remember 2010, when a Bielema-coached Wisconsin team beat the Hoosiers 83–20. They wanted to see the home team hang 70 on the board.
The idea of Indiana, of all programs, doing that to a ranked opponent—or even scoring 63—is still a stunner. It takes some getting used to for what has historically been the worst program in the Big Ten. But the fan fever has spread, and in one of the biggest home games in its history, Indiana looked and sounded and played like a real football power Saturday night.
It was intoxicating enough that another fan shouted out this declaration late in the game:
“We want the Buckeyes!”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Indiana Makes Loud Statement in Beatdown of Illinois: Respect This CFP Contender.
