Indiana might be on the world's longest revenge tour

Without a Big Ten title since 1967, the Hoosiers are undefeated and getting better.

D’Angelo Ponds

In the college football zoo, Indiana football is, or was, The Oxymoron. It was a harmless creature that went into hibernation on or before Oct. 15, the traditional beginning of basketball practice. It dined on nuts, berries and its own coaches, and its population was thinned twice a year by hunters from Columbus and Ann Arbor.

Animal control agencies are thus puzzled by the events of 2024, in which the Hoosiers have invaded plush neighborhoods and harmed the inhabitants. Is it an unforeseen consequence of climate change? We’ll only know in December, when there might be an unprecedented sighting.

On Saturday, Indiana slayed Washington, 31-17, and remained undefeated. That’s 8-0. The 31 points tied Indiana’s season low. The Hoosiers have not won more than eight games in a season since 1967, which is the last year they won the Big Ten and/or played in the Rose Bowl. However, they have lost eight or more games 12 times in the 2000s.

This team has not trailed for a second this season. It has won the first quarter by a score of 87-0. It still is not in the wire-service Top 10, probably because its schedule has not been glamorous, with wins over Florida International, Western Illinois, UCLA, Charlotte, Maryland and Northwestern. Last weekend, people thought Nebraska surely would put an end to this silliness. Nebraska hadn’t given up a rushing touchdown all season. Indiana got five of those and won, 56-7. On Saturday, Nebraska was leading in the fourth quarter at Ohio State before it lost, 21-17.

While that was going on, the Hoosiers were pushing around Washington even though Curtis Rourke, their starting quarterback, was hurt. And so what if Indiana was beating up on nobodies? They were founding members of the Nobodies Club and held that status for lo these many years.

Now the Hoosiers are fifth nationally in offense, seventh in defense, and redeem their third-down opportunities at a 54 percent clip.

Curt Cignetti is the new coach. At his introductory press conference, someone asked why Indiana fans should draw any hope from his arrival. He replied that he’d won everywhere he’d been and didn’t intend to stop now. “Google me,” he said.

Indeed, Cignetti’s previous winning percentage was fourth among all coaches. His teams had been dominant at Indiana of Pennsylvania, Elon and James Madison, a program he took from the small-college ranks into the FBS. 

More important, Cignetti drove a full bus into Bloomington. Thirteen of last year’s James Madison players are now Hoosiers, including sack leader Mikail Kamara, secondary star D’Angelo Ponds and running back Elijah Surratt. Leading rusher Justice Ellison is a transfer from Wake Forest. Ponds ran an interception back 67 yards against Washington, and the Hoosiers had three sacks and six tackles for loss.

In total, Cignetti brought 27 transfers, 13 of whom had been all-conference players, and 21 of whom had played for at least three years. An open portal only works if somebody’s sitting there to check ID.

It also helps that Cignetti’s offensive and defensive coordinators have coached with him during all those out-of-the-way stops, and that Cignetti was on Nick Saban’s Alabama staff, the Sorbonne of ambitious young coaches.

Rest assured that more FBS schools will try to adopt this pattern. It will thin out the quality of the game on the lower levels, but it will make power-conference football more volatile and fun. The supply of football players exceeds the demand, or the number of available slots, by a good margin, and that will continue until there’s a full breakaway by the power schools, and scholarship limits are either abolished or loosened.

Indiana’s last nationally-prominent team lost the Rose Bowl, 14-3, to O.J. Simpson and USC. The trip itself was an unconditional victory. The Hoosiers were 1-8-1 the year before, which was Johnny Pont’s second year at the helm. Pont had been Yale’s coach, and it was snowing when he flew into Indianapolis for the job interview. Athletic director Bill Orwig, who would hire an obscure basketball coach named Bobby Knight, drove Pont to campus but hit a log that was buried in a snow drift, which hurled Pont into the windshield. He was dazed enough to actually take the job, which is why he had a black eye during the first press conference.

Back then freshmen couldn’t play varsity sports. Few people noticed Indiana’s freshman talent in 1966, with quarterbacks Harry Gonso and John Isenbarger, and wide receiver Jade Butcher. They took over the 1967 team, especially after Pont gave the quarterbacking job to Gonso. Doug Crusan, who would distinguish himself with the Miami Dolphins, moved from offensive tackle to defensive tackle, and the Hoosiers gave up only 14 points a game. They also got eight of their nine wins by a touchdown or less.

Isenbarger became the prime ballcarrier. He was also the punter, but only by Pont’s good graces. Against Iowa and Michigan, Isenbarger made the unilateral decision to run when he was supposed to punt. Neither try worked. The slogan became “Punt John Punt,” especially when Isenbarger’s mother sent a telegram that advised, “Dear John. Please punt.” But in the season finale, a game Indiana needed to get to Pasadena, the Hoosiers stopped Purdue on the goal line and then needed Isenbarger to put them out of trouble. He did, with a kick that sailed over the head of Purdue returner and All-American LeRoy Keyes.

Isenbarger died in March, so he never saw the Hoosiers win the Big 10 again. They play at Michigan State and Ohio State, play host to Michigan and Purdue. They don’t play the two other Big 10 undefeateds, Oregon and Penn State, but if they finish 11-1 it might be difficult to keep them out of a 12-team playoff. And then? Hard to tell, but better keep your distance. It’s a different animal.

Otherwise in college football:

Texas A&M 38, LSU 23: First-year coach Dave Elko and the Aggies are drawing a bead on an SEC championship-game appearance. They’re unbeaten since they lost the opener to Notre Dame, and they got three TD runs in the second half from freshman Marcel Reed, who replaced starting quarterback Conner Weigman. They also intercepted Garrett Nussmeier three times and ran for 242 yards. LSU, which hadn’t lost since its opener against USC, is now 6-2. A&M ends the season at home against Texas, a fierce rivalry that was interrupted when the Aggies joined the SEC.

Colorado 34, Cincinnati 23: The Buffaloes are 6-2 and bowl eligible for the first time in a full season since 2016. Shedeur Sanders was 25 for 30 for 323 yards and two touchdowns, which is what can happen if Colorado protects him (one sack). Travis Hunter , who will likely join Sanders among the top five picks in the 2025 NFL draft, caught eight passes for 153 yards and broke up four passes. Colorado has one Big 12 loss and does not play conference leaders Iowa State and BYU, but has a chance to win out, starting with Saturday’s trip to Texas Tech. The Buffs scored 34 for the third consecutive game.

Penn State 28, Wisconsin 13: Quarterback Drew Allar left with an injury but backup Beau Pribula had no problems finishing up, hitting 11 of 13 passes. Jaylen Reed scored on a 19-yard interception. The Nittany Lions are 7-0 but they’ve been here before, and on Saturday they play host to Ohio State in what would have been a season-determining game in the old 4-team playoff format. Now they might have some wiggle room, although they’d like to earn the playoff bye that comes with a league championship.

Boise State 29, UNLV 24: The Rebels drew 42,228 to Allegiant Stadium, a school record, but the Friday night game ended with a soul-crushing drive by Boise State that ran off the last 8:07. Heisman Trophy candidate Ashton Jeanty picked up two third downs on the drive, and also scored the winning touchdown, even though the Rebels (6-2) held him to 128 yards in 33 carries, with no run longer than 16 yards. Quarterback Maddux Jeter Madsen (yes, his parents are baseball fans) damaged UNLV with three runs for 58 yards, including one for a touchdown. The Broncos are 6-1 and hopeful of winning the Mountain West and perhaps squeezing into the playoff.

Pittsburgh 41, Syracuse 13: No game was more bizarre than the undefeated Panthers’ eighth consecutive win. They returned three interceptions of Kyle McCord for touchdowns in the first half alone. It meant that Eli Holstein only had to complete 11 passes for Pitt, which won the turnover battle 5-0 and gained only 217 yards. A difficult ACC game at SMU is next for the Panthers. Rasheem Biles, Kyle Louis and Braylan Lovelace were the interceptors. The Panthers have scored 27 defensive touchdowns for coach Pat Narduzzi, who is in his 10th season.