As the clock ran out on, perhaps, the biggest win in Indiana football history, Curt Cignetti couldn’t restrain himself enough to keep a small grin off his face.
Cignetti took off his headset as the game ended and his players and assistants celebrated around him. Seventh-ranked IU, long portrayed as a group that couldn’t handle the spotlight of a big game and couldn’t stack up to the country’s best teams, went into Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. and knocked off No. 3 Oregon 30-20. IU’s second-year head coach has made his success rate abundantly clear since he took the job in December 2023, but even by his standards, this was a big win — one of the biggest of his career.
True to form, he wiped the smirk away quickly on his way to shake hands with Oregon head coach Dan Lanning on the field. After all, winning games is business as usual for Curt Cignetti.
But this one felt a little different. His voice cracked a bit during multiple postgame interviews, showing some rare emotion after a monumental result. Cignetti may never publicly admit how much this win meant to him, but he doesn’t have to.
“I’m really happy for our fans and our supporters. We have great supporters,” Cignetti said after the game. “And I’m looking forward to, once I’m done with all my media stuff, enjoying it a little bit.”
Oregon entered Saturday riding an 18-game home winning streak. IU was actually the last Big Ten team to win at Autzen, back in 2004.
But that was a different Ducks team. And these Hoosiers are on another planet from their squads of that era. This is the sort of win Indiana football, for generations, couldn’t have seriously dreamed about: a road victory over a top-five opponent.
It’s a result that solidifies even further the stunning turnaround Cignetti has pulled off in Bloomington. He’s taken the program with the most losses in college football history, a perpetual afterthought among the sport’s powers, and turned it into a legitimate national championship contender. Winning a game like Saturday’s leaves no other conclusion.
“All this team knew was losing football; we’re not used to being in big games, we’re used to losing the games, and just kind of being the punching bag in the Big Ten. I think we did a great job, as soon as we got here, changing the way Indiana thinks, changing the way we think as individuals,” linebacker Aiden Fisher said. “We’re prime for games like this. This is why we play this game. This is why you come to Indiana.”
In other eras of IU football, securing a sixth win was a noteworthy milestone. It means the Hoosiers are officially bowl eligible. For a program that’s appeared in only six bowl games in the last 30 years — including last season’s College Football Playoff game — simply securing a bowl berth typically rendered a season successful.
Now, the six-win threshold is an afterthought. Indiana is well beyond the point of aiming for, say, the Music City Bowl. After beating Oregon, the Hoosiers are heavily favored to return to the CFP for a second consecutive season. The most difficult opponent remaining on their schedule, Penn State, has imploded, dropping three straight games and losing quarterback Drew Allar for the rest of the season.
Suddenly, IU has a real chance to run the table and finish the regular season undefeated.
Repeating: Indiana football has a plausible shot at a 12-0 season.
Yes, that Indiana football program.
Defeating Oregon at Autzen shows this team is capable of accomplishing quite a lot.
“I think it just kind of shows what the limit to this team is — and I don’t think we found it yet,” linebacker Isaiah Jones said. “So I think it’s just something that’s exciting for the team to see, and it’s kind of like a real, big test.”
Part of what made IU’s victory in Eugene such a big statement was the way it played out.
This wasn’t some fluky game decided by a few wacky plays. There wasn’t a big injury, or any other reason to slap a proverbial asterisk next to the final score. The Hoosiers, for all 60 minutes, fully belonged on the same playing field as their top-five opponent.
There were some nervy moments, sure. IU’s secondary broke down on a 44-yard Oregon touchdown pass in the first quarter, and gave up a 12-play drive ending in a field goal, and then an 11-play drive that led to a missed field goal. On the other side, the Hoosiers had to punt on three of their first five possessions, and they had only 120 yards of offense before their massive field-goal drive at the end of the first half.
But this team never looked the part of an underdog on Saturday. Every time the Hoosiers took a punch from Oregon, they got right back up off the mat. The Ducks scored points four times, and IU immediately responded with points after three of those plays.
The Hoosiers rose to the occasion in the second half, holding Oregon to just 64 yards of offense and getting two clutch interceptions from Louis Moore and Jones to secure the win. Fernando Mendoza showed his mettle yet again, leading IU on some critical scoring drives in big moments. Elijah Sarratt stepped up time and time again. Indiana earned every bit of this victory.
“It shows the country that an IU football team is a real team. We’re not just a one-hit wonder,” Mendoza said. “And it shows that we can go through some stuff in the game. We can handle adversity. We’re a gritty team. And we really banded together. We have each other’s back.”
IU will soon turn the page to its next game, against Michigan State at what will surely be a raucous Memorial Stadium atmosphere.
The second half of the 2025 season could see the Hoosiers capitalize on some massive opportunities. There isn’t much that feels unattainable for this group — which, in of itself, is a remarkable statement to make about Indiana football. Winning a game like Saturday’s makes everything seem plausible.
IU will have to keep backing it up on the field. As the spotlight on this team continues to grow, so, too, does the target on its back.
But this victory over Oregon unlocked a lot of tantalizing possibilities for the rest of the season in Bloomington. If the Hoosiers can keep it rolling, a Big Ten Championship Game berth is in play, along with either a CFP first round home game or a top-four seed and a bye.
Cignetti’s transformation of Indiana football has made anything possible.
“You want to play for somebody like coach Cig, who’s so confident in himself, that it just flows into his players,” Fisher said. “This program’s at a really good spot right now. Coach Cig is the helm of it, and just how much he believes in his players and how much we believe in him.”
