Even after an 11-win season and an appearance in the College Football Playoff, Indiana’s unforgettable 2024 campaign left at least one lingering question.
Could they win the big one?
There was no shame in IU’s two 2024 losses that came against the two teams that ended up playing in the national championship game. Especially not when considering those two games were played on the road.
But under head coach Curt Cignetti, the Hoosiers aspire to more than just moral victories and tangible progress.
He made that abundantly clearly before he ever coached his first game in Bloomington.
“You don’t bring your kids up, ‘Johnny, I want you to be fourth-best. I want you to be tenth-best.’ Bullshit,” Cignetti said at the 2024 Big Ten media day.
“We want to be the best.”
The last time Curt Cignetti was in Lucas Oil Stadium, his words “We want to be the best” literally echoed throughout the empty building. On Saturday night the stadium will be full, and Cignetti will have a chance to do just that. #iufb pic.twitter.com/nEWmxssoyf
— Mike Schumann @ The Daily Hoosier (@daily_hoosier) December 1, 2025
Those last six words literally echoed throughout an empty Lucas Oil Stadium in July, 2024.
This Saturday, that same stadium will be full of fans for the Big Ten Championship, and Cignetti will have the opportunity to unequivocally prove against No. 1 Ohio State his team is the best.
If the No. 2 Hoosiers beat the Buckeyes, it will in part be due to the the lessons learned from a disappointing 38-15 loss in Columbus last November. Now more than a year in the rearview mirror and with tangible progress since, Cignetti acknowledges his 2024 team might not have mentally ready for the big stage.
“Was the moment too big for that football team? Really, objectively, you’d almost have to say it was,” Cignetti said Sunday afternoon. “We did some uncharacteristic things in pass protection, we did some uncharacteristic things with our punt team, which gave up 14 points, and we didn’t respond very well. And against Notre Dame I don’t think we responded very well.
“We got off to a decent start, we had a 7-0 lead. Ohio State had some penalties that hurt them early in the game, so we were able to hold that lead until about the middle of the second quarter. But really from that point on, we got caught in that one end zone, gave up some sacks, couldn’t get anything going on offense, they had all the momentum in the world. They pretty much dominated for two quarters of that football game.”
It’s interesting to go back and look at that 2024 Ohio State game with the benefit of hindsight.
Yes, the final score says 38-15, and that’s a convincing margin. The better team won on that Saturday afternoon.
But mano a mano, IU vs. Ohio State in the trenches, the game was fairly even in front of more than 100,000 at Ohio Stadium.
IU punter James Evans dropped a snap that gifted OSU the ball at the Indiana seven yard line. That led to a touchdown and gave the Buckeyes their first lead of the game with just 21 seconds left in the second quarter.
OSU’s Caleb Downs returned a punt 79 yards for a score early in the third quarter.
And Ohio State made the somewhat surprising decision to go for a touchdown while already up two scores with less than a minute left in the game.
You’d generally expect none of those things to happen to a team not caught up in the moment. And if you take them away, you’re talking about a 17-15 game.
Moreover, Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke was playing on a torn ACL, and thus his mobility was severely limited as the Buckeyes brought the house play after play while timing the snap in their raucous home stadium. The Buckeyes won’t have the home field in 2025, and IU quarterback Fernando Mendoza is a weapon with his legs.
Yeah, that’s a lot of ifs and buts, but no one is trying to relitigate that game. Instead, the salient point a year later is Indiana can look back on 2024 knowing they can compete with the best in any environment. That’s a contention buttressed this fall by road wins at Iowa, Oregon and Penn State in 2025.
The moment probably was too big in 2024. That was bound to happen to a team suddenly thrust on the national stage that hadn’t played in front of more than 70,000 to that point. But that very experience seems to be the foundation of these 12-0 Hoosiers.
“During the offseason those were two experiences (Ohio State, Notre Dame) that our guys had a long time to think about, and I think this team has responded to those type of challenges,” Cignetti said.
“We’ve been in some close games. Some down to the wire games. And when you’re successful in those situations it can only add to your belief that the next time you’re in one you’re going to make it happen, because you have in the past.”
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