Indiana hasn’t just started the 2024 season 3-0.
They’ve started 150 to 23.
Or 50 to 7.7 per game, if you prefer.
Group of Five, FCS, Big Ten — so far it hasn’t mattered. The only constant has been complete and total domination by Indiana under new head coach Curt Cignetti.
They’ve set their single game scoring record.
They posted their biggest margin of victory in the Big Ten since 2019, and their biggest Big Ten road margin since 2001.
They still haven’t even committed a turnover while forcing six.
The Hoosiers have a legitimate quarterback. Kurtis Rourke has completed 55 of 74 passes (74%) for 755 yards and 7 TDs through three games. He has weapons. He’s getting protection. The play calling almost always seems to be on point (See, e.g. — IU was 9-of-12 on third downs vs. UCLA).
Punter James Evans barely sees the field. He’s punted just four times through three games after kicking the ball 210 times the three years prior.
The defense is only giving up 180 yards a game to go with 12 sacks.
The only legitimate criticism anyone can come up with is too many penalties and poor drives to end the first half. And yet still, 150 to 23. Oh, and in total, IU has outgained its opponents 1,545 to 541.
No, Indiana isn’t going 12-0. And yes, a lot of these numbers are still inflated because of a very bad Western Illinois team.
But this IU team is also nothing like the 9-25 squads of the last three seasons.
There’s nothing gimmicky or lucky about any of this.
And it’s time to allow yourself to say this:
Indiana. Is. Good.
And with home games upcoming against Charlotte and Maryland, and then a road trip to Northwestern, a 6-0 start, and the top-15 ranking that would come with that, seems well within reason at this point.
While that might be difficult to process for most Indiana fans, Curt Cignetti already knows what’s coming next.
Why?
He’s done this everywhere he’s been.
This 42-13 road win over UCLA? It’s going to create a buzz. In Bloomington, in the Big Ten, and nationally.
“I know it will get a lot of people’s attention,” Cignetti said on Saturday evening in Pasadena. “And now we have to learn how to deal with success, which is a lot better than learning how to deal with failure.”
A win like Indiana’s 42-13 of UCLA changes hearts and minds, even in the long suffering Hoosier fan base.
We are still in the initial stages, but Cignetti predicted what would happen when he was hired.
And what he said is starting to sound prophetic.
“When you’re successful on the field, then you start to change the way the public, the state, the Big Ten, and the country think about Indiana Football,” he said. “You start putting more people in the stands, selling out games, then it’s hard to get tickets. That’s what we’re going to do.”
If you didn’t believe the man then, it was understandable.
But now?
Three games into the season, IU is already halfway to bowl eligibility.
And Cignetti has said loud and clear, mere bowl eligibility is not his goal.
At the moment, just about anything seems possible.
We won’t get too far ahead of ourselves.
But it’s not a stretch to say this:
It’s time to believe.
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