The new reality at Indiana can be hard to fully process for a fan base that has seen more than 700 losses.
Sure 8-0 and No. 2 in the nation is one thing. Teams can occasionally get there with a few lucky bounces here and there.
But that’s not Indiana.
THIS is Indiana:
– A 14-game home winning streak, the third longest active streak in the nation.
– A 13-1 record in the Big Ten over the last two seasons.
– Outscoring opponents by an average score of 45-11 this season.
– And on Saturday, a second win over a Big Ten team this season by 50 or more points.
How rare is that last one?
Indiana’s 56-6 win over UCLA on Saturday marks the first time since Clemson in 2018 a Power 4 team won multiple conference games by 50-plus points in the same season.
The Hoosiers had every reason to not dominate on Saturday.
They were facing a surging UCLA team on a 3-game winning streak.
Aiden Fisher, their star linebacker, their heart-and-soul and signal-caller on defense left the game in the first quarter with an injury.
Heisman hopeful quarterback Fernando Mendoza threw an interception on his fifth pass of the game. He threw for just 168 yards on the day. His star receivers Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper, Jr. combined for just eight receiving yards.
If you told any Big Ten team all that would happen in a game against Indiana, they’d be licking their chops.
UCLA found out what happens. They lost by 50.
Why?
It sounds cliche when the players and coaches say it, but this team truly is laser focused.
“I think it comes down to keeping it one play, one team at a time,” quarterback Fernando Mendoza said when asked why Indiana keeps producing blowout wins.
How focused?
Up 20? Up 30? Up 40? Think you can hit cruise? Better not show it.
“Coach Cig doesn’t want to see smiles on the sideline at all,” linebacker Isaiah Jones said. “For us it’s 0-0 every time we step on the field, and that was the mentality even coming out of halftime when we had the lead. No smiles until the locker room.”
That’s the mindset part. But it’s deeper than that.
This is a team with no glaring weaknesses, and because of that, when something isn’t going well, they can seemingly always dial up an answer.
The passing game isn’t productive?
Enter a dominant performance by the offensive line, leading the way for running backs Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black, who combined for 151 yards on 27 carries (5.6 ypc) and two touchdowns on the ground, as part of a 262 yard rushing day for the Hoosiers.
Sarratt and Cooper drawing double-teams or not getting separation?
Enter E.J. Williams, a former 5-star Clemson recruit who posted his first career 100-yard receiving game. The staff diagnosed Williams was getting favorable coverage, he got open, and Mendoza found him and threw accurate passes.
“They were doubling Elijah and Coop, that means there’s a one-on-one on E.J. And when there’s a one-on-one on E.J., that’s great,” Mendoza said.
Fisher suffers a knee injury?
Enter Jones, an afterthought coming into the season, who forced a fumble soon after Fisher exited the game, and who led the team with eight tackles. What was it like to take over the signal calling at linebacker?
“I was ready,” Jones said. “I feel like I had been prepared all week.”
Cignetti says a big part of his job running a football program is development. Jones is the epitome of development at Indiana.
“Everything’s earned, not given. He’s (Jones) earned everything he’s got,” Cignetti said. “He’s a real smart player, just like Fisher is. Fisher was just a year ahead of him in his development because when Isaiah came here as a freshman, he was injured.
“He’s really stepped up and taken a huge step this year. He’s still a young guy. He knows the ins-and-outs of the defense just like Aiden does.”
UCLA tries a fake punt?
Enter the coaching staff, which had noted the Bruins propensity for running fakes and had the special teams unit prepared — even when UCLA showed some new wrinkles.
“We were pretty prepared (for the fake punt),” Jones said. “We knew what they had already run, and we knew what could come off of it. We were pretty amped up for it. We knew they would try to get some hope going for them with that, but not today.”
We are only eight games into the season, and already Indiana’s eight wins are tied for No. 4 in program history. The five Big Ten wins are also tied for No. 4 in program history.
This all happened last year too. It doesn’t even seem real.
This is Indiana after all. How is this possible?
For Hemby, this is just as unusual for him as it is you. Indiana’s eight wins matches the most he has ever experienced in a full season.
“I am excited. This is something that I’m not really used to,” Hemby said. “But I’m definitely loving it.”
For Cignetti, it’s the staff, the guys like Hemby, Black, Jones, and Williams, the unsung heroes in the trenches, and everyone else who come through when their number is called — and turn potential problems into 50-point wins.
“We just have everybody on the same page. I know what I want. I got a lot of assistants that we’ve been together a long time. We all kind of speak the same lingo,” Cignetti said. “We’ve got good players with high character. They’re good leaders. Some of them have been with us a pretty long time. They listen to the message.”
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