EAST LANSING, Mich. — An opening kickoff blown dead. Dropped passes and missed sacks. Its first double-digit deficit — let alone first time trailing — this season.
No. 13 Indiana football looked like a shell of itself during the first quarter of Saturday’s game against Michigan State at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. The Hoosiers exited the opening frame trailing 10-0.
Michigan State punched Indiana in the gut. Then, the Hoosiers threw haymakers for three quarters. Indiana scored 47 unanswered points, driving fans out of Spartan Stadium en route to a 47-10 victory and the team’s first 9-0 start in program history.
“I knew at some point we’d be behind, and I knew we’d be fine,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said postgame. “Now we’ve been behind, and we responded.”
After two drives apiece, the Spartans outgained the Hoosiers 128 to 10 in total yards. Indiana didn’t pick up a first down until its third series with under three minutes remaining in the opening quarter. The Hoosiers’ offense had been stifled, and their defense lacked answers for Michigan State sophomore quarterback Aidan Chiles.
Suddenly, it flipped.
Indiana scored on seven of its next nine drives, including six touchdowns. The Hoosiers outgained the Spartans 333-77 in the last three quarters. Michigan State finished with –24 rushing yards.
The Hoosiers, Cignetti said, simply started executing as they have all season.
“I think we just started to make some plays,” Cignetti said. “We just started executing, settled down and we took control up front on defense — got the turnovers, started scoring points. They couldn’t punch back.”
Indiana sixth-year senior quarterback Kurtis Rourke said postgame the team’s offense settled in. The Hoosiers experienced a similar start Oct. 5 against Northwestern, as they were held scoreless through their first two drives before rolling to a 41-24 victory.
Experience is central to Indiana’s success. The Hoosiers have an older team, Cignetti said postgame, with no shortage of senior leadership or veteran playmakers.
Rourke started his 41st collegiate game Saturday, finishing 19 for 29 for 263 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. A pair of fifth-year seniors led Indiana in rushing and receiving, as Justice Ellison rushed nine times for 32 yards while Ke’Shawn Williams caught six passes for 86 yards.
Junior receiver Elijah Sarratt, who made his 34th appearance Saturday, caught two touchdown passes. Redshirt sophomore receiver Omar Cooper Jr. was the only underclassman who touched the ball for Indiana’s offense.
Defensively, the Hoosiers tallied 15 tackles for loss — 11 from upperclassmen — and seven sacks, six of which came from juniors or seniors.
Redshirt junior defensive end Mikail Kamara posted 4.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. Junior linebacker Aiden Fisher had a team-best nine tackles. Senior defensive tackle James Carpenter recorded 1.5 tackles for loss and one sack.
And on a day in which Indiana made program history, its oldest players proved pivotal.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that played a lot of ball on this team,” Carpenter said postgame. “We understand that a 10-0 deficit in the first quarter, it's not the end of the world. We’ve got a lot of possessions left, a lot of game left. We understand that play-by-play, we can come back from this, and we did pretty well today. That experience really helps.”
But Indiana’s veterans aren’t just experienced in terms of games played. They’re experienced winners, Fisher said.
“When you get scored on quickly and some things are just out of your control, you’ve got to have a team that's seasoned, that's veteran, to respond to some adversity when you get it,” Fisher said. “And I think we did a great job doing that.”
With experience comes perspective, but the 63-year-old Cignetti said he hasn’t had much of a chance to reflect on the Hoosiers’ historic start. Instead, his mind shifts to the next challenge.
Indiana gives its players 24 hours to enjoy each win, though Cignetti noted the coaches will get about 12 before returning to Memorial Stadium and reviewing film.
But if Cignetti finds the time to wind the clock back to December, he’d see a vision fulfilled. Carpenter said when he visited Indiana last December before transferring from James Madison University, Cignetti told him the Hoosiers had a chance to do something special.
Now, Indiana is doing that. The Hoosiers are one of only two undefeated teams in the Big Ten and, after Saturday, have proven they can not only survive a punch, but keep fighting until the opponent taps out.
Indiana knew from the start it would have plenty of doubters, Carpenter said. But in the Hoosiers’ locker room, belief has never wavered. Perhaps nothing showed that better than Indiana’s resilience when challenged Saturday, as Sarratt said the team never flinched.
And as a result, the Hoosiers not only brought the Old Brass Spittoon back to Bloomington but set several records. The Hoosiers matched a program record for regular season and Big Ten wins, set their longest ever win streak with nine and are now on the doorstep of reaching heights once unimaginable.
In its simplest form, the 2024 season is a fever dream the Hoosiers hope never ends.
“Coming here and creating history is amazing always,” Sarratt said postgame. “I just want to keep it going.”
Follow reporters Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) and Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and columnist Jhett Garrett (@jhettgarrett) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
