IU football beat Maryland, as Curt Cignetti said it would in his email

See those stands in the fourth quarter? On a day when the opening game was rained and made worse, in a college town where there are plenty of places to play, the student section was almost full from the start – kick-off at noon; Let the kids get some sleep, you know? – and were completely at capacity in the fourth quarter, when the Hoosiers scored the last of their three straight touchdowns to turn a 21-21 tie into a 42-28 loss.

Maybe the students had already found a way to get some time to play — IU has been selling beer at football games since 2019 — or maybe they were just in a good mood, but as the Hoosiers continued to score and the raindrops continued to fall, the student section collapsed a chant that shows how far this long-suffering IU football program and this long-suffering #iufb fan base have come in terms of self-esteem:

We want Bama!

We want Bama!

IU Football: Great players, great coaches

No IU team had scored more than 202 points in a four-game span, let alone the first four games of a season — or the first four games of a new coach’s tenure — but that’s exactly what the Hoosiers had done to theirs Building the team 4-0 start. And now they’ve done it again, increasing the tally by 42 points, marking the most productive five-game stretch in program history.

Plus the most productive five-game start to the season, etc. and so on. Corresponds to this Latin footnote set ibid apply there? Let’s ask Cignetti one day. He’s the wordsmith here.

His team is just incredibly well-coached, and if it looks like I’m drinking the Kool-Aid, then you have a point. But let’s be honest: Watching IU as a fan, as a sportswriter, as a form of self-flagellation is thirsty work. This is a program that hasn’t accomplished much since about 1967 other than tripping over its shoes.

Cignetti came here and changed the roster – this 2024 IU football team ranks among the national leaders with 29 transfers and 53 total additions – and coached everyone who stayed. Here is an example:

End of fourth quarter. IU ball at the Maryland 39, leading 42-28, facing 4th and 5. Cignetti sends two of his best receivers, senior holdover Andison Coby and Texas Tech transfer Myles Price, but not because IU is going for it. IU is not. Cignetti has Coby and Price, two of his most explosive athletes, work as gunners.

In fact… Punter James Evans throws a high spiral that bounces Maryland inside the 10. Coby and Price, the two fastest players on the field, stand behind the Terps punt returner, waiting to land the ball at the 1. Coby gets the accolades, but Price was there too. Great athletes. Great coaching.

IU has both. Strange, right? IU football has great athletes and IU football has great coaches. We’ve always wondered: What would happen if IU ever had both?

It’s a 5-0 start. And to be clear:

IU could — and perhaps even should — be 9-0 when it takes on No. 3 Ohio State (3-0) on Nov. 23. Who will win this game? We won’t care if that happens, but for now, who cares? These are the dreams you can dream if you are an IU fan. These are the things you can say out loud as a sports journalist. Because this is what they sang with a serious face on Saturday afternoon:

We want Bama!

We want Bama!

Watch your banners: IU Football is 5-0 and still hasn’t trailed this season. Enjoy.

Insiders Zach Osterman and Mike Niziolek analyze the Hoosiers’ 42-28 win over Maryland on Saturday.

9-0 IU vs. Ohio State on November 23rd?

This team believes because this coach believes. You’ve seen previous IU coaching staffs. They growled. They hoped. They really, really hoped. But here’s how you know IU’s recent coaching staff didn’t really believe in their Hoosiers:

The Hoosiers fell apart in the fourth quarter.

All. The. Damned. Time.

“Finish” was once this team’s slogan. However, winning games takes more than just slogans. It also takes more than just talking. Maryland had the talk on its side Saturday when the Big Ten Network spotted Terps coach Mike Locksley early in the fourth quarter and found out what he told his players heading into the final 15 minutes of a one-score game:

“This is exactly what you want. Now go and finish them off.”

Next play, first play of the fourth quarter: An IU pass rush forces an incompletion. Maryland Punts. IU gained 65 yards in five plays and led 35-21 with 12:24 left.

Locksley hoped. Cignetti and his employees? You believed, and this is how you know it:

IU quarterback Kurtis Rourke hadn’t thrown an interception in the first four games. Didn’t fumble the ball either. Didn’t face any real adversity as the Hoosiers outscored their opponents 202-37. But on Saturday, playing against a confusing, opportunistic Maryland defense that had forced 10 turnovers in four games, Rourke threw interceptions on consecutive passes in the first quarter.

How much do Cignetti and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan believe? On IU’s next drive, they caught seven consecutive passes en route to a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

Two drives later, late in the first half, the score is tied at 7, Maryland hits a punt at the Hoosiers’ 1-yard line, and what Cignetti and Shanahan call for a first down from the shadows of their own end zone. A passport. A long pass that requires a deep drop into the end zone, where Rourke throws a 22-yard back-shoulder fade – do you know how much confidence it takes to throw that pass from that spot on the field? – to Elijah Sarratt.

Rourke, who at one point had that unseemly line — 2-for-5, two interceptions, 25 yards — finished 22-33-2 for 359 yards and three touchdowns. It helps that he throws to one of the deepest receiving corps in the Big Ten with Sarratt (seven catches, 128 yards) and Price (two catches, 63 yards), along with Lawrence North standout Omar Cooper (four catches, 83 yards and a TD ). ) and Donaven McCulley (a catch for a 12-yard TD, still recovering from an upper-body injury in the opening game). It helps that he hands off to two outstanding tailbacks, Ty Son Lawton and Justice Ellison, who combined for 31 carries for 144 yards and two scores.

But it also helps that Rourke is playing on a good team that’s getting better at everything, including the minors – IU committed a season-low four penalties on Saturday – and that he’s playing for a coach who says what he means and means what he says, and I’ll be damned if Curt Cignetti wasn’t telling the truth when he sent an email to 48,952 IU students earlier this week that said:

When the clock hits zero and we’re 5-0, I want you to be there to celebrate a historic victory with us.

And I’d be damned if the students weren’t there, demanding a game against Alabama before settling into one final chant, a serenade for the first 5-0 coach in #iufb history:

Hoosier Daddy!

Hoosier Daddy!

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar.

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