BLOOMINGTON — Throughout the season, Indiana football games have felt like one long party.
The games have never really been in doubt, as Indiana’s steamrolled its opponents on the way to blowout wins. Even when the Hoosiers trailed for the first time all season at Michigan State, they dominated the final three quarters and had Spartan fans heading for the exits by the start of the fourth quarter. IU home games have been a three-plus hour celebration of this new Big Ten football powerhouse.
That is, until Saturday. No. 8 Indiana reached 10-0 for the first time in program history with a tight 20-15 victory over Michigan, but it had to overcome more adversity to get there than any other game all season.
“I can’t say enough about these guys. I don’t throw many bouquets out there; we all know that. But these guys have accomplished quite a bit,” head coach Curt Cignetti said after the game. “So I can reflect on that for tonight and then we’ll get back to work on Monday and have a good off week.”
Michigan, the defending national champions, hasn’t been its usual force in the Big Ten this season. But it’s still one of the toughest teams Indiana’s faced all season. UM, even at a weaker strength, still represented a hurdle for Cignetti’s program to clear: beating one of the traditional Big Ten East football powers.
This game started like many others: once the Hoosiers took the lead, they surged ahead to a 17-3 halftime lead. Memorial Stadium buzzed with excitement hours before the game started, and the party continued into the second half. All day long, fans waved around white rally towels, which have quickly become extremely popular and enhanced Indiana’s game-day atmosphere.
But Indiana had some good fortune both on offense and defense in the first half, and Michigan seized some momentum after halftime. Quarterback Kurtis Rourke threw an interception on IU’s first offensive play of the third quarter, and UM turned it into a field goal. Slowly, the Wolverines found their way back into the game. The Hoosiers suffered some injuries that loomed large. They couldn’t get the running game going. Elijah Sarratt made a few uncharacteristic drops in big spots. And Michigan’s offense did just enough to get some points on the board.
“The interception was a bad way to start,” Cignetti said after the game. “And then we had some protection issues, and then we had some opportunities, plays that we normally make, maybe a 1-on-1 go ball or back-shoulder throw, we fake the bubble (screen) and Sarratt down the sideline just can’t quite connect. We had a number of those. And then the sacks. We couldn’t get anything going in the run game. It just wasn’t happening.”
Slowly, the electric energy in Bloomington shifted to a nervous unease. IU football fans hadn’t seen their team play like this in a long time. For the first time all season, it felt like there was serious risk of them losing a game.
As the third quarter went along and UM continued clawing its way back in the game, Memorial Stadium quieted down. Michigan fans — far more outnumbered by IU fans than typical previous matchups — grew more vocal with “Let’s go blue” chants.
When the Wolverines scored their lone touchdown of the game with 9:35 left in the fourth quarter, a feeling of inevitability — the sort of vibe long associated with IU football games — swept over the crowd. The Hoosiers, for a brief moment, were no longer the group that pummeled opponents into submission. They looked like the “same old Indiana” teams that found ways to lose.
But, of course, the 2024 Hoosiers are different.
“Championship teams find a way to win football games, and not all the time do you get style points. This is probably the first one we haven’t gotten style points,” Cignetti said. “It tells you a lot about the resiliency of this team, its competitive character. At the end of the day, they all count as one (win), whether it’s 72-6 or 3-2. They count as one.”
Time will tell if Cignetti’s squad is truly a championship team. But Indiana, indeed, found a way to win. Michigan attempted a two-point conversion after its touchdown, with a chance to tie the game. And when the defense made a big stop, the crowd erupted, yet also exhaled.
IU still had a lot of work ahead in securing the win. But that defensive response symbolized what sets this group apart from its previous iterations. Yes, this team has more talent and stronger coaching. And yes, this was the first time it’s been tested to this degree. But the Hoosiers, even when things went Michigan’s way, displayed the same level-headedness that’s defined them all year. IU didn’t let mistakes snowball. The team never panicked, as if it knew its moment would come.
That moment came just over four minutes later, when Ke’Shawn Williams weaved his way through a crowd of Wolverines for a 22-yard punt return that sent the Memorial Stadium crowd into a frenzy.
“He was full throttle, man,” Cignetti said. “To catch that punt, and he made it happen, was a tremendous effort, and really was very uplifting for everybody in the stadium. About the first great thing that had happened offensively, counting the punt return as an offensive play. Gave us a real shot.”
The Hoosiers got a field goal out of that big play, on a clutch 41-yard kick by Nico Radicic. IU’s defense forced a turnover on downs on Michigan’s ensuing possession, and two plays after that, Rourke slid to the ground with a first-down run that iced the historic victory.
The postgame scenes created lasting images. Fireworks exploded over the stadium, and the crowd roared into the Bloomington night. Players flooded over to the student section, and jumped up to high five fans serenading them with chants of “Ten and oh!” Even Cignetti showed some emotion during his on-field interview with the CBS broadcast after the game — though he may not admit to it.
Indiana’s 2024 season has become one to remember. The Hoosiers could make further history in two weeks against Ohio State, and into December and January in the College Football Playoff. But regardless of what happens the rest of the way, no images may define this IU football season more strongly than the pandemonium in Memorial Stadium throughout the second half of the year. The white towels waving through the air. The celebratory fireworks. The sudden belief that this team can conquer all in its way.
Cignetti spent plenty of time talking about changing the culture around Indiana football. There was no greater sign that he’s accomplished it than his team’s win over Michigan.
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