BLOOMINGTON — Before even reaching the IU Athletics complex — the buzz around Bloomington just felt different on Saturday.
Traffic around town was noticeably higher, as undefeated Indiana football prepared to take on Nebraska. The tailgate scene around the stadium was as vibrant and lively as ever. FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff show aired live outside the south side of the stadium, with a boisterous crowd bringing energy early on a cold, fall morning.
IU football has plenty of devoted tailgaters and fans, even through its lean years. But that energy often never made it into Memorial Stadium — the party was the main experience, not the actual football game.
Slowly at first, and now very quickly, that is changing. The party raged on outside, but fans poured into the stadium well in advance of kickoff. The student section was nearly filled to the top with more than 45 minutes before the game started. Fans wanting to pick up concessions on their way into the seating bowl were greeted by much longer lines than they’d grown used to.
That’s what happens when — slowly at first, and now very quickly — the on-field product also changes. IU (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) played in front of a sold-out Memorial Stadium for the first time in three years, and kept rolling against its toughest opponent to date. The Hoosiers throttled Nebraska, 56-7, to clinch a winning record for only the fourth time since the turn of the century.
“I could tell they were really loud,” IU head coach Curt Cignetti said after the game. “Keep winning, people are going to come. I felt confident it could happen here like that, too, because I’d done it at one other place that was very similar to this going in.”
The student section — and the entire stadium — was engaged early and often. The Cornhuskers (5-2, 2-2) were greeted by loud boos when they took the field for warmups. They were later serenaded by waves of “F— Nebraska,” “F— (Dylan) Raiola,” and “Hoosier daddy” throughout the game. When the Hoosiers ran out of the tunnel just before game time, the reception they received gave longtime radio voice Don Fischer goosebumps.
Indiana started the game on offense, and three plays in, Justice Ellison broke a 43-yard rush to take the Hoosiers to the doorstep of the red zone. The crowd erupted in a roar seldom heard on this side of the athletics complex. The fifth-year senior scored a touchdown six plays later, and IU never looked back.
The students, upon entering the game, received rally towels with Cignetti’s “Study later” message printed on them. They waved those towels through the air all afternoon, as if there wasn’t already enough energy in the building.
This was the closest thing Memorial Stadium can produce to a big game Assembly Hall atmosphere.
“It was wonderful. I’ve never seen this house packed out like this. But it was great,” Ellison said. “I was feeding off the energy. I was excited, soon as I came out there, I was running around, soon as the coin toss happened. It was wonderful for me to experience that.”
The raucous environment undeniably affected the game. The Hoosiers dominated Nebraska the way they have in all their other games, but the Huskers made some big mistakes that helped widen the margin further. This was UNL’s second road game of the season, and its first against a winning team. Raiola completed 64 percent of his passes and threw for 234 yards, but he frequently looked like a freshman playing in an environment more hostile than he’d seen before.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, with IU already ahead 42-7, Nebraska lined up to go for it on fourth and two. Indiana fans, once known for fleeing at halftime to return to tailgates or start rallying for evening festivities, remained fully in place in Memorial Stadium and just as loud as they were in the first quarter. And this proved their most impactful moment of the afternoon. The Cornhuskers committed a false start, and then they had to call a timeout before their fourth and seven attempt. Raiola threw an incomplete pass after the timeout and IU took over on downs.
“I’ve never played in a crowd like this,” Indiana linebacker Jailin Walker said. “They came with loud noises and it motivated us to play fast.”
The energy persisted well into the fourth quarter. The stands finally started clearing midway through the quarter, and particularly after Elijah Green’s touchdown with 3:45 remaining for IU’s final score of the game. After the game went final, quarterbacks Kurtis Rourke and Tayven Jackson walked over to the remaining students to acknowledge their contributions.
This was Indiana’s biggest test of the season so far, and even with an ever-growing spotlight, the Hoosiers passed with flying colors. They’ve shown no signs of withering in big moments — those situations bring out the best in this team.
Plenty of big tests remain, and IU still has more to prove. It’ll have to keep this up — and then, eventually, show out against Ohio State — to prove it truly belongs among the big dogs of college football this year. And the Hoosiers will surely face more adversity along the way in doing so.
But days like these aren’t about the destination, or what it could mean going forward. Scenes like Saturday’s aren’t the norm for Indiana football. But after the work Cignetti, his staff, and his players have put in for the last 10 months, IU’s program is not only rejuvenated, but nearly unrecognizable from previous iterations.
Only time will tell how far the Hoosiers can go this year, and just how special this season will be. But this beatdown of Nebraska and the boisterous atmosphere surrounding it is the biggest example yet of the momentum Cignetti has generated for this program.
It’s a day that he and his players will quickly move on from to prepare for their next opponent, Washington. But it’s a day that the Indiana fans who packed the bleachers at Memorial Stadium will remember for a long time.
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