Best start, ever

On being an Indiana Hoosiers football fan, Part 2

It’s been a long road, IU football fans. And now, that long-awaited validation has arrived in spectacular fashion. After decades of bargaining, hoping, and enduring near-misses, Indiana’s 2024 campaign isn’t just challenging history – it’s rewriting it. A day ago in East Lansing, that transformation was on full display.

Saturday in East Lansing, Indiana trailed in a football game for the first time all season. The Hoosiers spotted Michigan State a 10-0 lead after one full quarter, before flipping the momentum.

They put up 47 unanswered points — running out to a 37-point victory and securing the Indiana vs. Michigan State rivalry’s traveling trophy, the Old Brass Spittoon.

With the dominant road win, IU moves to 9-0. It’s the program’s best start, ever. Since 1887.

Quarterback Kurtis Rourke, returning from a two-week thumb injury absence, got off to a slow start but then found his groove, finishing 19-of-29 for 263 yards and four TDs. 

The Hoosier defense dominated, recording seven sacks, 15 tackles for loss (this is almost unheard of), two interceptions and it blocked a punt for a safety. Their aggressive play forced three Spartan starters, including the quarterback and the team’s best safety, to leave the game.

This is a resilient group and they are for real.

In 48 hours, the first College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings will be released. I expect to hear my school named among the 12 programs who currently would participate. Astonishing to type that sentence.

If Indiana were to continue on its current path and make the CFP field (in its first expanded postseason, from four teams to 12), it would join the following Big Ten conference rivals who have played in the CFP: Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State. And it would leapfrog some serious B1G football powers who’ve never been there.

The dream lives, but there is still a long way to go.

Just saying, a year ago nobody was in the stands. In July, the Big Ten media poll predicted the Hoosiers to finish second to last.

As Coach Curt Cignetti likes to say: It’s about going 1-0, this week.

Up next: the Michigan Wolverines. I’ll be at sold out Memorial Stadium for this one, on the occasion of son John’s senior-year fraternity Dad’s Weekend.