Indiana football had no trouble improving to 3-0. But with its biggest test so far this season in No. 9 Illinois coming to Bloomington on Saturday, the No. 19 Hoosiers have a slight advantage.
An extra day.
“It’s nice, real nice, just being able to spend time with family and rest this weekend,” redshirt junior wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr., who scored four touchdowns in the victory over Indiana State University on Sept. 12, said postgame. “It’s going to be big for a game like we got this week.”
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti explained after the Hoosiers’ victory that the coaching staff would be off Sept. 13 while the players would have “trainer check-in.”
The Cream and Crimson defeated the Sycamores on Sept. 12, while the Fighting Illini also moved to 3-0 with a 38-0 win over Western Michigan University on Sept. 13.
Although redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza went 19 for 20 for 270 yards passing and five touchdowns through the air, he said there’s aspects of his play that he feels he needs to “clean up” before the primetime showdown.
“I need to have better footwork, I need to be a little bit more smarter and more effective with my red zone decision making,” Mendoza said. “There are some other stuff that I won’t get too deep in that I got to get better at.”
The University of California, Berkely, transfer said he came to Indiana to play in the Big Ten and to play against “great” opponents like Illinois.
And with eight days instead of seven between games, it gives Mendoza and Indiana an extra day of opportunity for preparation, he said.
“Instead of starting your Illinois preparation on Sunday, you can start now on Saturday,” Mendoza said, “which gives us another little go around instead of maybe trying to squeeze some things in at the end of the week to really get those good reps in practice when it’s like that red zone, third down that a lot of teams usually have those preparation later in the week.”
In 2024, the Hoosiers had just one Friday game in the regular season — a 77-3 victory over Western Illinois University. They followed that drubbing with a dominant 42-13 win over UCLA in the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California.
And although Indiana has two Friday contests this season, the other is in the final week of the regular season against in-state rival Purdue. The Hoosiers will enter that contest coming off a bye week.
But that’s in late November. It’ll be the Hoosiers’ final test of the regular season.
Their first comes against the Fighting Illini.
“I feel like that game is going to show us what we capable of this year,” Cooper said. “I feel like that’s going to be our first real big test. So, being able to go out there is going to be fun and it’s going to be a great atmosphere, so I’m excited.”
Cooper wasn’t the only Hoosier who was excited to play Illinois after just defeating Indiana State.
Redshirt junior defensive lineman Tyrique Tucker was asked about the sold-out crowd that'll be in attendance for the matchup. He said he was “looking forward to it” and couldn’t wait to see The Rock being packed like it was for the Hoosiers’ final four games of last season.
Senior defensive lineman Kellan Wyatt, Tucker’s counterpart, said the game “should be fun.” He agreed the extra day will be helpful.
“It’s good,” Wyatt said. “When we’re playing an opponent like that, you try to steal as much as you can. I feel like an extra day, it’s a help. It will help us in many ways, really.”
For the Hoosiers to earn a victory, they’ll surely need all three units to turn in high-quality performances in their first conference contest of the season.
Not only does the extra day of preparation give them an advantage in doing so, but they also have an opportunity to heal injured players.
Redshirt junior running back Lee Beebe Jr. suffered a right knee injury in the third quarter against the Sycamores. He sported a brace on his knee while he stood on the sideline late in the game.
Freshman safety Byron Baldwin Jr. still hasn’t made his Indiana debut as he’s missed all three games so far. Cignetti said nearly two weeks ago that Baldwin was dealing with a “more day-to-day" injury.
After senior punter Mitch McCarthy boomed his first punt as a Hoosier against Old Dominion University on Aug. 30, he limped to the sideline with an injury. He hasn’t played since, as he’s “dealing with a little issue,” Cignetti said Sept. 8.
“So, I think it’s great for our guys to get a little healthier,“ Mendoza said, “and it’s just great for another day of preparation, especially for a quarterback, which is a very cerebral position, to get some game tape and get a good feel of them tomorrow (Sept. 13).”
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
