With No. 19 Indiana football hosting No. 9 Illinois at 7:30 p.m. Saturday inside Memorial Stadium, it’s just the sixth ever top-20 matchup in Bloomington. It’s the first since 1987, when No. 15 Indiana defeated No. 20 Michigan.
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti was the quarterbacks coach at Rice University at the time. It was just his third coaching stop. He’s now on his 11th.
And nearly 38 years later, Cignetti will lead his squad into their first of three matchups against currently ranked opponents. It’s arguably one of the biggest games in program history at Memorial Stadium.
But the Hoosiers don’t view it that way.
“I wouldn't say it's anything different,” sixth-year senior defensive lineman Mikail Kamara said during player media availability Tuesday. “I just think it's just the next game. We have plenty of opponents in the future, and I think this is just a big game, just because it's the next game. That's it.”
Senior defensive lineman Kellan Wyatt, who transferred from Maryland after spring practice, echoed Kamara. He said the Hoosiers’ mentality trickles down from Cignetti.
“I think it starts up top with Cig,” Wyatt said. “Coach Cig, he puts a lot of pressure on us throughout the week. And when he stresses us out through practice, I think when it comes to Saturday, Saturday is pretty easy for the most part.”
Defeating the Fighting Illini is no easy task. Illinois head coach Bret Bielema and his squad enter on a seven-game winning streak, dating back to last season — tied for the longest in the country with reigning national champions Ohio State and the University of Memphis.
The contest between the Hoosiers and the Fighting Illini sold out July 31. Then, on Sept. 8, the Big Ten announced the matchup will kick off at 7:30 p.m. and be nationally televised on NBC — which Kamara said is “something you dream about as a kid.”
Shortly after the conference’s release, Indiana announced the game would be a “Red Out,” as fans are encouraged to wear red.
When Indiana’s offense is on the field, the surely raucous crowd will be rather quiet for the unit. But when the Hoosiers’ defense is at work against the Fighting Illini’s offense, which is led by redshirt senior quarterback Luke Altmyer, a sea of rally towels will be waving.
The noise is “deafening,” Kamara said, and different for the defense. He thinks the noise helps the unit.
“So, it kind of makes you just play honestly faster,” he said. “You got all that noise going, it's like you're not really thinking, especially as a defensive player, you play best when you're just moving fast.”
In 2024, the Hoosiers played two ranked teams: No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 University of Notre Dame.
Both contests were on the road. Both were losses.
Now, Indiana has a sold-out crowd behind it in a ranked matchup.
Playing on such a stage isn’t the same as the Hoosiers’ first three games of the season — two games against Group of Five teams and one against a Football Championship Subdivision opponent.
Now, the Cream and Crimson are ready to hit the field and get the feeling of a big-time game, Wyatt said.
“You get nervousness,” Wyatt said. “It's not really nervousness, but you get butterflies a little bit. And that can be a good thing just because... you have a lot of excitement and things like that.”
Both Kamara and Wyatt oozed confidence Tuesday as they each sat in a black chair inside the Don Croftcheck Team Room at Memorial Stadium. They repeatedly stuck to their mentality that’s preached at the top: it’s a big game because it’s the next one.
Wyatt explained the team’s confidence comes from the way they practice. With the looks the coaching staff throws at the players, they want to see how the squad responds to those looks.
Still, Wyatt recognized Saturday’s game is a big one.
“It's nice to always have a big game like this,” he said. “You feel like you play a lot looser. You feel like a lot of eyes are on you, which they are. And yeah, when you make plays in big games, people start to see them.”
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.
