I’ll get straight to the point. Indiana football is the national championship front-runner.
The Hoosiers’ 30-20 win over No. 3 Oregon on Saturday afternoon wasn’t just the best win in program history — which it was — but it was also the most impressive win any team has had this season.
Indiana became the second team to notch a road victory over an Associated Press Top-3 ranked opponent this season. The Hoosiers beat the only other team to do so.
“It just kind of shows what the limit to this team is,” redshirt junior linebacker Isaiah Jones said postgame. “I don't think we've found it yet.”
The result alone is enough reason to put Indiana on the same pedestal given to prestigious programs like Ohio State and the University of Miami. But the dominance the Hoosiers showcased to produce the final score yields a much more controversial conclusion — Curt Cignetti is coaching the best team in college football.
If you have a strong desire to slam your laptop or toss your phone into the nearest body of water in a fit of rage, allow me to explain.
Earlier this week, I wrote that Indiana’s toughest test of the season would be decided in the trenches. Oregon’s speedy skill position players stole the limelight through the first six weeks of the season, but its play up front was the backbone of an offense that averaged 46.6 points per game heading into Saturday’s matchup.
The Ducks came in having allowed just one sack all season. Then they played the Hoosiers.
Indiana made redshirt sophomore quarterback Dante Moore look as uncomfortable as a fifth wheel on a romantic double date. The Hoosiers’ defensive coordinator Bryant Haines dialed up several blitz packages that forced the Ducks’ quarterback out of the pocket and into the arms of pursuing defenders.
Moore was tackled in the backfield on the game’s first play from scrimmage, beginning a game-long trend. Indiana recorded six total sacks in a dominant performance up front.
“I thought our defense really took it to them in the second half,” Cignetti said. “Won the line of scrimmage, run game and pass game. Put pressure on the quarterback.”
Oregon had just 64 total yards in the second half.
The Ducks’ offensive line entered the matchup as one of the premier protection units in the country. Indiana’s defense — led by senior linebacker Aiden Fisher — recorded the second-most sacks it's had in any game this season.
Are you convinced yet? If not, let’s switch things up and talk about the Hoosiers’ offense.
I’ll start with the obvious — senior wide receiver Elijah Sarratt is a top-five pass catcher in the country. Indiana’s number one option was just that against the Ducks, hauling in eight catches for 121 yards and a crucial fourth-quarter touchdown. The Hoosiers had four gains of 15 or more yards. Three of the four were passes to Sarratt.
Redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza didn’t play his cleanest game — Indiana’s signal-caller threw a game-tying pick-six early in the fourth quarter — but his connection with Sarratt was impossible to ignore. Despite Oregon’s best efforts to throw the duo off with overtly physical man coverage, the two routinely found one another on crucial downs.
“I don't complain when I don't get a call,” Sarratt said. “Of course, I want it, but it happens. It's part of the game, so our mentality is if they're grabbing us, we're going to catch it. If they're not grabbing us, we're going to catch it.”
Both Sarratt and redshirt junior Omar Cooper Jr. — who racked up 58 yards on seven catches — did just that.
While Indiana’s offense totaled its fewest yards of any matchup this season, it still produced 30 points against an Oregon defense that allowed just 12.2 points per game coming in. Mendoza threw for 215 yards — the most any quarterback has had against the Ducks this season.
All of that was done in a hostile, sold-out Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon.
So as I said, Indiana is the front-runner for the national championship. Realistically, there’s no way to truly declare who the best team in college football is without facing off head to head. Indiana won’t play No. 1 Ohio State unless the two sides square off in the Big Ten Championship, a matchup that seems all the more probable with the Hoosiers’ win over Oregon.
Regardless, Cignetti just proved that his Hoosiers are capable of beating high-caliber opponents on the road. That wasn’t the case one year ago. Still, the Hoosiers’ second-year head coach didn’t outwardly express an abundance of relief after notching his first marquee win outside of Bloomington since taking over the helm.
“I thought we established credibility last season,” Cignetti said. “We got to understand some people are always going to be for you, some people are always going to be against you because they need to be.”
It’s a fair point. It’s very possible social media critics will look to the struggles of Penn State and claim Oregon was overrated to begin with in an effort to undermine Indiana’s win. While absurd takes are an inevitable part of college football, there’s an interesting juxtaposition lying in the Hoosiers’ upset victory.
Indiana was able to do something the reigning champion Buckeyes failed to do last season — beat the Ducks on their home turf.
When asked what the win did for Indiana, Cignetti reinforced a necessary caution.
“It depends on what we do with it from here,” he said.
The Hoosiers’ calendar will lighten up for the rest of the regular season. Not a single team on the remainder of Indiana’s schedule was ranked in the latest AP poll. Still, one unexpected slip-up could quickly derail a flawless 6-0 start to the season.
The Hoosiers made program history with their first-ever road win over an AP Top-5 team. In another historic benchmark — for the first time ever — Indiana is the team to beat in college football.
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
