When the Indiana marched into Autzen Stadium to take on the No. 3 Oregon Ducks, few outside of the Hoosier faithful believed they could secure the upset victory.
Sure, Indiana was undefeated and was a top-10 team as a result, but Oregon was a popular pick to not just win the Big Ten but win the National Championship period, so taking down a new money good team like the Hoosiers was just part of the job, right?
Well, in Week 7, Indiana did the unthinkable, taking down a top-5 team for the first time in program history.
Asked how it felt to make history after securing the dub in Eugene, head coach Curt Cignetti celebrated his team, as they came in with the right mindset for the upset.
“Wow, what a stat. Great team win, great effort by the players and coaches,” Cignetti said. “You know, we had a great mindset coming into this, really believed it could happen. I've won a couple great road wins in the last three places I was, and I just kind of felt this coming in, and it's a good win for the program.”
Asked about the team's desire to attack the Duck on both sides of the ball, Cignetti celebrated his defense for taking care of business in one of the biggest games of the week, as they helped cover for an up-and-down offense.
“Well, the defense did a great job putting pressure on them,” Cignetti said. “They had, they spit some runs out, but came through more times than they didn't. Offense was sort of hit and miss, but made some plays. Kicking game was really good, and at the end of the day, you know, we made the plays when we had to.”
Led by a Heisman candidate with legit first-round hype heading into the game, now the hype floodgates will open in a major way, with Indiana almost certainly set to be favored in every game they play down the stretch following Penn State's third-straight loss. With the Big Ten West and Big Ten period now there's for the taking, Hoosier fans should be happy, as they clearly have the right coach to lead their team to where they want to be.
