Indiana football announces sellout crowd for homecoming game vs Nebraska

No more tickets available. That’s the case next weekend for Indiana football as it welcomes Nebraska to Memorial Stadium for its Homecoming matchup. Things were trending in that direction at the beginning of the week and Indiana officially made the announcement on Thursday afternoon.

Indiana and Nebraska will take the field on Saturday Oct. 19 at Noon and be part of Big Noon Kickoff on FOX. National announcers Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt are expected to be on the call.

Indiana comes into the matchup ranked No. 18 overall in the AP Poll — and has the chance to move up this week after a bye week. Nebraska is 5-1 with its lone loss coming in overtime to a ranked Illinois team. Nebraska will also be coming off of a bye. The Huskers were second among teams receiving votes in this week’s AP Poll, ranked No. 27 overall. There is a possibility it’ll be a ranked-matchup if a few back-end top-25 teams lose this upcoming week.

This is a welcomed sight for Indiana football fans who have been called out numerous times by head coach Curt Cignetti and some of the players.

“That goes hand-in-hand, but we gotta keep them in the stands somehow, someway and the in-game experience – we got to play well, so they enjoy watching us and we got to find ways to engage fans during the game too whether it’s music or something during timeouts, we just can’t rely on the football game alone,” Cignetti said following the season-opener. “But I did notice how empty the stadium was in the second half and I know our players did too and that does have an effect. That’s why the crowd is a 12th man, we need you there, we need you cheering, creating momentum and energy in the stadium. There’s a lot of things we need to improve on to get to where we want to be, look, I want to be the best in everything we do and that should be the goal. So you know, baby steps.”

“Lot of times when I coach a game I don’t notice either way, but I do notice a great crowd,” Cignett continued. “I thought we had a good crowd to start the game, and I was a little surprised it wasn’t sold out. I’m used to playing in front of sold out crowds at home and we got to get to that point where we sell out at home, now I understand we have to play consistently and be successful to get that done.”

Ahead of IU’s matchup with Maryland earlier this month, Cignetti wrote a message directly to students regarding their appearance at games.

They responded in a big way and were rewarded with a massive shoutout from the Indiana football head coach and some key players following their win.

“It was just awesome having our fans there being able to support us. We love that, we all were energetic and happy that they came to support us and stayed the whole game,” IU receiver Omar Cooper said. “Going over there and celebrating with the fans and students and getting to thank them for coming. It was good just showing them that we care and that we are happy they’re supporting us.”

Indiana is off to the its best start to a season since 1967 — and it coincides with Cignetti’s debut season in Bloomington.

Following its week six win over Northwestern, Indiana improved to a 51.5 percent chance of making the College Football Playoff.

The Hoosiers have six games remaining in their schedule — with four home games.

SEE ALSO: Curt Cignetti and Indiana football ‘want the chip on their shoulder to keep growing’ during the bye week

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